Welcome to watchmojo.com. My name is Perna and I’m going to be profiling this video of Calcutta in India for you. Now for over two millennia now, there have been people living around Calcutta but its only officially down in the record books as in 1686 which is when the British came and took over. Everything ran smoothly until 1756, which is when Siraj-Ud-Daulah attacked the town and then drove the British away. Lord Robert Clive retook Calcutta in 1911 and then the capital of Calcutta, the name of it anyway was taken away and given to New Delhi in India which was a newly built city at that time. However, Calcutta did remain the capital of the undivided Bengal and so the partition of India or India’s independence in 1947.
Calcutta’s port was bombed in December 42 and then again in January 43 because of the Japanese during World War II. Then they have to deal with the Bengal Famine of 43 and then only three years later, the direct action day which was planned as a peaceful day of civil disobedience ended up being a sectarian violence which broke out and killed over 2000 citizens. So, the 70’s saw a violent Marxist-Maoist movement also known as Naxalites which ruined the cities infrastructure but Calcutta’s economic recovery flew through the roof after the 90’s.
Today in Calcutta, it’s the capital state of West Bengal and have the second to largest population in India with over 13 million. It’s very possible that Calcutta and Kolkata have derived from the name Kalikata which was a village back ages ago. The reason Calcutta was changed to Kolkota in 2001 was because what was pretty much concerned with political move the government thought it was too English and described what the British had put upon them years ago.
So the Durga Puja is a huge festival in Calcutta. It last for four days and some really good times for people just celebrate life. Although, there is a religious background to it, it has become their biggest social festival. People go on gigantic shopping sprees, buy each other clothes, invite all family friends over just to catch up and arrange huge feasts with desserts and a couple bunch of other things. And the city is lit up with lights, fireworks at night, and there always theatre performances, religious type of dances all day long. There are also speakers situated all over the city and they blast long music so much that you can’t even sleep at night but most people don’t really seem to mind it.
There's also the Saraswati puja, which is basically a festival for the goddess of learning. It takes place around January or February and my personal belief why it takes place at that time is because over there, there are huge exams and finals for all the students so, I guess it’s a good way for them to prepare. There's also the Calcutta book fair which you might want to check out. It’s really huge, very popular, the media even covers it. Its in the newspapers everyday, on TV, you can’t miss it. There's also the Victoria Memorial Hall which opened in 1921 and then there’s lots of paintings, ancient artifacts that you can go check out over there. There is also an Indian Museum which is built in 1875 and has really impressive architectural Italian structure.
Now, if you're traveling with kids, you're going to want to make sure that they have fun too. So, you might want to check out what in Calcutta is called the Zoological Garden. There's a huge lake inside the zoo and there are Siberian birds that they can see. It was built in 1876 and it covers over sixteen hectares of land. So, there’s going to be a lot to see for the kids there and they can’t go there and not have a good time. There's also what they call the horticultural garden. They have huge competitions in February. It covers so much land there are many tents built up inside. The media goes crazy over this when the competitions take place. There are all types of flowers, plants, whether for vegetables or fruits, oddly shaped and flowers that you’ve never even seen before. I have been there myself and some really great place to check out if you're looking for a good afternoon to spend outside.
My final list is the Birla Planetarium, also a good choice for kids. They give presentations in all languages including English, so you won’t be too confused if you visit.
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