Google Map Of Kolkata

Introduction

Kolkata was the capital of India during British Raj and the present capital of West Bengal and the commercial, business and financial hub of East and North Eastern states of India and has a great cultural and historic importance from the time immemorial.
Kolkata is rightly named as

• The City of Joy,
• Paris of the East,
• The Cultural capital of India and
• Literary capital of India.
• Kolkata is a major educational and cultural hub.

History Behind The Capital Name

The history behind the name Kolkata has many versions.

• Kalikata is considered as a version of Kalikshetra means the land of the goddess Kali
• The word kilkila in Bengali means flat area. From that word the name Kalkata might have derived.
• The term Khal means a natural canal and the term Katta means dug in Bengali. The two put together might have become Kalkata.
• In the olden days the place was popular for quicklime which in Bengali is kali chun and coir rope which in Bengali is' katta' The name Kalkata must have derived from these words.

The name was changed as Calcutta for convenience by the British and in 2001 it was changed to Kolkata again.

Geography

The location of Kolkata in the map will be 22degrees North, 88degrees East, 22.55degrees North and 88.333degrees East, on the banks of the Ganges delta. The elevation of Kolkata ranges from 1.5meters (5feet) to 9meters (30feet). It is spread along the banks of the river Hooghly, a tributary of the river Ganges.

Population

Kolkata is the third largest populated metropolitan city in India and the thirteenth largest populated urban city in the world. The population of Kolkata city is estimated to be as 4486679 in 2011, where as the suburbs put together it is estimated at 13216546 in 2001. The sex ratio is 928 females per 1000 males. Kolkata's literacy rate is 81%.

Weather Conditions

The climate of Kolkata is a typical wet and dry. Summers are hot and humid with the temperatures ranging from 30 degrees to 40 degrees Centigrade.

May is the hottest month and January is the coldest month of a year. Between June and September the South - West monsoon rains lash the city and the average annual rainfall will be around 62 inches (1582mm).

Pollution is the major concern of the city. The major cause for many respiratory diseases and lung related diseases is due to this high level pollution of Kolkata. This pollution is a cause for regular smog and haze in Kolkata.

History of The Capital

Kolkata was under the indirect rule of the Nawab of Bengal. Though there are many versions to the history of the city which are not documented properly, Kolkata attained prominence in history with the arrival of the East India Company. Job Charnock can be given the credit as the founder of the city.

Kolkata comprised of villages namely Kalikata, Gobindapur and Sutanuti till 18th century. In 1698 it was forcefully transferred to East India Company. Later in 1772 Kolkata was declared as the capital of British India.

The city was the center of British East India Company's trade. The city under went much turmoil and gradually Kolkata became the center of Indian Independence movement. The city was bombed twice during the world war and was affected by the famous Bengal famine. The partition of Bengal had the biggest blow on the living and life style of the people of Kolkata. But the city had withstood all the turmoil and changes and survived as the City of Joy till date.

Demographics

The residents of Kolkata are known as Calcuttans. Kolkata is a cosmopolitan city as the residing people consist of people from almost all parts of India as well as from Tibet, Nepal, and China etc. There are Armenians, Greeks and Jews too.

Bengali is the local language of Kolkata. But Hindi and English too are in use. But one can hear almost all the languages of India in use in this city.

The city comprises of 73% of Hindus, 23% of Muslims, 2% of Christians and 1% of Jains. Sikhs, Buddhits, Jews and Zoroastrian also constitute the city's population.

Economical Information

Kolkata is the East India's and North eastern States' business, commercial and financial centre. India's second largest Stock Exchange is the Calcutta Stock Exchange.

Majority of the city's population consisted of semi skilled and unskilled labour force. Therefore flexible production has always been the city's norm. But now like many other cities, information technology became the major growing force. For banking and finance, Kolkata is an important centre with three nationalized banks namely, Allahabad Bank, UCO Bank and United bank of India, having their Head Quarters in this city.

Culture of Kolkata

The modern Indian literature and art can claim that Kolkata is their birth place, since the city has a very old heritage of art, revolution and literature.
Kolkata is also known as the center for culture and literature.Kolkata has depicted varied culture in architecture which is visible in the buildings there.
The Indian Museum has vast collection of the historical occurances, Netaji Bhawan, The National Library of India, The Academy of Fine Arts are the attractions in the city.

Drama, locally known as Jatra is very popular art. Kolkata is the birth place of Bengali theatre and cinema. Bengal in general and Kolkata in particular has the tradition of making art films and can boast of producing many award winning directors.

The Rabindra sangeet and the Indian Classical Music and Bengali folk music have major appreciation in this city.
Like any other city Kolkata too has under gone changes and seen the emergence of music of modern taste and culture but has retained the traditional music too.

Cuisine, Festivals and Religion of Kolkata

Rice and Macher jhol (fish curry) are the delicacies of Kolkata cuisine. For dessert roshogulla, sandesh and mishit dohi are the Bengali special and delicacies. Beguni (Brinjal preparation), kati roll (Flat bread roll stuffed with vegetable or chickes or mutton or egg), phuchka, lichi and aludum (Puri with potato vegetable) are some of the delicacies of this city.

Durga pooja in the month September or October is a very important festival in Kolkata. It is a very glamorous festival celebrared for 6 long days with all festivity and fervor. Festivals celebrated other than these are Kali pooja (Diwali),Saraswati pooja, Bishwakarma pooja, Poila Boishak (New Year) etc. Other festivals like Eid, Holi, Christmas too are celebrated.

Book fair, Dover Lane music festival, Kolkata film festival and the National Theatre Festival are also very famous.

Bengali women traditionally wear sari and men wear the traditional Punjabi kurtha and dhothi.

Though majority of the population are Hindus, people belonging to all religions are seen in Kolkata and they practice their religion in the manner they like.