Kolkata

Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, is the major city of the eastern part of India. I remember when it was the largest city in India, until overtaken by Mumbai in the mid-1980s.

In the western mind, Kolkata is thought of as the mission field of Mother Theresa. Mother Theresa is remembered as a saint who dedicated her life to helping the poor. But the trouble is what that says about the city of Kolkata. When someone really wants to help the poor, the logical step is to think of the poorest place in the world, and go there. Since Mother Theresa went to Kolkata, westerners conclude that it must be the poorest place on earth.

But what I want to show readers today is that this simply is not true. Kolkata could actually be considered as the cultural capital of India. It is a well-run city with an education rate that is higher, and a crime rate that is lower, than the national average.

My conclusion is that what brought so many poor people to Kolkata is it's proximity to Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan. The eastern part of India's Bengal State became East Pakistan, while Kolkata was the capital of West Bengal. Like Bangladesh, the main language in Kolkata is Bengali.

First, in the partition of the country in 1947, Kolkata was the natural destination of displaced Hindus moving westward, as their place was taken by Moslems moving through Kolkata from India into East Pakistan. This must have been a tremendous strain on the city.

Second, when East and West Pakistan split up in 1971, with the former East Pakistan becoming the new nation of Bangladesh, many millions of refugees poured into India when the former West Pakistan sent the military to restore order in East Pakistan. Possibly a majority of these refugees stayed, at least temporarily, in Kolkata.

The poverty that Mother Theresa so famously ministered to in Kolkata had nothing to do with the nature of the city itself. It was because of the millions of refugees pouring in. What would your city be like if millions of refugees suddenly arrived?

Let's have a look at what a great city Kolkata really is.

Kolkata does not have Mughal-era architecture to the extent of Delhi, but it has plenty more. This is the Victoria memorial, which looks very much like Kolkata's version of the Taj Mahal. Nearby is St. Paul's Cathedral.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow you can then hide previews of successive scenes, if you so wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@22.5448599,88.3426258,3a,75y,7.77h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1swU6o-DpV-mjpiTVwIut--Q!2e0!3e2!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DwU6o-DpV-mjpiTVwIut--Q%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D202.61652%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This is the area around the Marble Palace, and the older part of the city.

https://www.google.com/maps/@22.5822319,88.3602569,3a,75y,95.17h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipN-M52nYx-3u42jDN6ysxi3WDp3kVJIMFQVSw57!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipN-M52nYx-3u42jDN6ysxi3WDp3kVJIMFQVSw57%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya95.49143-ro-0-fo100!7i9800!8i4900

Here is more of the older part of the city.

https://www.google.com/maps/@22.5776335,88.3560637,3a,75y,40h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNSLj-g2009yl6fXQACox2l2priirGsqjsAVEqg!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNSLj-g2009yl6fXQACox2l2priirGsqjsAVEqg%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya39.899998-ro-0-fo100!7i6080!8i3040

This is to the east of the central city.

https://www.google.com/maps/@22.5690611,88.4343507,3a,75y,180h,110t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNMYBNa4HC1e7DqNvTao1171-lkruF0MsTH9H4p!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNMYBNa4HC1e7DqNvTao1171-lkruF0MsTH9H4p%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-20-ya180-ro0-fo100!7i5660!8i2830 

Here is the area in and around the South City Mall.

https://www.google.com/maps/@22.50162,88.3617383,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-_e6PyTFg3dk%2FVz6KZYugo4I%2FAAAAAAAAARY%2FjJVh9vjKgI80U8QY9Zbi_Fb_U4EgLcDQQCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2F-_e6PyTFg3dk%2FVz6KZYugo4I%2FAAAAAAAAARY%2FjJVh9vjKgI80U8QY9Zbi_Fb_U4EgLcDQQCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya76.18718-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i5376!8i2688

Outside of Kolkata, further north in West Bengal state, the name of Darjeeling is a very special name to anyone who likes tea. Here is a look around the town of Darjeeling.

https://www.google.com/maps/@27.0448562,88.2677211,3a,75y,260h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPPQl6ewMrQNA1DovhZcCGDh41KJxGlKov63myi!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPPQl6ewMrQNA1DovhZcCGDh41KJxGlKov63myi%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya185-ro0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

When I was a boy, the world atlas that I had showed a country in the Himalayas called Sikkim. The country has since decided to join India. Just north of West Bengal state, let's have a look at how Sikkim is doing today.

https://www.google.com/maps/@27.3600314,88.6280869,3a,75y,277h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-3Ly0caZIM4Y%2FWCVMK4ORQQI%2FAAAAAAAAHaU%2F20E5XKpDPuECRENlf5XFGLRlbqZgqQBaACLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-3Ly0caZIM4Y%2FWCVMK4ORQQI%2FAAAAAAAAHaU%2F20E5XKpDPuECRENlf5XFGLRlbqZgqQBaACLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya353.49997-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i8704!8i4352

Finally, this is far up in the Himalayas, in the north of the Indian state of Sikkim. The Himalayas will remind Europeans of the Alps, mountains with sharp peaks that were formed by tectonic collision and not the smooth and rounded mountains of volcanic origin.

https://www.google.com/maps/@27.5741692,88.1882401,3a,75y,280h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPzgyoYCqus1XUnU4ttSmF5jRX-p5YLG_jVBDSR!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPzgyoYCqus1XUnU4ttSmF5jRX-p5YLG_jVBDSR%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya52.999996-ro-0-fo100!7i7168!8i3584