Kolkata may be an overpopulated, grimy, poverty-stricken, noisy city, but it also has an abundance of charm deriving from the faded decadence found in many parts of the city, and its plethora of historical, cultural and religious buildings. Peep through the dirt and modern sky-rise blocks; the ornate Raj-era balconies, elegant gardens, cavernous bookshops, graceful churches, packed temples and mammoth monuments are what make Kolkata distinct.
Despite a Kolkata High Court ruling in 2003 that the city of Kolkata had grown over a period of time and that no particular date could be fixed for its birth, history has long said the city was founded around 300 years ago on the banks of the River Hooghly by Job Charnock.
A tired administrator in the British East India Company, Charnock took a chance midday halt near the quaint village of Sutanti, the sparkle of green on the horizon offering peace and solitude for a quick nap. In 1690, with his base threatened by the Mughal viceroy in Bengal, he moved his operations here, eventually uniting the villages of Sutanti, Gobindapur and Kalikata to form the city of Calcutta.
It was to become a British trading port that emerged as one of the most prominent in Indian history, a significant commercial centre of the British Raj and busy port for east-bound vessels, and the erstwhile capital of British India.
Today Kolkata remains one of the most prominent cities in India, a city with a soul, a fabled past and a rich artistic tradition. Great wealth and great poverty live side by side; the last of the hand-pulled rickshaws operate on the land above the new Metro system. Shops with antiques and traditional arts are as busy as high fashion boutiques and contemporary music.
The city also has the (deserved) reputation as the cultural and intellectual capital of India. Literature is still a buzzword here and as one local put it, ‘A Bengali must know how to discuss literature, music, books, ideas - otherwise he doesn’t really feel he belongs.’ Not that intellect is only a male domain, indeed women have a welcome and strong presence in Kolkata society compared with most Indian cities.
And while Mumbai churns out an all-singing all-dancing film every minute, Kolkata prides itself on a more cultural, measured approach to film-making. This is, after all, home to Rabindranath Tagore (Nobel Prize-winning poet) and film director Satyajit Ray.
Outside the subcontinent, the city is probably better known for its appalling slums and the work of Mother Teresa, an Albanian nun who arrived in India as a missionary in 1929. In 1948, she founded the Missionaries of Charity to work with the poor in Calcutta. Within 10 years, there were missions across India and many of the communist countries. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, she died in 1997, was almost immediately put on the fast track to sainthood, and was beatified in 2003.