Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.
~ Lazurus Long


A city of Joy and Love, Grandeur and Glory... Kolkata alias Calcutta is full of life and bustle, verging on the chaotic as traditional occupations rub shoulders with ultra modern industries. Kolkata is India's second largest city and the capital of West Bengal, situated at the point where the Indian subcontinent starts to narrow into the triangular southern peninsula. Formerly the capital of British India (1772-1912), it is a city with a great deal of charm - its imperial monuments, strong cultural and religious flavor leaves an indelible impression on me and anyone knowing Calcutta.
Some common special things from the daily life of Calcutta which I always remember are its tram, metros, overloaded bus and train and the cool ganges with howrah bridge shining as its crown.

Although the name Kalikata had been mentioned in the rent-roll of the Great Mughal emperor Akbar and also in Manasa-Mangal, to explore the history of Calcutta, we have to go back to the 17 th. century. It was in 1690....Job Charnock came to the bank of the river Hooghly (it's the part of the Ganges) and took the lease of the three villages- Sutanuti, Govindapur and Kolikata(Calcutta) as a trading post of British East India Company. The city became famous in 1756, when Siraj-Ud-Dawlah, the last independent nawab of Bengal, captured the city . But the British regained their power in 1757 and the city was recaptured under Robert Clive. Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of India, made it the seat of the supreme courts of justice and the supreme revenue administration, and Calcutta became the capital of British India in 1772. By 1800 Calcutta had become a busy and flourishing town, the center of the cultural as well as the political and economic life of Bengal.

I feel very proud to have born at Calcutta. Being an Indian makes me the most proud. I really admire the rich culture and the heritage of India. The bonding between two Indian and the loving and caring society boosts my confidence. I am even more proud to be a Bengali, and I admire the literature of Bengalis though, I am not very confident that I know it in detail. Yes, I love my country and my motherland. I have so many sweet memories associated with them all. But, really something makes me think twice. Am I just an Indian? Or am I an entity of the big enormous mankind. What am I here on the earth for? What is my eternity? Why was I born? I know the answers to none.