Places to visit in Kolkata

Ask a localite on the best places to visit in any renowned place?  You are bound to receive an answer which you will not be expecting. Ideally someone living in a place is so accustomed to the place that they would not find a specific place interesting even though it might be an attraction to someone who has the eye of an explorer.

Me, being someone who is very close to Kolkata fall in the same category. Nevertheless putting myself at least once in the eye of an explorer have tried to collect all the areas of interest of Kolkata.

Kolkata formerly known as Calcutta was initially a colonial city developed by East India Company and was also the capital of British India. As a result Kolkata has lot of historical structures from the British era which still stand strong.

Vidyasagar Setu, - Second Hooghly Bridge

Some of the prominent are as below:

1. Victoria memorial
2. Cathedral Church
3. Fort William - Entry restricted but there's an incredible view from the ghats of the Hooghly
4. Prinsep Ghat
5. Birla Planetarium
6. Birla Mandir

Kolkata is known for its Art and Culture. There are several places which attracts the culture lovers.
Few of them are below:

1. Academy of Fine Arts
2. The Asiatic Society
3. Indian Museum
4. Nandan - Rabindra Sadan
5. Jorasanko Thakur Bari - Rabindranath Tagore’s ancestral home Sobhabazar Rajbari
6. Marble Palace Kolkata

Kolkata also has a lot of renowned places for worships:

1. Kalighat Temple
2. Thanthania Kalibari
3. Dakhshineshwar Kali Temple
4. Belur Math
5. ISKCON Kolkata, Sri Sri Radha Govind Temple

Other places of attractions include:

1. Mother House
2. Alipore Zoo
3. Eden Gardens
4. Mother Wax Museum

Like any other metro city, Kolkata also has a number of Amusement Parks like:

1. Science City
2. Nicco Park
3. Aquatica
4. Eco Park - Specially the Seven Wonders of the World

If you have some time to spare and if you are book addict, do visit College street or Boi Para. It is the largest second hand book market in the world where you can purchase rare collections at a very cheap price.

There are lot of other places which I might have forgotten but truly it is the City of Joy as it is being termed.

Howrah - The twin city of Kolkata also has places which are worth mentioning and if you are at Kolkata, make sure to visit the below.

1. Howrah Bridge
2. Howrah Station
3. Botanical Garden, Howrah

Howrah Bridge

Trust me, I have not visited all of them till date, but will definitely try to visit them along with my wife and kid once I get some time out of the regular schedule.

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Super Quick Homemade Pizza

If you kid is back from play hungry and pestering you for quick snacks and you feel that maggi is too boring everyday, then I have a quick recipe of a different variety. Trust me they would love it too and it would be ready in no more than 5 mins.

YES!!! It is Homemade PIZZA...

Ingredients:

1. Ready made Pizza Base
2. Onion
3. Capsicum
4. Tomato
5. Pinch of Oil
6. Cheese Slice
7. Butter or Cheese Spread
8. Oregano (Optional)
9. Chili Flakes (Optional)

Preparation:

1. Chop one onion and capsicum into pieces. Also slice tomato into small pieces.

2. Fry the chopped onions, capsicum and tomatoes in a little oil to make it crispy. Add salt for taste.

3. Take a non-stick pan and roast the side of the ready made Pizza base which you want to make upper crust.

4. Once that is roaster, spread the butter or cheese spread on the roasted upper crust.

6. Cut 1-2 cheese slices into small pieces and place it all over the pizza base. You can also replace this with grated mozzarella cheese.

7. Spread the fried veggie mix on top of the cheese crust and roast it for 2-3 minutes.

8. Your pizza is ready. You can garnish this with Oregano and chili flakes.

Of course, you can customize and add more varieties/flavour. Try this at home and provide your feedback or comments on how you feel.

50% off on pizza

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Being Local 7

The shopkeeper who poses like a girl while displaying the colorful sarees at the Lakshal Saree Centre at Sarnath besides the Thai Temple. Handlooms prepared by the local weavers inside the Sarnath Temple area is sold here. They have huge varieties of Banarasi sarees and offer very good prices compared to the market price.

'Being Local' is a series where I post the different characters who I feel is interesting enough to have a mention during my travels. You can find others in the series here.

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Being Local 6

A candid shot of a priest collecting money in return of the blessings at the Dashashwamedh Ghat just prior to the Ganga Arati.

'Being Local' is a series where I post the different characters who I feel is interesting enough to have a mention during my travels. You can find others in the series here.

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Simple Homemade Chicken Clear Soup

Soups are a good way to start a meal. It's Sunday when we try to experiment new dishes at home and it turned out that preparation of Chicken Clear Soup had its turn this Sunday - a simple but healthy food.

Ingredients:
1. Bone less chicken 100 grams (cut into small pieces)
2. Onions (Use spring onion with stalk is available)
3. Garlic 4 cloves
4. Ground Pepper
6. Butter 2 tablespoons
7. Salt to taste

Preparation:

1. First of all, boil the boneless chicken pieces with 2 cloves of garlic and onion in a pressure cooker. If you have spring onions, you can give that as well.

2. Strain the chicken stock and keep it aside for using later.

Chicken Stock

3. Shred the boiled chicken with your fingers. It will come of easily. 

Shredded Chicken

4. Chop the remaining bulbs of the spring onions and garlic cloves. Chop the stalks of the spring onions separately.

5. Melt the butter in a deep pan. Add the chopped onion bulbs first. When they start melting and acquire an auburn color, add the chopped garlic and stalks. Stir fry it for about 3 minutes.

6. Now add the shredded chicken and stir fry for a minute.

7. Pour the chicken stock into the pan and mix well. Add about 2 cups of water to this and simmer it for 15 minutes.

8. Just before you remove the soup from the flame sprinkle ground pepper and salt on it as per your taste. You can garnish it with parsley stalks and leaves and your Chicken Clear Soup is ready.

Ready Chicken Clear Soup 

After preparation, I realized that I had put more pieces of chicken than needed. But the taste was really yummy and my kid liked it very much.

You can try this too and experiment with little variations according to your taste. Good Luck!!!

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