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The sign behind the counter which asks patrons not to linger after consuming their beverage and to please

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The sign behind the counter, which asks patrons not to linger after consuming their beverage and to please observe silence, must be one of the most overtly ignored requests in the world.The heroes of Bengal are poets, philosophers, novelists, political ideologists, film-makers, artists and musicians. They and their work are popular topics of conversation in the Coffee House, and so is the attempt by the government to change Calcutta's name to Kolkata We heard no enthusiasm for this proposal There was plenty of enthusiasm for talk about food, though. We gathered that until the smarter hotels started offering Bengali menus there had only been one restaurant in Calcutta offering traditional fare, a place called Suruchi's in Elliot Road. However, more were opening, and the most highly recommended, called Kewpie's, was hidden down a side street but not impossible to find. We asked if the driver who was to collect us the following morning for a tour of the city's markets would be able to drop us there at the end of the day.Raju had turned up just before dawn.

We were starting at the fish market and wanted to see it at its most frenetic as the fresh deliveries from the night were snapped up by eager cooks The market was alive with fish and barter. Monster rohu and bhekti lay glistening on slabs, baskets of hilsa shimmered pink and silver, orange mango fish looked good enough to eat immediately and crayfish made hopeless bids for freedom. The daily demand for fresh fish is so great that much of it is farmed in huge ponds on the outskirts of the city and trucked in every night.As the sun rose we pulled into the Armenian Ghat flower market. The riot of colour and soft fragrant petals made a welcome antidote to the smells and slime of the neon-lit fish market. It was a photographer's paradise, with hundreds of garlands of bright yellow marigolds, jasmine, frangipani and ylang ylang all piled up along the banks of the Hooghly River where people were busy attending to their morning ablutions.

Above, the extraordinary cantilevered Howrah Bridge stretched over the river like a giant Meccano set A policeman pointed out a sign forbidding photographs. When we asked him why, he said it was "in case they fell into enemy hands".At New Market we found the ingredients for panch phoron in the spice bazaar. Here, a long line of spice merchants squat in tiny raised stalls down a narrow alley of such vivid colours and aromas it rivals the flower market in sensory pleasure Phoron is the name for a seasoning added to dishes The panch version is just one of many. The merchants will mix spices to the individual taste of their customers, then the plastic bags are sealed with a candle and handed over.After lunch Raju drove us in his newly washed cab over Howrah Bridge and down to the Botanical Gardens where Bengali girls in bright saris played badminton in the dappled sunlight. They looked like butterflies flitting about after the shuttlecock. We took a boat up river to meet Raju back in town, and in the half-light of dusk a dolphin surfaced right next to us and blew water. Calcutta didn't really seem a bad place at all.Kewpie's was the perfect climax to our visit.

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