Blissful Sights

Stating from today India will be busy celebrating Durga Puja with full pomp and show. Though people in all parts of the country celebrate the festival, it is the major celebration and attraction of Kolkata, Bengal. This celebration will continue for next ten days and during this time every night is like one crazy carnival where people will gather together with their families and visit pandals to worship Goddess Durga.

Alone in Kolkata more than 2,000 pandals are set up for the occasion and each one is special in its own way. These days’ pandals are based on themes decided by respective Puja committee. This has resulted in high competitiveness between different committees, so in order to make it interesting a senior committee decides which one was the best and on the last day the winner gets some price for standing outstanding.

Kolkata attracts tourists the most during this time of the year but rest of the year also visitors keep coming because of the richness and attraction of the city. Since Kolkata has been the capital of British India there are popular buildings which were established by British government like Fort William and Victoria Memorial.

Situated at the bank of river Hooghly, Fort William is a must visit for tourists. It was set up to guard against the attack from Muslim invaders. Victoria Memorial on the hand is a memorial building dedicated to Queen Vitoria which has now been turned in a museum. The gallery of this museum consists of painting showing the grand history with colours. There are various paintings showing queen’s life’s major events. It is also composed of photos and paintings of eminent personalities who made an incredible contribution in the glory of India.

Marble palace is another major attraction of Kolkata which houses the original paintings of Rembrandt, Reynolds, and Van Goyen and other popular artists. Howrah Bridge is in itself a historic monument stating still since 1874 and is a symbol of changing India. It is built over the Hoogli River and said to be the busiest bridge of the world.

There are other edifices which are modern constructions compared to the historic symbols of Kolkata like Birla Planetarium, National Liabrary, Saheed Minar and parks which have made Kolkata a beautiful city with a grand history. People associated with Kolkata like Rabindranath Tagore, Buddhadev Bose, Syed Mujtaba Ali, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and many more have enriched the culture and made it richer.

Once you visit Kolkata do not forget to taste Bengali sweets and fish curry which are mesmerizing and cannot be forgotten once tasted.