A month in the City of Joy

Its almost a month of living in the city of joy, Kolkata,now. The city has a great heritage and culture. The food is good and familiar and you can see good faces around. Park street is the life line of the night life of the city. But places such as Salt Lake and New Town, although good are really far off. Life is more or less like Bangalore. Weekdays- office, weekends- Malls.

Let me share some of the common myths and realities associated with this place.

Myth- Kolkata is really a cheap place.
Reality- Not really. If you are working in IT and don't want to stay too far from the office then am sorry to say Kolkata is not that cheap. The area in and around Salt Lake is definitely as costly as Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Myth- Transport is easy and good
Reality- Not really. Esp. not many Volvo buses. Given the soaring temperatures, its very difficult to make a long commute in the WBSTC buses. Calcutta is like a US city when it comes to transport. If you have a car of your own, then life is really cool and easy.

Myth- Finding house hold help is easy
Reality- The biggest headache that you will have in Kolkata is getting a house hold help. The culture here is that the women folks who work as household help will not come after 6 -7 pm, esp. in New Town area. Getting a cook is really a challenge.

But all in all, its a good place, except for the weather which is very hot and humid.

Some of the places that I have checked out and found worth a try.
- Aafra, City Center 1
- Oval- New Town
- Mainland China
- Some place Else
- BBQ Nation
- Bhojohari Manna- Decent but not very great

Will keep posting the updates about the city and my adventure here.


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