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West
Bengal ( Calcutta )
INTRODUCTION
A mere village in the 17th
century, Calcutta is today one of the biggest cities in
the world. It is also one of the largest ports in the
East and the main outlet for the produce of west Bengal
and the neighbouring States. It is the world's biggest
centre for jute manufacture and has many paper and oil
mills, iron foundries, tanneries and printing presses
along the banks of the river Hooghly. Calcutta is the
commercial hub of Eastern India.
In the centre of the city is a
fine park known as the Maidan in which stands fort
William, the original British settlement. In the Maidan,
by the river Hooghly, is the Victoria Memorial,
Calcutta's finest building which has many objects of
interest associated with the long of Queen Victoria.
East of the Maidan is Calcutta's main business centre,
Chowwringhee, a two-mile stretch of clubs, shops and
hotels and to the north is Raj Bhavan. At alipore the
Belvedere and the Zoological Gardens. The former, which
was once the country houses of Warren Hasting, now
houses the National Library. Among other places of
interest are St. John's Church, Calcutta's oldest,
Christian place of worships, Nakhoda Mosque, the
Kalighat temple, the Belur Math, the headquarters of
the Ramakrishna Missan founded by Swami Vivekananda,
the temple of Dakshineswar where his guru, the famous
saint Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa lived, the home of
Rabindranath Tagore, the great Indian poet and Nobel
Laureate, at Chitpur and the Museum to the north of
Park Street. The Botanical Gardens, founded in 1786,
contain a 170-years old banyan tree which is 305 m in
circumference.
Calcutta as first-rate golf
courses, a splendid race course and a gay could weather
season from October to March.
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