So it’s nearly the end of summer holidays and I was disappointed that I didn’t travel to any place. Most of my summer went into packing and unpacking stuff, because my father says transferred to another place. So anyways, I had big plans for this summer, wanted to go to different places, but this transfer rendered my plans pointless.

Last Saturday morning, a sudden urge of going somewhere ate me up. I had to go somewhere. I started planning places to go, but the last minute reservations created a big problem. Suddenly I realized, I was just 2 hours away from Kolkata. My native place, my city. I haven’t even traveled the city I belong to. So I decided to visit Kolkata the next day.

There were so many places to visit in Kolkata. I was confused about the places I wanted to visit. So I asked one of my friends for suggestions. He said, “you’re a science guy, go to the science city an the museum” (oh boy I wish I didn’t listen to him about going to science city, but anyways, that comes later). So, I decided to go to the Indian Museum the first day. So, I left my home early morning at 6am to catch one of the local trains to Howrah (yes, those super crowded ones which are only topped by the Mumbai locals) Needless to say, it was so crowded I could barely stand in the whole 2 hour journey. Anyways, I reached at around 9am to the Howrah station and decided against a pre-paid taxi and opted for a bus. The bus stop was no different than a fish market, and I got lost in the crowd. Somehow, I found a person who told me which bus to take and I somehow got into that crowded bus again.

My first stop was the General Post Office in the Dalhousie Square, as I needed to post a letter to a really close friend. But I was aware of the fact that it was also a tourist attraction, as it is one of the biggest Post Offices in the country and the biggest in the state. Apart from that, the building was designed by Walter Granville, who also designed the high Court, the Indian Museum and the 11 souls memorial church. I was pretty excited to see it, because I never imagined a “post office” being so big and beautiful and an exquisite piece of art. So, when I stepped down the bus at Dalhousie square, I looked around trying to figure out where the GPO was. The area was full of tall building and unusually high traffic. After walking a few meters, I finally saw its prominent domed roof.

It was way bigger than what I expected. The building was alluring and the architecture was commendable. It was a cloudy day, so the overall view was pretty majestic. I was wandering around, looking for the entrance when I noticed this….

Interesting…. Old Fort William. I didn’t even notice the brass lines on the steps until I read it. Well, I googled it put of curiosity and came to know that the GPO was actually built where the Old Fort William used to be, which was destroyed after Siraj-ud-Daula was sacked. It is also believed that the famous ‘Black Hole Incident’ took place there. After that, I visited the philatelic bureau, which is supposed to be a stamp collectors delight, but it was surprisingly uncrowded. In-fact I didn’t even see a single person in there. Anyways, I posted my letter, admired the beauty of the place for sometime and left.

While walking down the street, I saw the Writers' Building. A huge red building stretched across the Lal-Dighi.

The building’s architecture was engaging, with long verandas supported by iconic columns and consisting of various statues of Minerva and other Greek gods. It is the secretariat building of the State Government of West Bengal, but it was under renovation and thus the departments weren’t there. I wanted to take a closer look, but the guards there were quite rude. Ah, who cares about them. I clicked a picture and moved on.

Next was the Royal Insurance Building. For a moment, I almost confused it with the Writers' building. This was another huge building with the gate at the corner. Interestingly enough, this building has a twin in Liverpool, but this is in a much better condition.

I asked people for the directions to the Indian Museum. “Jaadu Ghar?(Hindi for Magic house), that’s on Park Street”. I said I wanted to go to the museum, not the magic house. After asking 2-3 people, I realized the museum is called the jaadughar by the localites. Now what was so special about this place that people actually called it the magic house. I was more curious now. So, I hailed a cab after that, and decided to go straight to the Indian Museum. The cabby told me it is the largest and the oldest museum in India, which further fueled my anticipation to see the place. The cab dropped me on the gate, which had huge open market on both sides.

Anyways, I went to the ticket counter too buy the tickets. The entry ticket was only 10 rupees, but photography was restricted. If one wanted to use any kind of camera, he needed to buy another photography ticket worth 50 bucks, which I felt was quite strange. Anyways, I entered the premises and went to the Archaeology section. It was filled with fossils from different prehistoric animals. It was very well documented, and well organised. The casts were carefully and meticulousy placed in the hall. It was a paleophile’s delight. The thing that especially caught my eyes was Palaeoloxodon namadicus, extinct elephant, which was placed just at the starting of the gate.

Next I moved into the history section. It consisted of many statues, idols and paintings. There was a considerable number of statues that were related to Buddha and Buddhism. Then, there was the Bharhut Gallery, full of stone carvings. It had the architectural remains from Bharhut belonging to Sunga period, along with similar fragments from Bodhgaya.

The next was the Coin Collections, the section I was really excited about. And the museum didn’t disappoint. It had coins from different regions of the Indian subcontinent and range in dates from fourth century BC to present date. Not only it had coins from the Indian subcontinent, it also had coins from other subcontinent too. It was particularly fascinating to me, as I love collecting coins.

The museum was bigger than we expected. It took almost 2 hours to go through the ground floor, before I realized that there was another floor to cover.

The particularly interesting section was the animal section. There were replicas of various exotic animals from all around the world. Mammals, reptiles, birds, fish. You name them, you’ll find them.

The prehistoric skeletons of various mammals were also on display, most notable being the tall mammoth structure and the dinosaur. It had pretty much everything you can possibly expect from a museum. Despite the fact that the day I went, many exhibits weren’t present due to renovation work. But still, it engaged me for hours,long enough to make me cancel the plans to go to science city that day.

Then there was the Egyptian section. Small section, but contained a 4000 year old mummy, the oldest one present in the country. The center piece was the center of attraction.

There were just too many things to see. It was like every time I came out of a section, there was a new part waiting to amaze me. There was so much to learn, and so much to see. It had everything, human evolution, art, textile, memorabilia …everything! I wandered there until 4.30pm, and then after finally completing the tour, I decided to go back home.

At the end of the day, I was heading back to the station to catch my train back home. But that day, a rare thing happened, which truly made my trip unique. While passing through the Howrah bridge, I saw a huge crowd looking and pointing towards the sky. For a moment, I was thinking what the hell are these people looking at. Most of the people actually had no idea what they were looking at. I decided to walk away, realizing that its nothing but bullshit, when suddenly there was this huge roar in the crowd. I looked up, and in my amazement, there was actually a madman on the top of Howrah Bridge (literally, on top :P). Not only was he on top of bridge, he was actually moving around pretty freely and was waddling. I stood there, just like all the others in the herd, and stared at him.

“Well one crazy big idiot decides to climb up the bridge, and 15k other small idiots(me included) just leave all their work and stare at the crazy man. Its a world filled with idiots after all."

I was getting late for my train, so I left. I would suggest people to go visit the Indian Museum, especially with family. There’s something for everyone’s interest and is a Marvelous museum with very interesting artifacts and information about India!

All in all, it was a fun day. Traveled in one of the most crowded cities in the country and visited the 9th oldest museum in the world, followed by the crazy bridge guy. It was tiring, but totally worth it!