Walking Tours

 

Contact : 9883520202 Email: ownthepastotp@gmail.com

 

The Colonial Walk

The hows and whys of Calcutta to retrace the steps that gave birth to this city. Considered the Second city of the Empire, proud, elegant and very British, many grand edifices were built here, a part of Calcutta’s imperial legacy,  said to be built along the lines of London.  These buildings stand tall and stately, some which have withstood the vagaries of time others lying in ruins yet these ruins talk of a glorious past.

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 7 am in summers and 7.30 am in winters.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: The General Post Office (GPO).

 

The Faith Walk

A microcosm of the world, he melting pot of cultures that is Calcutta.  An enigmatic walk in the “Grey Town” where you can see the Anglo-Indian quarters in Bow Barracks, Parsi fire temples, the Chinese temples, the Jewish synagogues, the Portuguese Cathedral and the Armenian church. Experience  the neighborhoods the hustle bustle of daily life in these areas, the markets and savour the local food.

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 7 am in summers and 7.30 am in winters.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: Air India Office, Chittaranjan Avenue

 

The Early Calcutta Walk

The paradox of Calcutta being dubbed as the “City of Palaces” and the “City of Dreadful Nights” on the other. Serpentine lanes with century old palaces , out of sight courtyards of merchants and noble houses. Steeped in old world charm, some inspiring and others funny, the stories associated with the mansions and neighborhoods. The house of the man who shaped the history of modern India to the house of the Babu accredited to be the first billionaire. Hear the rustic bhajans emanating from a century old Kali temple and the mansion which was visited by Clive and Hastings.

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 7 am in summers and 7.30 am in winters.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: Girish Park Metro Station Gate No.2.

 

The Native Town Walk

The  history of the birth, growth and decadence of the “Babu” culture going back in time to the city’s more glorious past, an era where ostentatiousness reached its peak. The Marble Palace,  the narrow lanes and by lanes house the various castles and mansions including the famed Jorasanko Thakur Bari. Anecdotes and history make this walk a must for all.

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 10 am.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: Marble Palace gates.

 

The Colourful Howrah Walk

Howrah bridge built in the Romanesque style represents the quintessential image of Calcutta. With the  Howrah station it is a “real life spectacle” not to be missed and  is best experienced by ferry and foot. It takes about 30 minutes, offering a panoramic view of the twin cities (Calcutta and Howrah) on both sides of the river.  The throng of daily commuters, vacationing families, railway porters, tea vendors, fruit sellers, make it an immersive experience. At the foot of the bridge is the city’s bustling wholesale flower market, the biggest in Eastern India.

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 7 am in summers and 7.30 am in winters.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: Aakashvani Bhawan.

 

Boi Para Walk

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Kolkata was the epicenter of ‘The Bengal Renaissance’. This movement questioned existing orthodox ideas, particularly with respect to women, marriage, the dowry system, the caste system and religion. The area around College Street in Kolkata was the heart of the reformist movements like the Brahmo Samaj. Several leading institutions of learning were set up here. This area  provides an interesting insight into the social and intellectual concerns that shaped India, culminating in the struggle for independence.

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 7 am in summers and 7.30 am in winters.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: Central Metro Station

 

Kumartoli & Beyond Walk

Kumartolli, the traditional potter’s quarters in the north of the city has attained a cult status. It  was established 300 years ago by the rich zamindars for making their personal idols during festivals,  is now a haven for tourists and locals alike. This area is layered with many identities.

North Kolkata or Sutanuti of which Kumartolli is an intrinsic part of is the hub of fascinating architectural relics, art, culture, music, cuisine, heritage, philosophy and spirituality.

This walk explores some of the oldest surviving temples in the city, a dose of Sports History and the walk ends with a visit to a ghat where idol making starts with the scooping of the Ganga maati from the river bed and also ends with the immersion of the idols after the festivities.

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 7 am in summers and 7.30 am in winters.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: Lal Mandir near Sovabazaar Metro Station.

 

The Ghaat Katha Walk

The city of Calcutta developed from a cluster of villages into a bustling metropolis beside the meandering Hooghly and several ghats were built to provide easy access to the river. This walk explores the history, romance and mystery with a visit to one of the oldest mosques and Siva temple in the vicinity. A  ramble along the river bank with the majestic view of the Howrah bridge and the colourful flower market is a fitting finale.

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 7 am in summers and 7.30 am in winters.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: Jorabagan/B.K.Paul Avenue Crossing.

 

The Graves of the Raj:

The old cemeteries of Kolkata,  life and death in colonial Calcutta and the graves of its pioneering personalities. Different types of grave architecture, the ‘most beautiful girl in Calcutta’ in the late 18th century and a hair-raising mission of a British envoy to Tibet. The walk will cover South Park Street Cemetery, the largest non-Church cemetery outside the Anglo-American world in the 19th century!

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 9 am.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: South Park Street Cemetery.

 

Old China Town Walk

Calcutta boasts of the oldest Chinatown in the world, the Chinese community from several provinces of China started arriving and settling in Calcutta since the late 1770s. The Chinese in Calcutta became an integral part of the social fabric of the city excelling as artisans, carpenters, launderers, dentistsetc. They built temples in their settlement in Tiretta Bazar where a  thriving Chinatown came up adding to the ethnic and cultural diversity to Calcutta. This walk explores  what remains of this Old Chinatown of Kolkata and we will visit 5 Chinese temples.

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 7 am in summers and 7.30 am in winters.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: Poddar Court.

 

Once Upon a Time in Park Street

A thoroughfare with a glitzy and glamorous exterior, the many secrets and amazing anecdotes makes it an enigma. The history of the name of this street, a walk covering the entire length from the Asiatic Society till the site which was considered to be the outskirts of the city. Park Street as it was “Once Upon a Time”

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 7 am in summers and 7.30 am in winters.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: Asiatic Society.

 

Walking on Lost Trails – The Heritage of Bagh Bazaar

Winding serpentine paths dotted with forgotten history, hidden secrets, culinary delights and some ruins with their arches and collapsed roofs peeping through the grass and shrubbery are to be explored in this walk. Interesting stories of one of Calcutta’s oldest meighbourhood brings it to life.

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 7 am in summers and 7.30 am in winters.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: Bagh Bazaar Bata.

 

Old Bazaars, Streets and Shrines of Chitpore

If I were to describe the neighbourhood of Chitpore in one word it would be nothing else but an “enchantress”. The city’s oldest road and the first to be chronicled, Chitpore is Calcutta’s open museum: all the city’s communities, its social classes, men and women of all periods of history find their place here.

When the new Fort William was being built in the 1750s at Gobindapore, most of the displaced inhabitants migrated to North Kolkata. With the riches they already had and the additional wealth accumulated by the virtue of their association with the British, the nouveau Bengali gentry proceeded to build massive mansions here. The Pilgrim’s Path!

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 7 am in summers and 7.30 am in winters.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: Hanuman Mandir on Central Avenue.

 

A walking tryst in Bow Bazaar

If there is one place where culture, history, trade, stories and anecdotes jostle with each other to find place, it is in the narrow lanes of Bow Bazaar. It is here that we find temples, shrines, beautiful baaris along with the workshops of the jewellers, the remnants of glorious theatres long gone, the humble dwellings of educators and the silent stories of the famed kothas once centres of a glorious music culture. A walk which truly resonates with the fact that Calcutta is a melting pot of cultures.

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 7 am in summers and 7.30 am in winters.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: In front of Hind Inox.

 

The Chowringhee Chutzpah

Now named Jawaharlal Nehru Road, this road was the main north south artery through the city, leading to Chitpore in the north and Chowringhee, a village and later a suburb of Calcutta in the south. It was two miles along the east side of the Maidan. From the 1770s, the Chowringhee area became the main European part of the town. A slice of the European city within ours.

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 7 am in summers and 7.30 am in winters.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: In front of K.C. Das, Esplanade.

THE FREEDOM WALKS – CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

 

Bengal, through the 19^th and early 20^th centuries was witness to a phenomenon known as the Bengal Rennaissance. It  signified the social, cultural and intellectual awakening and  encompassed a blend of people from all walks of life- writers, poets, philosophers and artists. These persons shaped the thoughts and beliefs and influenced  society not only in Bengal but eventually the entire country.

 

The intellectulals, influenced by western thoughts and philosphy , embraced  issues questioning orthodox norms, confronting religion and the dogmas. Ironically, the enthusiam for Western ideas and ways of  life also produced a wave of anglophobia which laid the foundations of the freedom movement.

 

The three walks of the  different sites and places are

 

1. The Boi Para Walk:

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Kolkata was the epicenter of ‘The Bengal Renaissance’. This movement questioned existing orthodox ideas, particularly with respect to women, marriage, the dowry system, the caste system and religion. The area around College Street in Kolkata was the heart of the reformist movements like the Brahmo Samaj. Several leading institutions of learning were set up here. This area  provides an interesting insight into the social and intellectual concerns that shaped India, culminating in the struggle for independence.

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 7 am in summers and 7.30 am in winters.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: Central Metro Station near Maharana Pratap’s statue.

 

 

2. The Nationalist Trail:

Bidhan Sarani, the erstwhile Cornwallis Street was built by the Lottery Commission in the early 1800s. Through the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, it was the place which was the hot bed for nationalism and the centre of cultural and literary renaissance. The alleys and lanes have  witnessed the emergence of nationalist politics. There are  places associated with eminent personalities, the roots of the Bengal Renaissance. A  powerful influence in moulding current social and political thought, much of the legacy has been lost and forgotten.

• Availability: Throughout the year. Recommended time start time 7 am in summers and 7.30 am in winters.
• Duration: 3 hours approximately
• Meeting point: Raja Ram Mohan College, Amherst Street.

 

 

3. The Spirit of Renaissance-Emergence of a New Society:

The 19^th century in Bengal was a time of transition from medieval to the modern in a number of fields, including literature, religion, social reforms, political leanings and scientific discovery. Under the leadership of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, boundaries of traditional Hindu culture were pushed and there was a strong advocacy for the betterment  of Indian society especially that of women. In this walk, we explore the sites which laid the foundation of women’s education and emancipation.

 

 

FOR ALL TOURS

• Tour price: Rs. 1500 per person (Minimum 2 pax required)
• Inclusions:
• Expert English-speaking guide
• Some local snacks and bottled water
• All entries
• Exclusions:
• Any personal tips which the guests would want to give.