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Kolkata City Information
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Kolkata City Information

Nōmōshkar!

‘Kôlikata’ is the original word from where ‘Kolkata’ has originated. It is actually the Bengali name of one of the 3 villages of that place. Also, it is known that the name was derived from a place called ‘Kalighat’ while another theory says that it is a variation of ‘Kalikkhetrô’. The city was earlier known as ‘Calcutta’ and is the capital of West Bengal. The state borders with Bangladesh and is known to be the main educational, cultural and commercial center of East India years back. In addition to this, the Port of Kolkata is considered to be oldest operating port and today the city is also known as the cultural capital of India.

Kolkata is known as “City Of Joy” and is sprawled across north-south along the east bank of the river Hooghly. According to the facts, the city originally was a wetland but over the years, the place has been flooded with the people. The other undeveloped area comes under East Kolkata Wetlands, with alluvial soil and water in there. With this, the basin of Bengal basically consists of three structural unit namely central hinge or shelf/slope break, shelf or platform in the west and a pericratonic tertiary basin. When talking about the location of Kolkata, it is situated right atop the hinge zone’s western part that is in the more than 20 kilometers of area.

Due to its magnificent landscape, historical sites and many other beautiful tourist attractions, Kolkata is known as one of the best tourist destinations in India.

Kolkata
State West Bengal
District Kolkata
ZIP code(s) 700 xxx
Area code(s) +91-33
Official languages Bengali
Website www.kmcgov.in

Kolkata Weather & Temperature

When it comes to the climate of Kolkata, it stays pleasant. The city has tropical wet and dry climate, which actually comes under Koppen Climate classification. This kind of climate classification further has five important group, which includes A (tropical), B (dry), C (temperate), D (continental), and E (polar). Every letter here represent a specific type of temperature and is accordingly used by the meteorological department. It is true that the temperature of Kolkata remains pleasant all year round but the wind and cyclone can be risky. According to the reports of United Nations Development Program, the area has the zone of cyclone and wind that is categorized into very high damage risk. However, the overall weather conditions here are fine and worth living in.

While talking about the rainfall in this region, Bay of Bengal is responsible for bringing rains here. This city experiences the south-west summer monsoon in the months of June, July, August and September. It is seen that the highest rainfall occurs in the month of July and August here and people do enjoy it. When it is about sunshine, the city receives around 2,107 hours of sunshine annually with highest sunshine in the month of April. If you don’t like winters much then this place is ideal for you to live.

Climate data for Kolkata (Alipore) 1971–1990
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 32.8
(91.0)
38.4
(101.1)
41.1
(106.0)
43.3
(109.9)
43.7
(110.7)
43.9
(111.0)
39.9
(103.8)
38.4
(101.1)
38.9
(102.0)
39.0
(102.2)
34.9
(94.8)
32.5
(90.5)
43.9
(111.0)
Average high °C (°F) 26.4
(79.5)
29.1
(84.4)
33.5
(92.3)
35.3
(95.5)
35.4
(95.7)
34.0
(93.2)
32.3
(90.1)
32.1
(89.8)
32.4
(90.3)
32.3
(90.1)
30.3
(86.5)
27.0
(80.6)
31.7
(89.1)
Daily mean °C (°F) 20.1
(68.2)
23.0
(73.4)
27.6
(81.7)
30.2
(86.4)
30.7
(87.3)
30.3
(86.5)
29.2
(84.6)
29.1
(84.4)
29.1
(84.4)
28.2
(82.8)
24.9
(76.8)
20.8
(69.4)
26.9
(80.4)
Average low °C (°F) 13.8
(56.8)
16.9
(62.4)
21.7
(71.1)
25.1
(77.2)
26.0
(78.8)
26.5
(79.7)
26.1
(79.0)
26.1
(79.0)
25.8
(78.4)
23.9
(75.0)
19.6
(67.3)
14.5
(58.1)
22.2
(72.0)
Record low °C (°F) 6.7
(44.1)
7.2
(45.0)
10.0
(50.0)
16.1
(61.0)
17.9
(64.2)
20.4
(68.7)
20.6
(69.1)
22.6
(72.7)
20.6
(69.1)
17.2
(63.0)
10.6
(51.1)
7.2
(45.0)
6.7
(44.1)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 11
(0.4)
30
(1.2)
35
(1.4)
60
(2.4)
142
(5.6)
288
(11.3)
411
(16.2)
349
(13.7)
288
(11.3)
143
(5.6)
26
(1.0)
17
(0.7)
1,800
(70.9)
Average rainy days (≥ 1.0 mm) 1.2 2.2 3.0 4.8 8.7 14.7 20.5 20.2 15.7 8.1 1.5 0.9 101.5
Average relative humidity (%) 66 58 58 66 70 77 83 83 81 73 67 68 71
Mean monthly sunshine hours 203.9 201.2 225.8 235.4 227.1 123.1 93.1 104.9 116.2 182.6 190.8 203.4 2,107.5

Kolkata Places to Visit

  1. Victoria Memorial- Locatedin the Southern End of the Maidan, it is a beautiful white building that was finished building in the year 1921. As the name hints, the building was named after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. This building today serves as a museum with the statues of people from the British Colonial period and also the paintings, books and other sculptures. If you get a chance to visit this place in the evening then you can enjoy sound and light show there. You can go to this place from Tuesday to Sunday and the timings are 10AM until 5PM. It is highly reasonable for the Indians.
  2. Park Street- This is one of the most interesting streets that was officially named after Mother Teresa Sarani. This very place is just perfect for hangout, as it has got various restaurants, cafes, entertainment and others. Park Street steals the attention of every tourist who visit Kolkata because it offers some good shopping options. It is best known for its nightlife and the street here remains happening with cabaret, jazz and other kinds of floor shows. You can visit o Blue Fox, Moulin Rouge, Mocambo, Trinca and others for a new experience.
  3. Howrah Bridge- A ride through Howrah Bridge will make you journey to Kolkata complete. It was opened in the year 1943, which was initially known as Rabindra Setu, named after the very famous Bengali Poet, Rabindranath Tagore. The interesting fact is that it is the longest bridges of its type in the whole world. Each day, around 4,000,000 pedestrians and 150,000 vehicles cross this bridge approximately. The location of this very popular bridge is right to the North of BBD Bagh central business district.
  4. Dakshineshwar Kali Temple- This is one of the oldest Hindu temples which was founded by Rani Rashmoni in the year 1855. The deity here is ‘savior of the universe’ i.e. Bhavatarini. Rani Rashmoni saw a dream with a temple in it and as a result of this, she thought of building this temple. The location of this temple is right at the northern outskirts of Kolkata on the eastern bank of Hooghly River.

Top 5 hotels in Kolkata

  1. The Oberoi Grand- This hotel is situated in the New Market, which is the main shopping district in the city. It is counted among one of the most luxurious hotels in Kolkata with all the necessary amenities including a swimming pool, fitness center, spa, and other recreational activities. The hotel has complimentary parking and offers room service throughout day and night. With this, the hotel has 4 dining options with free WiFi available in all rooms at all times. The staff of the hotel is highly amiable and extend complete help to all its customers.
  2. The Westin Kolkata Rajarhat- Westin is located in New Town, Kolkata and captivates attention of a number of tourists due to its amazing hospitality. It is a just 20-25 minute ride away from the airport and has a restaurant to dine. The hotel has a free parking for the guests while it also has a swimming pool, fitness center and spa. The rooms have a very nice and picturesque view that will make you stay even more peaceful.
  3. The Lalit Great Eastern- Another luxurious hotel in Kolkata is The Lalit Great Eastern, which is equipped with all the essential facilities that you need including air conditioned rooms, spacious bathroom with personal hygiene kit- dental kit, bathrobe etc., fitness center, spa center and others. The best part is that the staff behavior of this hotel is highly appreciable, as they are always available to solve the queries of the customers.
  4. JW Marriott Hotel- This hotelis known for its majestic stay and offers the best on-site dining option. It houses a restaurant named- Vintage Asia, which offers Asian specialty cuisines prepared by the best chefs of the industry. The restaurant operates for all 24 hours of the day while the entertainment and leisure activity incudes the discotheque in its premises, which is finely designed and absolutely safe.
  5. Holiday Inn- Holiday inn is again one of the finest hotels in Kolkata for a comfortable stay. Here, rooms are spacious, air conditioned, and has all the essentials including bathroom slippers, bathrobe, kettle, toiletry items, towels etc. It is easily reachable from the airport and offers an easy check-in and check-out. With this, it has a highly professional staff that is ready extend all the possible support to the guest in case of any queries.

Transport in Kolkata

The entire city of Kolkata is covered with the various means of transport, which simply means that you will not face any issues in commuting in this city. You can easily travel through Kolkata Suburban Railway while trams, hand-pulled rickshaws are easily available for commuting to nearby places. The Kolkata Metro, which was opened in the year 1984 has become the most used means of the transport and experiences thousands of commuters every day. Despite being the oldest underground mass transit system in India, it covers a distance of 27 kilometers if we talk about the north to south of the city.

In addition to this, there was a survey held in the year 2013 by the International Association of Public Transport that analyzed the public transport systems of different cities and places Kolkata among the top 6 of the Indian cities. Among the long distance railway stations, the major ones include Howrah, Shalimar, Chitpur and Sealdah. Out of these four, Shalimar links Kolkata to many of the major cities in Bengal while Howrah is known to be the largest railway complex in India. In addition to this, the city of Kolkata also serves as the headquarters of 3 main railway zones which includes Eastern Railway, Kolkata Metro Railways and South-Eastern Railway. In total, there are 17 railway zones and three are in this city only. The biggest part is that you can travel from Kolkata to Bangladesh without much hassles because it has both road and rail connectivity that can take you to Dhaka, which is the capital of Bangladesh.

In Kolkata, the facility of buses is also good and is used by thousands of people for regular commuting. These buses are operated by both the private operators and the government of the state, with this, the tram services are also good. It is basically a slow moving train that has a separate track on the roads and helps people to reach to nearby distances. However, the tram services are not present in some specific parts of the city. Besides these modes of transport, the facility of yellow taxi is also famous and in fact, the yellow taxis have been used in various Bollywood movies as well. You can also opt for hired public conveyances such as auto rickshaws and the newly built radio taxis.

However, if we talk about the privately owned vehicles then there number would be less in this city as compared to the others. It is because the city already has many of public transport modes. But there has been an increase in the number of registered vehicles, as it increased 44% in the time of 7 years according to the survey conducted in the year 2004. With this, the different agencies that are known to operate the long distance bus services consists of the South Bengal State Transport Corporation, the Calcutta State Transport Corporation, and the North Bengal State Transport Corporation. Besides these, there are a number of private operators also. Esplanade and babughat are the major bus terminals of the city.

Education opportunities in Kolkata

List of 10 popular schools in Kolkata

  1. Calcutta Girls High School
  2. Chittaranjan Colony Hindu Vidyapith, Deshbandhu Nagar
  3. Children's Foundation School, Gopalpur, Budge Budge Road
  4. Anglo Arabic Secondary School, M. G. Road
  5. Bagmari-Manicktala Government Sponsored Higher Secondary School
  6. Indira Gandhi Memorial High School, Dum Dum
  7. Delhi Public School Megacity
  8. Calcutta Airport English High School
  9. Bishop George Mission School, CIT Road, Beliaghata
  10. Amarasi Vidya Mandir (Govt. Aided), Cossipore

List of 10 popular colleges in Kolkata

  1. Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose College
  2. Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
  3. Sister Nibedita Government General Degree College for Girls
  4. The Regional Institute of Printing Technology
  5. West Bengal University of Teachers' Training, Education Planning and Administration
  6. Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute
  7. Birla Institute of Liberal Arts and Management Sciences
  8. Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College
  9. City College of Commerce and Business Administration
  10. Vivekananda College for Women

Thus, Kolkata is a city that can give wings to your dreams and turn you into what you have always dreamt of becoming. Whether it is about the climate of the city or the educational and career opportunities, the city is on the top of everything. Planning to reside here would leave you with no regrets and is sure to give you a peaceful and happy life. Bhalo theko!

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