From Chinese Temple to Chittoda’s....

Our next destination was the 106 years old Chinese temple near Tiretta Bazar. As the wooden green staircase coupled with red ornate wall hangings take us back to the Oriental ,one cannot help notice the hanging-white tubelights disrupting the beauty of the room replete with intricate adornments and warm candlelight in beautifully carved old Chinese glass lamps. The glass lamp holders offer the adequate glow to the God making the tubelights seem really unnecessary in such a small yet beautifully adorned place. However looking back the memories of the temple becomes more prominent when I remember the warm Chinese faces that conversed with us in trilingual languages before letting us in .’’ Observation through traveling around helps you to learn more than you ever will through books’’, said one of them and perhaps it is true especially when we see three distinct destinations like the Chinese Temple, Kidderpore Dock and Dacres lane on the same day. Dacres lane seems to me the favourite haunt for all those with a gift of the grub. A narrow lane with tiny dark shops frying various delicacies in a huge black wok with flies hovering all over the place and broken benches on the other side for people to sit and eat, Dacres lane will still amaze you when the next thing you find a Merc and Santro entering the lane pushing you almost into one of the drains or the woks on either side. Chittoda’s little eatery specializing in its Chicken Stew with ‘’Roti ‘’which refers to bread is supposed to be really famous here but it is the fish fry that appealed to my taste buds the most.

After the delectable experience at Chittoda’s and the Chinese Temple the journey to Kidderpore had almost lulled me into sleep Despite the breathtaking view of Victoria Memorial,race course and the Maidan ,the journey is quite dusty till you enter the tram depot at Kidderpore. The view of the huge ships standing tall at the Kidderpore Docks from the Kidderpore bridge is majestic enough but sadly enough it is not the safest and cleanest of journeys that two young girls can hope to make especially when you are neither allowed to take photographs nor enter the prohibited area of the Dock. As the tram snakes back past the Fancy market at Kidderpore , Race Course ,Victoria Memorial and Maidan we are too exhausted to appreciate a little kid scolding a dog or the gorgeous view of a greener Calcutta in this route. All we could think of is how to make another visit to Chittoda soon to have another bite of that delectable fish fry before we have to return to our unavoidable hectic schedules.