Tramps whiling time away.:P

One of the most pleasurable walks that you can take in Calcutta is surprisingly a detour to Chowringhee by walking down Sudder Street to Free School Street and then to Chowringhee through our beloved Park Street. Over the years Sudder Street has become dirtier despite still sustaining to be one of the tourist hot spots in the city. However this should not discourage you from having a look around at the marvelous curio shops and stationery shops that line up along Sudder and Free School Street. The latter might be notorious for a number of reasons and might not be the ideal haunt of young girls but during the day its great to walk along this road ogling at the old discs and gramophone records being sold at shops and cheap second hand books on travel being laid out on display. From handwoven calendars on Indian myth to tiny magnets meant for foreign tourists there is no end to the goodies you can avail on this road. If you are given a chance to redecorate your home then you might as well give the malls a miss to get the finest curio items at the most reasonable price from this area. The old shop of Sasha on this street might not seem affordable to all and sundry but if you are one for handicrafts then this is a shop that you should definitely check out. When one walks past Armenian College,where William Makepeace Thackeray was born you encounter a series of alleys to your right and left offering a wide range of services like Chinese cuisine to Chinese dentistry and before you know you are on Park Street.

Park Street can never fail to enchant anybody who loves Calcutta. Whether you decide to step into Barista for a hot cup of expensive coffee or prefer to opt for the excellent Elaichi Coffee of eight bucks from the street vendor in front of the Indian museum , this is one walk that is worth it for the sheer wide range of fancy things one gets to see. The stretch of Chowringhee from Park Street to New Market has the most interesting things being sold at the most unexpected prices. And by interesting I do mean things that are hard to find like a cheap version of ‘’attar’’or the perfumes used by Moghul emperors in the olden days, books you would never ‘dare’ to find anywhere for its licentious content and curio items at hardly 15 rupees each. Shops that sell posters and pens along with earbuds and compasses are pretty common here and it is likely that whoever you are you would not resist yourself from purchasing something or the other from these shops along the pavement. Whether you are religious , have a gift of the grub for street foods or one for junk jewellery this is one road you should never give a miss.It is a window shoppers delight in every possible way.

P.S-Do not be amazed at dogs and puppies sleeping peacefully in their respective winter wears on these road