lonely planet旅行指南系列lp英文版india-12-kolkata_v1.pdf

© Lonely Planet Publications 485 Kolkata Kolkata (Calcutta) (Calcutta) Simultaneously noble and squalid, cultured and desperate, Kolka s a daily festival of human existence. And it’s all played out before your very eyes on teeming streets where not an inch of space is wasted. By its old spelling, Calcutta, India’s second-biggest city conjures up images of human suffering to most Westerners. But Bengalis h e long been infuriated by one-sided depictions of their vibrant capital. Kolka s locally regarded as the intellectual and cultural capital of the nation. Several of India’s great 19th- and 20 entury heroes were Kolkatans, including guru-philosopher Ramakrishna, Nobel Prize–winning poet Rabindranath Tagore and celebrated film director Satyajit Ray. Dozens of venues showcase Bengali dance, poetry, art, music, film and theatre. And while poverty cer nly remains in-your-face, the dapper Bengali gentry continue to frequent grand old gentlemen’s clubs, back horses at the Calcutta Racetrack and play soothing rounds of golf at some of India’s finest courses. K As the former capital of British India, Kolkata re ns a feast of dramatic colonial architecture, O