Kolkata -- still called Calcutta by most of its residents and all of its admirers -- is unlike any other Indian city. It is crumbling and grand, intellectual and chaotic, desperately poor and culturally wealthy. As the capital of British India until 1911, it accumulated some of the subcontinent's finest colonial architecture, and as the hometown of Rabindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray, and Mother Teresa, it holds an outsized place in India's cultural life.
The city sprawls along the east bank of the Hooghly River in the steamy lowlands of West Bengal. Central Kolkata clusters around the Maidan, a vast green park flanked by the white marble Victoria Memorial at one end and the busy streets of Esplanade at the other. To the north lie the dense, atmospheric lanes of old Calcutta -- Kumartuli where clay idol-makers work year-round, the flower market at Mullik Ghat, and the frenetic bazaars near Howrah Bridge. South Kolkata is leafier and more residential, home to the city's best restaurants and the intellectual hubs around Jadavpur and Ballygunge.
What makes Kolkata special for travelers is its texture. This is a city where hand-pulled rickshaws still work the streets, where tea is served in clay cups at corner stalls, and where people will stop to debate poetry or politics with a stranger. The food is outstanding -- Bengali cuisine is one of India's great regional traditions, and the city's Mughlai, Chinese, and street food scenes are equally strong. Kolkata is not always easy, but it is always deeply rewarding.