Kolkata Culture & Traditions

Kolkata Culture, traditions, cuisine, religion & people:

Calcutta Culture

It is fun to explore the culture of Kolkata India. Over here, the days begin with a cup of tea and thereafter people leave from their houses to enjoy the morning breeze. They carry out their fitness workout consisting of walking, jogging, stretching etc. Bengal offers a mind-blowing variety of sweets and yummy mouthwatering dishes. Read on to know more about Calcutta culture:

Kolkata is truly a city of talent and passion, where people are lively and have an enthusiasm to live life to the fullest. If you want to get well versed with the Kolkatta culture, the best way is to look out for a friend over there and join adda i.e. the local parlance where chat sessions are held. Discussions take place on a wide variety of subjects ranging from politics, sports, religion, news, books, art, films, music, food etc. The discussions are healthy and never end with arguments or an ugly note. 

Bengalis are very fond of music. Infact, if you go about visiting houses in the neighborhood, you'll find that there is an aspiring singer in almost every home. Bengalis love to indulge in yummy food. Infact, every meal ends up with some delicious dessert. For people who love eating junk food, Calcutta is just an apt place.

Festivities are an integral part of the city. Calcutta hosts a variety of fairs, film fests, music conferences and folk fairs. It houses the Marwaris, Parsis, Anglo Indians, Jews, Armenians and the joyous people of China town. Kolkata has a plethora of tourist attraction places encompassing museums, galleries, heritage buildings, amusement parks, temples, churches and synagogues

Calcutta Cuisine

Bengali traditional food, especially the yummy mouthwatering sweets are popular all over India. Bengal boasts off its cottage cheese based sweets like sandesh, rosogolla and chanar payesh. Other must try delicacies consist of Misti doi (sweetened curd) and Patali gur confectionery (date palm jaggery). When it comes to Calcutta cuisine, it can be said that each district of Bengal has its own unique dish to offer like Langcha and mihidana-sitabhog of Bardhaman, sharbhaja of Krishnanagar, chanabora of Murshidabad etc. Read on to know more about cuisine of Kolkata, India…

Calcutta will never disappoint food lovers. In Bengal, Chinese cuisine is in demand. North Indian and south Indian food can be found virtually in any restaurant. Other cuisines that Bengalis are fond of include Continental, Thai, Tibetian and Anglo-Indian. If you wish to savor the taste of these cuisines, you can visit some eating-houses in and around Chowringhee and Park Street. When it comes to the cooking specialty of Calcutta, Kathi rolls (kebabs wrapped in dough) truly deserve a special mention. 

What to eat in Calcutta India

Below is given a list of some foods that you can indulge in:

• Luchi
• Cholaar dal
• Kochuri and alurdom
• Chop-cutlet
• Telebhaja

Some of the best confectionary shops of Kolkata that provide quality stuff are:

• Flury's (formerly Swiss owned) on Park Street
• Nahoum's (oldest Jewish bakery) in New Market
• Others include Uppu, Crust, Kathleen, Monginis, Jalajoga

Calcutta Folk Music

It is very difficult to trace the origin of Bengali music, but it can be said that it has seen lot of variations. The reservoir of traditional music of Kolkata, India is very comprehensive and can be classified into distinctive categories. One among them is the Calcutta folk music, which in itself provides a number of options to choose from.

Here is given an overview of different kinds of Bengali music:

• Folks Songs
  • Baul - these are the songs sung by a specific group of people known as Bauls.
  • Kirtan - religious songs that are mostly sung in chorus.
  • Bhatiali - these songs are more commonly sung by the boatmen. S.D.Burman experimented a lot with these tunes and used them in several popular modern songs.
  • Majlishi Classical Songs - thungri, toppa
• Devotional Songs - Ramprasadi, ShyamaSangeet, Bhaktigeeti
• Rabindra Sangeet - songs written and tuned by Rabindranath Tagore
• General Modern Bengali Songs- Film and non-film songs
• Ganasangeet- these songs convey a social message and are usually sung in chorus.
• Classical Music
• Vocal - Kheyal, different ragas.
• Instrumental - Sitar, Sarod, Flute, Tabla

Calcutta People

The reservoir of Calcutta people is very comprehensive consisting not just of Bengali people, but also a number of other ethnicities. People of Kolkata India can be divided into a number of categories, namely, Ghotis from West Bengal and Bangals from East Bengal, Biharis, Marwaris, Oriyas, Anglo-Indians, Chinese, Tamils, Telegus, Malayalees, Gujaratis, Assamese, Marathis, Parsees, Nepalese and Caucasian Europeans. 

Most of the ethnic groups are living peacefully in Calcutta. However, the relations between Hindus and Muslims are little tensed. Migrants from world over form part of Kolkata's society. Each ethnicity represents a unique feature of its own. Parsees, who inhabited Calcutta before the British had taken over, were converted into entrepreneurs by the colonial powers

Punjabis form a major part of Calcutta's population. They have made an incredible contribution in the fields of irrigation, warfare, technology, arts & crafts, commerce, and business. Chinese people deserve the credit for promoting the religious values and practices of Buddhism and Confucianism. Marwaris today hold high positions in the cotton, jute and banking industry.

Calcutta Religion

Being a cosmopolitan city, Kolkata represents a blend of different religions. Majority of people inhabiting Calcutta are Hindus. Muslims are in minority. Other minority communities include Christians, Buddhist, Sikhs and Jains. Thus, the religion of Bengal India is not very clear. Read on to know more about the religion of Kolkata West Bengal…

On the basis of religious sects, Hindus can be further classified into a number of categories ranging from monotheists to polytheists. The largest religious sect follows Vaishnavism. In the traditional caste hierarchy, the highest position is held by the Brahmins, who are considered to be the main guardians of sacred scriptures. After Brahmins, the next caste in order of the precedence is that of Vaidyas followed by Kshatriyas and Sudras.