India December 2023 to January 2024
Kolkata and Chennai

CONTENTS Flight to Kolkata and the Indian Museum (This page) Kolkata: Victoria Memorial, Academy of Fine Arts, and Indian Classical Music Kolkata: Dance, Art, Shopping, and Temple Visits Chennai: Meeting Up with an Old Friend, Kapaleeshwarar Temple Visits, Indian Classical Music, and the Dance for Dance Festival Chennai: Indian Classical Music and Dance, Ending the Year with a Walk, Dinner, and Ceremony at the Theosophical Society Chennai: Ringing in the New Year with South Indian Cuisine, a Visit to the Government Museum, and Lots of Indian Classical Music and Dance

Flight to Kolkata and Exploring the Indian Museum

I greatly enjoy the art and culture of India, so I try to come every year. My first visit took place way back in 1983-84 with a four-month bicycle ride from Madras (now Chennai) to New Delhi. I’ve cycled extensively around India since, including rides from the icy mountains of Ladakh in the far north to the warm seas at Kanyakumari at the southernmost tip. I’ve ridden just about everywhere in India that I wished, so I now come on backpacking trips for the culture, art, history, and cuisines. I missed coming to India during 2021 and 2022, then returned in February-March 2023, https://arizonahandbook.com/India_KL_Philippines2023_01.html. Now I’m back for a visit to Kolkata, a city I’ve not been to for six years, then on to Chennai in the far southern state of Tamil Nadu.
 
12 December 2023 Bangkok-Kolkata flight
Flights between Bangkok and India tend to go late at night, as did Air Asia FD 120. That gave all day to finish packing and taking care of the many last-minute details that always pop up. A Bangkok traffic jam made for a very slow start of a taxi ride to Don Mueang Airport, but I had allowed more than four hours and easily made it with plenty of time to spare. Check-in, security, and immigration went unexpectedly quickly. The Airbus A320-200 took to the skies a little past 11 p.m., then took only 2½ hours to Kolkata, arriving a little past midnight because I had gained 1½ hours from the time change. I had a window seat and a tasty small Penang curry dinner. Total cost for the flight came to $122.57.
 
13 December Kolkata
Nearly all the passengers on the flight were from India, so I quickly got through immigration in the foreigner’s line. I picked up my bag and headed outside into the cool night air and found a prepaid taxi booth where I got a beat-up old taxi of a 1950s British design for a Rs. 500 ride into Kolkata. Unlike in Bangkok with its smooth expressways, here the taxi driver had to meander down narrow and often bumpy streets to Hotel Afridi International in the center, booked through Agoda at $187.68 for eight nights. Normally I would have preferred to stay in an Airbnb, but with the middle-of-the-night arrival I had to choose a hotel that promised 24-hour check-in. I knocked on the gate, then hotel staff roused themselves and checked me in. My small room lacked an outside window, so I had to rely on the air-conditioner to keep the air fresh. The location is conveniently near the old tourist area of Sudder Street with restaurants, countless shops, and the Indian Museum close at hand. The narrow lanes of this neighborhood and the New Market area just to the north have incredible congestion with pedestrians, cyclists, impatient motorcyclists, and honking cars jostling to get through. Human rickshaw drivers still ply their trade here, adding to the mayhem with their ancient high-wheeled hand-pulled carts. Window shopping is amazing for the bejeweled women’s dresses and even shoes that sparkle with fake gems, sequins, colorful embroidery, and even small pieces of mirrored glass; I assume that women wear these at home as I don’t see them wearing such garments in public. Some shops also sell extremely ornate wedding costumes for women and men. Christmas trees and decorations fill shops, where saxophone-playing Santas seem to be a top seller.
 
The day dawned mostly sunny, hazy, and cool—winter here is chillier than in Bangkok. After a good rest I tackled the most important part of any Indian visit nowadays—getting a SIM card for my phone. One of the hotel staff showed me to a little outdoors booth where a fellow went through the elaborate registration process. That took more than half an hour, then the phone soon came to life. I paid Rs. 500 for the Airtel SIM card, Rs. 100 for the labor, then another Rs. 100 as a tip. I took it easy for the remainder of the day, feeling tired after a busy week in Bangkok and the night flight. The long-running Blue Sky Café on Sudder Street is a favorite of mine with an incredibly diverse menu of North Indian, Italian/Continental, Chinese/Tibetan, and even Thai food. The Western breakfast offerings alone fill up two pages of the menu, and I went with a cheese omelet, banana pancake, and papaya lassi. I returned for dinner of a palak paneer, tomato soup, and rice.
 
14 December
After breakfast at Blue Sky Café, I headed to the nearby Indian Museum, a vast collection which began more than 200 years ago in 1814. As is common with Indian institutions, I had to pay a higher foreigner’s entrance fee (Rs. 500). I then got a photo permit for an extra Rs. 118. The museum had been closed for renovations during my last Kolkata visit, so I felt especially glad to return. I first headed upstairs to the paintings galleries to see the extremely detailed miniature paintings by Persian, Mughal, and other styles that go back as far as the 15th century. Modern Indian paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries are good to see as well.

The 11th International Kolkata Art Festival goes up in the courtyard of the Indian Museum.


The group show had much variety!


The inscription reads: This Statue of Her Majesty Victoria Empress of India,
was Presented to the Indian People by Mahatab Chund Bahadur, Maharaja Dhiraj
of Burdwan, in Commemoration of Her Majesty’s Gracious Assumption of the Imperial Title, on January 1st 1877.


Miniature paintings hang out here.


Detail of Folio from Shahnama (gouache on paper), Persian 15th C.


Prince Reading a Book (gouache on paper), Persian 16th C.


Prince and Princess Standing Under a Tree Holding a Bird Bulbul
(gouache on paper), Provincial Mughal 18th C.


Ragini Gouri (gouache on paper), Amer, Rajasthan 18th C.


Prince Practicing Archery (gouache on paper), Provincial Mughal 18th C.


Taj Mahal (watercolor on ivory), one of a set of Royal Dignitaries and Edifices, Delhi, Mughal 18th C.


Ganesh-Janani (gouache on paper) by Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951)


Bridging Over to Lanka (watercolor on paper) by K. Venkatappa (1887-1965)

I took a quick look in the compact and very popular Egyptian Gallery, centered on a mummy in a painted casket. Downstairs I entered the vast sculpture hall of stone gods, goddesses, Buddhas, saints, and other figures from ancient times. The adjacent Bharhut Gallery holds the red sandstone pillars, arches, and columns of Bharhut Stupa (ca. 125 B.C.-ca. A.D. 73), brought from Madhya Pradesh. It’s one of the oldest Buddhist narrative works, employing symbolic motifs such as wheels, thrones, and footprints for the Buddha rather than the human form.

Nrisingha Avatara, the man-lion form of Vishnu, (basalt, c. 11th C.), from Sarishadaha, West Bengal


Mahisasuramardini (chlorite, ca. 12th C.) from Manbhum, Bihar


Miracles of Sravasti (sandstone, ca. 5th C.) from Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh


Many artists tried their hand in the galleries of stone sculptures.

Most of the other massive halls in the museum depict the natural world, and I especially liked the one dedicated to the use of plants. I also enjoyed perusing the fossils and geology halls with their old-school cabinets. I finished off the day with a malai kofta dinner at Blue Sky Café, then swung by a cake shop for a sweet slice. 

This large gallery showed the uses of plants.


An Irish elk (Cervus megaceros) towers 10 feet high with an antler spread of 11 feet in the Fossils Hall.


The Geology Hall offers countless specimens.


Sweet artistry in Kathleen Confectionary

On to Kolkata: Victoria Memorial, Academy of Fine Arts, and Indian Classical Music