Calcutta Diaries: The Free School Street and Esplanade Walk

A Red Brick Building, So Typical of Calcutta

A rather humid and torridly hot day.The June sun is beating down the city and with the rains deciding to give the city a miss,it has been increasingly difficult to stay outside.And here I was exploring the lanes and bylanes around Calcutta, trying to capture the city scapes in one frame.And along with me is the multitude.Its definitely crowded - right from the shop on the footpath to the street side vendor selling chowmeins to the shop on the high street.

S"h"udder Street

The intent was to capture Free School street and some portion of Esplanade that day.And it was after a good couple of years that I was visiting the place. 

Most old dilapidated buildings mingle with some new ones and thats how most parts of the city has been.Mosses growing on the walls. Some of which had cracks. The messes of wires around the lamp posts. That red brick building, so peculiar that it gives a feeling that its very much a part of the city's history.

Time stands still.

On Free School street you cannot miss those book stores - who sell new and the old ones. And then you cannot miss Kalman's, the tiny outlet- one of the finest places to get cold cuts of meat - sausages, salamis et al. You can also locate the Armenian College and the St Thomas's school. The Fire Brigade house spreads over quite an area and overlooks a significant portion of the street.

One of the more famous streets linking this street to JN Road is the Sudder street - which is the home of foreigners and backpackers  in the city. The quintessential foreign exchange shops - some of whom charge rather exorbitant rates - and the continental eateries along with the beer counters are very much a part of the place.

From Free School Street as one moves towards Park Street the famous restaurants - Tung Fong and Mocambo come up.The former is famous for its Chinese dishes where you can indulge in roasted lamb with icy cold beer and the later is Calcutta's famous address for its own style of Continental food. Here you get Chicken Stroganoff, Chicken a la Kiev, Tetrazinni but all come with the "India" made rubber stamp. Nevertheless the relaxed environment can always work wonders after a hard day out in the city.

I had almost made an entry into Mocambo while writing this passage, but the reality was much different. The reality was I was walking from the Park Street crossing through Free School street and then onto Esplanade in the terrible heat.

During our college going days Esplanade was the "center" of Calcutta. You would have found half of Calcutta's population descending onto the place at any given time in the city. Right from shopping malls, restaurants(of the fame of Nizam's, Aminia et al), bars and movie theatres(Metro, Lighthouse, New Empire, Globe) - it was an entertainment hotspot. You could also find Armani Jeans worth Rs 150 in Metro gali and designer watches for another 100 bucks. Nizam and Aminia was famous for their biryani(the glamour is no more there today). Shaw's bar offerred the cheapest of drinks and used to be teeming with patrons at all times. Touts used to take over the movie theatres during the release of a blockbuster. Fruit juice vendors and softy sellers dotted the place and there were the ballon sellers trying to sell their merchandise to the young kids.

The Words Are Definitely Not English!

But with the years the business center of the city had changed giving rise to shopping malls, high rises and the sophistication of Esplanade gradually dwindled. That being said, I had presumed that Esplanade will be empty during the afternoon, when I planned my visit. But once I reached there I found you needed to jostle for place for putting you feet. The footpath sellers to fruit vendors all of them were there. And so was "that" dynamic crowd. It was bustling with people all around. True, something was missing in Esplanade, but surely it didnt disappoint.

The hawkers had encroached the entire street in front of New Market making it difficult for the passersby. The cars in the parking area were littered with vendors ferrying their soft toys on the car bonnets. What a sight! And the couple of hours that I spent there, it was the same. Crowds, noise, brisk business and people haggling over prices. There used to be a road side eatery selling chowmeins and rolls during our college days and where I did venture out the last time I was in Esplanade, but unfortunately I found it replaced by another one. Scoop, an intimate restaurant long back had long lost its lustre and fallen prey to business ideas. The cosy outlet now resembled the food courts you normally see in the shopping malls. Lighthouse cinema has become another shopping plaza. And in New Empire you can find KFCs and Baristas in the ground floor. 

Rolling back 10 years, we couldnt afford Scoop  because it was meant for the elite. And I still remember the time when we werent allowed entry to Lighthouse bar because the security thought  that one of our accompanying friends was underage! 

A Chapel

But it was fun. And we love those precious bygone days. Generally we would visit Esplanade once a month and with the meagre pocket money that parents used to send us, it was considered luxury. Bars were strictly meant for drinking. We used to have chowmein at our favourite joint and then used to venture into the bar - where the peanuts and cigarettes were accompaniments of the beer - that used to come cold and cheapest. 

The one last time we, as college goers, met in Esplanade was in the New Cathay Bar, in the Oberoi Grand arcade. But since then it was Park Street all the way.  The Grand Arcade still remains littered with thick crowds but 26/11 has ensured that the once seemingly relaxed security at Grand Hotel is all the more tight now. I visited the Metro cinema and metro gali area and found the theatre in shambles. Talks are on to convert this place into another multiplex. Lest not forget that Metro cinema was one of the theatres where MGM used to release its movies during world premiers. But gone are those days and now it cuts a sorry picture - much like the other buildings in the city - which have remained in a decaying state. You can still find the street hawkers selling trousers for 150 bucks and other merchandise - the rule of whose bargaining is - quote 50% the price asked by the seller.

With the sun beating down, I found it to be extremely uneasy to explore more and went to a vendor selling chowmein and chilli chicken. Which I found to be gratifying. Actually I was hungry too. From there on it was back to where I had parked my Enfield - near the clock tower to New Market and then back home.