The Indian Coffee House, Kolkata

The Indian Coffee House, Kolkata is probably the oldest of all Coffee Houses in whole of India. I have visited the Indian Coffee House in Delhi, at Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, Alleppy in Kerela and Allahabad In Uttar Pradesh. All the coffee houses across India have same type of old world charm. They are all run by cooperative workers societies. The Furniture is same , the taste is same and people of all age group may be seen chatting in a noisy setting. The Coffee and other items are generally served in white ceramic crockery throughout India in all coffeee houses. The reason of the popularity of Indian Coffee House is its age old culture and also the price of items available here. The quality is also reasonably good.

The Narrow street will take you to an old building through a small gate just opposite The Sanskrit College on Bankim Chatterjee Street. Upstairs you will come across some book sellers on the way and up on the first floor and the second floor balcony, you can probably find sitting place in this coffee house. It has been documented in many books that the place was originally built in 1890 and was named the Albert Hall. At the time of freedom movement it was the place for meetings of the patriots. Later in 1944 it was converted into a coffee house. Even today it is the place for students, the academia, the artists etc. Notable personalities including Rabindra Nath Tagore, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Subhash Chandra Bose were frequent to this coffee house.

After having a hot cup of coffee i stepped out  and while wandering in and around the College Street area, near the Calcutta University, I  passed by The Presidency College, which is probably among the oldest colleges of India.

It has a small beautiful campus but the most notable feature is the alumini who have passed out from this college. The most prominent being Guru Rabindra Nath Tagore himself. In 2010, it was upgraded to the status of a University. The University is among the finest academic institutions in India.

In the second half of the day I planned to visit the much renowned , The National Library in Alipore area, considered to be the largest library in India by volume.

In fact, the old building is very impressive which is actually not in public use but has offices only. One can still walk up to the stairs and have a feel of the Place and the building.

Took a Tram towards the Esplanade to have a walk in the New Market in the evening. Its generally very crowded and is very popular with the locals as well as the tourists who come here for all sorts of shopping needs.