A Conversation with Meera: Why Kolkata's Soul Lives in Its Addas
Meera Dasgupta is a retired Bengali literature professor who has lived in the same North Kolkata house her entire life — 42 years in a crumbling colonial-era building with 14-foot ceilings, a courtyard that floods every monsoon, and a rooftop where she reads Rabindranath Tagore to her grandchildren.
We met at Indian Coffee House on College Street — a Kolkata institution since 1942 where filter coffee costs INR 30 and conversations have outlasted empires.
What makes Kolkata different from every other Indian city?
"The adda. That's the answer and that's the end. An adda is — how do I explain — it's the art of sitting and talking. Not about business. Not about money. About ideas, about poetry, about cinema, about whether Satyajit Ray or Ritwik Ghatak was the greater filmmaker. About politics, always politics.
In Mumbai, people meet to make deals. In Delhi, people meet to show status. In Kolkata, people meet to argue about Dostoevsky over INR 30 coffee. We've been doing this since the Bengal Renaissance in the 1800s. This Coffee House — look around — professors, students, poets, retired government clerks. They've been sitting at these same tables, having the same arguments, since 1942.
No other Indian city has this. Bangalore is too young. Chennai is too private. Kolkata is the only city that considers intellectual conversation a civic duty."
What should tourists see that they usually skip?
"Everyone goes to Victoria Memorial and Howrah Bridge. Fine. Beautiful. But three things they miss:
First, Kumartuli — the potters' quarter. Three hundred years of artisans sculpting Durga idols from river clay. During September and October, when Durga Puja production peaks, every lane is filled with half-formed goddesses. Arms drying on one side, faces being painted on the other. You're watching a living art tradition. Free to walk through. Just ask before photographing the artists.
Second, Kolkata's tram ride. India's only surviving tram network, running since 1902. Take route 5 or 25 through the old city. INR 10-20. It's slow, it creaks, and that's exactly the point. Kolkata refuses to be in a hurry.
Third, the Mallick Ghat flower market at dawn under Howrah Bridge. Thousands of flowers traded between 4 and 6 AM. The colors under the bridge lights, the voices, the river behind — it's the most photogenic thing in the city and most tourists are asleep."
Tell me about Durga Puja.
"Durga Puja is not a festival. It is Kolkata's reason for existing. Five days in October — the city shuts down, 3,000+ pandals go up, and every neighborhood competes to build the most spectacular temporary temple. Some pandals are replicas of the Angkor Wat. Others are political statements. One year, a pandal was built entirely from recycled mobile phones.
UNESCO recognized it as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2021, which Kolkata accepted gracefully while thinking 'we knew this already.'
The trick is visiting between 8 PM and midnight. That's when the pandals are fully illuminated and the streets become one continuous festival. Walk from Bagbazar to College Square to Suruchi Sangha. Take the metro — it runs extra hours during Puja. Forget sleeping. Nobody sleeps during Durga Puja.
Book hotels months ahead. Prices triple. But it's worth it. There is no experience in India that compares."
What about the food?
"Kolkata is India's cheapest metro for good food, and I say 'good' with a professor's precision.
Kathi rolls at Nizam's — INR 80-150. They invented the kathi roll. The egg-chicken version with green chutney is perfect. Hot Kati Rolls on Park Street is the competitor, but Nizam's is the original.
Phuchka — not pani puri, not golgappa, it's phuchka. The Vivekananda Park vendor near Southern Avenue makes the best in the city. INR 30 for six. The tamarind water is tangier and the potato filling has a hint of black salt that Delhi's golgappas lack.
For a proper Bengali meal, go to 6 Ballygunge Place. Full thali — INR 450-600. Shukto (bitter vegetable stew), doi maach (fish in yogurt), chingri malai curry (prawns in coconut cream), and mishti doi to finish. This is Bengali cuisine at its most refined.
And please — don't leave without mishti from Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick. Their sandesh and rosogolla are the finest in the city. INR 30-50 per piece. The shop on Paddapukur Road is the original."
Is Kolkata safe?
"Very. Probably the safest major Indian city for tourists, including solo women travelers. The main concerns are petty theft at New Market and Esplanade — standard crowded-market precautions. Avoid Sonagachi area at night.
The city feels safe late. Park Street and Esplanade are lively until midnight. The yellow Ambassador taxis have meters — insist on using them, minimum fare INR 40. Ola and Uber are the cheapest option for AC travel.
Kolkatans are, by nature, helpful to strangers. Maybe too helpful — you might get trapped in an adda when you only asked for directions."
"They come for two days on the way to Darjeeling. Two days! You can't understand Kolkata in two days. You can't even eat properly in two days.
They also expect it to be depressing — the Mother Teresa association, the poverty narrative. And yes, Kolkata has poverty. But it also has more Nobel laureates per capita than any Indian city. It has the world's largest book fair. It has a literary culture that produces more Bengali poetry collections per year than most countries produce total books.
Kolkata is not a sad city. It's a philosophical city. There's a difference."
If someone had four days, what would you plan?
"Day one: Victoria Memorial (INR 500 foreigners, beautiful gardens), Park Street food crawl — Coffee House, Flurys for English breakfast (INR 400-600), Peter Cat for chelo kebab (INR 550). Evening along the Hooghly riverside at Princep Ghat.
Day two: Old Kolkata — Kumartuli potters' quarter, Marble Palace (free, need permission letter from tourism office), College Street bookstalls (Asia's largest secondhand book market), Indian Museum (INR 500 foreigners, Asia's oldest museum since 1814).
Day three: Howrah Bridge at dawn (walk across, 15 minutes), Mallick Ghat flower market, then tram ride through central Kolkata. Afternoon at Jorasanko Thakur Bari — Rabindranath Tagore's ancestral home (INR 150). Evening at Nizam's for kathi rolls.
Day four: Slow day. Morning at Bagbazar ghat watching the Hooghly. Lunch at 6 Ballygunge Place. Afternoon at Kalighat temple. Evening mishti crawl — Balaram Mullick, then K.C. Das for the original rosogolla."
Any final thoughts?
The cultural corridor from Kolkata to Varanasi connects two of India's most soulful cities.
"Come during Durga Puja if you can. But even outside Puja season, Kolkata gives you something no other Indian city does — time. Time to sit. Time to think. Time to eat slowly. Time to argue about literature with a stranger over INR 30 coffee.
India's other cities are rushing toward the future. Kolkata is the only one that stopped and asked: but is the future worth rushing toward?
That question, I think, is why people fall in love with this city."
