KOLKATA: RAJ AND AFTER

STANDING TALL: GPO Kolkata in Dalhousie Square; (below) Sovabazar Raj Bari (Pic: Bivash Bannerjee)

The colonial capital may have been rechristened Kolkata, but the city’s glorious British Raj heritage holds a timeless attraction. Not surprisingly, the more popular walks conducted by the Calcutta Walk Group include the Dalhousie Square and its famous Writers Building, the Renaissance Bengal, Bazaars of the Old City and Myriad Calcutta Culture walks.

There are offbeat tours too such as the graveyard tour — a walk around the cemeteries of Park Street, also known as the Burial Ground Road. For the food connoisseur, the Bengali Cooking lessons tour goes through the various markets in the city and familiarises them with the ingredients that go into making authentic Bengali food. This walk ends with a cooking demonstration either by a housewife or by chefs from famous restaurants.

All this comes at a price, which ranges from Rs 1,250 for a no-frills walk to Rs 4,000 for a full-day city tour. According to Iftekhar Ahsan, coordinator of the group, the ideal months are between October and February. The groups he conducts are not very big, about 20 walkers in all.