South Kolkata
Ballygunge
Tree-lined, apartment-blocked, and the epicentre of pandal-hopping.
- Known for
- South Kolkata bhadralok, Puja hopping, good restaurants
- Best hour
- Puja evenings
- Walk
- 40 min, 5 stops
Where the Bengali professional middle class settled through the twentieth century, and where the city's idea of itself mostly lives.
Photographs
Photographs of the quarter. Open one to see it full size.
Must-see buildings
Rabindra Sarobar
The lake. Rowing clubs, a stadium, and the whole quarter's morning walk.
Birla Mandir
1996. Late, enormous, and cream sandstone.
Maddox Square
A cricket ground for eleven months and the city's biggest social event for four days.
Gariahat flyover
Ugly, useful, and the best view of the market beneath it.
Where to eat
6 Ballygunge Place
Ballygunge Place
Bengali, sit-down, in a converted house. The daab chingri.
Bhojohori Manna
Ekdalia Road and branches
Consistent, unromantic, good. Kosha mangsho.
Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick
Multiple
Since 1885. Baked mishti doi.
Kasturi
Mirza Ghalib Street and Ballygunge
Bangladeshi Bengali. Kochu pata chingri.
Things to see
- 01
Maddox Square on Ashtami
Not the pandal. The field around it.
- 02
Southern Avenue in the rain
The tree cover, and the light under it.
- 03
Rabindra Sarobar at dawn
Rowers, walkers, and a surprising amount of birdlife.
- 04
Gariahat market
Saris on the pavement, fish inside, and hawking that has survived every clearance.
Where this sits
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27 quarters · pinch or use + / − to zoom
