College Street

Photographs of the quarter. Open one to see it full size.

• 
  Boi ParaPlate 01
• 
  Street foodPlate 02
• 
  North KolkataPlate 03

• Presidency University

  Founded 1817 as Hindu College. The Baker Laboratory is behind the main gate.

• Indian Coffee House

  First floor, Bankim Chatterjee Street. Worker-owned since 1958.

• University of Calcutta

  1857. The Senate House was demolished in 1960 and is still resented.

• Sanskrit College

  1824. Vidyasagar was its principal and opened it to non-brahmins.

• Medical College

  1835. The first institution in Asia to teach Western medicine in English.

• Putiram

  Surya Sen Street

  Since 1868. Kochuri and radhaballavi before ten.

• Kalika Mukhorochak

  Surya Sen Street

  Telebhaja since 1962. Students have kept it alive.

• Paramount Sherbets

  Bankim Chatterjee Street

  Since 1918. The daab sherbet.

• Indian Coffee House

  Bankim Chatterjee Street

  Infusion and a mutton afghani cutlet.

1. 01

   The Coffee House at four

   High ceiling, slow fans, and a room that sounds like one argument.

2. 02

   The stalls at Colootola

   Ask for something obscure. Watch what happens.

3. 03

   Presidency's Baker Laboratory

   Where J. C. Bose and P. C. Ray worked.

4. 04

   Paramount's marble counter

   Unchanged since 1918. Order the daab.

• 

  adda/7 min

  The table at the Coffee House that argued for fifty years

  Adda is not conversation. It is a Bengali institution with rules, and College Street is where it was formalised.

  4 November 2025

• 

  books/6 min

  A city that reads at midnight

  The Kolkata Book Fair is the largest non-trade book fair in the world by footfall. It is held on a field, and it is not really about books.

  2 February 2026