Central Kolkata
Esplanade & the Maidan
A thousand acres of grass, cleared in 1758 to give the guns a clear shot.
- Known for
- The Maidan, trams, Eden Gardens, everything meeting everything
- Best hour
- 6am, or an hour before sunset
- Walk
- 45 min, 5 stops
The lung: an enormous field cleared for artillery fields of fire, now holding cricket, football, horses and the entire city's exercise.
Photographs
Photographs of the quarter. Open one to see it full size.
Must-see buildings
Shaheed Minar
1828, built for David Ochterlony. Renamed for the martyrs in 1969.
Eden Gardens
1864. The largest cricket ground in India and the loudest.
Fort William
1781. A working army base; the star plan is not visible from the ground.
New Market
1874. Sir Stuart Hogg Market, and still called Hogg Market by everyone.
Esplanade tram depot
The last of the network, and the Tram World museum car.
Where to eat
Nizam's
Hogg Street, New Market
The claimed birthplace of the kathi roll, 1932.
Anadi Cabin
Esplanade
Mughlai paratha since 1925.
K.C. Das
Esplanade
Rosogolla, from the family that invented it.
Jhalmuri on the Maidan
Anywhere along the eastern edge
Shaken in a tin, in a paper cone.
Things to see
- 01
The Maidan at six in the morning
Several thousand people walking, and nine cricket matches at once.
- 02
The heritage tram
From Esplanade depot. Check it is running before you go.
- 03
A derby at Eden or Salt Lake
Mohun Bagan against East Bengal. Nothing prepares you.
- 04
Horse carriages on Queens Way
Manes dyed pink. A genuinely strange survival.
Stories
Where this sits
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