Kolkata and Delhi, the Similarities and Differences: My Travelogue

These instances are very rare in my life when I get a chance to travel outside my city, even though I call myself a traveler. I am one of those who regularly comes across a Facebook post talking about travel and then I tell myself, “Yeah!! This is you bro” which undoubtedly is not me. In last six years, I had very few chances to travel outside Delhi and there are reasons: I can’t travel alone, I at least need one person to be there with me. Moreover, I really feel that people who can travel alone got some courage in them, I really wanna know how do they do that.

Let’s get back to the topic, so, I had this opportunity to travel back to Kolkata after a long wait of six years and I couldn’t control my excitement to get back to the place where I spent most of my childhood. Moreover, If you have the past in Kolkata or any other part of West Bengal then you would know the immense love that I have for food. Now, the reason I am writing today is because I really don’t love myself here, in Delhi and often look for a reason to criticize Delhi. And having the ticket to Kolkata I had my chance. Did I get disappointed or was I happy? Please guess it after I complete. Today I will compare Delhi and Kolkata based on my life in these two places.  

Traveling in Kolkata is really cheaper, kudos to that:

So, on Monday at 5 pm I reached Howrah station and I had only Rs 400 in my pocket, which is too less when you’re traveling. As a backup, I had an ATM card but with the demonetization aftermath finding an ATM in an unfamiliar place was like finding a shop in CP, Delhi. Whenever I travel in Delhi I always keep Rs 10 as the minimum fare, if I can’t find a DTC bus. But believe me or not, I was shocked when the bus conductor asked for Rs 7 as the bus fare for my journey. Yes, Kolkata is really cheap in terms of traveling.

Traffic:

Traffic, this is one time when I felt Kolkata is an imitation of Delhi. My journey was hardly of 10 km's which are close to 20 minutes for buses in Delhi on the North side of Delhi but it took me 1 hour and 15 minutes to travel the same distance by bus in Kolkata. And, the traffic was a real struggle in Kolkata, even though the traffic police were present there. I guess this was because the roads are really small in Kolkata in the old parts of the city.

Convenience in traveling:

I really don’t appreciate Delhi very much but there are few instances when I feel Delhi is the best city you can live in if you can ignore the negative activities. Delhi has built a great network of Buses and Metro’s which makes the traveling part really easy. Wherever you can think, there is a bus for that place and the Delhi metro is literally present everywhere unlike Kolkata where I had to travel a distance of 20-25 km to reach the nearest metro. Also, the first metro in Kolkata starts in between 6.30-7 AM and those who have to travel before that are only left with expensive options like a Taxi or Bus. (Delhi, thanks for making travel convenient).

Food:

This was one thing which really disappointed, though the 'Bengali Rasgulla' and 'Mishti Dahi' still holds the title of best delicacies of India but few other things disappointed. One thing I would like to say, If the city is best in something then every corner of the city should smell the same. Kolkata is best known for food and I really expected every corner of Kolkata to sell the best Biryani and Egg or Chicken roll that I ever tasted. I tasted both but none of them excited my taste buds.

This is my own opinion and If I get wrong somewhere, please let me know. If someone feels I am not eligible to draw this picture of Kolkata and Delhi, just to let them know I spent 10 years of my life prior to this visit in Kolkata and I am a resident of Delhi from last 6 years, 7th running.



Written by Vatsa