The Largest Food Festival Of Kolkata - Nale Jhole !!!

Kolkata can always be called a state of food diversity, Yes you can get a complete range of cuisine here, and moreover, Bengali food is a source of happiness here so does the city of joy fulfill its people's wishes with its wide range of food. Almost in every gully of Kolkata, you can find at least a tea stall selling authentic Bengali milk tea on cups made of clay & you will definitely one cake accompanying it i.e the famous BAPUJI CAKE you can call this cake nostalgic for cake lovers. Apart from this, you will also find several other foods selling biriyani, chow mein, Rolls, and South Indian Food. Hence to satisfy the carving of the people of kolkata all in one place The Largest Food Festival Of Kolkata is organized at Dum Dum "Nale Jhole".

This year the Largest Food Festival Of Kolkata - Nale Jhole has almost 39  famous restaurant stalls with their best items at this food fair. Chief Patron: Minister and MLA Bratya Basu. Chief Guest - Member of Parliament Sougat Roy Honorable Guest Dr. Shantanu Sen, Minister Rathin Ghosh. This time actress Srabanti, actor Ambris, and Udyogye-Debashish Banerjee were present at the fair. These few days of the fair will be crowded with famous actors and actresses or different types of singers. Food-loving Bengalis flock to this fair.

You Can find your favorite food joints here all in one place like Dada-Baudi's Biryani to Amenia Biryani, Mitra Cafe, Pizza Hut, Desi Grill, Nalin Chandra Das & Sons, Bengali Yoghurt & Sweets to various heart-filling food, and last but not least, Hajmi Turkis Ice-Cream or Baskin-Robin Ice-Cream. There is also the traditional hot "pitha" - The pie you want to eat will be warmed by hand. Apart from this, you will also find several fried items, momos, & other unique items (Bamboo Biriyani,). Along with these in the Largest Food Festival Of Kolkata, you will also be accompanied by music decoration and many other things for children and family

Entry Fees - No Entry Fee.
Date - 16th Jan to 26th Jan 2024
Timing - 4pm to 10.30pm
Location - NALE JHOLE - Khadya Mela 42, Dumdum Road, Daga Colony,  Kolkata, West Bengal, 700074

Kolkata book fair 2024 - 47th Edition of the Kolkata International Book Fair

The Kolkata book fair is not only a celebration it is the emotion of Kolkata which is celebrated for the people of Kolkata by the people of Kolkata and this year the celebration is a bit more special as the Kolkata book fair is on the road to celebrate its 50th anniversary in the upcoming years. The 47th Kolkata International Book Fair has become the biggest festival in the city of joy after Durgapuja in which nearly 20 countries are participating this year. The 47th International Kolkata Book Fair gained a massive amount of crowd transforming Salt Lake, Kolkata Central Park into a hustling and bustling hub almost over 2 million visitors are expected to come every day with almost thousands present this year in the book fair. One of the unique and attractive aspects of the book fair is every year a country is picked for the Melas theme and the embassy of the chosen country is assigned the stall where visitors can go and check the items on offer for The 47th International Book Fair the country is the United Kingdom. That is why a replica of the London Tower Bridge has been also installed.

This year you can explore almost over 1,000 stalls with the help of digital map access through QR codes. And if you are lucky enough, you can also get a chance to win a gift book hamper worth rupees 25,000 if you participate in the book bumper library lottery. This year the number of stores present in the 47 Kolkata International Book Festival is the highest in the history of kolkata with which 900 will be large stalls and 100 small ones. The small stalls will be dedicated to small publishers on their request for small spaces and indeed this is a nice initiative as we get more stores which indirectly means more books, more diversity with more experience for the people of Kolkata.

The 47th Kolkata International Book Festival is an inherited part of Kolkata and the world's largest book fair in terms of people visiting it. If we go deep into the '90s mainly in the 1980s and early '90s, Kolkata used to host two annual book fairs that time one for Kolkata publishers and booksellers guide and the other one by the government of West Bengal the Grontho Mela used be held from late December until January which showcased book publishers of government running books, and publications. Actually, the Kolkata International Film Festival came up from here only in which the two melas merged in 1992.

This year the theme of the 47th Kolkata International Book Fair is the United Kingdom which takes center stage as the theme country for 2024 which brings several author talks, workshops, cultural events, and several other things which is intern celebrating the British culture and connecting it with India not only India but to Bengal also. This year in the 47th Kolkata International Film Festival, the fair organizers dedicated a special initiative to honoring the senior citizens recognition, recognizing their lifelong love for the books and their dedication towards the Kolkata book fair

This year at the Kolkata International Book Fair, you will find content from several parts of the world including the United States, France, Italy, Spain, Thailand, Bangladesh, Australia, Peru, Argentina, and Colombia these countries are actively participating in the 47th Kolkata international book festival. It is expected that this fear will generate a sale of around 25 crore. You will find some national and multinational publishers here in this mela like Oxford University Press, Rupa, Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Hachette, Bloomsbury, and Pan Macmillan.

Indeed, you can tell that the Kolkata Book Fair 2024 is not only an event or a mela it is a celebration of literature, culture, and the power of stories in the form of writings in which you can see people's emotions, their dedication and love towards art, culture, and the language.

Updates of the Kolkata International Book Fair 2024

• The international Kolkata Book Fair 2024 was inaugurated on Thursday by the chief minister of West Bengal Mamta Banerjee
• The fair will be held from 18th of January 10th, 31st of January
• The location of the Kolkata International Book Festival is Salt Lake Central Park, Boi Mela
• This year the book fair of Kolkata aims to turn itself green. It is trying to emphasize jute bags on a large scale
• A tree plantation event will be also held during the book fair This is a positive, initiative taken by a book publisher

The Vintage and Classic Show 2024 - A vintage car & bike display

2024 has been remarkable for everyone in terms of kolkata showing its glamour. The Vintage and Classic Show of kolkata is an initiative to protect, preserve, & showcase the oldest cars and bikes that are still in existence. Once upon a time in kolkata when the city of joy was highly populated with ambassadors & the ratio was up to 95% of all road-running cars, there were also a few people who owned some of the highly esteemed cars at that time. 

In the Show, almost many vintage cars and more than a dozen old bikes took part in the Vintage and Classic Show of Kolkata. The famous Vintage and Classic Show of kolkata is organized this year at Alipur Jail Museum, which is organized by Classic Drivers Club in collaboration with Alipore Museum. The owners of the cars and bikes showcased their love for vintage vehicles in this Vintage and Classic Show

The Classic Drivers Club was established in the year 2017 it was a group of passionate drivers with a motive to preserve confiture & Encourage the heritage of cars and bikes. With the flow of time, the Classic Drivers Club family became big and registered as a trust. Since then the journey has of the club and the Vintage and Classic Show has gained more recognition and standing in 2024 the Vintage and Classic Show attracted a massive amount of car and bike lovers . The Vintage and Classic Show has nicely brought up the idea of encountering vintage cars & bikes with the modern generation & to everyone's surprise kolkata and its modern generation made the event a great success.

This Year Vintage and Classic Show of kolkata, Organized at Alipore Jail Museum Kolkata has some of unique Cars & Bikes that attracted us are:-

1933 SINGER 9
1947 AUSTIN 16
1913 SLIDEWARE C1
1937 ROLLS ROYCE
1948 MG TC
1958 HINDUSTHAN AMBASSADOR MK1
1994 MAZDA MIATA
1968 TOYOTA FJ40
1943 WILLYS MB
1964 1100 SUPER SELECT
1930 AUBURN 6-85
1974 IDEAL JAWA YEZDI MODEL B
1936 JAMES ML125
1957 LAMBRETTA 48
1954 ROYA ENFIELD ENSIGN 2 STROKE
1956 LAMBRETTA LD

You will also get to encounter also encounter many other antique brands of cars and bikes along with these which will never fail to fascinate you.

Winter Weekend Carnival Kolkata at hindustan Park

Kolkata encounters a massive amount of chill during this part of the year when the Sankranti starts which gradually marks the end of the winter season in Kolkata  & to cope slowly with the weather  Hindustan Park of Kolkata comes up with a unique idea of organizing the winter weekend carnival.

To everyone's surprise the weekend winter carnival street is the longest graffiti street in Kolkata. This year South Kolkata is all ready to celebrate its winter weekend carnival uniquely and innovatively in the Hindusthan park. The winter weekend carnival at Hindustan Park started its celebration on 12th Jan & continued to entertain the people of Kolkata till  14th of January. The artists who are participating here make the winter weekend carnival more special. People of all age groups can come and enjoy this carnival with friends family and kids.

This year the winter weekend carnival is one step forward than other years as it is attracting a massive amount of crowds of all age groups with the influencers of kolkata giving it a boost to it this winter weekend. The carnival organized at Hindustan Park displays an awesome diversity of art and culture together with its graffiti paintings and several other forms of paintings displayed here, along with several kinds of handcrafted items, earrings, and many more things. There are many games for kids along with some organic winter flowers are also available. Overall you can call this weekend carnival a mela in which you will get almost everything. But the special attraction of this place is the paintings and the handcrafted items here. This is a piece of heaven for handcraft lovers. While visiting the place, you will also get to feel the diversity of kolkata that visits this mela or the winter weekend carnival to make this festival a successful one. To clarify things, you can also bring your pets along with you to have a memorable day out here.

Special attraction of the carnival

• Free painting zone
• Paintings of artists on the walk
• Earings
• Handwoven winter cloths
• Selfie zone

The whole stretch of the winter weekend carnival is decorated beautifully with lights & paintings. Visiting this place will give you an enjoyable experience.

Top photography places in North Kolkata that must be in your bucket list

With the modernization of the people of Kolkata, Kolkata itself has also modernized with time and has adapted to the changes to go with the flow of time. The city of joy has always been a nostalgic and photogenic place for photography lovers. In every gully of kolkata, you will find a Photogenic place that has a story behind it, especially North Kolkata has some crazy places that turn the glamour of your photo into nostalgia with the aesthetic feel of old Kolkata and a hint of modernization into it. These places in Kolkata are not as sophisticated as you want, but when it comes to photography the background, and the feel that the city gives turn your photo into the sophistication you need and make it and proper post on Instagram.

Photography in Kolkata is never complete without the yellow taxi, The roads of Kolkata, and the old buildings of Kolkata. The wooden doors and long windows of the Heritage buildings, the red-colored buildings The hand-pulled riksha's of kolkata, and many more. What makes the photo more unique in the city of joy is that Kolkata has a magical role in the combination of colors which makes the photo more glamorous.

Here are some of the lists that you must try during a photo shoot in North Kolkata. These are some of the places in kolkata in which you can feel the transition of the city of joy from Calcutta to kolkata.

• Calcutta Bungalow - The Calcutta bungalow is one of the most highly rated places in Kolkata in terms of photography that properly brings out a story behind the photo, especially the unique green taxi in front of the Calcutta bungalow and the old house just beside the Calcutta Bangalore will give you a completely different feeling of Calcutta and Kolkata in the same frame
• Shambazar Deshbondhu Park - these famous streets of Shambazar a particularly known for the art on the walls, which gives the photos a unique sense of glamor. These streets of Calcutta are famous for the traditional artwork in attractive colors along with the painted old wooden doors and windows
• Bagbazar Ghat - Kolkata is never complete without the touch of Ganga. Hence, to complete the photographic bucket list Bagbazar Ghat is a must-visit in terms of photographic places in North Kolkata and to end your photo shoot peacefully and blissfully with the touch of Kolkata's signature mark.

Street Art Festival 2024 Kolkata - An Initiative for the City of joy

Kolkata and the people of Kolkata never fail to celebrate unique things uniquely, thus bringing up the street art festival on this Festival of kolkata 2024, you will dive deep into the vibrant colors of The streets of Kolkata. In this Street Art Festival of Kolkata, you will enjoy live painting, music, art workshops, delicious food, and other live activities with young artists who jointly perform the Street Art Festival. The Street Art Festival of Kolkata 2024 is happening in Hindustan Park in front of marbellas. The basic motive behind the Kolkata Street Art Festival is to bring various artists and put up their works on public spaces like community buildings, boundary walls, and main streets, which in turn decorate the city and also showcase the hard work of the artist.

Berger Paints which is India's largest paint company heading up its headquarters at Kolkata decided to bring up and unique idea in the form of a Street Art Festival for the city of Joy. The main objective of Kolkata Street at the festival was to clean up and beautify the prominent and nostalgic walls of the city and to showcase the hidden talents of the artists. Imminent artists and several other people take part in the street as festival members of parliament, Professor Jorgen Chaudhary has monitored this program and a team of artists led by senior artists. Mr. Varun Saha has been involved in this mission to make this a successful one.

Things you can enjoy in the Kolkata Street Art Festival 2024

• The painted walls have become a beautiful attraction for photographers. These walls provide an extra glamor to your photo with the essence of Kolkata in it.
• We will also find a dedicated wall called the Wall of Fame for eminent artists.
• Several stalls are also present here selling paintings, handicrafts, and several decorative items for women and girls, clothing, etc.
• You can also enjoy a beautiful evening with food and music together on the streets of Kolkata.

Date- 7th of Jan 2024, Sunday 

Timing- 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Location-29A, opposite Abin Design Studio, Golpark, Hindustan Park, Gariahat, Kolkata, West Bengal 700029

Pride Walk of Kolkata - A walk for the society to live free

Pride is a word that defines Kolkata. The Kolkata Pride Walk or the Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk is one of the oldest pride walks in India and South Asia, being one of the oldest pride walks in the country was first organized in Kolkata on the 2nd of July 1999, at that time it was known as the Friendship Walk currently the Pride Walk of Kolkata, It is organized by the Kolkata Rainbow Pride Festival KRPC. The main motive behind the pride walk was Equality and Tolerance, Love and solidarity irrespective of gender, sexuality, religion, etc. Along with child rights, women's rights, rights of disappeared, student groups, and others 

Standing in 2024 Pride Walk portrays some essential thoughts the society keeps hidden & need to be explored and solved.

• The Pride Walk of Kolkata is a platform that gives many humans especially transgender to portray themselves and build a positive existence in society, to break the thinking of society that there exist only two genders male and female, the main motive behind this walk in 2023 is for gender equality along with sexual equality also.
• Anyone participating in this Pride Walk of Kolkata will never feel alone, it's a platform where you can make new friends, a platform in Kolkata that will never judge you it's a platform that will make you feel that everyone is together here
• Pride Walk of Kolkata portrays that if you have a talent then gender doesn't matter what matters is the talent and how you showcase it
• This Pride Walk of Kolkata portrays the glamor the glory of the people participating here

The journey of the Pride Walk from 1999 till 2023

Since the initiation of the friendship walk formally known as the pride walk of kolkata there were hardly any people who participated in this friendship walk with yellow t-shirts and graphical food stamps with the motto "walk on the rainbow". But as time passed by the media coverage credited the news rapidly which in turn gained a positive impact over the Pride Walk where participants in this walk got a lot more support from other countries too. But suddenly after 1999, the pride walk was paused then again started in June 2003. Rafik Ul Haque Dowhaj ranjan reframed the idea of the pride walk in Kolkata and it started again. Now it was organized by the integration society and several other groups on its first March. It gained around 50 people in Park Street Maidan and ended up in Jagabandhu Institute. With the flow of time, people understood the importance of the Pide Walk in society hence in 2004 the Pride Walk of kolkata attracted a bigger amount of crowd over 200 people. From 2003 to 2023 the pride walk of kolkata has brought a massive positive impact on society. But the Pride Walk of 2018 was a remarkable one organized by the LGBT community and was particularly focused on certain things of the society which need to be changed like the rights of the other gender & several other taboos of the society which should not be treated as a Taboo.

Victoria Memorial Kolkata - 3D Laser Projection light & sound show .

With the modernization over time, Kolkata has also maintained its pace with the generation, modern things are being included in the tourist spot as a special attraction this time Victoria Memorial amazes everyone with its spectacular 3D projection show of Kolkata. The 3D projection light and sound show in the Victoria Memorial of Kolkata is titled 'Kolkata in the City of Joy'. Newly launched on the 9th of May 2023 by Home Minister Amit Shah on the occasion of Rabindra Jayanti. This 3D light and sound show of Victoria Memorial will completely focus on the culture and the information hidden behind it and bring it to everyone innovatively and entertainingly, especially the youth. The 3D projection at Victoria Memorial of Kolkata is indeed a cutting-edge technology to bring out the stories of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's life and time. The content that is displayed during the projection is created by artists of the National School of Drama along with Victoria Memorial Authorities the 3D projection sound and light show at Victoria Memorial is 25 minutes long. The show runs in three languages, English, Bengali, and Hindi.

This 3D light and sound show at Victoria Memorial will indeed bring out the nostalgia inside you as the show will take you from the early 90s and will continue to lead you until 2016. Before 2023 this light and sound show continued on an erected screen which was displayed manually. But as technology improved and things got modernized, this 3D light and sound show pushed itself to another level which in turn attracted a massive amount of crowd, especially the youths of kolkata. Now, as technology improved and pushed to certain heights, this 3D light and sound show of Kolkata takes the uneven surface also into account which helps in providing a seamless experience for the audience, there is not only a technology change. The content also has been revised and is being displayed on the 3D light and sound show in the Victoria Memorial of Kolkata. The Bengali section of this light show Victoria Memorial is presented by Debshankar Haldar while the English part is done by Kabir Bedi.

The key points that are focused on in the 3D light and sound show at Victoria Memorial of Kolkata

• There is a dedicated show for Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose since his 125th birthday anniversary was celebrated this year at Victoria Memorial.
• This show also displays the history of Kolkata and the stories that are hidden in every gully of Kolkata and will take you around the time travel from the 90s to 2016.

The show is hosted three times a week in all three languages two shows conducted every day.

On Wednesday the audience gets to watch English and Hindi on Saturday in Hindi and Bengali and on Sunday in Bengali and English

The first show of the day starts in the evening at 6:30 p.m.

Bhoothnath mandir Kolkata - A 300 year old mandir of kolkata

The Bhootnath Mandir of Kolkata is indeed a sacred place in which lies the beliefs of many people of Kolkata. The Bhootnath Mandir of Kolkata is listed as one of the most visited and sacred places in Kolkata, this temple is almost more than 300 years old and is very important in terms of the religious beliefs of Hindus. The Bhasma Arti of the Bhoothnath temple of Kolkata is very famous and is almost 300 years old. The Bhasma refers to the ashes of the dead body. The devoties visiting here believe that to offer Bhasma to lord Shiva every day a dead body reaches the incarnation Ghat.

The Bhoothnath Mandir of Kolkata is just 1.5 km away from the Howard railway station and 1.1 km away from the Howrah bridge. The actual location of the Bhoothnath temple of Kolkata is Beatlemania. This is also considered one of the oldest temples dedicated to lord Shiva in the state of West Bengal. This Mandir is also known as Bhoothnath Dham and is believed that lord shiva presiding here fulfills everyone's wishes, thus, this mandir is also known as Kamanapoorti Mahadev.

If you have true feelings & devotion towards lord Shiva then the Bhoothnath temple of Kolkata will definitely attract you. It's basically a form of showing respect and Sraddah to lord Shiva by worshiping his form in the Bhoothnath temple. On normal days you can enter the temple and worship lord Shiva in your own way by touching him along with Lord Shiva Nandi Maharaj is also present here people visiting this place also worship him and whisper their wishes in his ears. It is believed that the wishes get fulfilled.

It is said that the Bhoothnath mandir was established by an Aghori Baba living at the Neemtala cremation ghat. Initially, when the temple started its worship, there was only a shivling in the name of a temple, and people visiting there in those days used to worship and offer Jal Abhishek. If you go deep into history it came out that the shivlinga of the Bhoothnath temple is exactly placed above the cremation ground that is why whenever fire was needed during arti the priests picked up a stick from the burning pyre. According to some reports in 1932, a committee was formed to look after the management of the mandir as the Mandir expanded in size and the number of visitors also increased. In 1940 a proper initiative was taken by the kolkata municipal corporation to construct the Mandir & the walls of the Mandir were built between the temple and the cremation ground one actually remembers the exact date of the establishment of the Bhoothnath temple so at the beginning of the new year it is considered as the foundation day of the Mandir. On the 31st night, the last day of the year Bhajan Kirtan takes place in the presence of lakhs of devoties.

The Bhoothnath temple of Kolkata shows its original colors during the time of Maha Shivratri and the entire month of sawan, Lakhs of visitors visit here every day and the no literally gets doubled on Mondays. The main attraction behind a large number of visitors is their faith in them and their devotion towards lord shiva, along with Nandi, Trishul, Damru, and many other forms of lord Shankar The arti inside the temple is done 2times Mangala aarti 4am in the morning & Sandhya Aarti 6:30 in the evening 

If you are planning a trip to Bhoothnath temple of kolkata don't forget to take the view of the Ganga. The Bhoothnath temple has many ghats we would definitely suggest you sit back and relax for at least some time and spend a quality evening with some snacks available at the ghat only.

besides that, you can also take a ferry ride to makethings memorable.

There are also many shops outside the temple selling different puja items that will be needed during the puja at affordable prices

LOCATION - Strand Bank Rd, Ahiritola, Beniatola, Kolkata, West Bengal 700005

TIMING - 5 a.m. to 9:45 p.m

ENTRY - Free

NEAREST RAILWAY STATION - Barabazar Railway Station, Sovabazar Ahiritola Railway Station

BUS STOP - Jorabagan Bus Stand