West Bengal is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of 88,752 km2 (34,267 sq mi) as of 2011. The population estimate as of 2023 is 102,552,787. West Bengal is the fourth-most populous and thirteenth-largest state by area in India, as well as the eighth-most populous country subdivision of the world. As a part of the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, it borders Bangladesh in the east, and Nepal and Bhutan in the north. It also borders the Indian states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Sikkim and Assam. The state capital is Kolkata, the third-largest metropolis, and seventh largest city by population in India. West Bengal includes the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region, the coastal Sundarbans and the Bay of Bengal. The state's main ethnic group are the Bengalis, with the Bengali Hindus forming the demographic majority.
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, 80 km (50 mi) west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary financial and commercial centre of eastern and northeastern India. Kolkata is the seventh-most populous city in India, with an estimated city proper population of 4.5 million (0.45 crore), while its metropolitan region Kolkata Metropolitan Area is the third-most populous metropolitan region of India, with a metro population of over 15 million. Kolkata is regarded by many sources as the cultural capital of India and a historically and culturally significant city in the historic region of Bengal.
Syama Prasad Mookerjee was an Indian politician and academician. Noted for his opposition to Quit India movement within the independence movement in India, he later served as India's first Minister for Industry and Supply in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet after breaking up with the Hindu Mahasabha. After falling out with Nehru, protesting against the Liaquat–Nehru Pact, Mukherjee resigned from Nehru's cabinet. With the help of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor to the Bharatiya Janata Party, in 1951.
The Indian Museum is a massive museum in Central Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is the ninth oldest museum in the world and the oldest and largest museum in Asia, by size of collection. It has rare collections of antiques, armour and ornaments, fossils, skeletons, mummies and Mughal paintings. It was founded by the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, in 1814. The founder curator was Nathaniel Wallich, a Danish botanist.
Mani Sankar Mukherjee is an Indian writer in the Bengali language, who also served as the Sheriff of Kolkata. He grew up in Hindmotor of West Bengal.
Chowringhee Road, located in the Chowringhee neighbourhood of Kolkata, is the arterial road running from the eastern fringes of Esplanade southwards up to the crossing with Lower Circular Road, in the city of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is the single most important road of the metropolis of Kolkata. It was officially renamed as Jawaharlal Nehru Road after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, but the original name Chowringhee Road is used commonly.
The Grand Hotel, now known as the Oberoi Grand, is situated in the heart of Kolkata on Chowringhee Road. It is an elegant building of British era and is a famous building in Kolkata. The hotel is owned by Oberoi chain of hotels.
Eastern India is a region of India consisting of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and also the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The culture of Kolkata concerns the music, art, museums, festivals, and lifestyle within Kolkata. It is the former capital of India and, as of 2021, the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Geir Heierstad writes that Bengalis tend to have a special appreciation for art and literature.
The Writers' Buildings or Mahakaran, often shortened to just Writers', is the official secretariat building of the state government of West Bengal in Kolkata, India. The 150-metre long building covers the entire northern stretch of the Lal Dighi or Red Lake at the centre of historic B.B.D. Bagh, long considered as the administrative and business hub of the city.
Chowringhee is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Chowringhee Road runs on its western side. A neighbourhood steeped in history, it is a business district, as well as a shopper's destination and entertainment-hotel centre. The area lies exactly at the centre of the city.
The Noakhali riots were a series of semi-organized massacres, rapes and abductions, combined with looting and arson of Hindu properties, perpetrated by the Muslim community in the districts of Noakhali in the Chittagong Division of Bengal in October–November 1946, a year before India's independence from British rule.
The Bengal Club is a social and business club in Kolkata, India. Founded in 1827, the club is the oldest social club in India. When Kolkata was the capital of British India, the club was considered to be the "unofficial headquarters of the Raj". The club is nowadays known for its old-world ambience and patronage among contemporary social and corporate elites, and is among a small number of Indian clubs featured in the elite list of the "Platinum Clubs of the World".
Chowringhee is a novel by Bengali author Sankar. First published in Bengali in 1962, the novel became a bestseller and was translated into a number of Indian languages and made into a film and a play.
Metropolitan Building is a commercial building on Chowringhee Road in Kolkata near Esplanade. Formerly known as the Whiteaway Laidlaw department store, it was a famous department stores in Calcutta during the British Rule in India. It is one of the first departmental store in India. This neo-baroque emporium—with domes, a clock tower and arched recessed windows—exemplifies fashionable shopping during the British Raj in British India.
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous state. The state capital is Kolkata. The state encompasses two broad natural regions: the Gangetic Plain in the south and the sub-Himalayan and Himalayan area in the north. The tourism in West Bengal is maintained by WBTDCL, a state government owned enterprise.
The Great Eastern Hotel is a colonial era hotel in the Indian city of Kolkata. The hotel was established in 1840 or 1841; at a time when Calcutta, the seat of the East India Company, was the most important city in India. Referred to as "the Jewel of the East" in its heyday, Great Eastern Hotel hosted several notable persons visiting the city. After India's independence in 1947, the hotel continued its business and later the state government took over the management. In 2005 it was sold to a private company and was reopened in November 2013 after an extensive renovation.
The Currency Building is an early 19th-century building in the B. B. D. Bagh central business district of Kolkata in West Bengal, India. The building was originally built in 1833 to house the Calcutta branch of the Agra Bank. In 1868, it was converted for use by the Office of the Issue and Exchange of Government Currency, an office of the Controller of the Currency under the British Raj. From 1935 until 1937, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) used the building as its first central office. The building remained in use, and was used at one time by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) as a storehouse. Authorities decided to demolish it in 1994.
Durga Puja is an annual festival celebrated magnificently marking the worship of the Hindu mother goddess Durga. This festival is the biggest festival in Kolkata, the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal.
