A day in Kolkata (6th Feb 09)

It was the 6^th of February in 2009. It was Saturday. I, my father, mother, grandfather, grandmother and my brother, Romy were planning to go to a book fair in Salt Lake area after visiting Victoria Memorial in Chowranghi road. Mother and father had already decided and written down names of the places to go and their locations.

We had decided to leave the house at 9:30 am but we were late. We were off at 10 o’ clock just after the driver arrived. We took our Santro. We took water bottles, pomegranate, snack and camera. We forgot the book in which we had written the name of the places and their locations but we were so excited that we already remembered the places and the locations.

It was a beautiful morning. After reaching Victoria Memorial we bought the tickets. The monument is fascinating. There is a beautifully maintained garden with bushes of different flowers and many artificial ponds. Some people were talking to each other, some were taking photographs and some were gazing at the monument. The memorial is made of marble with four pillars all at the corners and a dome in the middle. It is huge. We entered the gallery. There are many old photographs, paintings and articles. We also knew the history of Calcutta. We left Victoria Memorial at 11:30 am.

We went to Salt Lake area for the book fair. It is considered the biggest book exhibition in Asia. When we entered inside, we saw rows and rows of book stalls. They never seemed to end. There were different kinds of book stalls. While some were selling Bengali books, some others were selling English books. Some people were selling their hand made paintings. Most of the paintings were fascinating. We entered a big shop. There were many stalls there. We entered a stall where we bought our first books from the exhibition. There were many books. I bought two books from there. My mother and grandmother did not enjoy the fair very much. When it was 2 o’ clock mummy felt hungry and repeatedly asked papa to go somewhere for our lunch. We were searching for an exit gate but found a place in the book fair where there were food stalls. We had our lunch there and then found our way back to the parking lot. After reaching our vehicle we went to Mani Square mall which was nearby.

We went to IMAX theatre in the mall and thought of watching a movie there but we were utterly disappointed because the next show featured a documentary movie. We went to Starmark in the shopping centre. We bought two books, two key rings and three board games. Finally we decided to return back home. On the way mummy saw some people selling fresh vegetables. She bought some vegetables and returned home.