A city steeped in history. A melting pot of cultures. A city that keeps you on your toes.
For an outgoing American diplomat, Calcutta is all these and more.
Adrian Pratt, public affairs officer, US consulate general, Calcutta, and director, American Center, is set to end his two-year stint in the city in a few days.
On Tuesday, he spoke to The Telegraph at length, looking back on the past two years.
Excerpts
What sets Calcutta apart: Calcutta is a very unique place. It is personified by the people that I have met here. The people are very very warm.
In no other place that I have lived, when people say that we should get together for lunch or dinner or a drink, do they 100 per cent of the time follow up on that. They either call up or invite and try to get together. In many other parts, it is just a mere formality. Here, people mean it. There is a genuine warmth here. I find that unique.
Melting pot: The city is steeped in history, in mystery and promise. The history is really interesting. Not just British history but a lot going on before that. All the different communities that came together here. The Armenians, the Chinese, the Danes were up the river, so were the Dutch and the French. All the folks who came from southeast Asia. It is a melting pot.
Calcutta has taken something from each of these cultures and tweaked it and improved on it.
Every time I leave my home, I know I am going to discover something new, scratch my head and say, ‘well, I have never seen something like that before’, and rush back and get a book and study up on it. So, it is a city that keeps you on your toes.
Is Calcutta still a melting pot? It may sound a little naive but I have been to celebrations and festivals here. Not just Muslims celebrating Durga Puja. One of the most beautiful moments for me was when I had my whole family here for Christmas last year. Just walking down Chowringhee and Park Street, there were lakhs of people on the streets. It was late but we never felt unsafe. There were people from all communities. Definitely, they weren’t all Christians but wearing Santa hats, just high-fiving and smiling. It really does make you think that if we could just see the good in each other and the value of each other’s festivals, a lot of the world’s problems would disappear.
So, I think exactly the history that I described has created the sense of acceptance and diversity and tolerance that I still see in Calcutta.
Calcutta on a plate: I have a very delicate western palette. I struggled with the spices and with the adventurous nature of the local food for a long time. But my friends and my colleagues here have gently nudged me along, sort of gradually making sure that I eat less and less of continental food. I am still an amateur but I have now been eating some street food, some Bengali food. I really am getting it now. My eyes aren’t watering and I am not coughing and spluttering.
I had the kathi rolls the other day. It was just unbelievably amazing. I have been sucked into the whole biryani debate. What’s the best? I have had some amazing biryani here. I am addicted to momos. I never really had momos until I got here.
Bucket list: I have tried three or four times to visit the Marble Palace. But because of Covid and the hosts travelling, I have knocked on the gate and I have been sent away. But luckily, we have been invited to a tour this week. My last weekend in Calcutta and I am finally getting to see the Marble Palace. I am very excited about that.
I have also been trying to get a tour of Fort William, which I have not been able to do. That remains on the bucket list. There are a couple of temples that I really would like to see. So, the bucket list is still long. It would bring me back.
A real connection: I was born in Scotland. There is a lot of Scottish history interwoven throughout the gullys of Calcutta. The Scots were here before the East India Company for jute.
When I first came to Calcutta, one of the first places people told me to visit was the South Park Street Cemetery, which was very nice. But I also found the Scottish cemetery (near Mallickbazar) here. Something which I had never heard of or read about. I went in there one day. It was just an enchanting experience. I fell in love with that place. Just because of the names of the people who are buried there. My clansmen, my neighbours, the places that they came in from. All these places are, even in Scotland, just blips on the map. To see those names here in Calcutta, it forged a connection between me and the country of my birth. A connection that is very very real.
Favourite spots: I love the river, especially the stretch of the Prinsep Ghat, where they have a nice walking path. In the winter, I used to go there almost every weekend, to be by the river. Those places, and the Maidan. I have spent a lot of time in the Maidan. Even during the first light of the day, there is something going on in the Maidan. Whether it is a cricket match in full flow or people doing yoga or the horses.