Government of India Tourist Office, 4 Shakespeare Sarani (tel 221402), is open 9 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday, 9 am to 1 pm Saturday, closed Sunday. Very efficient and helpful staff, good handout information. Book your city tours here (8 am–noon, 1-5.15 pm, daily except Monday).
West Bengal Tourist Bureau, 3/2 BBD Bag (tel 288271) is mainly useful for gathering information on Darjeeling and the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve. From September to March, it sells 2-day organised tours (leaves every Saturday, at 6.30 am) to Sunderbans National Park. Both tourist offices have desks at the airport.
Airline Offices
Indian Airlines, 39 Chittaranjan Ave (tel 264433, 263390 apt 569841/5); Air India, 50 J. Nehru Rd (tel 222356); most international airline offices are between Nos 30 and 58, J. Nehru Rd. They include: Aeroflot (tel 229831), Air France (tel 296161), British Airways (tel 248181, 293453), Burma Airways (tel 231624), Japan Airlines (tel 298370), Royal Nepal Airlines (tel 243949, 244434), Lufthansa (tel 248611), and Delta (tel 295001). Cathay Pacific (tel293211 ) and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (tel 441221 /4) are at 1 Middleton St, Alitalia at 238 A.J.C. Bose Rd (tel 447394) and Thai International at 18G Park St (tel 299846). Druk Air (tel 441301) are at 1 Ballygunge Circular Rd. Singapore Airlines (tel 447783) are at 230 Acharya J. C. Bose Rd.
Note: The main Indian Airlines office is sheer mayhem. It’s much quicker to buy IA tickets from (quieter) desks at the Great Eastern Hotel (tel 280073), at the airport (tel 569638) or through a travel agent.
Travel Agents
Try Travel Corporation of India (tel 445469) or Mercury Travels (tel 443555), both at 46C Jawaharlal Nehru Rd. Also good is Sita World Travels, 3B Camac St (tel 293003) and American Express (tel 288896) 21 Old Court House St.
Cheap Flights
For cut-price air tickets (also rail reservations/visa assistance) contact Crystal Travel (tel 240599), c/o Paragon Hotel, off Sudder St.
Consulates
UK, 1 Ho Chi Minh Sarani (tel 445171); France, 26 Park Mansions, Park St (tel 240958); Japan, 12 Pretoria St (tel 442241); Netherlands, 18A Brabourne Rd (tel 262160), USA, 5/1 Ho Chi Minh Sarani (tel 443611). Nepal (tel 452024) 19 National Library Ave takes 24 hours to issue a visa. Bangladesh (tel 444458) 9 Circus Ave. For the rest, check a telephone directory.
Miscellaneous
The Foreigners’ Registration Office is on 237 Acharya J. C. Bose Rd (tel 443301). American Express is close by at 21 Old Court House (tel 280266). Central Telegraph Office (great for international phone calls!) is at 8 Red Cross Place, the vast GPO is at BBD Bag, and State Bank of India on Jawaharlal Nehru Rd.
Best bookshops are Oxford Book Co. on Park St (for new books), Bookmark on Free School St and Mullick Book Emporium, just behind Sudder St (for 2nd-hand books). Loads of second-hand bookshops and cassette shops in Free School St. For background reading, look out for H.E. Busteed’s Echoes from Old Calcutta (1882, reprinted by Shannon, 1972), J. London’s Calcutta and its Neighbourhood (Calcutta, 1974) and G. Moorhouse’s Calcutta, the City Revealed (London, 1983). A spate of books were published in 1990 and 1991 to celebrate Calcutta’s Tricentenary. Laura Sykes anecdotal Calcutta through British Eyes (OUP 1992) is an affectionate collection of travellers’ tales. For up-to-date information and topical reviews, pick up a copy of Calcutta Skyline from any street bookstall.
