Dhaka v/s Kolkata

[Bombaywalla]

Denser does not equal better!

 

[rongbaz]

How the administration will move out to purbachal? National assembly will remain in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and the secretariat will be built in trade fair field near chandrima uddan. It is a part of Louis Kahn's original Design.

Denser does not equal better!

Then you won't like Hong Kong skyline.

 

[LaBong]

Saltlake skyline is nothing special. Rajarhat newtown has a decent skyline, but it's a portion of Kolkata. On the other hand, dhaka has more dense skyline in areas like Motijheel, Karwan Bazar, Shanti Nagar and Gulshan-Banani area.

Dhaka has mostly low floor dense skyline even in the posh areas. Gulshan, Banani etc can be compared to posh South Calcutta like new Alipure, Jodhpur park etc. Saltlake and Rajarhat is way ahead of it because of mostly tall office buildings.

Here's a few pics from Saltlake. They really need to get rid of the hideous looking electric wires though!

 

[LaBong]

Both the cities look great in these pictures, however the ground reality is much different, both are dirty and are super congested, even by Indian standards.

On the ground, Dhaka is like a village on steroids, I would not even call it a city. It lacks public transport and the infrastructure is abysmal, but things will improve for Dhaka as the economy of Bangladesh grows.

Kolkata, despite being over two centuries old has the basic infrastructure in place. Wide roads(yes lane marking is almost non existant), footpaths(yes mostly encroached upon by small street food stalls), decent bus service( yes most of them are rickety buses), metro( expansion underway), convenient and cheap taxi service, well connected to the rest of India by railways(major railway hub), decent airport.

In my opinion it will be much easier to transoform Kolkata into a world class city than Dhaka. Dhaka, still has a long way to go, but in the future it might pull ahead of Kolkata.

Kolkata has it's basic infra and institutions firmly in place with rather good human resource. The main problem is population, since rest of West Bengal is almost undeveloped thanks to 30 years of commie rule, Kolkata bears the burden.

 

[Roybot]

Saltlake skyline is nothing special. Rajarhat newtown has a decent skyline, but it's a portion of Kolkata. On the other hand, dhaka has more dense skyline in areas like Motijheel, Karwan Bazar, Shanti Nagar and Gulshan-Banani area.

Is this a joke? Dhaka has no skyline, but yes in the next ten years or so, Dhaka will have good number of low rise buildings.

 

[rongbaz]

Is this a joke? Dhaka has no skyline, but yes in the next ten years or so, Dhaka will have good number of low rise buildings.

google with Dhaka skyline and Kolkata skyline. Then you compare with each other.Tall office buildings are also in Gulshan Banani.

 

[Bombaywalla]

Then you won't like Hong Kong skyline.

Love it, actually. In addition to being densely packed, Hong Kong's skyscrapers and supertalls are mostly aesthetically pleasing, not to mention the lofty hilly setting, and therein lies the difference.

 

[extra terrestrial]

Dariya-i-noor is in Iran!

Nope its in a lock up of Shonali Bank.

Presently it is preserved in a vault of sonali bank. An examination by experts in 1985 testified the genuineness of the diamond.

BANGLAPEDIA: Daria-i-Noor

 

[Anubis]

Nope its in a lock up of Shonali Bank.

Dariya i noor is the crown jewel of Iran...it is in Iran...what we have in the bank is one of the pieces that was probably cut from the original diamond where Dariya-i-noor came from.

 

[DARIUS]

What most people on this thread have forgotten is an attribute of Kolkata which makes it unique from most other city in South Asia and that is it's multicultural and diverse society,other than being a home to various other Indian communities like tha Marwaris, Punjabis,Biharis and Tamils Kolkata is a also the habitat of various communities whose origin could be tracd only outside India.This is one thing that Dhaka could not boast of

The Armenian community of Kolkata:

The Armenians followed the land route through Bactria to trade with India from ancient times. They were known as the "Merchant Princes of India", and some settled in Emperor Akbar's court. Some finally settled in Serampore and Kolkata, supposedly under the invitation of Job Charnock.
Among notable Armenians, Sir Apcar Alexander Apcar, a prominent businessman, was the head of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The size of the Armenian community can be testified by the five Armenian cemeteries in Kolkata, including the one adjunct to the Chapel of Holy Trinity in Tangra and an Armenian church. A gift of Rs. 8000 by Asvatoor Mooradkhan helped found the Armenian College in 1821. Armenian College has been instrumental in pioneering the game of rugby on the Maidan turf.
The Armenians settled in a block close to Free School Street, which even to this day is called Armani-para ("the neighbourhood of the Armenians"). They have mostly assimilated into the Indian population, and the community has now been reduced to a handful of houses.

On 4th September, 2012, members of the Armenian Community of India, voiced their protest against Hungary, in front of the Hungarian Consulate in Kolkata, following the unjust release of a convicted murderer, Ramil Safarov by the Azerbaijan President after his unlawful extradition from Hungary to Azerbaijan.
A petition was formally submitted to the Hungarian Consul in Kolkata by the members of Armenian Community.

 

[DARIUS]

The Baghdadi Jews:
Kolkata's Jews are mostly Baghdadi Jews who came to Kolkata to trade. At one point as strong as 6000, the community has dwindled to about 60 after the formation of Israel. Today there are only about 30 Jews left in Kolkata. The first recorded Jewish immigrant to Kolkata was Shalon Cohen in 1798 from Aleppo in present day Syria. The most influential Jewish family in Kolkata was perhaps the father-son real estate magnates David Joseph Ezra and Elia David Ezra. They were behind such buildings as the Chowringhee Mansions, Esplanade Mansions and the synagogue Neveh Shalom.the family also were
instrumental in the founding of the Jewish Girls School. Ezra Street in Kolkata is named after them. The community has five independent synagogues in Kolkata, including one in Chinatown, some of which are still active today. The Jewish confectioner Nahoum's in the New Market holds a special place in Kolkata confectionery. Founded in 1902, Nahoum's moved to its present location in the New Market in 1916. It is run today by the original owner's grandson, David Nahoum. A Jewish wedding in Kolkata after a gap of 50 years in the 1990s received a lot of media attention. After the establishment of Israel, many Kolkatan Jews left to live in Israel and the size of the Jewish community had a severe decrease.
Jews and Jewish synagogues in Kolkata:

Beth El and Magen David Synagogue in Calcutta

 

[DARIUS]

The Chinese in Kolkata:
The Chinese community in India are a community of immigrants and their descendants that emigrated from China starting in the late 18th century to work at the Calcutta port and Madras Port. Government sources cited by a Deutsche Welle article in 2013 puts the number of Chinese in Kolkata around 2,000, most of whom live in or near Chinatown in Tangra.
The ethnic Chinese have contributed to many areas of the social and economic life of Kolkata. Today a majority are engaged in business with a major segment involved in the manufacturing and trade of leather products. A sizeable number are also owners and workers in Chinese restaurants.Kolkata is the only city in India to have a Chinatown,the only other Chinatown to exist (in Mumbai) has disappeared.
Some popular faces:

Lawrence Liang

Meiyang Chаng

Jala Gutta
Chinese New Year in Tangra:

The Chinese are now naturalized citizens with voting rights:

 

[Ayush]

i love my fellow chinese indians

 

[IamBengali]

Does India also have mongoloids? We have some 0.1 % mongoloids in BD. I mean Chiness looking Bangladeshi. We also have 0.0001 % Urdu spreaking Bangladeshi Bihari.

 

[IamBengali]

OMG! kolkata has bhagdadi Jews. In BD there are extremely tiny number of Jews but they hide their religious identity due the extreme hatred towards them among BD Muslims. Their life may also be in danger if they openly say about their religion. I read in Prothom Alo.