Exploring Remnants of the Past: Soviet-Inspired Spots to Discover in Kolkata
In the heart of Kolkata, India, remnants of a once-strong Indo-Soviet relationship continue to echo in the city's cultural life and public infrastructure. The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s left only a few fragments of its influence behind, but these relics remain significant.
One such remnant is the statue of Vladimir Lenin, standing prominently in Curzon Park, Dharmatala, one of the city's busiest intersections. Despite Lenin's memory fading in Russia, his statue remains a significant part of Kolkata, where locals often gather, share food, and even stage protests.
The construction of Kolkata's Metro began in the 1970s, and Soviet specialists, along with East German engineers, played a crucial role in designing the master plan for the Metro lines. The Metro continues to expand, with Russian companies involved in recent projects such as tunneling under the Hooghly River.
The design and blueprint of Kolkata's Metro reflect the Soviet influence, and this legacy can be seen in the city's older quarters, where statues of Lenin, plaques commemorating Maxim Gorky, and streets named after Russian thinkers can be found.
Soviet cultural influence also persists in private collections and communities tied to literature. Manisha Granthalay, a store inaugurated by physicist Satyendra Nath Bose in 1964 and whose logo was designed by the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray, carries a trove of Soviet literary treasures, including Soviet journals and 19th-century Gothic tales published by the long-defunct Raduga Publishers of Moscow.
In Kolkata's time-worn establishments, dishes like Chicken a la Kiev evoke a bygone era of dining elegance. This dish, or Chicken Kyiv, has found a second home in Kolkata, with old favorites like Mocambo and Trincas still serving it.
The city's unique Indo-Soviet historical relationship also permeated the world of theatre. Gerasim Stepanovich Lebedev, a writer, linguist, and musician, staged the Bengali adaptation of Richard Jodrell's play, The Disguise, in Kolkata in 1795, believed to be the first proscenium performance in Bengali. Lebedev's theatre thrived at 37 Ezra Street in Kolkata, and last year, a small group of devoted theatre lovers gathered at this location to honour Lebedev on his 227th anniversary.
Gorky Sadan, the Russian Cultural Centre in Kolkata, was a vibrant hub of Soviet-era memory, featuring photo exhibitions, the Alekhine Chess Club, and screenings of Russian films. Although the centre is no longer operational, its legacy lives on in the hearts of Kolkata's residents.
These remnants underscore Kolkata's unique Indo-Soviet historical relationship that permeated areas from public infrastructure to cultural life, even if many aspects have faded with time. Kolkata, India was the first Indian city to have an underground transit system, known as the Metro, and this legacy continues to grow, with a notable expansion being a tunnel beneath the Hooghly River.
Recently, citizens in Kolkata gathered at Dharmatala to oppose the felling of century-old trees, demonstrating that the spirit of resistance and togetherness, reminiscent of the Indo-Soviet era, still lives on in the city.
In the realm of personal interest, Manisha Granthalay's collection of Soviet literary treasures serves as a testament to the enduring influence of the home-and-garden of ideas that the Soviet Union provided, giving Kolkata's life-style a cultural breadth that includes 19th-century Gothic tales and Soviet journals.
On a different note, the travel plans of those seeking to grasp the unique legacy of the Indo-Soviet relationship could include a visit to Gorky Sadan, though now inactive, as a symbol of the home-and-garden of memories that tells the story of Kolkata's vibrant Soviet past, offering a weekend trip filled with photo exhibitions, the Alekhine Chess Club, and Russian films.
