College Street (Kolkata)
College Street (Bengali: কলেজ স্ট্রীট) is a ~1.5 km long street in central Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. It stretches (approximately) from Ganesh Chandra Avenue Crossing in Bowbazar area to Mahatma Gandhi Road crossing.[1] Its name derives from the presence of many colleges, housing many centres of intellectual activity especially the Indian Coffee House, a café that has attracted the city's intelligentsia for decades.[2]
Book stores
The College Street is most famous for its small and big bookstores, which gives it the nickname Boi Para (Colony of Books).[1][3] People from whole city and different parts of the state gathers here for their book. Many bigwigs of the Bengali publication industry (like: Ananda Publishers, Abhijan Publishers, Dey's Publishing, Rupa & Co. etc.) are situated here. The street is also dotted with countless very small book kiosks which sell new and old books.[1] An article in the journal Smithsonian described College Street as ...a half-mile of bookshops and bookstalls spilling over onto the pavement, carrying first editions, pamphlets, paperbacks in every Indian language, with more than a fair smattering of books in and out of print from France, Germany, Russia and England.[4] It is the largest second-hand book market in the world and largest book market in India and collectively boasts of a collection of almost any title ever sold at Kolkata.[2] One can buy rare books at throw-away prices and extensive bargaining take place.
Recognition
In 2007, College Street featured among the famous landmarks of India which have made it to Time Magazine’s “Best of Asia” list.[5]
Educational institutes
Well-known academic institutions situated on this street include
- Presidency University, established in 1817, making it one of the oldest educational institutions of western education in South Asia.
- University of Calcutta, established in 1857, and one of the first major multidisciplinary university in South Asia.
- Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, established in 1857, first college of European medicine in Asia.
- Sanskrit College, established in 1824, affiliated to University of Calcutta, and Sanskrit Collegiate School.
- Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, established in 1953, affiliated to University of Calcutta. It is India's first MBA offering institute.
- Hare School, established in 1818.
- Hindu School, established in 1817.[1][3]
References
- 1 2 3 4 College Street or the Boi Para astrainfotech.org. Retrieved 24 March 2013
- 1 2 Kolkata Heritage- College Street westbengaltourism.gov.in. Retrieved 24 March 2013
- 1 2 Kolkata's historical College Street 'Boi-Para' ceases to exist webindia123.com. Retrieved 24 March 2013
- ↑ Hollick, Julian Crandall (July 1991). "Amid Calcutta's poverty, there's no dearth of cultural wealth". Smithsonian 22 (4): 32–41. ISSN 0037-7333.
- ↑ Press Trust of India (28 April 2007). "Mehrangarh Fort, College Street, figure in Time’s Best of Asia". The Statesman. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
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