Kolkata/Dum Dum
Dum Dum (Bengali: দমদম Damdam) is a northern suburb of Kolkata and an important transport hub of the city. It is home to Kolkata's only international airport. Dum Dum is also an important food and leisure hub in West Bengal, having a lot of international fast-food chains and shopping malls.
Understand
Dum Dum (DAWM-dawm) is mostly known to people outside Kolkata for its airport. However, the suburb is a significant part of the military history of India.
Name
The name "Dum Dum" is a corruption of the Bengali word damdamā (দমদমা), which refers to a raised mound for target practice. The name stems from the raised mound where Clive's House is.
History
The British Raj had a major arsenal at Dum Dum which manufactured, among other things, expanding bullets which are still sometimes called "dum-dum bullets". They were later banned in warfare by the Hague Convention as being "too inhumane".
Dum Dum, along with Barrackpore, was a major centre of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. It is rumoured that the paper cartridges provided to Indian soldiers were laced with pig lard or cow fat, resulting to the revolt of the soldiers in Dum Dum Cantonment.
However, the importance of Dum Dum in military declined by the late 1920s, when Dum Dum Cantonment became a civilian municipality. With the growth of Dum Dum Airport (later Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport), the city transforms into a major transport hub of Greater Kolkata, alongside Howrah, Esplanade and Sealdah. The Kolkata Circular Railway has a terminus at Dum Dum Junction railway station, which is connected with metro and bus routes.
Orientation
The Dum Dum is divided into three municipalities: Dum Dum, North Dum Dum and South Dum Dum. The Dum Dum Municipality covers the erstwhile Cantonment (Gorabazar) area, and the latter two cover the surrounding neighbourhoods, including Birati, Durganagar, Motijheel and Nagerbazar. South Dum Dum once had refugee colonies that hosted immigrants from East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), most of whom being converted into planned townships, for example Dum Dum Park and Lake Town.
Get in
By train and metro
The Dum Dum area is mainly served by 🌍 Dum Dum Junction Chord Link Circular Sealdah 1 and 🌍 Dum Dum Cantonment Sealdah 4 , with the latter one serving the Cantonment area directly.
See and do
- 🌍 Clive's House, Rastraguru Ave, Nagerbazar. Considered to be the first pucca brick and cement building in West Bengal, possibly built by the Dutch or Portuguese. What is known is that it was used by British soldiers when they first entered the country. Later, Robert Clive took the area over, renovated it, added a floor to the single-storey building, and made it his country house around 1757-60. The house is on a raised mound in otherwise flat surroundings. When Clive House was excavated, a variety of artefacts were recovered, including coins, terracotta figures, sculptures, pottery and intelligence on a Portuguese fort. The articles found could be of the Sena period or may alternatively have links with the ancient Chandraketugarh civilisation.
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- 🌍 Kolkata Time Zone Tower, VIP Rd, Lake Town. A one-third sized replica of the iconic Big Ben in London. The tower is 30 metres in height, while Big Ben in London is 96 metres. It has ten floors and the four clock faces are each 3.6 metres in diameter, compared to 7 metres in the original.
- 🌍 Sreebhumi Sporting Club, Lake Town. The club holds some of the best Durga Puja pandals in Greater Kolkata every year, with a huge crowd gathering during the festive season.
Churches
Buy
- 🌍 Diamond Plaza, 68, Jessore Rd, Satgachi.
- 🌍 Nagerbazar (নাগেরবাজার Nāgerbājār). A major shopping centre in Dum Dum, at the crossroads of Dum Dum Rd and Jessore Rd.
- 🌍 Saltee Plaza, 1, Jessore Rd.
Eat and drink
- 🌍 Maharaja Bar and Restaurant, ☏ +91 83350 55881. 11AM-11PM.
Sleep
| This guide uses the following price ranges for a standard double room: | |
| Budget | Under ₹2,000 |
| Mid-range | ₹2,000–5,000 |
| Splurge | Over ₹5,000 |
Mid-range
- 🌍 Airport City, 259, Jessore Rd, ☏ +91 33 2513 3131. ₹3,000-3,700.
- 🌍 Ethnotel, 71, Jessore Rd, ☏ +91 33 7101 7000.
- 🌍 Holiday Inn Express Kolkata Airport, 28, Jessore Rd, ☏ +91 62899 01724, +91 33 6815 1234. Check-in: 2PM, check-out: noon. ₹4,660.
- 🌍 Hotel Airways, Motilal Colony, Rajbari, ☏ +91 33 2513 2106.
- 🌍 Hotel Gateway Continental, ☏ +91 33 2511 8324.
- 🌍 Sher-e-Punjab, 151, Jessore Rd, ☏ +91 33 2567 2848, +91 90888 60003 (mobile). Check-in: noon, check-out: noon. A hotel-cum-restaurant with quality Punjabi dhaba food. Chinese and Thai dishes are also available. AC or open-air seating. Drinks served.
Cope
Police stations
- 🌍 Airport Police Station, ☏ +91 33 253193000.
- 🌍 Dum Dum Police Station, ☏ +91 33 25514167.