First Travel Plans for 2021 did NOT go as Planned

I was so excited for this year. Really excited. Because the main excitement was that I had my first outing in the first week of this year. As I mentioned in my 2021 plans post, I got the opportunity to travel to Kolkata from my hometown due to some work for my sister.

But, as expected, nothing went as planned.

Plan for the Day

We booked a car from our local services and started from our home at around 9:30 in the morning. It is 2.5 hours ride from Diamond Harbour to Kolkata. I was accompanied by my sister and mother. Or I should say, I and my mother accompanied my sister. Because well she had some work and it’s all thanks to her work that we got for an outing.

So, the previous night while booking the car, we checked out a few places that we wanted to visit. And the one that I was most hyped to visit was The Indian Museum (also known as Imperial Museum at Calcutta). I am a huge museum lover. Be it of any kind, I am always up for it. Now, I googled and came to know that it is the oldest and the largest museum in India. So, guess you can imagine how excited someone who loves the museum would be to get the opportunity to visit this one.

Along with visiting the museum, I planned on visiting the Victoria Memorial too. I have been to this monument before also, but it was quite a long time back. Somehow, I don’t remember anymore how it is. So, just wanted to refresh my memories. And also, it very close to the Indian Museum. 

I was still a bit dicey whether they will be open or not (due to COVID). Google showed ‘Temporarily closed’. But when I enquired our driver, he told us that Victoria Memorial is closed to the public but The Indian Museum is open. I was a bit disappointed but also grateful that at least I get to visit the museum. 

Now the museum comes on our way to my sister’s workplace. I was still a bit dicey about whether it is open or not because in my experience, Google usually has been quite up to date. So, we decided to enquire first hand to ensure that it is open. 

And guess what?

It’s CLOSED.

I was so damn sad. I was looking forward to this museum a hell lot. Especially after my father told me a bit about it beforehand, telling me how great it is. URGH!! But then I also realized that with times like this, it is a good practice to keep them closed. This was the reassurance that I was giving myself. 

Shopping time

So, what shall we do now?

The one and only option that popped into my mom’s mind was SHOPPING. That too grocery shopping. And we were like ‘Okay. Fine. At least we get to do something.’ 

We reached my sister’s office and she wrapped up her work in an hour. And off we were to the nearest outlet of Spencer’s. Once we reached the store the process was quite similar to anywhere you will go. You enter, you get some sanitization, get your temperature checked, and go on. I really liked the fact that there were people specially allotted to check the temperatures of all incoming customers. 

But there was no restriction of many customers can enter at a time. A lot many people were on a shopping spree just like us. Then I realized that it’s a Saturday, so of course, everyone is out shopping. Why not?

Anyways, so we started our own shopping and by the time we were at the checkout counter, I was really amazed at how long it has been. I mean for 3 hours?? We have been putting stuff in our cart for 3 hours!! Man, that was tiring. It felt like an absolute achievement for me. 

Shopping and standing for such a long duration were exhausting and the only thing that could cheer us all was food. So, we went for lunch.

Lunch at Arsalan

While on our way to find a place to eat, we saw this one restaurant that my sister was very fond of- Arsalan. It is a restaurant that is famous for its Biryani. They have many outlets. The one which we went to was in Chinar Park.

The setup of the restaurant is that the ground floor is only for food pickup and the rest of the floors above are designated for the seating area. We haven’t had a meal outside for a long time so we decided to eat at the restaurant. Now the way they were handling customers entering was something that I was really impressed with. 

Right at the entrance of the stairs, they are this one person who asks for how many people we need a table for. Then he calls up the person upstairs and checks whether they have space to fit us. Once he gets a green signal, only then he allows people to enter. It’s a very simple but efficient way to manage the crowd and I was so impressed.

We sat down and since we already knew what we wanted to eat, so placing an order did not take much time. 

Also, one very interesting fact was that the price for food at the pickup area is cheaper than at the restaurant. We came to know this because we wanted to pick some Biryani for my father also.

We came to have biryani, and we got biryani. Also, some mutton chaap and rumali roti.

Oh, it was heavenly. And heavy also. Gosh, we could not even finish all of it. The mutton chaap felt a hell lot oily. Totally drenched in oil I would say. Biryani, as always, was the best. Biryani in Kolkata is just something that I feel cannot be compared to anywhere else (except Hyderabad). Although I did not mention this on my list of foods to eat in Kolkata, everyone literally knows that Kolkata biryani is something not to be missed.

My day started with a good feeling, which in between was sad, but at the end with all this food, turned to be good again. It was not a great start to this new year but good enough to be grateful for. 🙂