The commercial and administrative hub of both Calcutta and West Bengal is BBD Bagh , which die-hard Calcuttans still insist on referring to as Dalhousie Square . The new official name, in a fine piece of official rhetoric, commemorates three revolutionaries hanged for trying to kill Lieutenant-Governor General Lord Dalhousie. In the centre of the square is the large Lal Dighi tank, or artificial pond.

 

Built in 1868 on the site of the original Fort William - destroyed by Siraj-ud-Daula in 1756 - the GPO on the west side of the square hides the supposed site of the Black Hole of Calcutta . On a hot June night in 1756, 146 English prisoners were forced by Siraj-ud-Daula's guards into a tiny chamber with only the smallest of windows for ventilation; most suffocated to death by the next morning. By all accounts, the guards were unaware of the tragedy unfolding and, on hearing the news, Siraj-ud-Daula was deeply repentant. A memorial to the victims that formerly stood in front of the Writers' Building was removed in 1940 to the grounds of St John's Church south of the GPO. When Robert Clive regained control of Calcutta, he had learned his lesson. Fort William was not rebuilt in this virtually undefendable location in a built-up area, but in its current location on the Maidan, with clear visibility in all directions.

Now the seat of the West Bengal government, the Writers' Building to the north of the square was built in 1780 to replace the original structure used to house the clerks or "writers" of the East India Company. No official tours take in the building, but wandering in to any department reveals a world of endless corridors and vast chambers, desks piled high with dusty old files and clerks in a state of advanced apathy.

West of the Writers' Building, beyond the headquarters of Eastern Railways on Netaji Subhash Road, you come to the heart of Calcutta's commercial district , clustered around the Royal Stock Exchange at the corner of Lyon's Range. The warren of buildings, erected along the same lines as the contemporary business districts of Shanghai, houses all sorts of old colonial trading companies; Scottish names in particular still seem to be very much in evidence. One of its most extraordinary sights is Exchange Lane , where stockbrokers sit in brightly painted wooden cubicles armed with telephones and carry on business with punters on the street.

A further symbol of Calcutta's Scottish traditions is the grey spire of St Andrew's Kirk , which rises in the middle of the road at the northeast end of BBD Bagh. This Scottish church was built in 1818, in the face of intense opposition from Church of England representatives. To the east, the oldest street in the city, formerly known as Mission Row but now called RN Mukherjee Road, holds the Old Mission Church , founded in 1770 by the Swedish missionary Johann Kiernander. South of the GPO, St John's Church was erected in 1787. Inside, along with memorials to British residents and to the first Bishop of Calcutta, Bishop Middleton, hangs an impressive painting of The Last Supper by Johann Zoffany, in which prominent Calcuttans are depicted as apostles. In the grounds, Calcutta's first graveyard holds the tomb of Job Charnock.

Dominating this area south of BBD Bagh, Government House (only open to the public with prior permission) overlooks the north end of the Maidan and the ceremonial Red Road, which was once used as an airstrip and is the only thoroughfare in the city without potholes. Until 1911, this was the residence of the British governors-general and the viceroys of India; now the official home of the Governor of Bengal, it is known as Raj Bhavan . When built at the very end of the eighteenth century, it was intended to be a palace, modelled on Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire. Sealed off by tall iron fencing from the rest of the city, Government House is approached through four ornamental gateways guarded by lions and sphinxes. Along with a throne room once used by George V, and a spectacular chandeliered ballroom, the interior holds Calcutta's first lift, introduced by Lord Curzon and still in working condition. Trophies littered around the formal grounds include a large bronze cannon mounted on a winged dragon, captured at Nanking during the Opium Wars, and brass cannons from the Afghan campaigns.

Nearby, opposite the Assembly House (Rajya Sabha) of West Bengal's Legislative Council, are the All India Radio building, and the sports complex of Eden Gardens , site of the huge world-famous cricket ground (officially known as the Ranji Stadium), which occasionally suffers riots and fires started by overzealous fans, especially when their team is seen to be losing. Watching a test match here is an unforgettable experience as the 100,000-seat stadium resounds to the roar of the crowd and the sound of crackers thrown indiscriminately; if you want to avoid the missiles, sit in the covered sections. West of the sports complex, at the northwest corner of the Maidan, an ornamental park offers an artificial lake, a Burmese pagoda, and pleasant walks along palm-strewn paths. Nearby, at Fairly Place Jetty, the ornamental Millennium Park (daily 1-8pm; Rs5) is a pleasant riverside garden.