In this walk, we will explore what remains of this Old Chinatown of Kolkata. We will visit Chinese temples, learn about the Chinese culture and traditions unique to the Kolkata Chinese, and explore their connections with the Indian freedom movement as well as the Chinese revolution of 1911-12.

Hatserandi, a quaint village in Birbhum West Bengal, is a place where Durga Puja by the resident families are undertaken over the years in the form of Painted “Paṭachitra” frameworks instead of the commonly seen clay idols since over two centuries now. The rituals undertaken during this unique form of Bengal’s greatest festival in this village is a magnificent treat to the eyes of the cultural tourist. In this virtual walk, we will take you through the village during the festivities to experience one of Bengal’s unique cultural treasures.

One of the oldest standing structures in the city. The 3rd oldest Cathedral. A hospital from where the patients rarely came out alive. The repository of Calcutta's arguably most valuable and controversial painting. The St. John's Church near Dalhousie Square has all of this, and many other intriguing tales to offer. Join Dr Tathagata Neogi on a virtual tour of the St. John's churchyard to unravel its many stories.

The beautiful terracotta temples of Birbhum in Bengal are often overshadowed by the more popular ones in Bishnupur, where most temples are not made of terracotta at all. This new deeply researched immersive virtual experience brings the much needed focus on Birbhum’s terracotta temples.

The Second World War came to Calcutta slowly but surely in the winter of 1942. Japanese bombers were flying regular scouting missions to destroy Calcutta’s industrial sector in an effort to harm the Allied war effort in the China-Burma-India Theatre. Air-raid sirens were becoming an everyday reality, and finally bombs started to be hurled on the city. War also brought worker strikes, food shortages, heightened surveillance, oppression, and terrible famine. The “Inbound areas” in wartime Calcutta were designated as “Safe Zones” for the Commonwealth and US forces that started pouring into the city to deliver Singapore and Manchuria from Japanese occupation. However, being the heart of colonial administration and the war effort, inbound areas also became a symbol of colonialism and the ongoing wartime oppression also led to the space being used to show dissent. Gandhi’s Quit India movement and the “fantastic” news of the success of Netaji’s Indian National Army in Singapore and Burma brought hope of deliverance from the colonial rule to the local population. But expressing these in public would have had fatal consequences. The virtual walk will explore this contested “inbound” space through eyewitness accounts and forgotten tales from a city divided.

On the 16th of June, 1756, on a hot and humid afternoon, Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, attacked the British settlement of Calcutta. What followed was a bloody, intense, four day conflict in which the British were comprehensively routed. Stories of this infamous battle survive in the collective memory to this day, although the landscape of the city has changed dramatically. Join history blogger Deepanjan Ghosh as he takes you back 264 years in time, to the Siege of Calcutta, through immersive storytelling, visuals and in-depth research into primary and secondary sources.