I, along with my parents, my brother Bhargav and his friend Rishikesh, went on a trip to Kolkata last August. It was my first journey by air. From the flight, we saw the beautiful sky, and we were surrounded by so many clouds. Some looked like cotton carpets, some like tree branches and some like waves of the sea. One can realise the true beauty of clouds only when we actually see them. It was like a dream.

We reached Kolkata by noon. I was amazed to see the Kolkata Airport and then the apartment in which we were to stay.

Kolkata is beautiful and an architecturally fascinating city. I saw that every person was obeying the traffic rules; I didn’t see any bike rider without helmet, in fact, not just riders, even the pillion riders wore helmets. There, every road is so clean. At every little distance, we saw signboards saying, "Donate blood, but not in the roads." It was a message promoting safe driving. Every person seemed to be very conscious about keeping their city clean. The impact of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was truly seen in the entire city, thanks to the Government of West Bengal.

We visited different places in and around Kolkata – the Howrah Bridge, the Botanical Gardens, Eden Garden, Nicco Park, National Library, Eco Park, and Victoria Memorial, among others. I had read about the historical places of Kolkata in my textbooks. It was amazing to see these places in reality. In between all this, we celebrated our 71st Independence Day in Kolkata and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

We went to the famous Gariahat Market and New Market. We also enjoyed the most popular dishes of Kolkata city; it was another good experience. We took a Tonga ride when we visited the Victoria Memorial, and we also took the rope-way when we visited the Science City. Both the rides are really fascinating. We also saw the Seven Point Over bridge, where seven roads come together at one place. I was quite surprised to see a track on the road through which trams passed every now and then.

It was truly a memorable journey for me. I think I should now visit more places, and get to learn many new things.

THANK YOU