Kolkata

Kolkata (Bangla: কলকাতা, Hindi: ??????), is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal and was capital of British India until 1912. The city's name was officially changed from Calcutta to Kolkata in January 2001. Despite the new name being phonetically closer to the Bengali version, many people and organizations still refer to it as Calcutta. In Hindi, the city is referred to as Kalkatta.

Trivia

• India has 5 Nobel Prize winners to date and all of them are connected to Kolkata
• Kolkata has an eminent place in the history of American diplomacy as one of the oldest American Consulates anywhere in the world, and the oldest in India Link.
• Kolkata and Mumbai are the only two cities in India where the honorary designation of the Sheriff still exists.
• Kolkata and Mumbai were two of the main export/import destinations for British beer, which would go stale and sour during the sea voyage. So the IPA (India Pale Ale) style of beer was created specifically to withstand the rigours of the sea between London and these Indian ports. Link
• South Point High School, Kolkata entered the Guinness Book of Records (from 1984 to 1992) as the school with maximum student enrollment.
• The Indian Botanical Gardens at Shibpur, near the Bengal Engineering College, is home of the largest banyan tree in the world (the banyan tree with the biggest girth), according to the Guinness Book of Records.
• Kolkata is sister city to Long Beach, California.
• Kolkata is home to the oldest golf course outside the British Isles at The Royal Calcutta Golf Club.
• Kolkata was the orignal headquarters of IBM Corporation in India before shifting to Bangalore on its return to operations in the country.