Kolkata

Under the East India Company and later under the British Raj, Kolkata served as the capital of India until 1911, when its perceived geographical disadvantages led to a shift of the seat of government and the county's capital to New Delhi. Kolkata, or Calcutta as the British knew it, is also India's oldest operating port and as such attracts a huge diversity of cultures, trades, colour, flowers, spices and other products that add to the kaleidoscope that is this bustling city and hotbed of state politics gathered around the Hooghly River; giving it its apt reputation as the 'City of Furious, Creative Energy'.