Sonagachi of Calcutta in 1984 - "Courtesans galore, slightly different from "Devdas" calcutta of the 1920's"

OLD SAILORS PROVERB- "Sail the seven seas and taste and admire the exotica of every land."

SONAGACHI" in 2017 :- "Shobhabazar Sutanuti" is the nearest metro train station to "Jatindra  Mohan Avenue road  in Kolkatta that is the entry into the "Gully's" of "SONAGACHI" .       

In 1984  had travelled by "Geetanjali Express" to join a ship in Calcutta as i was employed in the "Merchant Navy" as a "Marine engineer".This was my first visit to the city and was boarded into the historical "Great Eastern Hotel " at "Old Courthouse street" for a few days before joining the ship at "Kidderpore Port". This hotel had the word "HISTORY" written on every wall as it was built in 1840 much before Mumbai's "Taj Mahal hotel", but sadly, was a monolithic loss making hotel in 1984 gradually de-generating and later sold to Bharat hotel groups in 2006.Akin to the Mumbai Taj Mahal hotel expansion in 1970's, the new hotel will have a new building with the historic 1840 structure remaining unmodified but will be renamed the "Lalit Great Eastern Hotel" .

Recollecting memories of 1984 is my brief narration of a night at Calcutta's most famous red-light locality, "SONAGACHI".Refreshed myself in my hotel room  and after "Touring" the "Great Eastern Hotel" went on a routine "sight-Seeing " exploration of Calcutta city in the main "Chowringhee locality".We were put up in the hotel for 2 days and hence on the next day made a "Excursion" to the infamous "Sonagachi", the reddest of red-light localities and littered with numerous true-life "Devdas" and "Umrao Jaan" Story's" akin to Mumbai's Kamatipura.
Boredom and inquisitiveness forced me into a "Rest house" and there i spent the night with a courtesan who reminded me of "Sinbad the Sailors" adventures of the "sexual kind"!The most memorable feature of this skillful lady was her gleaming set of bad teeth, stained with tobacco juice, a common and tragic habit of courtesans.
The next morning i returned to my hotel, a much experienced man with lesser inhibitions.
Calcutta city holds very fond memories for me as i later returned to this port numerous times spending months on the ship while she discharged or loaded on the "Hooghly River", a beautiful river at night with the "Maji's(Film Amar Prem scenes)" gently plying their small canoes between the ships and Hooghly docks.
SONAGACHI of Calcutta leaves a life-long impression either good or bad to any person visiting it, akin to Mumbai's kamatipura. you either hate it or like it,but, you can never ignore it.