Kolkata's Chromosome

Even though it’s relatively young, few cities in India can match kolkata when it comes to the sheer abundance of heritage. Amit Dixit revisits an old favourite.

- Amit Dixit

I could not have hoped for a softer landing in Kolkata, a city known for its willing embrace of chaos. There’s sweep-you-off-the-floor charisma too, but Kolkata does not give up its secrets easily. Tucked away on top of a modern office tower behind the historic Army & Navy Stores building (now known as Kanak Building) on Chowringhee, the Glenburn Penthouse could not have had an unlikelier location. Whisked up in an efficient elevator from the deceptively prosaic ground floor entrance, I entered a world far removed from the tidal sweep of the streets below. Here, time flowed slowly, and was measured in teacups. It was also an explosion of colour, raging against the rain-swept grey of a city that will, in a million imaginations, always be sepia-toned.

The driving force behind the Penthouse is the affable Husna-Tara Prakash. She’s nothing if not succinct when summing up her life story: “I went backpacking around the world, met a tea planter, fell in love and married him.” That’s how she came to live in Kolkata. Her husband, Anshuman Prakash, belongs to a family of veteran tea planters. In 2002, Husna opened up the family’s Glenburn Tea Estate in Darjeeling for stays (they have estates in Assam as well). She has run it to the highest standards ever since, offering a unique and immersive experience and cementing a well-deserved reputation as the perfect host. A Kolkata property was the logical next step. The Penthouse was several years in the making though, taking much longer than anticipated, and only recently made its debut. But it’s already stealing the show.