And now for something completely different… With another free day in Kolkata, Tomas (Footloose Travel) earlier suggested that we might enjoy spending time at the venerable Royal Calcutta Turf Club (race course), built in 1820, if the horses were running that day. It’s difficult to get information on-line but the daily newspaper showed that there were going to be races today. Good deal…here they come spinning around the turn…

Malini had pointed out the Royal Calcutta Turf Club (they have not changed the spelling of Calcutta to Kolkata) and we set out to walk there, calculating it was perhaps a 2-3 mile walk tops from Hotel Lytton. Off we went, straight south down Chowringhee Road, past the green expanse of the Maidan with its park and cricket grounds (people exercise here in the morning), managed to actually cross the roads without getting run over, inhaled tons of dust and pollution while doing all this. The constant din of traffic, honking, buses spewing exhaust in the heat was tiring but finally the Royal Calcutta Turf Club in front of us…View image…

the Royal Calcutta Turf Club, Kolkata, India
Grateful and happy to sit down, it was a 10 Rupee general admission.  There is a big circular enclosure outside the grandstands filled with bookmakers (English-style), writing the latest odds on slate boards and taking bets. They don’t take bets for less than 100 Rupees. ex-Marine and I thought about it. He liked one horse, I liked “Rockstar.” Bet 120 Rupees on Rockstar in the 1st not knowing there were parimutuel windows that took a bet for 10 Rupees. Darn and Rats!!! With 49 Rupees to $1 U.S., I could have wagered like crazy. My late father used to take his three little girls to the Race Track and I have fond memories of sitting in the stand, cheering on his bets on and eating junk food from every vendor that walked by. This one’s for you, Daddy…

ex-Marine and I sat like fools in the grandstand with locals, eye-balling the VIP section…View image… completely unaware that the race was almost over until horses flew by us. We were looking in the wrong direction! These horses were running clockwise and the starting gate was way on the other side of the track unlike the counter-clockwise horse racing we were used to.  Rockstar lost but it was so much fun… It’s been so many years that I’d forgotten the colorful jockey silks and how small they are…View image…, the gorgeous race horses, cheering, general camaraderie. And the Calcutta Turf Club had the added bonuses of the Victoria Memorial in the distance….

Victoria Memorial in the background, Kolkata, India
… bagpipers playing between races…

bagpipers playing between races at the Royal Calcutta Turf Club, India
…women dressed in saris walking around the track after each race replacing turf kicked up by the horses…

replacing the sod at the Royal Calcutta Turf Club, India
…and a blessed respite from the constant traffic horn-blowing.

Three races later, we walked into the “Member’s Only”/V.I.P. section for one last race (we must have looked “classier” than I thought) before leaving and jumping into a cab back to the hotel.  It was too hot out to walk back.