Discover Kolkata's Weirdest Street Names And Their Fascinating Stories
India's cultural heart Kolkata exists as a metropolis which showcases history as well as artistic spirit and offbeat characteristics. The streets serve more than passageways since they function as storage units that display historical tales about the city's diverse background. Among the numerous streets there exist some which have peculiar names that make people curious. Most unusual street names in Kolkata contain narratives that trace back to historical events or quirks of colonial humor or local legends. This article leads readers through the peculiar streets of Kolkata to reveal their hidden backgrounds.
1. Beard Sahib Lane
Beard Sahib Lane in Bowbazar creates a remarkable impression as an alley with its humorous name. During colonial times John Beards worked as a British official which gave rise to the street name 'Beard.' The unusual appearance of European men with beards prompted locals to start calling him Beard instead of his family name. The residential street where he lived eventually received its name from his long beard and became known as Beard Sahib Lane. The unusual name highlights how Calcuttans gave entertaining adaptations to foreign elements which created their distinct local flavor.
2. Sukeas Lane
Sukeas Lane provokes mysteries among locals because of its unusual designation that borders College Street. No one has established a certain explanation about the origin of the term 'sukea' although historians propose it came from Bengali slang referring to minimal concerns or matter. The street name potentially originates from a man known as Sukumar though his origin and story have faded away throughout history. Sukeas Lane stands as an iconic landmark because it links the intellectual center of College Street which consists of scholarly bookshops and libraries where students and scholars both visit regularly.
3. Burrabazar's Hogg Market (Now New Market)
The designation of Hogg Market for classification as a market instead of street demands recognition despite its market classification. Folk in Kolkata initially struggled to understand the naming of Hogg Market because they inaccurately pronounced it as Hawk Market. The market received its name from Sir Stuart Hogg who served as chairman of the Calcutta Corporation. The New Market was created as a result of efforts to eliminate confusion about its original name which led people to call it Hogg Market. Even though people of today prefer the new name of New Market the area remains a favorite memory to many elderly residents who call it Hogg Market. The linguistic connection between English and Bengali language reflects Kolkata's multicultural heritage through the naming confusion.
4. Chitpur Road
The street that dates back to the earliest days of Kolkata bears the name Chitpur Road after Chaitanya Purushottam Goswami who was a prominent Vaishnavite religious leader of the Bhakti movement. The origins of this road come from its religious significance and its transformation across time periods. The commercial sector of Kolkata extends across this street where zamindari-era aristocrats once lived. Numerous shops now operate in the busy area to sell electronics and textiles and other goods. The collision of traditional religious customs with contemporary business activity demonstrates the energetic essence which defines Kolkata as a city.
5. Raja Rammohan Sarani
The transformation of this road took shape after renaming it from Wellington Square to Raja Rammohan Roy Road while acknowledging Rammohan Roy as the father of the Indian Renaissance. The formal name Raja Rammohan Sarani creates a cumbersome translation into English as 'the path of Raja Rammohan.' The unconventional naming of this street as 'Raja Rammohan Sarani' represents reform and enlightenment as two components which must always stay accessible to all.
6. Nakhoda Mosque Street
Near Burrabazar lies Nakhoda Mosque Street which takes its name from the luxurious Nakhoda Mosque that was designed following Akbar's tomb in Sikandra as part of the Indo-Saracenic style. Persian traditions link the term 'nakhoda' to both captainship and ship ownership since this area was once a prominent maritime trade hub. Ancestor temples of Kutchi Memon businessmen funded the mosque because they wanted it to recall the grandness of their home mosques. The street demonstrates how migration meets commercial activities together with religious devotion.
7. Shakespeare Sarani
The government renamed the street Park Street into Shakespeare Sarani to honor William Shakespeare after India achieved independence. The transformation of Park Street into Shakespeare Sarani sparked considerable controversy because everyone associated the old name with nightlife and entertainment. Kolkata effectively mixes traditional names with modern designations because the two labels remain in common usage. The vitality of this area remains undeniable since it draws constant crowds through its combination of pubs and restaurants alongside celebrated Christmas celebrations no matter the name you choose to use.
8. Mirza Ghalib Street
The Taltala locality maintains Mirza Ghalib Street as a tribute to the famous Urdu poet Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib. The naming of a minimal street in honor of this literary giant shows how much the people of Kolkata value poetic works. The urban identity of the city combines the Urdu tradition with Bengali cultural heritage. Walking through this particular street makes visitors feel as though they are visiting a realm dominated by the incredible power of words.
Conclusion
Kolkata street names take their form from weathered areas of historical significance mapped into geographic locations. Each street name in Kolkata reveals multiple dimensions that await readers to decode them starting from Beard Sahib Lane to Mirza Ghalib Street. These locations preserve both the city's history of colonial rule and its contemporary life and its cultural interest in tales. The streets of Kolkata contain intriguing stories if you stop to consider the names during your journey through its maze-like lanes.
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Time of India
35 minutes ago
- Time of India
China's Temu and Shein want to crack Europe, but the US is too big to quit
Price Hikes Dumping Fears Live Events Constant Disruption Huang Lun was one of the original architects of his Guangzhou-based company's push into the US market, helping it to sell underwear and yoga pants via the online commerce platforms Amazon, Temu and Shein . The American market now makes up 70% of the company's total sales, but in March, with US President Donald Trump threatening imminent tariffs on Chinese imports, Huang was tasked with finding new markets in Europe and Australia to help soften the inevitable company is one of hundreds of thousands that collectively ship billions of dollars worth of goods to the US, taking advantage of digital marketplaces, low-cost, high-volume manufacturing operations in China, US consumers' voracious appetite for cheap clothing, electronics, toys and homeware, and a 'de minimis' exemption on import taxes for low-value packages. The Trump administration's on-again, off-again trade war with China threatens the economics of the business, making it far more expensive to ship products to customers, and putting a tax on every imported product that either the consumer or the retailer will need to mitigate the risk, Chinese e-commerce platforms are shifting resources to Europe and other markets, spending heavily on promotions to try to woo European consumers. European regulators and retailers are braced for a flood of low-cost goods. But that may be slow to come. The merchants in China — the companies that actually buy, sell and ship apparel, electronics, decorations and toys — are more focused on shoring up their core markets in the US, preferring to take higher risks and lower margins rather than tackle the complexity and bureaucracy of is among them. When the Trump administration announced 145% tariffs on Chinese imports and cancelled the de minimis exemption, the company initially dropped its sales targets for the US. But soon after, Huang was pulled back to work part-time on the American market again. Trump suspended some tariffs for 90 days, and the company rushed to get new production orders to its factories and booked container space to ship a few more months' worth of inventory to the US. 'We still need to keep an eye on other markets to always prepare in case things get worse again, but it's less urgent now,' he said. 'We feel the US market is back, at least for this year.'After the Trump administration's tariff announcement, many Chinese sellers on e-commerce platforms increased their US prices. The average price of 98 products on Shein tracked by Bloomberg News rose by more than 20% by early May from two weeks prior. Observed sales on Shein were 16% lower for the 28 days ended May 22, compared to the same period a year ago, according to Bloomberg Second Measure, which analyzes credit and debit card transactions in the US. Temu's sales fell about 19% in the same period from 2024 of the frustrations that Chinese companies have found in trying to enter European markets are there by design. The EU and UK typically have more rules on product standards and consumer protections than the US — non-tariff barriers that Trump has referenced in his trade disputes with the regulators have already begun cracking down. The Commission is formally investigating Temu for potential breaches related to the sale of illegal products and manipulative user interface designs. In May, a separate enforcement action found that Shein used tactics such as fake discounts and misleading sustainability claims. Shein has one month to respond or face possible fines based on its EU US' tariffs on China and the end of the de minimis rule has increased a sense of urgency in the EU, but the bloc's concerns predate the trade war. In 2024, about 4.6 billion parcels valued at €150 or less — the EU's de minimis threshold — entered the bloc, almost double the 2023 total. More than 90% originated from tend to argue that enforcing European standards protect consumers and mean that imported products can't undercut local manufacturers by producing inferior, unsafe goods. 'It's not about trying to prevent affordable products or blocking clever business models that we ourselves didn't come up with,' Bernhard Kluttig, a deputy German economy minister, said. 'It's really just about making sure that everyone plays by the same rules.'When the Darmstadt Regional Council, a regional authority in Germany, tested 800 products from Asian e-commerce platforms, they found 95% of them didn't meet European standards. Among the products were laser pointers that exceeded legal output limits by up to 300 times. 'If you get that in your eye, then your eyesight is gone,' Angelika Küster, head of the council's department for market surveillance, product and chemical safety, said. Other checks found toys with 100 times the permitted concentration of toxic council has stepped up inspections and hired more staff to examine products from e-commerce sites, Küster said, 'but it's clear that we can't compete with the sheer volume of products being introduced.'The European Commission has launched a new initiative called Priority Control Areas to carry out surprise cross-border checks and launched a web crawler tool, which it hopes can help to identify harmful products listed on e-commerce sites. Other potential solutions under discussion at the Commission include introducing a handling fee for e-commerce platforms and implementing a digital product passport, which may provide supply chain transparency through a QR code linked to detailed product EU is in the process of reviewing stricter rules and the elimination of the €150 de minimis customs duty exemption. But as the US has already closed its equivalent in May, there's a risk that the e-commerce players now exploit Europe as a dumping ground while it's still possible. 'We're often not as quick as Donald Trump,' Kluttig said. 'We can't issue executive orders that apply immediately and across all of Europe. We have different elaborate and complex legal processes. Which is important — but decisions take longer.'Similar conversations are going on in the UK, where the de minimis threshold is £135, and where industry groups have long argued that online retailers selling Chinese goods are undercutting local companies by skirting duties and safety checks. Exports of 'low-value' parcels from China to the UK rose 53% in April, according to an analysis of China's customs trade under the £135 threshold generally pass through customs with limited inspection. In research published in October 2024, the British Toy and Hobby Association found 85% of the 75 toys it tested from third party sellers on 11 marketplaces, were non-compliant with EU and UK safety standards.'It's difficult enough to pay all the taxes that we do without facing competition from people who pay none, particularly when they're supplying goods that are demonstrably not up to UK safety standards,' said Andrew Goodacre, chief executive officer of Teal Group, which owns toy retailer The Entertainer.A Temu spokesperson said that the company takes product safety seriously, with 'a robust seller onboarding process, regular monitoring, and enforcement actions to ensure compliance,' and that it works with testing and certification agencies. 'We are committed to fair competition and supporting local businesses,' the spokesperson said. 'Our platform allows European and UK-based sellers to reach new customers through a low-cost channel, with half of our UK sales expected to come from local sellers and warehouses by the end of 2025. We're expanding this model across Europe, aiming for 80% of our European sales to come from local sellers over time.'A Shein spokesperson said that the company is 'fully committed to ensuring the products we offer are safe and compliant,' and that it is investing $15 million this year in product safety and compliance initiatives, performing 2.5 million product safety and quality tests, and expanding its partnerships with testing did not respond to a request for has taken action in recent years. Responsibility for collecting VAT has been shifted onto platforms, as sellers are now required to collect the tax upfront when dispatching parcels. Ollie Marshall, managing director of online electronics retailer Maplin, said that this has lessened competition and led 'Chinese direct sellers on platforms like Amazon actually becoming less prevalent.'However, just as in the EU, the US' dropping of its de minimis rule has increased fears of goods being rerouted and dumped in the UK. The Labour government announced a review of its policy in late far, retailers and trade groups say there isn't much evidence that dumping is happening. Martino Pessina, CEO of Takko Fashion , a German discount clothing chain, said he's actually found short-term benefits from the US policy changes, as the temporary slowing of US demand has meant he's getting more favorable pricing from his own suppliers in speaks to a point that isn't always reflected in the arguments over de minimis rules and the threat of dumped goods via Chinese platforms. 'We already buy in our local stores in the UK and the EU cheap Chinese goods, it's the same goods, often made in the same place,' Anna Jerzewska, customs and trade adviser to the EU and the UK, and director of consultancy Trade & Borders, said. Safety concerns are valid, as is the need to have a level playing field on regulations, she said, 'but the cheap Chinese goods isn't the problem. It's the profits of the UK retailers or the EU retailers.'Chinese online platforms are unlikely to see the increasing regulatory complexity in developed economies as an insurmountable barrier, according to Mark Greeven, dean of Asia at IMD Business School. The companies are expanding their warehouse capacity in Europe, he said, and Temu has begun to explore different business models, including working with small businesses in European markets. In April, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with DHL to develop its logistics on the continent.'Part of their advantage which they had in the US, they're trying to transplant to Europe, but they're also reinventing themselves a bit,' Greeven will be challenging to build in Europe the 'proximity with the consumer' that the platforms have achieved in the US, he said, and their model of ultra-low price, algorithmically-marketed products may need to change. It could take a year or more to figure out how to navigate tariffs and tailor their offering to European the expertise that the Chinese platforms have built in logistics and supply chains means that they are powerful, highly adaptable businesses that will be hard to regulate out of existence, because they've dealt with constant disruption throughout their existence.'It's been round after round after round, and I think they got pretty good at focusing on their core capabilities,' Greeven said. 'It's a mess, but a mess is an opportunity from the point of view of Chinese entrepreneurs. I think that typically in this situation, Chinese companies prosper because they're not afraid of it, they're used to it.'The future of the US tariff regime is uncertain. In late May, a court ruled that the Trump administration's import taxes were illegal. The government has the merchants, the timing of any short-term shift to Europe will be dictated by the simple metric of the US tariff numbers, Wang, from the Shenzhen Cross-border E-commerce Association said. When tariffs were set at 54%, that was the point most exporters couldn't make a profit, he said.'Before reaching that level, people were struggling with thinner profits, but would rather stay in the US for cash flows and meanwhile start doing research on new markets,' Wang said. 'But let's say the tariffs return to figures higher than that again, you'll just be forced to completely exit and jump to other markets as you'll die faster if you stay.'
Economic Times
43 minutes ago
- Economic Times
China's Temu and Shein want to crack Europe, but the US is too big to quit
Reuters To mitigate the risk, Chinese e-commerce platforms are shifting resources to Europe and other markets, spending heavily on promotions to try to woo European consumers. Huang Lun was one of the original architects of his Guangzhou-based company's push into the US market, helping it to sell underwear and yoga pants via the online commerce platforms Amazon, Temu and Shein. The American market now makes up 70% of the company's total sales, but in March, with US President Donald Trump threatening imminent tariffs on Chinese imports, Huang was tasked with finding new markets in Europe and Australia to help soften the inevitable blow. Huang's company is one of hundreds of thousands that collectively ship billions of dollars worth of goods to the US, taking advantage of digital marketplaces, low-cost, high-volume manufacturing operations in China, US consumers' voracious appetite for cheap clothing, electronics, toys and homeware, and a 'de minimis' exemption on import taxes for low-value packages. The Trump administration's on-again, off-again trade war with China threatens the economics of the business, making it far more expensive to ship products to customers, and putting a tax on every imported product that either the consumer or the retailer will need to mitigate the risk, Chinese e-commerce platforms are shifting resources to Europe and other markets, spending heavily on promotions to try to woo European consumers. European regulators and retailers are braced for a flood of low-cost goods. But that may be slow to come. The merchants in China — the companies that actually buy, sell and ship apparel, electronics, decorations and toys — are more focused on shoring up their core markets in the US, preferring to take higher risks and lower margins rather than tackle the complexity and bureaucracy of Europe. Huang is among them. When the Trump administration announced 145% tariffs on Chinese imports and cancelled the de minimis exemption, the company initially dropped its sales targets for the US. But soon after, Huang was pulled back to work part-time on the American market again. Trump suspended some tariffs for 90 days, and the company rushed to get new production orders to its factories and booked container space to ship a few more months' worth of inventory to the US. 'We still need to keep an eye on other markets to always prepare in case things get worse again, but it's less urgent now,' he said. 'We feel the US market is back, at least for this year.'After the Trump administration's tariff announcement, many Chinese sellers on e-commerce platforms increased their US prices. The average price of 98 products on Shein tracked by Bloomberg News rose by more than 20% by early May from two weeks prior. Observed sales on Shein were 16% lower for the 28 days ended May 22, compared to the same period a year ago, according to Bloomberg Second Measure, which analyzes credit and debit card transactions in the US. Temu's sales fell about 19% in the same period from 2024 of the frustrations that Chinese companies have found in trying to enter European markets are there by design. The EU and UK typically have more rules on product standards and consumer protections than the US — non-tariff barriers that Trump has referenced in his trade disputes with the continent. European regulators have already begun cracking down. The Commission is formally investigating Temu for potential breaches related to the sale of illegal products and manipulative user interface designs. In May, a separate enforcement action found that Shein used tactics such as fake discounts and misleading sustainability claims. Shein has one month to respond or face possible fines based on its EU US' tariffs on China and the end of the de minimis rule has increased a sense of urgency in the EU, but the bloc's concerns predate the trade war. In 2024, about 4.6 billion parcels valued at €150 or less — the EU's de minimis threshold — entered the bloc, almost double the 2023 total. More than 90% originated from China. Policymakers tend to argue that enforcing European standards protect consumers and mean that imported products can't undercut local manufacturers by producing inferior, unsafe goods. 'It's not about trying to prevent affordable products or blocking clever business models that we ourselves didn't come up with,' Bernhard Kluttig, a deputy German economy minister, said. 'It's really just about making sure that everyone plays by the same rules.'When the Darmstadt Regional Council, a regional authority in Germany, tested 800 products from Asian e-commerce platforms, they found 95% of them didn't meet European standards. Among the products were laser pointers that exceeded legal output limits by up to 300 times. 'If you get that in your eye, then your eyesight is gone,' Angelika Küster, head of the council's department for market surveillance, product and chemical safety, said. Other checks found toys with 100 times the permitted concentration of toxic council has stepped up inspections and hired more staff to examine products from e-commerce sites, Küster said, 'but it's clear that we can't compete with the sheer volume of products being introduced.'The European Commission has launched a new initiative called Priority Control Areas to carry out surprise cross-border checks and launched a web crawler tool, which it hopes can help to identify harmful products listed on e-commerce sites. Other potential solutions under discussion at the Commission include introducing a handling fee for e-commerce platforms and implementing a digital product passport, which may provide supply chain transparency through a QR code linked to detailed product EU is in the process of reviewing stricter rules and the elimination of the €150 de minimis customs duty exemption. But as the US has already closed its equivalent in May, there's a risk that the e-commerce players now exploit Europe as a dumping ground while it's still possible. 'We're often not as quick as Donald Trump,' Kluttig said. 'We can't issue executive orders that apply immediately and across all of Europe. We have different elaborate and complex legal processes. Which is important — but decisions take longer.'Similar conversations are going on in the UK, where the de minimis threshold is £135, and where industry groups have long argued that online retailers selling Chinese goods are undercutting local companies by skirting duties and safety checks. Exports of 'low-value' parcels from China to the UK rose 53% in April, according to an analysis of China's customs trade under the £135 threshold generally pass through customs with limited inspection. In research published in October 2024, the British Toy and Hobby Association found 85% of the 75 toys it tested from third party sellers on 11 marketplaces, were non-compliant with EU and UK safety standards.'It's difficult enough to pay all the taxes that we do without facing competition from people who pay none, particularly when they're supplying goods that are demonstrably not up to UK safety standards,' said Andrew Goodacre, chief executive officer of Teal Group, which owns toy retailer The Entertainer.A Temu spokesperson said that the company takes product safety seriously, with 'a robust seller onboarding process, regular monitoring, and enforcement actions to ensure compliance,' and that it works with testing and certification agencies. 'We are committed to fair competition and supporting local businesses,' the spokesperson said. 'Our platform allows European and UK-based sellers to reach new customers through a low-cost channel, with half of our UK sales expected to come from local sellers and warehouses by the end of 2025. We're expanding this model across Europe, aiming for 80% of our European sales to come from local sellers over time.'A Shein spokesperson said that the company is 'fully committed to ensuring the products we offer are safe and compliant,' and that it is investing $15 million this year in product safety and compliance initiatives, performing 2.5 million product safety and quality tests, and expanding its partnerships with testing did not respond to a request for has taken action in recent years. Responsibility for collecting VAT has been shifted onto platforms, as sellers are now required to collect the tax upfront when dispatching parcels. Ollie Marshall, managing director of online electronics retailer Maplin, said that this has lessened competition and led 'Chinese direct sellers on platforms like Amazon actually becoming less prevalent.'However, just as in the EU, the US' dropping of its de minimis rule has increased fears of goods being rerouted and dumped in the UK. The Labour government announced a review of its policy in late April. So far, retailers and trade groups say there isn't much evidence that dumping is happening. Martino Pessina, CEO of Takko Fashion, a German discount clothing chain, said he's actually found short-term benefits from the US policy changes, as the temporary slowing of US demand has meant he's getting more favorable pricing from his own suppliers in China. This speaks to a point that isn't always reflected in the arguments over de minimis rules and the threat of dumped goods via Chinese platforms. 'We already buy in our local stores in the UK and the EU cheap Chinese goods, it's the same goods, often made in the same place,' Anna Jerzewska, customs and trade adviser to the EU and the UK, and director of consultancy Trade & Borders, said. Safety concerns are valid, as is the need to have a level playing field on regulations, she said, 'but the cheap Chinese goods isn't the problem. It's the profits of the UK retailers or the EU retailers.'Chinese online platforms are unlikely to see the increasing regulatory complexity in developed economies as an insurmountable barrier, according to Mark Greeven, dean of Asia at IMD Business School. The companies are expanding their warehouse capacity in Europe, he said, and Temu has begun to explore different business models, including working with small businesses in European markets. In April, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with DHL to develop its logistics on the continent.'Part of their advantage which they had in the US, they're trying to transplant to Europe, but they're also reinventing themselves a bit,' Greeven said. It will be challenging to build in Europe the 'proximity with the consumer' that the platforms have achieved in the US, he said, and their model of ultra-low price, algorithmically-marketed products may need to change. It could take a year or more to figure out how to navigate tariffs and tailor their offering to European markets. But the expertise that the Chinese platforms have built in logistics and supply chains means that they are powerful, highly adaptable businesses that will be hard to regulate out of existence, because they've dealt with constant disruption throughout their existence. 'It's been round after round after round, and I think they got pretty good at focusing on their core capabilities,' Greeven said. 'It's a mess, but a mess is an opportunity from the point of view of Chinese entrepreneurs. I think that typically in this situation, Chinese companies prosper because they're not afraid of it, they're used to it.'The future of the US tariff regime is uncertain. In late May, a court ruled that the Trump administration's import taxes were illegal. The government has the merchants, the timing of any short-term shift to Europe will be dictated by the simple metric of the US tariff numbers, Wang, from the Shenzhen Cross-border E-commerce Association said. When tariffs were set at 54%, that was the point most exporters couldn't make a profit, he said. 'Before reaching that level, people were struggling with thinner profits, but would rather stay in the US for cash flows and meanwhile start doing research on new markets,' Wang said. 'But let's say the tariffs return to figures higher than that again, you'll just be forced to completely exit and jump to other markets as you'll die faster if you stay.'
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Apple challenges 'unreasonable' EU order to open up to rivals
Apple has submitted a legal challenge to an EU order to open up its closed ecosystem to rivals such as Meta and Alphabet's Google, saying the demands are unreasonable and hamper innovation. The European Commission had in March detailed how Apple must comply with the Digital Markets Act, which aims to rein in the power of Big Tech. Apple said the EU's interoperability requirements create "a process that is unreasonable, costly, and stifles innovation". "These requirements will also hand data-hungry companies sensitive information, which poses massive privacy and security risks to our EU users," it said in a statement. "These deeply flawed rules that only target Apple - and no other company - will severely limit our ability to deliver innovative products and features to Europe, leading to an inferior user experience for our European customers." Meta, Google, Spotify and Garmin are among companies that have requested access to Apple users' data. The legal fight will likely take years to play out in court. Until then, Apple will have to comply with the EU order. The Commission ordered Apple to give rival makers of smartphones, headphones and virtual reality headsets access to its technology and mobile operating system so they can connect with Apple's iPhones and iPad tablets. It also set out a detailed process and timeline for Apple to respond to interoperability requests from app developers.
