Kolkata or old days calcutta, known as city of joy for many reasons. Be it be it’s culture, architecture, art galleries, literature or it’s world famous sweet delicacies. It’s a perfect blend of colonial architecture and modern day infrastructure.

From hand-rickshaws to yellow taxis and monorail to India’s first metro line, you name it, and kolkata has it all, all the means of transport including waterway boats on hoogly river. India’s former capital under British era has it all.

I felt a different zest when it was finalized that we will be doing my wedding shopping in kolkata. I always had this on my mind, like I had a perfect planning for it from forever.

“Burrabazaar”, a largest wholesale bazaar in kolkata, was a yarn and textile market under British era.

All of Burrabazar is divided into specific areas or specilaised sub-markets named after the commodity it deals in – Dhotipatti, Fancypatti, Tulapatti, Chinipatti etc. These are further divided into katras. Each katra is known for a particular item. Like a complete lane has shops deals in only bed sheets or that in only bangles etc.

We can find everything from wedding cards to lehengas, sarees and fabrics here. Bastalla Street and Kalakar Street have a range of sarees and dress material shops stocking bright colours and embroidered fabrics and borders.

Wholesale and retail, we can get everything as per our wish. We have even got some sarees designed from a wholesale dealer. we can buy “Dhakai / Jamdani Silk” and “Kolkata Cotton” sarees from genuine dealers/sellers in the market.

Satyanarayan park AC market, within burrabazaar, is famous for bridal lehengas, has numerous shops and varieties in lehengas. Moreover, it’s an AC market (some relief from kolkata heat). One can also explore cotton street, opposite to satyanarayan market, for bridal lehenga and designer sarees. One myth, which I believed and convinced before coming to kolkata was designer stuff we get in cheap rates here, but I found out its not true. If you want to buy good, quality and designer stuff you have to pay accordingly high. It’s just that this market offers a good variety.

Kolkata has a Skillfull and cheap labour force for the handwork and embroidery stuff. Some well-known designers in Mumbai get their designs tailored here, just for this reason. This is how, we can get 1st copy of Manish malhotra bridal lehenga here, just put some hard work in exploring the market and you will land in proper place.

This market is also a eaters delight. It has stalls selling virtually every genre of food – dahi kachori, bhelpuri, jhalmuri, ragda patties, matka kulfi, samosas, chaat, jalebi, pavbhaji, Bengali sweets. For a cup of steaming hot chai and great samosas, head to the famous Tiwari Brother and finish off with the kesariya kulfi. You can stop by to have golgappas (“poochkas” in Bengali) from stalls on the street.

Before you head back home, buy a pack of the gaathiyas at Lakhuram Bhujiyawala. They specialise in this Rajasthani snack – fried strips made from besan (chickpea flour) with a dash of ajwain (carom seeds), tumeric, cumin and chilli.

The area also has some well-known sweet shops (including the usual Haldirams’)

With all the information on bridal shopping, like shops and areas etc. and extensive planning we, me and my mom headed to kolkata. We booked a afternoon flight from yatra.com and reached kolkata by 5 pm.

It’s a 45 min drive (15 km) to burrabazaar from Netaji subhashchandra Bose or Dumdum airport, kolkata.

We had 5 days in hand for our complete bridal shopping.

We were quite at ease as I was very confident about my planning (shopping entire day from 9 am to 6 pm, then packing work in the evening) until we got to know that shops open here after 11 am, and some bridal shops after 12 pm. A chill rushed down my spine as we lost half day daily of our useful time, as I wanted to explore the entire market and then do the purchasing.

How can I dint enquire about the market timings before planning this trip?? It was a mistake yet useful lesson learnt.

We booked our stay nearby, to avoid commute time. There are good lodging facilities near to burrabazaar, one can book from booking.com or make my trip. We had our room on zakariya street, from where market is 10 min walking distance, as it seems in GPS, but actually it took more than half hour due to over crowded streets and traffic due to hand-rickshaws and monorail.

As we had our morning in leisure, due to shops opening late, we decided to visit Kali mata temple. We took metro from bagri market (5 min walking distance from burrabazaar) at 9:00 am and reached kalighat station by 9:30am. From there temple was on walking distance of 10 min.

There is a small market in the temple premises which we explored afterwards. If you are fond of typical Bengali things, you should explore this market. I purchased typical red and white bangles (chuda) called as “shakha-pola” in Bengali. Shaka, the white bangles are made out of crafted and polished conch shells and pola, the red bangles are made of ruby stone, it is considered auspicious to wear it on and after wedding.

From kali mata temple we took Ola to gariahat market, it is near to Kali temple (3 kms), in South kolkata, it is referred as shoppers paradise. The market is good for street shopping. from sarees in shops to shoes, purses, camel leather artifacts, earrings, artificial jewellery, jutis, jute bags, jhulas, artificial flowers, etc etc.and for reasonable price, the only thing is the oppressive heat of Kolkata, but if you love shopping you forget everything, if tired have some sweets and mishti doi at Gupta sweets. you can also have some tangy puchkas on the street.

There is a shopping complex in market which has numerous shops dealing in sarees, lehenga, artificial jewellery, designer borders, fabrics, garments, imported handbags and suitcases etc. The rates are reasonable, however if you want to buy good, quality stuff, rates are accordingly high.

We booked Ola for our return to zakariya street. However the streets are so crowded that it took much time for the cab to reach us, also booking got cancelled automatically couple of times, upon asked we got to know that this happens many times due to traffic and crowded streets.

We completed our packing and parcelling work in the evening. You can ask at your hotel reception for the paid services like packing, parcel/courier, hamaal to take the luggage etc.

We had our return tickets by “Duronto Express”,kolkata to pune. Left our hotel at 7 am, with minimal luggage (as we couriered our maximum shopping luggage).

Some important points to remember before planning a trip to Burrabazaar, kolkata –

1. Market is open on Monday to Saturday, closed on Sunday

2. Market timings are 11 am to 9 pm

3. During market timings, roads are overcrowded, so plan it accordingly

4. Cabs may stuck in traffic for hours here, as the roads are small and crowded, monorail route, handrickshaws etc. So if want to go outside of market, walk till nearest main road and book the cab.

5. Ask shopkeepers for the free services they offer on purchasing, some arrange to drop your shopping bags to your hotel, polish the work on your fabrics before giving to you etc. other than arranging tea and sweets for you.

I hope you enjoyed this Shopaholic article, so get yourself ready for this wedding season.

Happy Travelling and happy shopping!