Entally (also spelt Entali) is a neighbourhood in central Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

, earlier known as Calcutta, in the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state

States and territories of India

India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 of West Bengal

West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

. It has a police stationand is an assembly constituency. Once a part of the Salt Lakes, the area was home to the poor and the depressed castes.Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...

 started her activities in Entally.

Etymology

Entally is a distortion of the original name of the area - Hintalee.The hintal is a type of date palm that grows only on tidal land.

History

Entally was one of the thirty-eight villages bought by the British East India Company

British East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

 in 1717 and reconstituted as Pancahannagram {fifty-five villages or mouzas). Entally, Pagladanga, Nimakposta, Kamardanga, Gobra and Tangra constituted Dihi Entally. Entally, which was once part of the Salt Lakes, beyond the Maratha Ditch

Maratha Ditch

Maratha Ditch was a three-mile long moat excavated around Kolkata in the present Indian state of West Bengal, in 1742, as a protection against possible attacks by marauding Bargis, as the Marathas were known locally. The Bargis, however, never came to the city...

, was a marshy and pestilential stretch. Oriya palanquin-bearers, poor Christians , Muslims , Chinese and other depressed communities such as Dalits, lived in the area. Upper caste Hindus avoided living in the area because of the municipal slaughter house, and Chinese-owned tanneries and piggeries.

H. E. A. Cotton

H. E. A. Cotton

Sir Harry Evan Auguste Cotton CIE was a barrister, administrator, journalist, historian and writer...

 describes Entally in the twentieth century as “an area extensively intersected with numerous roads and lanes. It contains a large number of European residences, some of them fine buildings in extensive grounds.” In those days, the Municipal Railway ran along the side of Lower Circular Road (renamed Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road) and the Lakes by way of Sealdah and conveyed several hundred tonnes of sweepings daily which were employed to raise a square mile of land, which had been bunded off from the lanes for the purpose. South of Entally was the Volunteer Rifle Range constructed in 1877.

In the nineteenth century many factories were set up in Entally because of the low cost of land. Many of them survive to this day..

Entally, Manicktala, Beliaghata, Ultadanga, Chitpur

Chitpur

Chitpur is a neighbourhood in north Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. Sometimes, the entire area along Chitpur Road is referred to as Chitpur, although the various localities have distinctive names....

, Cossipore

Cossipore

Cossipore is a neighbourhood in north Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal. One of the old neighbourhoods of the metropolis, it has a police station and is an assembly constituency.-History:...

, parts of Beniapukur, Ballyganj, Watganj and Ekbalpur, and parts of Garden Reach and Tollygunj were added to Kolkata Municipal Corporation

Kolkata Municipal Corporation

Kolkata Municipal Corporation is responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of the city of Kolkata. The organization is known, in short, as KMC . This civic administrative body administers an area of 185 sq. km. Its motto, Purosree Bibardhan, is inscribed on its emblem in Bengali...

 in 1888.

Geography

Entally is spread over parts of Ward Nos. 54, 55 and 56 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, partly under Entally police station and partly under Beniapukur police station. It is bounded by Sealdah

Sealdah

Sealdah is one of the major train stations serving Kolkata in India, the others being Howrah Station, Shalimar Station and Kolkata Railway Station. Sealdah is one of the busiest rail stations in India and an important suburban rail terminal...

 and Beliaghata in the north, Tangra

Tangra, Calcutta

Tangra is a region in east Kolkata that traditionally housed a large number of tanneries owned by people of Hakka Chinese origin. "47 South Tangra Road", may be the most confusing postal address, as it used to cover the whole of Chinatown Tangra with over 350 tanneries...

 in the east, Beniapukur in the south and Taltala

Taltala

Taltala is a neighbourhood in central Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal. One of the old neighbourhoods of the metropolis, it has a police stationand is an assembly constituency.-History:According to H. E. A. Cotton Taltala was chiefly peopled by Bihari Muslim...

 in the west.

Economics

Entally market is one of the old markets in Kolkata. Shops sell readymade garments, vegetables, groceries, textiles, margarine, fish and fruits.

Education

Loreto Entally was founded as an orphanage in 1845 but it is no longer an orphanage in the strict sense, although orphans continue to be looked after. Day scholars outnumber the boarders but the latter continue to be the nucleus of the school. Loreto Kilkenny

Kilkenny

Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...

 has been twinned with Loreto Entally.

Culture

Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...

 arrived in Kolkata in 1928. While teaching in Loreto Convent at Entally, the slums beyond the school compound engaged her more and more. In 1948, when she secured permission to work fully with the poor and the sick, she established a home in an obscure house in Entally, with a nurse's training and a meager Rs.

Indian rupee

The Indian rupee is the official currency of the Republic of India. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India....

5 in her pocket. Her activities spread out subsequently to other areas of Kolkata.