Air-traffic controllers and flight crews were still working, so planes continued to take off, though there were cancellations in Kolkata (Calcutta), where the communists are strongest.

ECONOMIST: Indian privatisation

Most other airports in India are owned by the government and operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), including two other high-traffic airports, Chennai (Madras) and Kolkata (Calcutta).

FORBES: India's Airport Boom Embraces Green Building

The capital of the state of Karnataka, home to Wipro and Infosys among others, has changed its name to Bengalooru, following the lead set by Mumbai (Bombay), Kolkata (Calcutta) and Chennai (Madras).

ECONOMIST: The politics of English in India's IT capital

Several hundred men and women, waving rainbow flags, danced, stamped and sang their way through the city centres of Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata (Calcutta) on June 29th the first such national event in this conservative country.

ECONOMIST: Where Victorian values and repressive laws still hold

Until a few years ago, most of the big English papers had an understanding to stay off each other's turf: the Times in Mumbai, Hindustan Times in Delhi, Telegraph in Kolkata (Calcutta) and the Hindu in Chennai (Madras).

ECONOMIST: Far more news than is fit to print?

The twice-daily service from Dhaka to Agartala, the capital of the Indian state of Tripura, enables Indians living in the inaccessible far east of the country to go overland to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) or Delhi via Bangladesh.

ECONOMIST: The taxing new route to Kolkata