Kolkata through my eyes - Preetika Rao

Popular actress Preetika Rao who rose to fame after essaying the character of Aaliya in Colors' much loved show Beintehaa, is on cloud nine these days... The much loved actress has recently been felicitated with the very prestigious Kalakar Best Actress Award.

Preetika, who enjoys a great fan-following also met-up with her fans in Kolkata and enjoyed exploring the city. We spoke to Preetika to learn more about her trip, fan- encounters and more...

An elated Preetika told us, "This is my third award this year after winning the Best Debut and Best Jodi respectively. It was a beautiful moment for me to receive this highly prestigious award, probably the best thing to have happened to me in the start of the New Year! I also got an opportunity to meet die-hard Beintehaa fans from Kolkata, some of them had also made special trips to Mumbai only to visit our set and meet me and the Beintehaa team.

I also felt very nice to see that many Beintehaa Fans came to cheer me at the Science City Auditorium where I received the award. I also met a Celebrity Painter Mr Wasim Kapoor who said that I played Aaliya Gulam Haider so well that it had actually raised a question mark among people if I belonged to the Hindu or the Muslim culture? (laughs) He also told me that very soon he would have a painting exhibition in Mumbai and wants to paint my portrait."

Jaya, Chandana, Mishuka, Anupama Gupta, Shatabdi and others came to my hotel post the awards ceremony with lots of gifts and fan-mails.  Anupama gifted me a calendar which had my pictures for every month.  Among several gifts was a special gift sent by a Pakistani fan Syeda Saba all the way from across the border! It was a booklet on Aaliya mentioning why she loves Aaliya and how Aaliya inspires her in life!."

"Kolkata was a spiritual trip for me! I reached there on 11^th January and received the award on the same day. The next day - my sister Amrita Rao joined me in Cal and we visited a few Temples and Ashrams together. I also had the honour of taking my award to the Dakshineshwar Temple! "

The Actress also visited the famous Kali Ghat and the Yogananda Ashram which she found divine and serene, "I have also visited his ashram in San Diego! Yogananda is like a spiritual guide for me who speaks more about Spirituality rather than Religion. I also made it a point to visit the guru's childhood home that made my visit feel special!"

We went to the Vivekananda Memorial but we couldn't go inside as our vehicle was getting mobbed.  Later Amrita and I visited the old Havelis of Kolkata, marveled at the Victoria Memorial from outside and of course crossed the famous Howrah Bridge at night...Being in the extreme East, the city witnesses sun-set as early as 5.30pm!"

Talking about the city the actress shares, "I was very impressed by the old British architecture in the city with the typical red-brick-colored buildings with green colored wooden- arch-shaped windows! I liked the yellow ambassador- taxis that add to the charm of Kolkatta. Even the railway station with the old British architecture looks so pretty.

One cannot leave a city without tasting its delicacies and that's exactly what Preetika did- "We had the spicy Pani Puris known as Puchkas in Kolkata and the Paneer Shezwan Samosas also tried Bengali Sweets like Gud Ka Rasgulla and Gond Halwa.  Kolkatta has several Marwadi settlements so we tried out some amazing Marwadi food at this restaurant called Teej!"

Being fascinated with Black Carrots, and a different breed of lemons that looked like un-ripped guavas having the fragrance of the Thai herb galangal, the actress took some of it back home!

"My Kolkata trip was special!" concludes the actress...

Indeed a memorable trip to share with us and to cherish forever Preetika!

Anwesha Kamal