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If you walk down Mirza Ghalib Street (previously known as Free School Street) in the Esplanade area in the last week of October, you’ll find yourself stepping into a carnival of cobwebs, skeletons and glowing pumpkin faces.
Once famous for costume rentals and stage props, this stretch has reinvented itself into Kolkata’s go-to Halloween market.
Shops spill over with all things spooky — blood-smeared masks, ghostly hands, rubber bats, witches’ hats, zombie costumes and glowing jack-o’-lanterns. Prices begin at Rs 80 and can go up to Rs 2,000 and more.
The walls are lined with dangling skeletons and eerie mannequins, while orange balloons and fairy lights cast an otherworldly glow on the busy lane.
Skull masks hanging side by side, a grinning pumpkin bowl guarded by toy skeletons, and rows of outstretched zombie arms reaching for passersby.
Though Halloween isn’t part of Kolkata’s traditional calendar, the city has taken to it with the same enthusiasm it shows for Christmas or Valentine’s Day. What began as a niche curiosity for themed parties has now become a lively urban celebration.
College students, families and event planners throng the shops, picking out costumes and props for parties across town.
Between the skeletons and the strobe-lit pumpkins, Mirza Ghalib Street tells a story of how Kolkata absorbs every celebration and gives it its own local twist, even one as foreign as Halloween.
