Continuing to provide thousands of tour programmes, this 82-year old Kolkata-based company, Kundu Special has established its name and fame not only in the region but has also spread its popularity in various states of India By Joy Roy Choudhury
The inception story of this 82 year old Kolkata-based Kundu Special started in 1933 when late Sripati Charan Kundu, a businessman with business interests in railways, hired an entire train of the then Bengal – Nagpur Railways (BNR) to take a group of elderly Bengali couples around India on a 56-days tour, after much persuasion. Besides, a team of managers, late Sripati Charan Kundu also had onboard with him a chef, bearer, medical expert, barber and a person adept in writing post-cards to communicate with the family members of the couples back home. Reminiscing about the beginning, Soumitra Kundu, the grandson, and director of Kundu Special says, “This was the first such organised tour arranged by a tour operator. My grandfather took onboard a Bengali chef because he felt that despite their excitement for discovering new destinations, at the end of the day Bengalis want their favourite Bengali cuisine when they sit down for lunch or dinner.” Since then, the company has been organising ‘rail-based’ tourism.
“Earlier, many of our tours were on ‘special’ trains that were entirely reserved by the company for our clients. These trains were not only staffed with chefs and bearers but also had paid medical staff on board to help the 200-300 passengers who would be part of such a tour. We have been continuing this practice of taking a specialised chef and his team for all our tours. For the last eight decades we have tried to provide quality Bengali cuisine to our customers no matter where in India they have been,” he elaborates.
Presently, the company has 300 staff members and organises more than 200 domestic tours every year across the country with around 8,000 tourists. Its clientele comprise of the middle-class and upper-middle-class Bengali families. “If you travel with us once, you will continue coming back to us. That’s our guarantee because of our personalised services and care, which leading tour operators cannot match,” he boasts of adding that, “You will find the mention of Kundu Special in films made by world-renowned film directors like Satyajit Ray and Tapan Sinha. Several leading Bengali novelists and travel writers like Buddhadeb Guha, Saradindu Bandyopadhyay, Ashapurna Devi, Shankar, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Narayan Sanyal, Shanku Maharaj, Probodh Sanyal have also mentioned our name in their writings.”
Changing patterns
Over a period of time there has been a change in the way the company has been organising tours. Elaborating on the same, Kundu, says, “We can no longer hire the entire train but we take smaller groups comprising of 35-40 people. During the tour, travellers are taken to the destination by train, provided food during the journey, then on arrival at a particular destination they are put up at good quality budget hotels. Sightseeing and all other transport arrangements are taken care of by us. Personal luggages are carried by our bearers.” Earlier, Kundu Special organised tours to the West when the Kundus themselves accompanied the travellers to Europe and the US. These tours, although now not a part of the Kundu Special itinerary, were successful and introduced the Bengali community to travelling in the West. “Bengali’s have faith and confidence in us because of our meticulous tour planning, hassle-free transportation and sightseeing, quality food and accommodation that we offer,” proudly states Kundu.
For the further growth of the company, he is looking at upgrading the products and incorporating new features as and when necessary to provide a better experience to their customers. “We would strive harder to improve our services and the personalised care we are providing for the last eight decades so that we can set new benchmarks and make every customer’s experience unforgettable,” he says adding that they are thinking of starting online bookings as well. “People from outside Kolkata and the districts of Bengal often criticise us after they fail to make it to our office within the stipulated time on the opening day. Hence, we may think of such an option in the coming days and earmark a specified number of the total number of seats for online bookings.”