Kolkata City,
West Bengal, India
(Related Pages: Calcutta, Durga Puja 2005,
Indian Museum)
India's largest city and once the capital (1772-1912) of
British India, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) is located on the east bank of the Hooghly,
a channel of the Ganges, 154 km upstream from the Bay of Bengal. Growing beyond
its British colonial foundations, Kolkata assimilated strong European influences
to create an amalgam culture that found early expression in the life and works
of the 19th-century Bengali elite and its best known figure, Rabindranath Tagore.
Kolkatans are said to possess a rare joie de vivre that manifests itself in their
penchant for art and culture and a level of intellectual vitality and politica
l
awareness unsurpassed in the rest of the country. No other Indian city can draw
the kinds of crowds that throng to Calcutta's book fairs, art exhibitions, and
concerts. There is a lively trading of polemics on walls, which has led to
Kolkata being dubbed the city of posters. But Kolkata thrives amid
seemingly insurmountable economic, social, and political problems. For all its
vitality, a large number of its residents live in abject conditions, far removed
from the rarefied cultural milieu. Many a visitor remarks on the city's
air quality, physical decay, and fetid smells. In short, Kolkata remains an
enigma to many Indians as well as to foreigners. It continues to puzzle
newcomers and to arouse an abiding nostalgia in the minds of those who have
lived there.
♣ [-
Oct '05 & Oct '06]
Kalighat |
Kalighat
temple
 |
Calcutta
rickshaw
 |
Street dweller
(more)
 |
Public bathing
 |
Kalighat widow
 |
Kalighat man
 |
Kalighat woman
 |
Kalighat man
 |
Nirmal Hriday
 |
Public
mouthwash
 |
Folded hands
 |
Worth fixing?
 |
|
Santoshpur & Jadavpur |
Leftist
posters
 |
Communal
ground water tap
 |
Jadavpur
University
area
 |
Bagha Jatin
station
 |
Bagha Jatin
store
 |
Waiting for
the train
 |
Marriage vows
 |
Layout for a
puja
 |
A wedding
household
 |
A post-monsoon
wedding
 |
Calcutta Lake
Club dinner
 |
Fish curry (maacher-jhol)
 |
|
Gariahat |
Rickshaw
 |
Roadside
eatery
 |
Souvenir stall
 |
Open air
bathing
 |
Calcutta
street
 |
Gariahat area
 |
Gariahat area
 |
Calcutta tram
 |
Roadside
barber
 |
A shrine and
its architect
 |
Bookstore
 |
Gariahat fish
market
 |
Gariahat fish
market (more)
 |
Fruit stall
 |
Flower market
 |
Gariahat
nursery
 |
Gariahat
market
 |
Goodies
 |
Drinking
coconuts
 |
Kwality Walls
ice-cream
 |
|
Sealdah & College St. |
Sealdah
station
 |
College street
 |
English
literature bookstore
 |
Sunday morning
scene
 |
Presidency
college
 |
College / MG
road
 |
Chariot on MG
road
 |
Mama Stall
No--1A
 |
Calcutta
rickshaw (1,
2)
 |
Calcutta
rickshaw
 |
Calcutta
rickshaw
 |
Calcutta
rickshaw (more)
 |
MG Road
 |
Street dweller
 |
Street dweller
 |
Sunil Ganguly
on a billboard
 |
Side street
near Sealdah
 |
Round gourd
 |
Street near
Sealdah (more)
 |
Custom cards
store
 |
Calcutta Tram
 |
Calcutta Tram
 |
Calcutta Tram
 |
Calcutta Tram
 |
Directing
traffic
 |
Jagadhatri
puja spot
 |
Jagadhatri
 |
Black Krishna
(more)
 |
|
Dakshineshwar Kali Temple |
Boat on the
Hooghly
 |
Kali temple (1,
2)
 |
Kali temple (1,
2)
 |
From the river
(more)
 |
The Hooghly (more)
 |
Guavas
 |
Snack joint
 |
Bathing couple
 |
|
Belur Math |
From the river
 |
Main building (more)
 |
Side view (entrance
gate)
 |
Large pot
 |
Widow at Belur
Math
 |
Squatting Girl
 |
Bengali
pilgrim
 |
Announcing a
fair
 |
| |
|
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
Victoria
Memorial
 |
Howrah bridge
 |
Piggybank
vendors, Howrah
 |
Kathi roll off
Park St.
 |
|
|
|
|
