Think of an island which is fertile and grows all the food that the people residing there need. It produces fairly good amount of surplus but since it is cut off from and has no communication with mainland, it cannot send surplus food there and has to waste them. While food grows aplenty, the islanders […]
Kolkata’s bus drivers
Bare-arm driver holed up in an antique piece, called bus [Picture source] Kolkata’s public bus drivers are totally different species that have very few parallels. They are human like any of us when they are not driving. They become inhuman when they sit behind the steering wheel, and while being there, their concern for fellow […]
Development sans planning
If the Nandigram episode marks a blot on government’s somewhat peremptory perusal of land acquiring, the continuing unrest there firmly indicates that the opposition parties want to keep the ember glowing for as long as it suits them politically. It is anybody’s guess what may ultimately transpire after the no-holds-barred trading of charges currently underway […]
Making over
Writers Buildings – the glorious past [Picture source] Kolkata may as well be a city of heritage. This is the hope expressed by the city mayor in a workshop yesterday in which a British delegation took part. Not that the city lacks heritage structures. Thanks to the Raj era, Kolkata can truly boast of magnificent […]
Canine-ism
An urban menace [Picture source] A pan-India urban problem, conspicuous yet hardly addressed properly, is that of stray dogs. The menace of dog-bite, and even death resulting from it as recent incidents in Mumbai, Bangalore and elsewhere have proved, is on the rise. But there is no ready solution in sight because the municipal authorities, […]
Dhaka by train
Bus already plies, and now in 3 months time, trains will run to the Bangladesh capital. Initially, the trains will stop 35 km short of Dhaka at Joydebpur since this length doesn’t yet have broad gauge line. Gede this side and Darshana across the border are the stations where respective customs and immigration checks will […]
12 coaches for local trains
Badurjhola, translated to English, would mean ‘hanging like bats’. If anything that comes to mind when one sees the rush-hour local trains in Kolkata, it must be this term, badurjhola. For millions across the suburbs of the metropolis, local trains are the only viable connection. [Image source]The trains are more or less crowded throughout the […]
What now?
About a week has passed since the latest incident at Nandigram, the government is still seen fumbling at the rapid turn of events. There have been protests, some symbolic like the intellectuals resigning from their coveted posts, others violent like those taking to streets to damage public property. Even proceedings at the assembly/parliament are being […]
Spencer’s in Kolkata
Chennai’s Spencer’s Plaza it once was! [Picture source] RPG Group’s retail venture has been through acquisition of Spencer’s, the mainly south-based supermarket chain. It’s in Chennai that an Englishman JW Spencer started a department store in 1860s on the city’s spinal chord, Mount Road (Anna Salai). Later, after a devastating fire in 1983, the entire […]
Elevated Ring Road
That movement of traffic in most city thoroughfares is an utter chaos doesn’t need iteration. Sometime back I posted a short video to YouTube on traffic on Dhakuria Bridge (see below), and the only comment I’ve received so far is from a Bong in US, that just says ‘chaos’. According to me, the trouble with […]
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