Who would guess the alphabet ‘R’ would be the one to have 2 of the most beautiful housing projects named in Kolkata! You might say, isn’t ‘U’ too popular, what with Bengal Ambuja’s Survey Park project on EM Bypass – the first large-format complex to start in the city – all starting with that alphabet? […]
Onrush of retailing
Close to where I stay, on the eastern side of EM Bypass near Mukundapur, a big construction is going on occupying several acres. The signpost – or signboard if you prefer – at the site declares that it is for the German retail giant, Metro Cash & Carry. The frenetic activity matches with almost ceaseless […]
Pleasure of defacing wall
If you want to have pleasure at others’ cost, yet enjoy full protection of law then Kolkata must be your destination. For, perhaps in no large city will you find hawkers being legally allotted space on pavements of busy roads to sell their wares. Neither perhaps you’ll see political parties enjoying full freedom to deface […]
Can Kolkata regain glory?
On occasions such as illumination of Howrah bridge do we recall Kolkata’s glorious past. Ministers and important people who grace such events usually read from written speeches prepared by their subordinates. They take the opportunity to announce plans, which then make screaming headlines in newspapers. It’s like throwing a small stone in an otherwise calm […]
Using Sun after darkness
Shantipada Gan Chowdhury is an untiring person. He heads the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA), established in Kolkata in 1993 with the objective to explore promoting alternate renewable energy resources, such as solar, small hydropower, biomass, wind, etc. Ever since it came into being, WBREDA has pioneered harvesting and usage of renewable energy, […]
Howrah Bridge illuminated
Do we know that the Rabindra Setu (earlier Howrah Bridge), commissioned on 1943’s Feb 10, world’s 3rd largest cantilever bridge, arguably its busiest ferrying nearly 57,000 vehicles and 2 million commuters each day, was made with as much as 26,500 tons of steel of which over 85% was supplied by none other than India’s pride […]
Fading rickshaws
Ask anyone, who has a taste of Kolkata, what are his/her most enduring images of the city, chance is the common choice will be tram and rickshaw in that order, or perhaps in reverse. Both are unique to the city, though not seen at all places, the trams less so. Both represent a bygone era […]
..another account or 2 of Kolkata
The first one by Tammois from Melbourne, Australia. And it’s unspoilt by preconception. Knowing oneself through others’ eyes is akin to facing a mirror. I quote a small portion of her essay: In the space of four short days, I went from a sort of brain cloud reaction to the chaos of Kolkata, to someone […]
Different lens, different views
How do you see Kolkata? It depends. It depends on whether you’ve set foot there or in any Indian city earlier or a first-timer here, whether you’ve a practiced eye to gaze beyond the din, whether you’re ready to accept that what you see is what you don’t see in your hometown, and of course […]
Hawker hawker, have no fear
Supreme Court’s stern directive that no matter what, the ‘sealing’ drive against unauthorized shops and buildings in Delhi must continue, is welcome for many reasons. It will not only unclog the city’s arteries, it will also bring in a semblance of order in the way the municipal authorities conduct their business. This perhaps acted in […]
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