Try taking a snap inside Sealdah station, chance is the security people will come at you hotfooted to tell you that photography is prohibited there. If you manage to hold on to the photograph you’ve just taken, may be you’d have to shell out some cash as a price for that. This is surprising on 2 counts.
First, if you are unfortunate to have suffered loss of valuables inside the station, you may not probably receive the kind of prompt attention as above in spite of your best efforts. And second, why at all the prohibition when a clever photographer can easily take snaps unnoticed in the din at the station!
Old rules, however irrelevant, die hard, which is why even the nondescript small bridge just outside the Sealdah North station has it plastered on it: Photography is strictly prohibited.
What this means is lesser mortals like me who do not want to be rubbed the wrong way by the law-enforcers will refrain from taking photographs where they’re not ‘permitted’.
But what about those who surreptitiously – and easily at that – take photographs of not only the railway stations but also installations of high security? Is there any mechanism to prevent that? If not then are we not facing the danger fraught with ulterior motives?
These thoughts crossed my mind as I was exploring Wikimapia to locate vital locations in the city. An aerial map of GPO, Lal Dighi and Writers Building comes below followed by pictures of Writers Building and GPO, all sourced from Wikimapia.
As I show you the images, let me say I’m not naïve. I know any number of pictures of these places is available on the net – just search Google Images. But then, so are the pictures of White House that houses the world’s most powerful man of whom there are countless enemies.
As far as I know, there is no such thing as ‘photography is prohibited’ outside White House where tourists throng to see for themselves the ultimate seat of power (see White House Tours).
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