23.10.2004

Impressions of Kolkata

Posted by justin

Busy. Dirty. Big yellow bonnet ambassador cabs. Urban rot. Rendered cement peeling off buildings to reveal red-brick teeth gritting through grime. Street scenes shot like... cinematic widescreen...everywhere you look.

Poverty everywhere. Everywhere. Beggars, filth, vomit. Makeshift tents growing on pavements shattered and cracked by the weight and history of so many people living. So many though that you always feel safe. The deserted street scene never presents itself. Always busy.

Sarees. Bright, colourful, peacock feathers drifting through the cement and mud. Sprawling city gardens and the wide, dirty, brown Hooghly river. Hair dressers as one-stool streetside establishments. Cast-iron old street water pumps. Bicycles. Rickshaws powered by ageing men in bare feet. All holding silver bells to ring to your attention their travelling contraptions. Political slogans handpainted on every wall. Hammer and Sickle. Crumbling colonial buildings hinting at a greater grandness than was ever the case.

Pungent odours, Indian spices, cookery clattering, intrigued eyes. Auto-rickshaws. Incessant appeals for favour or custom. Never too much. English-mannered polite conversation. 'Sir'. 'You will be coming inside Sir'. Locals with well-oiled and brushed hair and collared shirts as if they are all off to their first interview. A city with 13 million people who must all live in the same few blocks.

These Bengalis seem the friendliest people.