'Cycling Prohibited' says Kolkata!

What does a socialist state that is struggling with crowd and pollution and relies heavily on the unorganised sector do to ease traffic problems on its roads? Well, ban the bicycles of course!

The city has barred all bicycles, non-motorized rickshaws, carts and cycle vans from 174 of its roads. This is like an extension of the ban that was imposed on about three dozen of its streets in 2008. Authorities say that this move is aimed at easing traffic flow. To this, i want to say 'pshaw!'

This sounds like a perfect example of how a city can devolve. It encourages something that it can very well do without: vehicles. Rather, it discourages something that the the city can really use to sort out some of its major issues like crowd, pollution and most of all more cars on the road than it can handle: cycles and hand-drawn rickshaws.

And has it really considered the effects of this law on the poor who depend on their cycles for their livelihood? The milkman, the waterman, the rickshaw guy?

What does this say about the city's attitude toward its poor? Most of all, what does it really say about the common sense of the government (read Mamata Banerjee) that passes such laws? 

Moreover, small, cycle-drawn carts are essential in a city like Kolkata. If you have visited the city, you will know why. Many trucks (hell, many cars) can’t navigate its narrow, colonial-era lanes.

As against this, other cities like New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Pune are encouraging more and more people to get on cycles with dedicated bike lanes. But Kolkata doesn't believe in this idea.   

A campaign has been started to convince Commissioner of Police, Traffic Department, Kolkata to lift the ban on cycling on the 38+ major roads. This petition is available here for anyone to sign.

See how Down to Earth covered this story.

Amazing Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata in 2013

Even though I have been to Kolkata innumerable times, I have somehow never managed to be there during the pujo. 

Its a time of chaos (actually chaos starts about a month before that) and celebrations, dressing up and eating well, of pandal-hopping and socialising. 

Posting some images of beautiful pandals this year (in no particular order), courtesy my cousin @VaibhavJain who is in Kolkata as I write this along with my dearest sister-in-law @KritiKundalia.  

a) Singhi Park, South Kolkata
The theme here is 'Rajbari' which is the traditional style of pujo.

From the outside

And inside

b) Shiv Mandir

c) Mudiali Club
The theme for this pandal was 'Lotus'. Know more about this club's annual pujo celebrations here. The inside looks like surreal, like a collection of numerous floating hot air balloons.
 

Mudiali Club inside

The Lotus theme continues

Love the traditional red and green combination. For me, it can't get any more Bengali than this.

d) Falguni Sangha, Gariahat
This pandal looked like a setting of an opera. Beautiful!

Blast from the past

Vignettes from my past are more in the nature of red and green rather than black and white. On my recent to Kolkata, i tried to capture the city as i remembered it when i was a child and spent many a happy holidays there.

This is a rare sight in the posh neighbourhood of South Kolkata. But Elgin Road still throws up a few surprises. This was taken one evening when I was returning from Bar-B-Q.

The ubiquitous and the adored Ambi taxis. I am amazed at the amount of leg room (yeah i know, I'm short but i can still appreciate the space!) this car has every time i sit in it, which is not too often. And most taxis on Kolkata roads were in pretty good condition. A welcome improvement: metered taxis!

I can't remember the last time i took the bus. Probably 2-3 years ago when i was last there. But it takes courage to do it. 

One of the many long-forgotten nooks on the way to Maniktalla. Don't you just love the metal carving on the railing and the burnt red brick arches. What's amazing about these buildings is that they are approximately 100 years old but they are still standing. Some of them are in fact in really good condition. 

Bengalis out shopping for Durga poojo in Hathibagan. Even though Durga poojo is in October, they start shopping for it from August end! 

And who can forget these lovelies! The dear old trams! They are a driver's nightmare but they're so cheap and pretty. It's like taking care of an ancestor in their old age. 

Another beautiful, beautiful relic on Hathibagan road. My aunt tells me that this was used in the making of the movie 'Parineeta'.  

And my favourite. The place where i was born. But commerce has started to take its toll. North Kolkata is truly a historian's paradise!

Kolkata chronicles

So as i was saying, one will see immense changes in this city. To start with of course, there's the new terminal at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. Old-timers to the city will recall how shabby the old arrival terminal was. 

The new terminal at Dum Dum Airport

It looked swanky from where i saw it. But reports are that it is experiencing infrastructure-related problems including leakages and waste management. Read an Indian Express report on the same here.

The city is also experiencing a huge cultural shift in the way people behave. And by that, i mean spend. One Friday evening, my cousins and i decided to go out for dinner to the city's most popular restaurant - Bar-B-Q - across the street from Flurry's! 

I swear, this place is like the Times Square of Kolkata. You are bound to meet one of your long-lost siblings here on any given evening. 

An Apple store on Park Street

But what i saw was that South Kolkata had over time conceived hundreds of restaurants, eateries, cafes and lounges. And not just Bar-B-Q, but most joints in the area were buzzing. 

This consumer-oriented culture is relatively new to a city that was dominated by communism. The malls are populated, and what's more - there are so many more malls. 

On my way back to the airport to take the Indigo flight to Mumbai (which by the way was again late by 30-odd minutes!), my cousin decided to take me via Bypass and Rajarhat. I was amazed! 

Rajarhat

This is a new and developing area with IT companies, residential towers, malls, and Spencer's. I kid you not but it could pass off for Gurgaon or even our own Navi Mumbai! 

Having said that, i also tried to capture the Kolkata that i remember - with the old-world charm in a long-forgotten era. Read all about that in my next one. 

Meanwhile, for those whose curiosity i have piqued and are now planning to visit the city, here are some interesting sites to check out: Lonely Planet's guide and great deals from MakeMyTrip.   

A memory in sepia: Kolkata

I'm always under the influence of nostalgia when I'm visiting this city. It is where i was born and where I spent the better part of my first year. 

That is why, when i think of Kolkata, i don't imagine bad roads or poverty. Victoria Memorial doesn't come to mind and neither does Flurry's. As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure if i have been to Flurry's.

Flurry's on Park Street

I think of starched dhoti and kurta and yummy imartees. A neighbourhood with such an air of old-world charm that it is almost poignant - like a sad but beautiful Bengali movie. Shankha pola (traditional Bengali red and white bangles) and feet coloured in alta.       

While growing up, i found myself in Kolkata during every summer vacation. Sometimes i would fly alone under the care of an airhostess because none of my parents were free to accompany me.

Poster for a Bengali movie near Maniktalla

Gradually my visits tapered down to just family weddings. And now, not even that. 

My recent visit to Kolkata left me a trifle disappointed. Most of South Kolkata looks like Mumbai with malls, restaurants and commercial buildings. North Kolkata seems to be heading that way. Trams are disappearing and there are more cars on the road. The ubiquitous green windows are slowly disappearing and residential towers are replacing the distinctive and ornamental two-floored buildings.

When i shared my misgivings with a friend who has lived in Kolkata all his life, he said that it was about time that even Kolkata saw a bit of development. 

Of course, the benefits of this are plenty. But unfortunately, so are the downsides. 

Read my following blog for more on how Kolkata has changed.   

Amar shonar bangla

As children, we are always eager to grow up. But it is only as adults that we realize that the icing from the cake has been licked and the best part is probably over.

So has it been with me. I came into this world, on a day when folks on the other side of the world were busy enjoying fireworks to celebrate Independence Day, in a not-so-snazzy part of Kolkata – the north. I grew up in Mumbai and it is the only place I call home. But the city where I was born – where my maternal home is - holds a special place in my heart. It is where I have spent every single summer vacation, with or without my family.

For me, ‘quaint’ will always bring to mind the bottle green doors and green shuttered windows on each and every house dating back to the British Raj nestled comfortably alongside narrow lanes. It is a neighbourhood of now-crumbling 18^th and 19^th century buildings that are painted either yellow with green doors and windows or in a white-and-light blue combination.

I still remember the times when my maternal grandfather in his trademark white starched dhoti and kurta took me to buy either milk or sondesh every morning holding my tiny hands and declare with unmistakable pride to acquaintances as we passed by ‘aamar may’r may’ (my daughter’s daughter).

North Kolkata has a beauty of its own that often goes unrecognized and therefore unacknowledged. It is still largely populated with Bengalis and Marwari families that settled many generations ago to set up businesses here. One can still spot Tant saris – cotton embroidered saris that are so characteristic of Bengal - drying from pretty wrought-iron balconies, the controversial hand-pulled rickshaws and the lazy trams.

This kind of beauty may as well be an acquired taste for I know many south Calcuttans who remain unaware of this side of the city. It is of little surprise then that most tourists who are looking for a typical Kolkata experience rarely go beyond British-style buildings in Park Street and elsewhere in South Kolkata. Even the guide books have yet to discover it.

But there are a few to whom this kind of heritage matters. A foundation called Cruta – Conservation & Research of Urban Traditional Architecture – founded by a tiny group of conservationists has started organizing heritage walks through streets to educate people about the eclectic architecture at hand.

It is of course difficult to lure the youngsters from all the malls that have sprouted up in the south (that is leading to a whole new mall culture among Bengalis) to get them to walk through filth and impromptu public baths near the water mains. But it is a start.

For me though, the after-effects of spending a large part of my early childhood in Kolkata will never wear out. I remember as a second grader at the age of eight or so I dressed up in a white dhoti-and-kurta for a fancy dress competition at school looking every bit like a true Bengali Babu. I even sang an epoch-making poem by Rabindranath Tagore which was later made popular by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose - 'Ekla Chalo Re' (Walk alone).