#calcutta

Sitting on his rickshaw parked on the Narkeldanga Main Road, Mehboob was watching the shuttle autos ferry passengers from Phoolbagan to Kaizer Street, Sealdah station and Central Avenue. “I’m the only one left in this area,” lamented the 45-year-old from Bihar. Almost obsolete around the country, but still going strong, hand-pulled rickshaws are one of the oldest means of transport in the city. In the energy-sapping heat and humidity, his vest was soaked with sweat. H e fanned himself with a  gamcha.  There’re still some rickshaws near the vegetable markets and local areas, waiting to run you to your destination, but commuters prefer the autos. It saves time and cheaper too. "I get very little business nowadays. People want to rush. Everything has become so fast. Most rickshaw-pullers have either left the job or went back home,” he added. While I waited for app-cab Ola on the rickety four-point crossing at Khal Pol, I wondered if the man versus machine c...

Thakurbari, Jorasanko. My name won’t give any hint at my Bengali identity. Once a schoolmate doubted my knowledge on Rabindranath Tagore despite knowing we had Bangla as second language in a Christian missionary school in Calcutta! With one of Kavi Guru’s famous songs jodi tor dak shune keu na aase , tobe ekla cholo re played in the background at his palatial bungalow at Thakurbari at Jorasanko, some fleeting thoughts crossed my mind. Is Tagore restricted only to the Bengal-born mind space? “Tagore is for everyone,” said 2012 Dada Saheb Phalke Award-winner actor Soumitra Chatterjee, who, when not acting, recites poems, be it Tagore’s or his own. Renowned lyricist-poet-director Gulzar said once the Bengalis didn’t let Tagore out of their state because Viswa Bharti had rights over his works. In his effort to introduce Tagore to the Hindi-speaking world, Gulzar translated 60-odd Bengali Tagore poems in two books — The Crescent Moon and The Gardener . To k...