O Calcutta!
Published by Yazad Jal November 5th, 2004 in Culture and SocietyI’m in Calcutta for the excellent Liberty Art and Culture Seminar. (Feel free to call it Kolkata, but don’t insist that I should too). I’m going to write on the seminar later. This post is on my impressions of Calcutta.
- The pollution surprised me. On my earlier visits in 1999 and 2000, it was definitely less polluted than both Bombay and Delhi. No longer. This time the taxi ride from the airport to the seminar venue (Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute on the EM Bypass Road) seemed like a tour of a gas chamber. Even Park Street, where I am now seems more polluted than last time.
- Bureaucracy rules! SRFTI is a nice airy campus but you can see that it reeks of “stuck in the past” bureaucratic planning. One example: the bathrooms in the guest house have ancient flushes — huge ceramic water cabinets — that went out of use in the 80’s. SRFTI was built in the mid 90’s.
- Opposite SRFTI is what I never expected to see in red Calcutta — gated communities à la Hiranandani. 10-12 storied buildings with very Western style mini-malls outside. (But unfortunately no cybercafé!)
- On cybercafés, I’m used to them closing late. 11 pm was early in both Bombay and Delhi. Here they close at 9. The Sify i-way luckily closes late — 10 pm!
- India does need two time zones. I landed in Park Street at 5:30 pm and Calcutta was dark. I was in a Barista, watching cricket in Bombay where it was bright sunshine (and good spirits too — we finally won a test match and saved some face).
- Down the street was Flury’s, large, airy, with old world charm, old bored waiters and slow service. My cold coffee would have cost the same in a Barista but took 20 minutes in coming. No wonder the Barista was full while Flury’s was half empty.
- Sree Leather’s in New Market is where I go for shoes and belts. Good stuff as always, but the service has improved dramatically! Earlier one had to choose from the items on display and the staff behaved as if you were doing them a favour by shopping there. Today I was waited on hand and foot. I was looking for flat sandals for my mother and saw very few on display. I complained to a saleswoman (half expecting to be scolded), and she went out of her way to show me around 15 pairs from the stocks not on display. I happily bought two pairs.
- Calcutta still has an electricity problem. Right in the middle of writing this piece, the cybercafé plunged into darkness. I was told it’s a regular occurrence and I should wait half an hour. If this is the case on Calcutta’s premier Park Street, then the problem must be more severe elsewhere. It’s a shame.
- I’m going to end this post with the saddest sight of my visit — rickshaw pullers. I had to stop for a minute to compose myself when I saw a few on Lindsay Street.
Pic courtesy: Under the Fire Star
Was wondering why blogging has been light on Anarcaplib in the last couple of days. Now, I know! :)
Just a couple of hours ago, my lunch-group had an interesting discussion going on about time zones and whether India needs two of them or not. It’s a coincidence to see you refer to that topic here.
Hey, my brother (Dani Raymond) is in SRFTI. Look him up if you’re there still.
Sameer, you can read my 1200-word article on fried rice instead. Click my name. Go on, do it now!
(Feel free to call it Kolkata, but don’t insist that I should too).
This coming from a guy who used to interrupt me saying “Call it Bombay!! Call it VT!!” every time I said Mumbai or CST. :)
Balasaheb, isko leke jao re.
India did have 2 timezones. Someone told me that it was consolidated to make railway time-tables simple.
Yazad,
On the time-zones thingy…does any reader or member of the cabal (for cartel is the wrong word)think there are any good economic arguments in favour of two-time zones?
(China, with a larger east-west spread, has only one time zone)
Nitin,
I’m perplexed. China runs across five time zones, but all of the country is forced into one time zone by the government (GMT +8 if I’m not wrong).
I assume the main economic argument for multiple time zones in India would be the same as for daylight saving time in the US / Europe. As far as possible business hours should be in daylight so that there is as little cost expended on artificial light. (Of course there are also psychological reasons behind a preference for daylight).
Kings, I did meet you bro briefly on my last day there. The poor boy was woken up and was still nursing a hangover ;-)
Yes, India did have two time zones earlier.
Gaurav, you are so lucky I don’t believe in libel ;-)
By implication then, since very little business in India gets done East of the 82 deg meridian anyway, the question of two zones does not arise