The city of Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, is India's second largest city and the capital of West Bengal. The-Latest reporter Sumantra Maitra takes us on a photographic journey around his home capital, a place of contrasts, where traditional occupations rub shoulders with ultra modern industries.
Kolkata still struggles with the effects of its past history of British colonial rule, political violence, economic stagnation and the present day concerns of urbanisation, poverty, pollution and traffic congestion.
"Calcutta is huge, chaotic, and warm hearted..." These were the words of the Irish tourists I met while making a short documentary in the old Esplanade area of Kolkata. Its lanes and by-lanes are filled with the inheritance of colonialism and bustles with people from different walks of life.
Since a picture is meant to say a thousand words, I hope my images convey the diverse moods of my experience.
Thomas L. Blair is a sociologist and political blogger on the Chronicleworld 'for creative renewal in Black Britain and Afro-Europe'. His work is honoured in the British Library's archive of "social, historic and culturally significant web-based material from the UK domain". He won top prize in the blogging competition on The-Latest.
Sumantra Maitra is a freelance journalist from Mumbai, India. He is a correspondent for All Sports magazine, and a foreign affairs blogger for the Washington Examiner. He has written articles for news website Merinews.com and other regional publications. Sumantra runs a blog at DailyWorldWatch.wordpress.com. He provided exclusive eyewitness reports for The-Latest on the Mumbai bombings of 2008.
Brian Usher is photography consultant for The-Latest.Com. He is a highly experienced editorial and commercial photographer whose work has been published throughout the world, appearing in many well known magazines and newspapers. Brian has featured in several books and has been a writer for the Royal Photographic Society magazine.
Heidi Kingstone has spent time in Afghanistan reporting for a number of publications. Her work has appeared in the Financial Times, The Spectator, The Sunday Times and other international journals. She has also reported from places like Iraq, Rwanda, Lebanon, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya. Heidi is The-Latest's Editor at large.
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