The Epic City
The World on the Streets of Calcutta
Kushanava Choudhury
Bloomsbury Circus
238 pages; Rs 499
Right before the beginning of Mrinal Sen’s Padatik (1973), the following words appear on the screen, showing the skyline of Calcutta (now Kolkata) in black and white: “Everytime I return to Calcutta I feel it must be surely impossible that it can continue much longer like this… I find Calcutta an intimidating and even infernal city, unredeemed and probably doomed.” This is probably a feeling shared by many of us, who have left our hometown for greener pastures elsewhere in the country
