Nostalgia for Infernal City

Book review of 'The Epic City: The World on the Streets of Calcutta'

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