Waiting city

But of course that’s just oversimplification —a sentimental surmise of a city negotiating 21st century. For Kolkata (or for that matter any great city) exists only in books for most. More so for those who call it their home. We make our way through its streets; call its rambling,colonial buildings our home/office/college/school but never really decipher it. We fall back on literature for that. Therefore,the city morphs itself as convenient clichés for us— ‘New York with palm trees’,as VS Naipaul famously belittled it or the postcolonial wonder of Sarnath Banerjee’s Barn Owl’s Wondrous Capers.

One rainy morning,walking through the “maze of Kolkata by lanes”,photo-journalist Saibal Das decided to think beyond clichés. “As I was walking around I came upon a baby struggling to wriggle out of a shack but tumbling over and over again. However,his futile struggle and the glint in his eye as he tried to see the rain washed world outside somehow entranced me and I immediately thought of capturing the pulse of a place that nestles so much of diversity under its sky,” says Das.

Thus,he chose to document the contrasting realities of the city he calls home with the bustling commercial nerve centre of Chitpore as a focal point. “Past overlaps with the present in Chitpore. Here migrant workers and prostitutes rub shoulders with the decaying aristocracy I wanted to capture the essence of this difference that makes Chitpore so vibrant—throbbing with a heartbeat of its own,” he says.

Tales of Chitpore,the ongoing photography exhibition at Seagull Arts & Media Resource Centre,is a mellow,reflective assessment of a city that is torn between the comfort of nostalgia for the colonised years and the perils of integrating with a modern world. Das’ Chitpore is restless,bustling world which is prone to moments of exquisite moodiness. Like most black and white photographs Das’ frames are heightened by a sense of pathos,but they are also laced with humour. Unfinished clay idols of demi gods lie sullenly at a side while Kolkata men do what they are best at,soiling walls. The courtyard of a typical North Kolkata bari,is viewed through the blinds of a room (a la Charulata) and a frail old lady is framed against a vibrant graffiti. There is a distinct voice speaking through these frames,guiding,nay commanding the viewer’s eye to see beyond the obvious. But there are equally stunning frames which do not seem to be guided by any such motivations. The bustling Zakaria street is swathed in light (probably during Ramzan) as the evening traffic rolls by. An empty lane ( a rare sight in this part of the city) is covered in what looks like maple leaves (and probably is peepul leaves) in a crisp winter morning. There dense beauty of these photographs leave you so satiated that you really do not want to reading meanings into them.

Contrasting these two definite motifs are the astute human portraits— a differently-abled Chinese man stands against a Chinese dental clinic,an emaciated beggar-lady looks heavenwards with her anchal held forward and a labourer stares squarely at the camera as the Chitpore crowd blurs with activity behind him.

Its evident that Das’ love for his city is not of the adolescent,gushy variety. “Here I have discovered chaos in every nook and corner but that also has been the flint —the friction needed to light my creativity,” says Das.

Tales of Chitpore is on at Seagull Arts & Media Resource Centre till November 24. Timings from 2 pm to 8 pm.