If Bombay is money and Delhi is power then Calcutta is life - the real life and people of India displayed on the streets for all to see. Some find it difficult to look at, others stare from the windows of their air conditioned tourist coaches. But to see it is to feel it and that means getting out amongst those people who make Calcutta their home and workplace. Be it on the trams, the metro or walking the streets and alleyways this is how to see Calcutta. Dominique Lapierre called it The City of Joy in his book about slum life in part of it, Anand Nagar, and the name has become synonymous with the whole place since. For there is so much joy to be found here among a city more renowned for its poverty and dilapidation. I have found but a small part of it expressed through the people that I have met here. In their homes, their workplaces and simply on the streets. People who have openly welcomed me and provided me not only with photo opportunities but also stories, cups of chai and endless memories. I’ve returned many times now. I try not to admit it but I know I shall return again. For me it is one of the greatest cities in the world and irresistible.
