City of love and loathing

Aradhika Sharma

You either love Calcutta or hate it. It really depends on how much you are willing to accept of what you see and experience, and also how your heart and mind processes your Calcutta experiences. While some cannot get over the squalor and poverty of the city, others swoon over its culture; and while some will only see the stains of paan on the walls of the edifices, others cannot get over the beauty of city’s ancient buildings. Some will rue the argumentativeness of the Calcuttan, while others join in the discussion in a chai adda. The magnetism of Rabindra Sangeet on the one hand and honking of the unmonitored traffic on the other; the unbridled celebrations by the city people during Durga Puja contrasting with the long hours of sweltering load shedding — such a land of dichotomies is Calcutta.

Is it a dying city? Is it a black hole or is it living and forever dynamic must be in the perspective of the person who experiences the city. It has been variously described by various writers but one thing is for sure, no one can remain impersonal towards Calcutta or Kolkata as it is now called. The city has an impact and an effect that is undeniable.

Editor of the book, Nilanjana Gupta says in the preface of her book that ‘Unlike most famous cities, there is little to see in Calcutta.’ The city’s wealth does not lie in ancient monuments, medieval courtrooms or modern skyscrapers but in its stories. The book is named after a phrase used by Geoffrey Moor in his 1971 book on the city, where Moor wonders why Calcutta is so ‘Strangely Beloved’.

Writing or compiling ‘city’ books is not an uncommon trend. The author or editor strives to collect works by various writers that will explore the soul of the city and what makes its life-blood flow. Of late, there have been books on Delhi (talking about which, recollect Khushwant Singh’s controversial Delhi: A Novel). There have been books like Bombay to Mumbai: Changing Perspectives by editors P. Rohatgi, Pheroza J. Godrej and R. Mehrota. Madras Then Chennai Now is by authors Nanditha Krishna and Tishani Doshi. In an effort to capture Calcutta’s spirit, Nilanjana Gupta has chosen a series of writings by academics and historians, as well as literary giants like Sunil Gangopadhyay for Strangely Beloved. Different perspectives by writers of different times — centuries even — make this compilation an important resource for the Calcuttaphile (to coin a phrase).

Even though it has often been described as a dying city, Calcutta is a city of paradox and transition. Each piece is a unique experience by the writers; every perspective is distinctive. You will find among the chapters writing about profiles of disparate foreign residents of Calcutta in the 19th century (Vignettes by Abhijit Gupta). In This Is Calcutta, Subilal Misra talks of seemingly unrelated people, places and scattered incidents, capturing the dark underbelly of the city, in the section The City Beckons. The book is in fact divided into five sections: The City Beckons, Traumatic Times, City Spaces, The Meaning of The City and Passionate About….the headings of the sections are self-explanatory, though the pieces within are feisty or quirky, fantastical or serious or just descriptive, depending on the mood and experience of the writer.

While City Spaces has charming pieces like Cha-er-Thek by Madhumita Roy that talks about the chai addas that dot Kolkata; The Meaning of the City contains pieces like Armenians in Calcutta by Arindrajit Saha and Travelling to Work in the City by Anchita Ghatak. In the section, Passionate About…. You will taste Calcutta’s food for Thought by Ratanboli Ray and Bengali food in Calcutta by Arundhati Roy.

Strangely Beloved is a journey through one of the most written about cities in the country. Sometimes, the journey gets uncomfortable in its stark reality; sometimes it makes you chortle; like most organic cities, Calcutta grows as well as decays, which is captured in the form of sophisticated writings by consummate writers.