Kolkata (Calcutta) - India

[jens]

Kolkata (Calcutta) has long been at the top of my most intriguing places to visit list - so over the New Year, I grabbed a cheap flight to Chennai and headed to Kolkata to start my travels around India. Kolkata did not disappoint - it was the crumbling, living and breathing relic that I imagined, complete with decaying, colonial edifices teeming with public servants and patient crowds trying to get things done.


_DSC0048 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0140 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0181 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0243 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0842 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0854 copy by tony |, on Flickr

[jens]

_DSC0630 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0642 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0652 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0317 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0325 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0343 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0367 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_CSC1083 copy by tony |, on Flickr

[jens]

_DSC0825 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0889 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0830 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0824 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0388 copy by tony |, on Flickr

_DSC0507 copy by tony |, on Flickr

[hkskyline]

Nice set of colonial buildings!

[maru2501]

great

rare look around here

[BnaBreaker]

Beautiful!

[SymphonicPoet]

Oh, very nice! I love the look of the brick as the stucco wears away. The mix of forms is gorgeous. And you capture a neat slice of life as people go about their daily lives. Lovely city!

[muppet]

wow, the former 'capital' of the British Empire. Queen Victoria was not just HRH the Queen of England, but the Empress of India. When she 'inherited' the country and title the unsaid thing it was the grander, larger and richer of the two, which was why so much more pomp was invested into the Subcontinental arm.

[MonkeyRonin]

Fantastic shots. It looks oddly serene too - were these taken in the early morning?

[Bedhead]

Amazing shots-truly atmospheric!

[hipster duck]

Great shots! Is Kolkata like this everywhere? It looks like it was frozen in time; signs of modernization, like glass skyscrapers or electronic ads, are conspicuously missing.

[IMBY]

I spent 4 days there back in February 1996. An ideal place to bring you crashing down to earth!

[jens]

Thanks. I generally prefer morning and late afternoon shots, but it was winter so the sun was quite low all day.

Kolkata is basically like this. Flying in - with a fantastic view - I struggled to recognise a "city" as it was mostly low rise shrouded in trees.

[LSyd]

interesting thank you

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[Sonog]

Excellent work.

[The North One]

The sky has such a thick haze, the whole place looks surreal.