The Telegraph - Calcutta : Opinion

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| Friday, October 12, 2007 |

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Elusive spirit

What Soumitra Das has caught in his astonishingly rich but handy volume, A JAYWALKER’S GUIDE TO CALCUTTA (Eminence Designs, Rs 595), is the elusive spirit of a crowded, messy, colourful city, careless of its past, and rushing recklessly after a vision of a gleaming, globalized future. Glimpses of its vanishing beauty, the hidden wonders of its history, its strangest characters, are accorded only to an indefatigable jaywalker with an unerring camera and a lucid, compassionate pen. Easy-to-read maps help the reader follow Das’s footsteps, as he captures buildings and cultures in the process of change. Clockwise from the left are the terrace of Putul Bari, a “mirage” on the bank of the Hooghly, a view of the South Park Street cemetery, Sibtainabad Imambara, Metiabruz, crazy china steps at Kewpie’s Kitchen, Elgin Lane, and Adi Chitteshwari Temple, Chitpur Road.