Chinatown
Tangra. Otherwise known as Chinatown.
I am told that no Indian in Calcutta would be able to tell that I am a foreigner. They would think I'm from Chinatown. Besides, the people who live in northeastern India, in places such as Assam or Manipur have Mongoloid features like the Chinese. They can only tell I'm a foreigner from my English accent. During most of the trip, whenever I see someone who looks like a Chinese, I would always ask them where they were from. They would always tell me some place like Assam, Manipur, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet etc, but never China. Despite what I was told about Calcutta having many Chinese people, I guess I'm not fated to meet any Chinese at all.
I am told that the Chinese who live in Calcutta migrated from China several centuries ago. They have also taken up Indian citizenship since then. It makes sense actually. I seriously doubt any modern day Chinese would choose Calcutta as a home.
I had gone to Chinatown hoping to see my own kind, but all I saw was more Indians. It also was not the Chinatown I was accustomed to see, the kind with lots of shops selling trinkets or joss sticks, bustling with people. Instead all I saw was dirty roads with full of pot holes, and lots of rubbish dumped on the side. Most of what I saw were leather factories and Chinese restaurants. I saw like only three people who looked like Chinese, and that was after walking for about an hour around Chinatown.
After Chinatown, Elton and I wandered into what appeared to be a slum. In some ways, I'm glad I came here, because this gave me an opportunity to photograph the authentic life of the people of Calcutta. I'm sure it is not the poorest place in Calcutta (I have seen worse when we were enroute to the Temple of Kali), but it was better than nothing.
After that, we went to a tourist attraction called Swabhumi in Salt Lake City (it was named as such because the water there is salty, so I am told). The tourist attraction itself was not that interesting, but Salt Lake City is. It was the first time I felt closer to home. At last, here you can find decent looking terrace houses that look like they have been built and painted in the last twenty years. It appears to be the place where the professionals of Calcutta live. IBM and the Wipro headquarters are located here, and I'm told many other multi-nationals will be going there too.
I am told that no Indian in Calcutta would be able to tell that I am a foreigner. They would think I'm from Chinatown. Besides, the people who live in northeastern India, in places such as Assam or Manipur have Mongoloid features like the Chinese. They can only tell I'm a foreigner from my English accent. During most of the trip, whenever I see someone who looks like a Chinese, I would always ask them where they were from. They would always tell me some place like Assam, Manipur, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet etc, but never China. Despite what I was told about Calcutta having many Chinese people, I guess I'm not fated to meet any Chinese at all.
I am told that the Chinese who live in Calcutta migrated from China several centuries ago. They have also taken up Indian citizenship since then. It makes sense actually. I seriously doubt any modern day Chinese would choose Calcutta as a home.
I had gone to Chinatown hoping to see my own kind, but all I saw was more Indians. It also was not the Chinatown I was accustomed to see, the kind with lots of shops selling trinkets or joss sticks, bustling with people. Instead all I saw was dirty roads with full of pot holes, and lots of rubbish dumped on the side. Most of what I saw were leather factories and Chinese restaurants. I saw like only three people who looked like Chinese, and that was after walking for about an hour around Chinatown.
After Chinatown, Elton and I wandered into what appeared to be a slum. In some ways, I'm glad I came here, because this gave me an opportunity to photograph the authentic life of the people of Calcutta. I'm sure it is not the poorest place in Calcutta (I have seen worse when we were enroute to the Temple of Kali), but it was better than nothing.
After that, we went to a tourist attraction called Swabhumi in Salt Lake City (it was named as such because the water there is salty, so I am told). The tourist attraction itself was not that interesting, but Salt Lake City is. It was the first time I felt closer to home. At last, here you can find decent looking terrace houses that look like they have been built and painted in the last twenty years. It appears to be the place where the professionals of Calcutta live. IBM and the Wipro headquarters are located here, and I'm told many other multi-nationals will be going there too.
