Kolkata Diaries

20 Sept 2019 - Ma Durga is coming to town... how do you know? You have hoardings everywhere of Sourav Ganguly sharing banner space with the latest Tollywood beauties (and MPs) who (try to) impersonate [...]

5 Sept 2019 - When I joined Presidency College in November 1992, as a student of English Honours, I had joined with my own baggage of historical knowledge about the institution. I knew all about [...]

23 June 2019 - Srishti had a filmi summer. Five weeks of being mostly in Kolkata in this sweltering heat meant being indoors for at least half the day. She did get to “explore” her [...]

8 June 2019 - He comes punctually at 9 am at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) office in Kankurgachi - Ward no. 32, under Borough III. He has been a ‘Medical Officer’ since 2006, though [...]

7 June 2019 - Today a childhood memory of mine suddenly re-surfaced - that of a wedding I had attended in early June 1983. It was the wedding of one of my mother’s cousins - [...]

6 June 2019 - Kabita comes to look after my child leaving her own. My daughter is 7, her son 9. Mine goes to Calcutta International School, the first international school in the city (est.1953); [...]

14 May 2019 - Everyone who could, has left. Almost all the children. More than half of the 32 flats of UDICHI - the ‘Co-operative Housing Society’ in Kankurgachi, North Kolkata, where my sister and [...]

11 May 2019 - Ma doesn't come in my dreams. She absolutely refused in the initial months after her death in August 2016. Then she relented a little. Came in all about 5 times in [...]

27 Mar 2019 - Many happy returns of the day, Anna! You always remember to forget my birthday - I thought of reminding that to you on yours! I feel a dull ache within me [...]

24 Mar 2019 - So what I was in hospital? I was made to play holi, too! The photo you see was taken on the 21st. I was very unwell throughout January this year and [...]