the street next door...

This trip to Kolkata has been different in many ways. I didn't go out on a dedicated photowalk on the streets of Kolkata even once. But coming to think of it, opportunities just around the neighbourhood are aplenty, if one has a keen eye to observe. I just picked up my camera and went for a short walk in the morning. And that's where I clicked this random shot. I prefer sitting quietly in a corner of a street and let things happen around me at its own pace. I dislike to be an intruder. Real photography, I believe comes when one lets things be instead of trying to be the absolute master of things. But today, I didn't really have the time. We had an important visit in the morning that couldn't have been avoided. There's one particular incident in the bus though that's worth mentioning. I and Mrs Adda sat in one row and my dad sat right behind us. He was telling us stories from one of his recent trips to a place of religious and cultural importance and its connecting to a very famous literary novel. As he kept telling us facts and links to the novel, a young guy sitting next to him corrected him on something. He told he's a native of that place and has grown up listening to the stories. What followed was a non-stop discussion on related and totally unrelated matters. This is Kolkata, no two people are absolute strangers. One can strike conversation with anyone, anywhere and on anything.

Later in the evening, I and Mrs Adda went on a small shopping excursion into the city. I left the camera behind. We went into the older part of the city and skimmed through the gulleys and shops of the local market. We kept away from the malls, on purpose. Lot of cheap and good stuff was bought. I wanted to buy a radio and had to stop at an unbelievable number of shops to buy one. One of the shopkeepers smiled and said "who listens to radio these days?". I smiled, replied back "yes, true." and went on to check the next store. Finally I managed to find something that I can do with for now.