West Bengal – Page 2

My Indo European Artist Residence 2019

December 4, 2019tomLeave a Comment

My Indo-European Artitst Residency in Kolkata is wrapping up in a couple of weeks. Destroy Everything Beautiful – a series of photos I took during my meanderings through the city will be exhibited this week at Experimenter Gallery in Ballygunge. I am giving a reading of the crime fiction – 2 novellas and a short […]

Dominique LaPierre’s Calcutta

November 14, 2019November 14, 2019tomLeave a Comment

Far too many of you have read the ‘City of Joy’ by Dominique LaPierre. The book has sold more than eight million copies, put Calcutta on the map as both the world’s saddest and happiest place and got rave reviews by the pope. Yes, that dead POPE. Dominique LaPierre continues to come to Calcutta regularly. […]

Darjeeling’s tea king wants an organic agricultural revolution in The Nikkei Asian Review

April 12, 2018April 12, 2018tomLeave a Comment

My latest story in The Nikkei Asian Review with photographs by Aroon Thaewchatturat. Life is chaos; the world is chaos, according to Rajah Banerjee. “The only constant is change. What are we doing here and where are we going? We need to answer these questions to be free, to find our way.” This is hardly […]

Little Europe – The proto-colonies of West Bengal in The Nikkei Asian Review

January 7, 2018January 7, 2018tomLeave a Comment

Last story of 2017, first story of 2018, with Laure Siegel. The show stays on the road and the road takes me wherever. Home is anywhere I lay my head. In this instance, north of Kolkata, the world’s most beautiful city, along the banks for the river Hooghly. Really enjoyed researching this one and am […]

India’s City of Joy: 3 days in historic Kolkata at CNN

December 9, 2017December 9, 2017tomLeave a Comment

My latest travel feature with Laure Siegel on one of my favorite cities – Kolkata – for CNN Travel Mother Teresa did the same for this spendid city as Spielberg did for sharks. She ruined the West Bengal capital’s reputation for generations. But Teresa is dead, the city is on a bumpy rebound and its […]

A Baul’s Railway Song – India’s Hobo Musicians

June 12, 2004October 31, 2019tomLeave a Comment

The plains of West Bengal stretch into a milky horizon. In May, much of the rice has just planted and the midday sun’s glare is reflected in the shallow paddies. Here and there, small clusters of mud and straw huts form tiny hamlets in an ocean of green. The Kanrup Express takes more than 30 […]

Welcome to Sonagachi – Calcutta’s largest brothel area is thriving

May 12, 2004October 31, 2019tom218 Comments

“I have been in Sonagachi for 25 years. I rent this room for 114 Rupees a month. This is my home.” Champa Das has invited me into her home. Champa Das has been a sex worker all her adult life. Sonagachi is one of Calcutta’s largest red light districts – narrow alleys, lined with small ‘apartments’ […]