A New Perspective

Upon a second arrival in Kolkata, I have gained a new perspective. Yes what I said in the previous entry regarding this topic still holds true. Yet I'm am beginning to see beauty where there once was not too much to speak of.

In the morning, I have started going for walks along random streets and alleyways to take pictures and to see what happens. I have stumbled upon some very interesting communities.

I walked along this street where the road was breaking, kids were playing everywhere, and fathers were working in their "house" with other young men. The men were making the soles of women's shoes, welding metal bed frames, and carving wood. These houses aren't really houses in the typical sense. Rather they are one or two story buildings each person's house is actual just a room or two. As soon as an inhabitant opens the door he or she is looking onto the street. There's no porch, just the street. Also, as you can probably already guess privacy doesn't really exist much in India.

Some of the kids were passing a small, rubber soccer ball and I decided to join. I kicked it a few times when a group of guys my age came up to me and said, "Ahh, you play football? Where are you from?" They invited me into there soccer club house and demanded that I sit down. In this room was the entire soccer team and they were just relaxing and watching Bollywood music videos on TV. They were enamored to see a white, westerner in their neighborhood and especially one who know how to kick a soccer ball. So, in this room we juggled the ball and everyone clapped as players and I took turns. They offered me tea and food, which I declined as sanitation is not always at the top of the list amongst many people. It was great fun and completely spontaneous.

So, in this way I have gotten to see some of the common folk and have enjoyed there company very much. They are very compassionate, community oriented, and are generally not very affluent...which interestingly has yet to affect their overall happiness from as far as I can tell.


On another and similar note, I have also been afforded the opportunity to spend some time with the elite of Kolkata, from which I have learned a little about history, politics, and business.

This is what I have been told about Kolkata. Before the 1970's, Kolkata was one of the leaders of business in all of India. The Communist Party took over and despised business as well as the business leaders. This stifled commerce and as you can probably guess per capita income decreased. Thus, Kolkata lost it's edge. During this time the party also looked to the Soviet model.

Today Kolkata continues to be run Communist bureaucrats. However, within the last few years the model has changed to Chinese model as the new leader of the party is completely pro business. This has largely to do with the fact that the younger generation began to move out of Kolkata and Bengal - state which Kolkata is in - when the condition of the city began to diminish.

Additionally, many of the businesses in India that foreign investors have their eyes on and pockets in are run by Bengali people who have left the state. In fact, Bengal has over 100,000 million people and contains the most educated/intellectual people in India. These businesses where the educated Bengali's have moved to are places like in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, and so forth. Therefore, it will be very interesting to see how the state changes in the coming years and decades due to this major pro-business policy shift.

As for people who were telling me these things, the contrast in the former business mentality to the new one could be seen within individuals in the room. One man who has conducted business for 30 years here was saying, "Oh nothing's ever going to change. The only answer they'll every give you is 'No.'" The other man who just arrived a few years ago working as a key intermediary between a major investment bank and the government was saying, "You have no idea about the change that's going to take place. It will just take a little time to change the mentality of the people."