Oh! Calcutta!

Going to Calcutta is a blast from India's past. From the moment you land in the dilapidated airport, you feel like you've arrived in 1950. All the taxis are old, yellow Hindustan Motors Ambassador cars and the city still has "functional" trams --not charming/touristy ones like SF(see pics below).

Calcutta is India's Philadephia--former #1 city, center of commerce and culture which is now a has-been. In order to explain the city's rapid decline/galacial stagnation I offer two exhibits:

1) West Bengal--the state for which Calcutta is the seat of govt--is run by the world's longest-running democratically elected communist government in the world. States with significant communist/marxist influence are among the poorest, least developed in the country. Granted this is bit of a catch-22, but I can't help but think that there's something to this observation.

2) Famously laid-back and philosophical mind-set of the Bengali people. In Bombay, you're asked "what do you do?" In Calcutta, you're asked, "what do you think about what you do?" The Bengali attitude of "I think, therefore I don't do" means nothing happens.


P.S. Fun fact regarding the title of this post, it's the name of a sexually charged theatre production as well as a famous Bengali restaurant in Bombay.

P.P.S Not so fun fact about Calcutta, day-trips to Cal from Bombay are grueling. For a 4 to 5-hr meeting in Cal, I have to leave my house at 5am and return at midnight (or 4:30am if the flight is delayed like this Friday).