“We are in the thick of the sprawling city of Calcutta,
and I am one of around ten million people living in this city.
This is a city which is loved and hated.
Kipling called it ‘the city of dreadful night’.
Lord Clive, the founder of British India, called it ‘the most wicked place in the universe’.
Nehru called it ‘the city of processions, of political manifestations’,
and Guenther Grass called it ‘God’s excrement’;
and you, Reinhard Hauff,
you have probably survived the first shock and have started liking Calcutta.”

- Filmmaker Mrinal Sen in conversation with his German collegue Reinard Hauff in the latter’s film “10 Days in Calcutta” (1987).

Alive and vibrant, the spirit of the city remains unvanquished despite immense odds.
Kolkata never really ceases to intrigue.
Love Kolkata or hate it, you can never quite ignore this city.