Dover Lane, an upper middle class neighborhood of South Kolkata has an interesting layout. The road winds itself around the two or three-storied bungalows with telling signs of the Art Deco style of the ’30s and before you know it you have come a full circle to find yourself where you started in the first place. We were led for a walk from The Z’s Precinct, by Rajesh Sen, who in collaboration with two sisters, Sutapa Roy and Sumana Mukherji converted their (the ladies) old home in the neighborhood into a boutique-cum-studio apartment. ‘18/76A Dover Lane’ by young writer Suktara Lal tells us this story in People Called Kolkata; a curated selection of 55 articles by architect and urban conservationist Kamalika Bose. Though the book jacket describes them as stories written in a journalistic style of anecdotes, personalities and moods of KOLKATA by 26 writers from as many walks of life as the narratives are.

Our walk was an extended part of the launch which happened the previous day on 12th Oct’19 at the Kolkata Centre for Creativity, on the bypass, befittingly amidst an ongoing retrospective of the iconic artist of the city, Jogen Choudhury. With a catchy forward by none other than Vir Sanghvi, the 55 pieces together create a rich tapestry of the varied heritage of the city; opening out aspects of the city hitherto unknown to most denizens. ‘Scripting a Carved Tale’ by Saheli Mitra explores the lipikars or the marble plaque etchers found behind Lalbazar in Central Kolkata. When Wazid Ali Shah was moved to Calcutta after the uprising of 1857 a part of Lucknow moved with the royal family; the coterie included his paan wallah. Their descendants still continue to live in Metiabruz area of Kolkata near the docks and still run a paan shop; albeit for ordinary folks (Home in Little Lucknow by Soumyadeep Roy). There is even an essay on maverick, the late Rajen Bali, our erstwhile Editor, when we published as a monthly (A Coat of Many Colors) by Paramjit Bakhshi.

Eloquently written and intercepted with artistic illustrations, the short narratives leave you with an urge to set out and discover the idiosyncrasies of the city for yourself; which am sure was the intention of the publisher, The People Place Project, a city-centric research initiative.

People Called Kolkata is available in all major bookstores across the country, online and on kindle.

Dover Lane, an upper middle class neighborhood of South Kolkata has an interesting layout. The road winds itself around the two or three-storied bungalows with telling signs of the Art Deco style of the ’30s and before you know it you have come a full circle to find yourself where you started in the first place. We were led for a walk from The