Brother’s Love (Kolkata, India)
A young boy endures soapy water and a solid scrub from his older brother. Although this shot seems like it’s a private little corner of the city, there’s actually cars and buses and taxis and carts rushing by and people all around. It’s just another day in this crowded, chaotic, intensely hot city.
Kumartuli Woman
I was drawn to the strength in this woman’s expression and in her hands. She had just finished washing a load of clothes when a loud crowd of men carrying very large, very heavy “idols” passed by the ally.
The Cooks (Kolkata, India)
These two fellows had their hands full cooking up tons of incredibly delicious Bengali food for several hundred guests who’d gathered in a private home to celebrate Durga Puja.
R Basket (Kolkata, India)
This city (and all of India really) is full of paradoxes but there’s one thing for sure – these folks sure work hard… This guy is carrying a basket full of leafy greens to a large communal kitchen where about 20 men and women are preparing huge bowls of bengali food for a festival feast.
Splish Splash (Kolkata, India)
Today was one of the hottest days i think i’ve ever experienced. When I saw this fellow and that rush of water next to him, I was soooo tempted to join him.
Got Me A Gamcha
Our fearless leader, Tewfic El-Sawy, has a thing for scarves – that’s no secret. This cotton scarf, or “gamcha”, is used by many Bengalis as a sarong for bathing, a cover for protection from the heat and rain, a towel for sweat and dirt, a bug swatter, a spread for sleeping, a mat for sitting…and so many other things. Behind this fellow’s gamcha is his empty basket, which moments earlier was full to the brim with fresh vegetables.
When You Gotta Go
I spied a bare skinned little boy walk around the corner and quickly reached for my camera. Moments earlier I had been trying to record some music coming from the speakers on the walls of this building. My companion later told me that I had just recorded music from a ‘pay for toilet’ place. And that’s apparently where the little fellow is heading and where the bigger one is coming from.
Hauling Vegetables
This hard working man carried an incredibly huge bundle of vegetables from the Kolkata railway station to the wholesale market a few long, hot blocks away.
Chitore Man (Kolkata, India)
The taqiyah (or cap) worn by this fellow suggests that he is muslim rather than hindu. This makes sense since i met him in the muslim neighborhood of Chitore, outside the gates of a large active mosque.
Flower Vendor (Kolkata, India)
Selling flowers when it’s a bazillion degrees hot outside must be a tough way to make a living. But this guy was so sweet, I wanted to buy anything he was selling.
A Mother’s Milk
Compassion is a call, a demand of nature, to relieve the unhappy as hunger is a natural call for food.
-Joseph Butler
Occasional Refuge (Bay Area, CA)
After hours of security checks, long lines and even longer waits on the tarmac…this place actually felt like an oasis in the midst of chaos.
Rickshwa Wheel Repairs (Kolkata, India)
More than 18,000 rickshaws ply the streets of Kolkata. The Rickshaw Pullers Union claims they earn about Rs100 ($2.25) per day. Many believe that figure is grossly inflated.
Kolkatta is the last major city in the world where hand-pulled rickshaws still carry passengers. China, where some of the earliest rickshaws were invented, outlawed the “bourgeois and exploitive” practice in 1949.
Kollkatta tried to outlaw pulled-rickshaws in 1996, but the ban was overturned after citywide protests. The rickshaw pullers argued that it was no more inhumane than working in the mines or in the fields.
The city subsequently offered a payment of Rs 7,000 (about $155) for every rickshaw that was voluntarily turned in. None were.
[Check out the complete slideshow to the left under Projects]
The Muslim call to prayer fills the air amidst all the chaos and cacophony of the Kolkata streets. Today we followed the call to the Nakhoda Mosque where an oasis of cool marble halls provided a quiet escape from the crowds and heat of the city streets. These images are of the Mosque and the surrounding Chitore neighborhood.
Kris Bailey | Random Images 