Conjuring Up The City Of Joy

Kalkatta Chronicles—Rear-View Reflections is an endearing throwback to Calcutta of the ’60s and ’70s. The book’s author Supriya Newar takes a walk down memory lane as she revisits experiences, central characters, objects, activities and places that shaped her childhood.

- Beverly Pereira

KOLKATA HAS BEEN THE subject of many books. While countless works dwell on the historical and cultural aspects of the city, few really evoke a sense of place and time through personal memory. Kalkatta Chronicles—Rear-View Reflections by Supriya Newar is one such book that’s built on personal nostalgia. Born in Kolkata, the author, like generations of other Marwaris, grew up in the city in the ’60s and ’70s. It was a time long before the advent of the internet, mobile phones or automatic lifts. It was an era differentiated from the present by trunk calls, clunky lifts and daily power cuts; when a visit to the cinema, reading books, playing board games and listening to the radio were some of the only forms of recreation.

The book conjures up vivid imagery of Calcutta of yesteryears over 10 chapters. Harnessing a simple, easy-paced tone, the author draws the reader into her childhood, as she breaks down a way of life or custom that belonged to her past. That the book itself opens with a chapter on the heavy-duty lift of the author’s multi storeyed home is nothing short of a well-meaning gesture that warmly welcomes the reader into the author’s world.