White & Black: Journey to the Centre of Imperial Calcutta

The seeds of the city of Calcutta were sown only after Job
Charnock chose a certain spot between present-day Nimtala and
Shobhabazar to estabilish the first British outpost. Subsequently,
the British bought the right to take on rent the three villages—
Sutanuti, Kalikata and Gobindapur.

The outlines of the Victoria Memorial Hall, Howrah Bridge and
the Ochterlony Monument (today’s Shahid Minar) that once ruled
Calcutta’s horizon have been fast overshadowed by the jagged
contours of concrete towers. By contrast, the city’s built heritage
inherited from pre-Independence times may be in the last stages
of ruination but the buildings bear traces of the glamour that once
won Calcutta the sobriquet of ‘City of Palaces’. Regal in their
youth, the old buildings have had their grace enhanced by age.

White & Black: Journey to the Centre of Imperial Calcutta takes a
clear-eyed view of the changing face of Calcutta. It is this spirit
that Christopher Taylor celebrates in his superb black-and-white
frames, and Soumitra Das captures in his sweeping narrative. The
book guides us through Dalhousie Square that is the quintessence
of Calcutta today