Revisiting Kolkata As An 'NRB'

Two Victorian colonial trends continue to persist in modern Kolkata - the miserable existence of the city's poor on its pavements and a rejuvenated fascination for the glory of the raj on the other; both are sustained by the prerogatives and compulsions of the ruling party. The party's efforts to establish its hegemony over all spheres of civic life has fostered a symbiotic relationship with a rising criminal class - a class that feeds on and, in turn, also sustains the different socio-economic groups who have chosen to make Kolkata their home.