My Calcutta - Circa 1945

These pics came to me in a forwarded mail. I couldn't help but share them. Its remarkable how the city has changed over the years, and yet, not changed at all over all these years. I can still recognise the buildings at first glance. They are still there! Wherever, I could reconise them, I have added my notes in brackets.

Calcutta traffic officer at major city intersection. His "sandwich board" carried the order to "STOP" or to "GO" depending on which way he faced. He also used hand and arm signals to enforce the sign. His cap was brilliant red and his jacket and pants were white. Leggings were tan. He stood on the cut-down steel drum, a real figure of authority, 1945.
[The backdrop is what I believe is Raj Bhavan, the residence of the Governor of West Bengal. The uniform has undergone minor changes but the white uniform and the black shoulder harness is still very much in existence minus the leggings. They are black and half the length they used to be.]



Traffic on Hooghly River bridge from Calcutta to Howrah Station, 1945.
[Now you wont get to see such traffic, or the lack of it, on Hooghly Bridge unless on a Bandh day.]



Streetside stall on Bentinck Street, downtown area of Calcutta, 1945



Heart of Calcutta's business district, 1945. This was the home of Whiteaway and Laidlaw, an excellent department store. It carried well-made British clothing and accessories along with the best of available Indian merchandise. It was the Times Square of Calcutta on Chowringee Road.
[The huge white building you see is now what houses the HQ of Life Insurance Corporation of India. The building was in a severely dilapidated state when I left Calcutta in 2001 and almost ready to fall down when the Government started renovation work. You could see trees and shrubs growing out if its old crumbling walls]



Busy Calcutta Street scene, 1945.
[The Esplanade or Dharamtala as its called in Calcutta. The building on the left is called The Statesman House, office of a major newspaper of Calcutta. I have been inside it a few times as part of the school team for their weekly publication called Voices. It is fairly well maintained inside and outside, unlike the LIC building. The one on the right is the Mosque.]



Tram terminal at the Esplanade, Chowringhee Road, downtown Calcutta, 1944.



Calcutta street scene, 1944.



Nimatalla gufat entrance. Hooghly River, Calcutta, 1944.




American combat veterans boarding troopship in Calcutta harbor for trip home after end of WWII, fall 1945. Trip required almost three months, including stop at Ceylon. Route was up through Suez Canal, the Med. Sea and across Atlantic. These images made with cheap camera, so not as sharp as could be desired, but they are authentic.


[News of Mahatma Gandhi's death hits the news and people throng the streets of Calcutta, 1948. The newspaper held by the man is The Statesman.]