Humankind endeavours hard to evolve and cope with global warming, to accept that September is a really warm month, in Delhi. Change although is inevitable. It constitutes the fabric of existence, what was, cannot remain, forever. We trace the changes and development in the art and culture of the city of Joy –Kolkata. Kolkata is a city bursting with energy and enthusiasm, an epitome of cultural and religious fervour in sync with modernism and literary & intellectual excellence. The culture here is one of the richest in India. Apart from immense contribution in reformation movements, the state of West Bengal also takes the credit for being the pioneer of cosmopolitan culture in the country. Over the years, the culture of Kolkata has emerged as the perfect blend of modernity and tradition.

Amit Mukhopadhay contemplates the metamorphosis of art in the early nineteenth century Calcutta. As various traditions came close to one another, how some indigenous elements were lost and new ones added resulting in a unique language of expression in art. Seema Bhalla evaluates a similar cross influence between artists of Kolkata and those of the West that perhaps never even met. They saw each others’ works, sometimes carried back to Europe, as the local artisans sought to liken their work to European imagery, and these images served as a point of reference many a time resulting
in an amalgamation of iconography, it led to the depiction of the deities with an Anglo-European physiognomy.

A culture rich intellectual city that was the birthplace of modern Indian literary, artistic and scholastic thought. Partha Mukherjee traces the evolution of art in Kolkata, Bengal from the thirteenth century to the beginning of modernism associated with Indian nationalism in the early 20th century, and basically catches the flavour of the culture as a whole.

Uma Nair provides an account of Kounteya’s Kolkata-Sainthood Project in Rome. As a response to the Declaration of The Mother as a Saint, long after her demise in 1997. Mother Teresa, revered for her work with the poor in India, has been proclaimed a saint by Pope Francis in a ceremony at the Vatican this September. Dilip Banerjee shares with us some rare pictures of The Mother on this occasion. Swati Mishra takes us on a tour through the past glory of the famous Park Street in Kolkata, “the most fashionable street of the country” at one time. Hope you enjoy this ride through Kolkata back and forth in time.

Happy Reading!
Siddhartha Tagore