Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON
This photograph was taken on a street in Calcutta a month ago. There were graceful arcs of celebratory lights strung over the thoroughfare and I couldn't resist stopping the car to take this shot. Yes, I know they were just plain and simple lights, but in my mind they made an arresting, memorable image.
3 comments:
"...just plain and simple lights...", Dave? That's a serious understatement if there ever was one! Apart from the fact that the Chandannagar lights you photographed have become another Bengali cultural icon, they are an amazing cottage industry providing, if nothing else, seasonal work for thousands. Besides, their simplistic electric circuitry, yet complicated design has foxed many European technicians, which I know from personal experience. They equate it with crudeness and lack of safety while admiring its aesthetics... the usual condescension! Yet I can tell you they are probably safer than much of the standardised electricals of the West.
Dear Lalu,
I didn't know any of that. Absolutely fascinated to read about the cottage industry. So the light-strings in the picture (taken near the New Market) are manufactured in Chandannagar?
I'd love to learn more about this, especially the electrical circuitry. Can you email me the details? I'll post the stuff on my blog.
Many thanks, once again, for your insight.
David
Received this message from two close friends and former colleagues, Sushmita and Shishir Gupta:
``It was great receiving yrmail and of course the Cal article. Not only did it make great reading, but also took me back 24 years. But one complaint .... why didn't you let me know you were going to be in Cal? Don't forget the next time, whenever it is.''
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