I have met some very interesting people working on the recycling crew at Glastonbury. I met Bob and his wife Paula a few years ago, and like me they keep returning year after year. At this year’s festival as we were chatting, Bob mentioned that he had written a book about his time in Calcutta. I said that I would like to read it and Bob kindly sent me a copy which arrived a few days ago. It is called Calcutta: Stories from the Street. It is a slim volume of ten short stories, so it didn’t take me long to read it. It is also illustrated by Bob himself with charming drawings of Calcutta street scenes. Bob has travelled extensively throughout India many times over the past 40 years, but Calcutta seems to be his favourite place in the sub-continent. It isn’t a place that most people would think of as an exotic travel destination, but among the crumbling post-colonial architecture, the crowded narrow lanes and the street sleepers is where Bob felt most alive in India. In the stories he paints a vivid picture of the chai wallahs (tea sellers), beggars, hustlers and katcherawallahs (rag pickers) that he met and befriended. There is Raju who sold char on Sudder Street, Ram the newspaper seller, Shanti the alcoholic hustler, Apool the flute maker and many more.
I don’t suppose I will ever get to go to Calcutta but reading Bob’s little book certainly gave me a sense of the place and the people struggling to survive in it’s labyrinth of crowded streets. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Bob wrote the book to raise some money for a charity called Calcutta Rescue which provides medical help for the street people, and support to enable their children to go to school. I’m not sure if the book is still available, maybe it was a limited edition because I couldn’t find a link to buy the book online. However, you can find out more about the charity here- https://calcuttarescue.org/
