Dear HumanityCollege.org friends:
I’m posting some more photos from my recent India travel. This series of photos: I call it REAL INDIA. It’s about the ordinary, hardworking people, workers, and small businesses — people who are being destroyed by the cruel economic and political measures imposed by the ruling class of India and its corporate partners.
Writing about the trip and sharing pictures truly help a lot to get over the sadness of the departure. India and Bengal and Kolkata are always on my mind. I live here in USA, and work with mainstream America. But I also live in India, and identify myself very closely with her. This is my dual existence, and I have written a lot about this first-generation immigrant life.
Thank you for your friendship and support.
Sincerely
Partha
__________________
A small business in our neighborhood. He is having a hard time making ends meet. He said his sales are down by at least 25 to 30 percent, because of the demonetization.
A local barber comes to our apartment, and shaves my father, who is 93. Bansi, the barber, does not have a business of his own. And chances are, with the financial situation, he will never have one.
A village woman in the Khoai area in Shantiniketan in Birbhum district. She makes all the jewelry using fruits and seeds. The colors she uses are also natural. How long can she survive, with the Chinese and American imports?
A local flower shop. People are religious, and most have a small seat for gods and goddesses at their homes. Massive, large-scale flower markets are replacing traditional small businesses.
Pakora, a popular snack. The coal oven also serves local laborers and poor residents to warm themselves in the cold months of December and January.
Colored powder or Abir in Kalighat, famous and sacred Kali temple area in Kolkata. Again, mass imports of Abir from outside Bengal and India are destroying local shop owners, mostly women.
Kolkata Book Fair, a major source of income for city’s small and mid-size booksellers and publishers. Here, the little magazine corner is being squeezed every year, driving them out of business, one year at a time. Who is going to save them?
Picturesque India, Beautiful Bengal