My Return to the Dhakuria Railway Colony
November18, 2022. Dhakuria Railway Colony, Kolkata.
When asked what my favorite place is in Kolkata, it's an easy answer for me as a photographer: the Dhakuria Railway Colony. This settlement has been here for what I presume to be decades, having existed long before my discovery of it around 2011 or so. It took me a few years to get the courage up to go down and wander around the place and take pictures, but after doing so for the first time, I've made it a point to do so at every opportunity whenever I visit.
On my most recent trip, I showed a friend of mine around the place. It's not the sort of place that friends usually show to other friends, but this is the kind of thing that crazy photographers share with one another. You have to go to the points of interest, and those points of interest are usually the antithesis of what tourists want to see.
I've written about this locale in many photo captions in the past. I've also commented in a couple of articles, which I'll share here:
Huff Post:The Wrong Side Of The Tracks: Life At Kolkata's Dhakuria Railway Colony
Oxford Urbanists: Can 'cleanliness' protect India from COVID-19?
My interest in the Colony now is strictly on the interaction of passing trains and how the residents live with the danger. Although I do still do a lot of people portraiture, it's usually as a way to break the ice with the residents there. I'm also reminded of what a joy it is too to interact with everyone there, especially the children and young people because they're the ones that make the place truly come alive. Otherwise, I believe the place would resemble a downtrodden refugee camp without them. That being said, the place is still dangerous as hell to navigate, especially with the passing trains. Fortunately, I've got a good habit of looking over my shoulders every few minutes while I'm on the tracks and the residents are pretty good at keeping tabs on me too.
I don't know when I'll be back again. But next time, I plan on spending a lot more time there doing long exposure work with the trains.
November 18, 2022. Kolkata.
There's one place where I won't turn down requests for pictures of children, and that's here at the Colony. Once you see what such a gesture means to them and to their parents (not to mention other residents who are watching your every move), it's a portrait session that I'm always happy to do. This session came about originally when one of the parents asked for a picture of one of the little girls. And what happens frequently is that other children often join in. This is common wherever I go in India. But on this particular patch of earth, it's a special occasion every time.
