By Niklas Lindskog
Hi everybody!
Greetings from India!
This is Progressive-Street photographer Niklas Lindskog back on the road again after the pandemic stopped me from roaming the planet for a while.
To be fair, this is actually more of a widening of my circles. I have been shooting first in my native Sweden and then in various European countries before doing this trip to India.
I arrived yesterday morning and had some adventures right away. My phone didn't connect to a network and I couldn't find wifi either. So I had no way to reach my Airbnb host to get access to my little flat. After a taxi to Sealdah station I thought I'd walk to the Airbnb and see if that would help. Even though I had a map and had looked a bit at street view beforehand, I managed to take a wrong turn somewhere and got lost. Street signs are scarce in this town, it seems. I tried getting a cab, showed the driver my map, he nodded and off we went. Turns out he had no idea where my address was any more than I did. He did find it eventually though, after stopping four times asking people for directions. When I got out of the car, one of those 1940's style yellow cabs typical for Kolkata, my phone had connected to a network and I could call the host.
He turned out to be a very nice young man of 18 who had started Airbnb as his first business. He told me all about it as a maid cleaned out after the previous guest and I lay down on the bed, almost falling asleep despite the activity in the room.
I got a good long nap which gave me enough energy to do a three hour photo walk getting to know my immediate neighbourhood a bit.
It turns out it's a great place for street photography. I've been to places like New York, Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo and thought they were pretty bustling places. After a few hours here, I realize I didn't know the true meaning of the word "bustling" before coming to this city! I just had to look it up properly and got "busy, crowded, swarming, teeming, buzzing and hectic". They all fit well to the feeling on these streets.
After a really good night's sleep, I got out at 7:45 to get some Indian breakfast and to get some supplies for my flat. camera in hand of course. This turned into a 5 hour photo walk, combined with some long taxi rides and a visit to a Kali temple watching a goat get sacrificed and a Hindu priest praying for me and my relatives.
I'm writing this from the calmness and ac-coolness of my flat after backing up my photos and doing some editing.
Until next time, take care!
Niklas
