Without the Hooghly river, there would be no Calcutta..or Kolkata if you prefer.

In our rush to urbanise, to build bigger, taller, better buildings and create infrastructure that will benefit an unquantifiable and an often unconcerned percentage of the population, we have treated the river more like a massive drainage canal. With all the talk of beautifying the river front we have forgotten the river itself. And do remember, so far there has only been talk of beautifying, just the phrase most favoured by those in government: "we are planning to...". I'm sorry, I don't think a public park along the river banks is beautifying in any way.

These are all pictures taken by me and you may use them freely only if you are not gaining monetarily from it. My intention is to start off a discussion in SSC about this aspect. I hope my pictures will provide some inspiration.

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/229/dsc01494i.th.jpg (http://img259.imageshack.us/i/dsc01494i.jpg/)

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/3281/dsc02488jk.th.jpg (http://img836.imageshack.us/i/dsc02488jk.jpg/)

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/6528/dsc02675l.th.jpg (http://img718.imageshack.us/i/dsc02675l.jpg/)

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/9318/dsc02720t.th.jpg (http://img825.imageshack.us/i/dsc02720t.jpg/)

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/8500/dsc02738g.th.jpg (http://img841.imageshack.us/i/dsc02738g.jpg/)

Sorry, don't know what happened to the size of the images...still getting the hang of this..bear with me...! :cripes:

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/229/dsc01494i.jpg

Ok, got the hang of posting images! Enjoy...and do respond. Thanks!

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/8578/dsc02563n.jpg
http://img176.imageshack.us/img1
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/7338/dsc02711m.jpg
http://img842.imageshack.us/img8

All the pics are recent, within the last 12 months.

Delete

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/6528/dsc02675l.jpg

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/3281/dsc02488jk.jpg

Delete

what exactly?

oh nothing man. i was actually quoting you image to put it right when you couldn't figure it out how to. but by the time I posted you had so deleted my comment.

oh nothing man. i was actually quoting you image to put it right when you couldn't figure it out how to. but by the time I posted you had so deleted my comment.

Sorry. I didn't mean to intentionally delete it. But thanks for offering to help, though I - think! - I have it now.
:wave:

just one thing man. resize your images to 800 X 600.

Hello Patrick. Welcome to the forums. I have seen your photos of Kolkata before in picasaweb and infact I did post a couple in this forums with links back to your album.

Can you please resize the photos to a smaller size? They are really huge. I have fixed the thumbnails in the first post.

If you intend to post more photo essays we can move this thread to the showcase gallery.

What are your viewpoints on the beautification plans that never materialize?

OMG..they are too big..suncity please help him out. thanks

@suncity: sorry about the photo sizes. will do as you suggest from now on. yes, I did see your posts and links back to me...it's how I got on to this forum! I do want to post more pics. about moving it to the showcase gallery, I leave it to you/moderator.

On beautification plans that never materialize I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I do want to see a genuine cosmetic overhaul of the city and its environs. At the same time, I have seen from research and experience that these plans to beautify never take all stakeholders into account, are usually vague ideas of bureaucrats and some so-called experts, incompetently executed or implemented (if at all) by the public works department and their sub-contractors, while the rest of us citizenry have to accept whatever is finally offered. That there is no public discussion nor opinions gathered for aesthetic and utility values and long-term sustainability is the grouse I have.