City of Joy: Of struggles and survival

Search for 'Kolkata' on Google and what do you get? Mesmerizing photographs of the streets, buildings, famous Kolkata trams, fervour of Durga puja and what not, clicked by professional cameras and people. This is the standard aura that has been created around Kolkata. But what you don't get to see is the reality; the real streets, the struggle of going around in an overpopulated city and the faces of people who are the actual sweat and blood behind making Kolkata, the City of Joy.

Clicked in black and white, Bivas Bhattacharjee's photographs at the Art Gallery IIC Annexe, poetically capture the life in the chaos of the City of Joy. In the exhibition titled 'Velocity of Darkness,' Bivas has tried to capture the overwhelming feeling of being trapped in a situation; a feeling of mere survival, where one wants to break free but is stuck due to the burdens of life.

Being a surrealist, just like his father, Bivas wants to show a side of the city of joy which no other photographer has tried to show. As he grew up in the lanes of Kolkata, he realised that "the slogan, City of Joy is nothing but a mere propaganda poster". He said, "The culture and history are still there but there's another aspect to a city and that's what I see – a city which was glorious, but now, there is a serious state of decline."

Some might call him a skeptical or a negative person but he says, "I know how people would react, but to improve something, we have to be critical about it. And it's not just Kolkata which is struggling with poverty and overpopulation. This same situation can be found in any part of our country, it is an economic crisis which has been going on from a colonial era."

Bivas traveled the whole of Kolkata and quickly captured whoever and whatever came along his way. It took him two years to do so but the end results – which are on display until August 24 – will force you to sit and ponder about the struggles in the crumbling 'City of Joy'.