The photographer in Emmanuel Lenain took over as a French entourage, headed by the ambassador, navigated the bylanes of north Kolkata on Wednesday morning.
“I have a book coming out this April. It would be on my pictures of India and Raghu Rai’s pictures of France. It contains pictures of Kolkata too,” he said, smiling, as he trained his Leica camera on a piece of sculpture at the gateway of Kumartuli. To many in the group, it looked like a not-so-successful likeness of Joseph Stalin. On enquiry, however, the statue turned out to be of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first President of Bangladesh. But the point was made: Kumartuli gives birth to more than gods!
With three days left for Saraswati Puja, the goddess of learning and the arts was the presiding deity at the idol-makers’ hub.
The alleys that meandered through the studios threw up surprises, passing by a quaint radio repair workshop here or a shola pith topor shop there, flaunting pictures of brides and grooms in the traditional headgear, or, in one case, leading out to the Strand, allowing a glorious view of the Hooghly.
“This place reminds me of the old city of Fes in Morocco. There too specialised craftsmanship is on view with the carpets being made, stage by stage,” said Didier Talpain, the French consul general, who had done his military service stint in the African country.
The second stop of the morning was Chitpore. Here a team of 38 students — eight from École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture, Paris La Villette, and 10 each from Techno India University’s School of Architecture in Kolkata, Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Architecture, Navi Mumbai, and College of Architecture, Trivandrum, were camping for a week, mapping the area on the riverbank.
“Tourists usually visit Kumartuli and Jorasanko Thakurbari at two ends of Chitpore. But we are highlighting the entire 4.5km stretch as an integrated heritage corridor, marked by not only great mansions and important zones but also artisanal, industrial and manufacturing economics played out on the street by diverse communities, faiths and occupations,” said conservation architect Kamalika Bose.
This is the second time that such a workshop is happening here, the first having been in early 2020. “The outcome will be displayed at Alliance Française du Bengale on February 7 and then at Techno India University, Salt Lake,” said Rita Deshmukh, a teacher at the Mumbai college.