rita banerji's photostream

This is what I don't understand, why don't Indian women wear helmets? This woman is carrying her helmet like a shopping basket on her lap! Is it surprising that the highest number of traffic fatalities due to head injuries in India involve women, not men? And then her sari is flying around, when it should be all tucked so as to not get stuck in a wheel. And the driver is wearing flip-flops which makes it that much easier to lose control on the bike! Just basic safety measures -- is what people still don't understand in India!

October in Calcutta saw two of the city's biggest festivals -- Durga Puja and Diwali/Kali Puja. Huge structures like this one, were built over weeks to house the idols for worship. The structures actually block roads, lanes and neighborhoods, and there are hundreds of them all over the city. As exotic as they first seemed to me when I moved to the city, over the last few years I've chosen to boycott these festivals -- and here are 2 articles why. Rethinking Diwali and Why I Boycott Durga Puja

We are in middle of monsoon now. This boy, about 12-13 years old, sits on a cart, by the side of the street, with just an umbrella to protect him from the rain, and sells bananas.

Finally, after 35 years of an iron-fisted rule, the communist party has been ousted from the state of Bengal in India! The members of the new party in power, The Trinamool Congress took to the streets like loud, motorcycle-gangs with party flags and colors, making sure the public knows who the boss is now!! See my article on this: What Will The Death of Communism Bring To Bengal?

Kitty (that's her name now) came to us, uninvited. She just showed up at our door one day. First it was only at meal-times. But now we think she's moved in permanently! Read my blog post about Kitty here: How A Dog Family Got A Cat!