Another of Calcutta's cute but stinky little carrier vehicles. All the back ends of commercial vehicles here sport messages like this one: AWAZ DO, means - give a voice, or "blow horn".

The best possible transportation option is slowly being axed out of the food chain in Calcutta. Bike rikshaws, because of their slow speeds will eventually be banned from through streets. Given the escalating price of oil and the pollution problems here, maybe the government will see the light and promote instead of punish these hard working souls!

Good name for soap

This guy managed to stitch labels onto 601 sarees in about 2 days time!

Lukman, my helpful, loyal and hardworking assistant in Calcutta. He takes good care of his Memsahib, worries about me and always tells me to lock my door!

Sitting and waiting at New Handloom Emporium in New Delhi

We spent days on end in this narrow, dark and mosquito ridden area photographing and packing all the sarees. The ceiling is about 5'8". I kept banging my head on the cement beams!

Wrap em up tight! Perfectly packed products make for a happy sariwalli.

Fabric for sale on a Calcutta street.

The busy, jammed streets of Calcutta are slow going. In order to combat "jams" the traffic police reverse the one way direction of streets at will causing additional chaos in the name of speeding the flow!

These hard working ancient trams rattle along on all busy streets of Calcutta. The communist government here is supported by mobs of poor and low working class, who frequently riot and thrash any communal property, often setting fire and bludgeoning these poor steel beasts. Most of them are so rattletrap and filthy and packed to the gills at all hours of the day or night. It's hard work transporting Calcutta's millions cheaply.

A pedicab parked in front of a church near Sutter Street. The lines of these beautiful vehicles transport you way back to some romantic time long ago and really contribute to Calcuttas charm.

The city is full of beautiful colonial architecture, all sort of going to ruin, but in a beautifully poetic way!

Cute curled up doggies blending in with the construction sand. There are worse places to take a nap.

Boys of the flower shops of New Market.

YUM!!!

Now that's more like it!

The sprawling Hogg Market building.

The local destination spot for the ragpicking caste. All the waste gets sorted and bought for a few rupees to these guys who sell it in bulk for recycling. The cell phone is everywhere now - soon the ragpickers will own them! The foreground shows an Indian bullt mountain bike. Yikes!

Surprising tranquility right in the middle of it!