Product Description

When Joe Roberts and his wife decided to spend the winter in Calcutta, staying in a colonial relic of a hotel and exploring the city and chatting to the locals, they wanted to challenge the false impressions that Westerners have of the city. What they found was a civilized, charismatic place, rich in culture and history amid all the chaos. This is an informative history of the city mixed with the author's personal account which intends to recast Calcutta in a positive light.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #638344 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-25
• Binding: Paperback
• 312 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Where's Kalighat? In Calcutta, it's home to a temple for the much-worshipped Indian goddess Kali. A fearful sight, she's a "black-skinned woman with blazing eyes" and blood dripping from her protruding tongue. Devotees give offerings to encourage her to scare away demons. As a symbol, Kali is representative of the bustling city of Calcutta in all its vibrancy and extremity, a city which Joe Roberts vividly evokes in this sensitive travel book.

Joe, wife Emma and baby son Llewelyn moved to Calcutta for five months to experience its rich intensity. What they found was a city that "despite its poverty and overcrowding" is "grand, battered and soulful". Roberts's book tells the story of their stay, of the history, art and culture of the place as well as the idiosyncrasies of the various characters they meet. A post-colonialist languor tinges the world in which they move.

Roberts, who also wrote about India in Three Quarters Of A Footprint, pulls no punches, describing the upsetting poverty that exists in this melting pot--a point of view counterbalanced by Llewelyn, who doesn't view Calcutta with western eyes and values. Punctuating the book are the Roberts family's trips around the city driven by Abdul, a friendly taxi driver. He helps them distinguish his Calcutta from the one that's the target of so many western negative judgements, and after reading this perceptive work you may be able to distinguish it too. --Anna Hornsey

Time Out, March 8, 2000
"Roberts is a fine writer and his portrait of the city is recommended reading.."

About the Author
Joe Roberts was born in Bath, where he now lives with his wife and son. For seven years he lived in America, working as a bookseller in Manhattan, and as a baker in Austin, Texas. Returning to England in 1984, he cooked in restaurants and worked for Waterstone's. He started writing in 1990, supporting himself by making pasta.

Joe Roberts' previous books are Three-Quarters of a Footprint, about Southern India, and The House of Blue Lights, about coastal Texas. He has written articles for "The Times" and "Harper's and Queen".

Customer Reviews

An evocation of Calcutta.
As someone who has never been there, this book conveyed to me the smells, the sounds, the sheer scale of this great city, as well as something of its social composition and history (and food too for those who are interested). The language and style is eminently readable, the pace sustained - neither hurried not languid. A good read for an armchair traveller.

A sensitive and heartfelt look at Calcutta by a foreigner.
Abdul's Taxi to Kalighat has touched a wonderful chord in the hearts of all those who love Calcutta. Joe Roberts is honest and open about his reaction to the city, and his sensitive handling of the subject is heartfelt. I specially enjoyed his meticulous but unobtrusive research on the finer points of Bengali culture like music and cuisine. He has a sharp eye for detail and the characters he meets are invested with affection and wry humor. Not once does there creep in a feeling of superiority or condesention. He makes it clear in the Forword that his book is not a history of Calcutta. It is merely his personal reaction to the places and people he visits and meets along with his family. I strongly recommend the book to all readers wanting to visit Calcutta. Roberts has portrayed it with clarity of vision and not swept the grime and dirt under the nearest carpet. He has, thankfully, looked beyond. And, I am delighted that he has found the heart of the city that is kind and compassionate and full of fun and foibles. Thank you for writing a wonderful book about my city, Mr. Roberts!

A really great & informative read
This is the first Joe Roberts book I have read and it was a thoroughly enjoyable & informative read. Although I have been to India many times I've never been to Calcutta. This book gets under the surface of Calcutta & captures Calcutta life from a Western perspective. His strangely different observations and manner of writing stand closer examination. They illustrate a world unnoticed by Western eyes. I can really recommend this book to anyone who is travelling to India and who is interested in the way of Indian architecture, food & culture.