Calcutta 1940-1970: In the Photographs of Jayant Patel

Calcutta 1940–1970: In the photographs of Jayant Patel is an outstanding collection of black-and-white photographs, depicting a wide swathe of the city and its various neighbourhoods. These photographs go back to the glory days of Bombay Photo Stores when it was a prominent landmark of Park Street. As the official photographer of Government House, today’s Raj Bhavan, Patel documented history in the making. This collection presents glimpses of political life before and after the Partition of a Calcutta that was once the Second City of the Empire.

Lila Patel

Lila Patel, born in Gujarat, grew up in Colombo, Sri Lanka and then in Delhi where she graduated from Lady Irwin College. Lila was a competitive golfer and an entrepreneur. She founded the Flora International, later Flora Enterprise, which supplied live plants and flower arrangements to the corporate world in Calcutta till about 2007.

Soumitra Das

Soumitra Das is a journalist born and raised in Calcutta. He is deeply involved with the visual arts and heritage issues and writes regularly on these topics. He has collaborated with English photographer Christopher Taylor on a book on Dalhousie Square entitled white and black: Journey to the centre of imperial Calcutta. He has also written a history of the Indian museum and a walking guide to the streets of Calcutta.