- 2 days ago
Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) is the capital of India's West Bengal state. Founded as an East India Company trading post, it was India's capital under the British Raj from 1773–1911. Today it’s known for its grand colonial architecture, art galleries and cultural festivals. It’s also home to Mother House, headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa, whose tomb is on site.
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00:05you're driving into people there must be some law there's actual human people
00:13you're a very brave man
00:17i've never been to india before and i thought rather than dip my toe in the water and slowly
00:22acclimatize i thought i'd just dive in and this is calcutta all i know about it is there's
00:29a black hole and mother teresa neither of whom are here neither are there any of the classic
00:33indian stereotypes of chicken tikka masala dysentery call centers it's like an exploding grenade of
00:41color and sound and quite a lot of smell if i'm honest absolutely 14 million people live here
00:48in what was once the absolute jewel in the crown of the british empire so welcome to the city of
00:53joy
00:53i'm so sorry i think i just punched you in the face he's not very joyful
00:58kolkata known to the locals as the city of joy although for me it'll always be the city of a
01:05billion car horns it's india's most chaotic overcrowded and exhilarating city where people
01:12from every corner of the earth have come to make their fortune now that's wrong i know that that's
01:18wrong these teeming streets tell the story of india's past present and shiny new future
01:25i bring good news you have won india's moustache of the year
01:30it was once the grandest city in the orient it's been a byword for third world poverty
01:36and now it's one of the fastest growing mega cities in the world riding a property boom
01:42to rival london's you don't see judith charmers going into an open poo pit
01:50its citizens are unique eccentric joyful and ever so slightly bonkers
01:59i want to discover the secrets of this extraordinary place to get under its skin
02:04and to understand how kolkata transformed itself from black hole into one of the most exciting cities
02:11on earth welcome to the city of joy i think they got that
02:28once upon a time kolkata was a sleepy little village minding its own business
02:32until the british turned up and decided it was the perfect place to start an empire
02:48its location on the bay of bengal meant it was ideal for shipping good british types in
02:53and vast wealth back to where it really belonged in blighty
03:00it became the seat of british imperial power and the home of the mighty east india company
03:07in return we brought tea so that's all right then cheers cheers hang on didn't we nick that from
03:14the chinese how's that well it's got everything going on hasn't it it's bitter and then really
03:20sweet at the same time strong and sweet strong and sweet yeah bless you yeah this is abra fellow tea
03:28fanatic and authority on all things kolkata
03:32he's going to show me the ropes but before we start we need to get one thing straight what is
03:37this
03:38place called calcutta kolkata which one while speaking in english we say calcutta in bengali
03:46kolkata and in hindi kolkata yeah so basically the english mispronounced kolkata yeah you can get
03:56your own back there you can you can come to the uk and say that the queen lives in one
03:59sir just start
04:00randomly switching around vowels it's your turn now we've done enough of that yeah the name was changed
04:07back in 2001 along with the names of other indian cities as a way of reclaiming it from the old
04:13colonial masters i come here as an english person sort of embarrassed and ashamed by appalling colonial
04:21aggression but it seems to me that you're done with that yeah i mean why are you embarrassed what's
04:27so embarrassing about you what's so embarrassing because we we sort of rode in and we completely
04:33ripped the natural resources from the ground and we subjugated the people and we tried to carve out
04:39a sort of little victorian england in a foreign land and i think that's very uncomfortable we don't
04:43have the empire anymore we just got guilt so you're just saying we should just get over it
04:47no of course i mean it's past you know i mean whatever is left of the empire are the old
04:52buildings the tram yeah the train the tea the tea it's all ours now now that's just showing off that's
05:01just showing off tea or chai is a kolkata obsession drunk hot and sweet throughout the day in these little
05:11clay cups they are the last word in recyclable sustainability once you finish you simply
05:17chuck them in the gutter where they're washed away by the rains back to the huli river from where
05:21the clay was originally collected
05:25that certainly saves on washing up
05:29every day more clay is dug and delivered to kolkata's army of teacup makers
05:33and the whole process begins again
05:38namaste you've been busy already look at this
05:41i'm sue nice to see you good do good do so these are all the pots you made yesterday
05:48how many do you make on average every every night
05:50teenager three thousand and you make three thousand with your own hands every day every day
06:00they all live and work together in this tiny compound
06:05the people here have come from villages in the country in order to make money to send back to
06:09their families so what does this bit do
06:16good as aunt vimla is letting me help out with the first job of the day already i can hear
06:20sniggering
06:42that's got laurel and hardy written all over it if i get anywhere near it
06:47okay i'm making a light sausage i think this is excellent
06:54it's just this is the beginning of my apprenticeship
06:57so how long have you been rolling clay for
07:02do you want your daughter how old is your daughter
07:0611 years do you want her to grow up and do this for a living
07:09no what would you like her to be okay
07:21limla has the face of an angel and the strength of jeff capes and that is a devastating combination
07:26to be up close and personal with i have to say there's such an intensity about what she's doing
07:31and i love what she's doing and a commitment to it but if i
07:35take my if i take my eyes off her too long she gets really annoyed and i get a lump
07:39of clay thrown on me
07:42they work an 18-hour day for 15 days at a stretch to put their kids through school
07:47and give them a chance for a better life
07:56if this day wasn't hard enough for these guys it's now started raining torrential rain which has
08:00turned the whole of this alley into a mudslide
08:02they've got to quickly work hard to get to pool in on all the clay before it just washes away
08:11i want you to enjoy this moment because this is the moment
08:13kolkata got a brand new shape for his teacup
08:21he's patrick swayze tonight to me more
08:25now that's wrong i know that that's wrong
08:26i don't know that's a drinking vessel that india's ready for
08:30oh no there's a lot of pressure now this is his livelihood it's not just the generation game you
08:36know why is it doing that ah
08:42i've got him swearing the nuts yeah that went right up the old uh man's skirt
09:03i'm angry as well we're both we're all angry there's a storm outside
09:10that's right at this point i think the translator has decided to spare my blushes
09:15and is no longer telling me what's going on it's over it's gone you're leaving don't go to
09:36a tiny move with my hand just be able to make an extraordinary pot a sort of career defining teacup
09:43that would change the face of kolkata and um as you can tell from the fact that everyone's just
09:49left me and they've cleared away everything that that hasn't that hasn't really gone
09:56their daughter protima has been waiting for me to help her with her english homework
10:01now out of all these words when i am tired i like to go to
10:10nope
10:17sleep boom perfect right that is excellent you are
10:23clever you are clever you are never
10:28you are very i am very old how dare you how dare you i'm i'm trying to teach her i'm
10:38furious furious
10:46fired to perfection overnight good as 3 000 cups need to be delivered across the city to the tea shops
10:52of kolkata
10:58is it heavy heavy no it looks heavy
11:06heavy really heavy like atlas then he's being really macho saying that's not heavy that's really heavy
11:15thankfully i'm not good as only hired help this is where kolkata's famous rickshaw men come in
11:22namaste
11:25i bring good news you have won india's moustache of the year
11:31the hand-pulled rickshaw is a controversial icon of kolkata
11:36banned in other indian cities there are still 6 000 of them here applying their trade around these chaotic
11:42streets
11:43whilst i absolutely would never get on one of those as a passenger these rickshaws are vital particularly
11:48the streets of kolkata which are so narrow that they can't accommodate a normal vehicle so this guy
11:55with this rickshaw can provide all the essential services for the millions of businesses that line these streets
12:03these rickshaw wallers are the delivery boys the taxi services and the school buses for millions of everyday
12:09kolkata's as they go about their business
12:13they earn about one pound fifty a day just enough to survive on
12:22they're joined on these insane streets with every other form of transport known to man
12:26all of them honking horns and ringing bells as if their lives depended on it
12:33you think with this volume of people and traffic that there'd be fights breaking out all over the
12:38shop there'd be road rage there's none of that and the only thing i can deduce from that is
12:41this chaos which may appear chaos to us is actually a system it's a system that works that people
12:47tolerate this because these rickshaws bikes are the lifeblood of the city they work through these
12:55tiny little capillaries and sort of provide all the necessary tools for existence what looks
13:00random is actually a pretty effective system
13:16but imagine what a congestion charge could do for this place
13:30which is situated near the river yeah so in calcutta
13:39as you wander the streets of this extraordinary city you see the legacy of empire on every corner
13:47and what a grand legacy it is the victoria memorial built by george curzon to honor his beloved queen
13:56is like saint paul's on the steroids this place was sumptuous wide boulevards and ornate buildings
14:03assuming of course you were the right sort
14:09back when the brits ruled the world calcutta was a thriving port where fortunes could be made
14:14immigrants flocked here from all over the world so to avoid any unpleasantness the british divided it up
14:21according to color there was the white town where the british lived and it looked a bit like kensington
14:28on a very hot day there was the black town where the indians lived and then there was this place
14:36called the gray area where everyone else lived it's now called bo bazaar and it's still full of armenians
14:45chinese jews and arabs all rubbing along together nicely
14:52that's the best thing they all happily coexist because you see the main thing is they live next
14:58door to each other they go to the market together they go to the tea shop together so what i
15:04feel is
15:05they stop hating each other so they love each other and they are happy
15:13we're all awake now we're all awake okay
15:15yes sir you can put the alarm down any time
15:28suddenly it's china town yeah it's a chinese temple club so all the chinese
15:36friends of mine hang around here you know the chinese community has been here for 200 years making
15:43a fortune in the leather goods business there were once 20 000 chinese here now the population is
15:50down to 2 000 or so but the temple is still going strong i'm sue by the way it's nice
15:56to see you are
15:58you uh my full name is ho yenta ho yenta atat offers to tell my fortune what do i have
16:06to do i have to
16:06shake three times you have to pray three times bow three times and shake one you have to say your
16:11name
16:13what you want i have to say my age not to us this is very difficult this is very difficult
16:18just to
16:19the god okay and what you want only god does my real age for your luck or for anything okay
16:25you just do
16:26it so i'm going to say my name and my age say your name what you want
16:34my name is sue and i'm 45 and now i'm gonna
16:42we have a winner oh i didn't ask for anything oh you have to do it again i'm really sorry
16:52you have to do it okay let me do it again let me do it again it's your name your
16:56age and then you
16:57have to say why you are looking for i was so traumatized by having to say my age to the
17:01lady
17:01goddess actually i forgot all right i'm gonna do it again okay all right here we go
17:08got it that which one was the first okay
17:12so lot 68 a lucky day will bring great celebration a family so generous prosper prosperity forever glows
17:19a fruitful year for farming and marriage i'm all over farming and marriage and for the sick
17:25cure comes at last spring the family's prosperous safe lawsuits will go in your favor missing things
17:32will be fine it's all good isn't it it's all good i'm delighted with that atta
17:41it's friday afternoon and a few blocks away past the church and the synagogue the imam calls the
17:47people are faithful to prayer 10 000 men work a minor miracle and stop the traffic
17:58when the british finally left in 1947 and india became independent the state of bengal was divided
18:04along religious lines hindus remained in west bengal and most muslims were packed off to the newly
18:10created east pakistan now known as bangladesh
18:17despite this brutal divide kolkata still has the largest muslim population of any indian city
18:32so what's the quintessential personality of your classic kolkata residents
18:37well they are inquisitive yeah they are curious about everything something nosy yeah to a point yeah i mean if
18:48we are having a lunch or dinner in a restaurant and we are having a conversation uh anyone from the
18:56table beside us can break into our conversation and that's perfectly all right can they eat our food
19:02is that acceptable sometimes they can try it okay i'm forewarned then i'm gonna be eating like this
19:07while i'm here get off
19:15in the midst of the multicultural melting pot that is beau bazaar there is a corner of the city that
19:21is
19:21forever england
19:25beau barracks was once a garrison for the british army before the first world war
19:29and is now home to one of kolkata's most intriguing communities the anglo-indians
19:35very nice to see you i'm sue really nice to see you i'm marion really good to meet you marion
19:40hi there
19:41nice to see you john how's things what are the names of your dogs
19:46kerry right i thought you said scary i was about to back off and she's brooke shields
19:50yes he really does have a dog called brooke shields
19:54the anglo-indians or eurasians are the offspring of marriages between british men and asian women
19:59they occupied a strange niche in colonial society neither asian nor european they are however still
20:07fiercely proud of their britishness my grandfather is british captain of the ship i've never seen
20:13anyone look more british than this man that is true and the boat was torpedoed of sri lanka in world
20:21war
20:22true and did he lose his life yeah my father was the only survivor of the whole ship of the
20:27whole
20:28ship this is um this is our nice to see you i'm sue really good to meet you hi john
20:34this is this is uh
20:35we come from a bridge and descendants of archbishops so you've traced yourself way back way back right
20:43and we maybe even loyalty uh royalty because you know the kings had so many women
20:49you know henry the eight had anne boleyn and he had quite a lot of arrogant and so far and
20:54you
20:54think there were more there were more even and to make them happy they made their sons and all
20:59bishops and archbishops well i never thank you oh look the three lions yeah amazing i can only apologize for
21:09how bad we were in the world cup i'm very sorry their good english often meant they got favored
21:14jobs in the colonial government but when the british left many anglo indians felt abandoned
21:20and now long for their return so what would it be like to think if you got your way and
21:25the english
21:25came back what would change in oh many things we're going to be delighted we'll be really happy do you
21:31observe all the english festivals yes yes we do christmas easter and what do you eat for christmas
21:37dinner we have rose you have roast turkey yes we have christmas cake i think right now i have one
21:44cake
21:44which i made oh my word this looks amazing
21:52that is a delicious christmas cake in the height of summer in kolkata who would have thought merry christmas
22:06what a strange place kolkata is the british left behind them a complicated mess of religions cultures
22:14and politics but somehow with goodwill and tolerance the people of the city are making it work
22:23nobody's 100 anything the people have just cherry-picked what they like from other communities
22:28other belief systems from the past and made it fit what what sort of best suits them so and it's
22:36also
22:36such a cultural celebration they're thinking well why limit yourself why limit yourself to one thing
22:40when you can have christmas and easter and wali and you can celebrate a sort of lady goddess you can
22:45have
22:45everything you can feast your way witless 365 days of the year and have fun while you're doing it
22:52surely that's the whole spirit of multiculturalism in a nutshell every festival all the time
23:09kolkata like the rest of india is changing fast its population is exploding with new arrivals
23:16and the city needs infrastructure to cope there's building work going on everywhere and the old icons
23:24of empire are crumbling and falling there is one place deep underground that makes you truly proud to be british
23:38there is a reason that i am dressed like an extra from the lego movie other than the fact
23:43i like it um i'm about to go into the kolkata sewers some may say that i finally reached my
23:51level
23:51it's my own personal black hole excuse me believe it or not kolkata sewers were once the envy of the
23:58world built in the city's victorian heyday they stretch for 90 kilometers beneath the city's streets
24:05they are now 130 years old and in need of some vigorous sluicing
24:12my nostrils in one inhalation have been blasted i'm going to never breathe the same way again
24:18in charge of this epic project is the splendidly named mr nilangshu busan basu from the kolkata
24:24municipal corporation he doesn't look entirely comfortable on that ladder i'm going to show him how it's done
24:33oh god scary horrid smelly and evil
24:41let's show this on the holiday program you don't see judith charmers going into an open poo pit
24:51one more step are you the welcoming committee this is lovely step over here because otherwise we will
24:59lose you i don't want to be lost not in this restoring the sewers to a smooth flow is dare
25:07i say it a big
25:09job each night legions of men armed with poo buckets are sent deep into the bowels of a city to
25:15literally
25:15shovel silt
25:19how long will these guys work for at night what are their shifts they normally work from 11 o'clock
25:26at
25:26night till five o'clock in the morning because immediately after five o'clock
25:32people start using their toilets and other things it is very difficult to over pump the water which is
25:39coming into the sewer so as soon as people wake up and have their first coffee you need to run
25:43for
25:43cover basically all hell breaks loose yes this sewage system was built in 1875 for a city of just a
25:52million people there are now more than 14 million people in kolkata and a traffic system that its designers
25:58could never have imagined the demands of a thriving mega city are taking their toll on this marvel of
26:05victorian engineering
26:09as you can see there are cracks there what you mean the crack above my head yes i mean the
26:14mortar has
26:15gone out of that because this has served more than 130 years that you must understand we could have stood
26:21just over there mr we could no no don't worry don't worry it has got four layers it will not
26:27fall
26:28and then i made him move ironically not all of kolkata's 14 million daily movements end up here
26:34many toilets are simply not connected but all that is changing as the city modernizes and rebuilds itself
26:41for the modern age are you sure this is the right way yes
26:55the success of the raj was built on the close relationship between the british empire and powerful
27:00indian dynasties these noble families became rich beyond the dreams of avarice and kolkata was home to
27:09some of the most fabulous palaces on earth but when india became independent kolkata began to change
27:17and these great houses began to fall
27:21this is the tagore palace once the swankiest postcode in town
27:48the world of culture wealth and power
27:57it's just so elegant
28:02this house was once exquisite there was a priceless art collection and the family entertained the world's
28:08greatest artists and intellectuals
28:12now i'm going to take you to the space where we had the music concerts
28:18and entertainment this was basically yes for entertainment oh it's impossibly grand though isn't it
28:27these are all my ancestors these are all you know one after the other
28:32sarosha is the great niece of rabindranath tagore winner of the nobel prize for literature and one of
28:38the most important figures in indian culture
28:42the house has kind of lived through its ages it has contributed a lot uh to the development of
28:51not only bengali culture and bengal art but indian art and culture
28:58following the partition of india great families like the tagores fell on hard times the division of bengal
29:05hit them hard and they lost half of their estates
29:10kolkata was flooded with refugees and the grand palaces of old kolkata were swamped by the new urban
29:19scroll you can see a very strong contrast of inside and out so this is sort of mind-blowing for
29:30for a
29:31visitor this tiny strip here is this incredible dividing line for me between tranquility and chaos
29:38between have and have not between you know you know modern busy bustling india and that that sense
29:44of sort of the past and it's and they're just poking out a castle yes do you love this kolkata
29:52or do you love this kolkata or do you understand that there is now a total fusion between the two
29:56i understand that there is and you love that the two absolutely absolutely absolutely absolutely
30:02i work i'm a professional woman i'm an artist so i cannot just remain inside shut down everything and
30:11say then then then then i'm dead like miss havisham yeah then you know i would be miss havisham yes
30:16yeah
30:16and you would find me one day with my white gown and my frizzled hair and i'm dying near the
30:22you know
30:22with my dead body near the fireplace no i i i want this to have its vibration i want this
30:29place living i
30:30want people coming here i want people to gain something from here i want artists to be born in my
30:36house
30:39can you see the other side of the coin which is people who are struggling people who are in poverty
30:44people who lack housing looking going well there's just this all this beauty for just a few people
30:50let's knock it down and build high-rise and we can house you know absolutely see there are two ways
30:56of
30:56looking at it sometimes i feel that this is this is something which is very grand and people would
31:03feel that when there is so much of poverty and when there's so much of dearth of living spaces how
31:08is
31:08it that one family has taken up such a huge space but you have to understand that life is not
31:14about just
31:15having a space to live give them give them culture
31:26i'm extremely mentally bewildered right now this family want to preserve this building because it
31:31reminds them of better times many of the people on the streets there would like to see this building
31:36torn down because it represents for them a kind of shameful history that they don't want to be part of
31:40it's in india they're embarrassed about because it conflicts with the new idea of progress and
31:45development that's so integral to this place the sentence that really stuck with me was um living
31:52is just not about housing to which i wanted to reply it is if you don't have a house
31:59that evening sarosha dances for an invited audience of kolkata's great and good
32:05and the tagore palace comes alive once more
32:16so
32:22so
32:52Satsang with Mooji
32:56What is the plan for tonight?
32:58We are going first to one of the areas where people live on the street.
33:03There are families that have spent generations living on the street?
33:06Yes.
33:13Kolkata has long been synonymous with desperate poverty.
33:18The city became notorious in the 70s
33:20when Mother Teresa was working with the city's poor and homeless people.
33:25While much has been done to alleviate the worst of it,
33:28sadly, there is plenty left to do.
33:32That work falls largely to charities like the Hope Foundation.
33:36Each night, Geeta and her team run patrols,
33:39checking on children and vulnerable families
33:42living in the most desperate conditions.
33:47Because they are survivors.
33:48They are domestic workers in the different houses
33:51and at night they sleep on the street.
33:54So they work in other people's houses by day
33:56but they don't have a house of their own?
33:57No.
34:03This is the Hastings Underpass,
34:06a 10-kilometre stretch of road and wasteland
34:08that provides shelter for up to 10,000 people.
34:18Because they live under the flyover,
34:20there are big rats moving around.
34:22You see the garbage and that.
34:23They don't have a proper floor.
34:25They're just rags on the top of the rags.
34:27So under the rags, what are there?
34:28It can be anything.
34:29So it's just an open sewer, basically?
34:31Open sewage.
34:31On that they put a plastic sheet and sleep.
34:33Oh, my God.
34:34We really get children
34:35who are really in a very bad shape.
34:37There are a lot of children
34:38who actually with malnourish has died.
34:41We could not save them.
34:42We have also got mentally ill mothers
34:45delivering babies.
34:49So can we speak to this young woman here?
34:52Hi, Namaste.
34:53How long have you lived here?
34:57She is born here.
34:59What is it like as a woman here?
35:01What is it like as a woman here?
35:12What is it like as a woman here?
35:28They tell me that two years ago
35:30a young girl was abducted from here
35:31and murdered.
35:46So you're constantly very fearful,
35:48very anxious all the time.
36:02For them, it is like
36:04they have nobody to talk,
36:07their problems,
36:08they have nobody to say.
36:10So it's the night time
36:11is that it helps them.
36:13They share their problems.
36:15And then we try to see
36:17how we can network with them
36:19and place them in various places.
36:29At the next location,
36:31the mood is very different.
36:33Show them where you sleep.
36:34Show them where you sleep.
36:43That's the most exercise I've had all day.
37:10That was a new one on me.
37:11I like what you've done with it.
37:13Daddy!
37:14Is today a happy day?
37:15Yeah.
37:16Yeah, no.
37:17Yeah, no.
37:18He's saying happy because you have come.
37:20Just changed a little bit of fun.
37:25Are you happy today with what you've seen?
37:27We know we cannot give everybody a home,
37:29house,
37:30but we can give them education
37:32and give them fun, loving
37:33and help them to dream.
37:35So how many of these kids are in school?
37:37All of them are in school.
37:39Very good.
37:41All right.
37:42Be safe.
37:43Be safe.
37:45No, darling.
37:46I can't take that.
37:47It's yours.
37:49Just as we are about to leave,
37:51Gita spots a little girl
37:53that she's been keen to check up on.
37:55Where is your friend?
37:56That's why I asked,
37:57where are your girlfriends?
37:58Where are your boyfriends?
38:00Ah, Pooja.
38:01Where is she?
38:02Where's Pooja?
38:03They're all sleeping.
38:05How old are you?
38:07How old are you?
38:09She's 10 years.
38:10Do you like school?
38:11Yeah.
38:15If she becomes absent,
38:17she doesn't like.
38:18No, you have to go every day.
38:20When you finish school,
38:21what would you like to be
38:22when you are grown up?
38:23What do you want me to be?
38:25Doctor.
38:26Doctor.
38:29What a way.
38:31What a way to make somebody proud.
38:34You'll be a brilliant doctor.
38:36Yeah?
38:37Will you be the best doctor
38:39in all of India?
38:40Everybody will know.
38:46I will come back to see you
38:48and I'll say,
38:49where's she gone?
38:50And you will say,
38:50I don't have time to see Aunty Sue
38:52because I'm too busy
38:53being a great doctor.
38:54No, no.
38:55She will give time.
39:01She's going to sleep.
39:02She's going to sleep.
39:04Sleep's boring.
39:24There's been plenty of times tonight
39:26where I've just wanted to cry my eyes out
39:28and the things that I've seen and the things that I've heard,
39:30which have sometimes been too unbearable
39:31and probably too difficult to broadcast.
39:34But at the end of it, we have someone like Rekhi,
39:38who is, through the Hope Foundation, getting an education,
39:40speaking English and wants to be a doctor.
39:43And it's now past midnight and you are going to bed, young lady.
39:48Off we go, this way.
39:50It's bedtime.
39:51It's sleep time.
39:53It's sleep time.
39:55It's very late.
39:56Come on, I'm taking you to see Bhuja.
39:59Come on, where is she?
40:00Bhuja.
40:00Bhuja.
40:06There is, thankfully, another Kolkata,
40:08away from the dreadful clichés of poverty and homelessness.
40:13Over the past few decades, India has changed beyond recognition.
40:18Life expectancy has doubled, literacy rates have quadrupled,
40:22and 10 million people each year move from the country
40:25to the city in search of work.
40:28India will soon have the biggest and the youngest workforce
40:31the world has ever seen.
40:37As you drive away from the city centre,
40:39you see the transformation that India's economic miracle is delivering.
40:44When you think of Kolkata, you think perhaps more of poverty than excess,
40:48but that is starting to change.
40:49Recently, voted to have the third highest concentration of the super-rich in India
40:54after Mumbai and Delhi.
40:55You can see the landscape transitioning from those sort of low-rise buildings,
40:59shanty towns, into this brave new world here of high-rises.
41:03All the money now is in real estate, so I guess they wouldn't call them high-rises.
41:07They'd say imposing buildings with far-reaching city views.
41:11And some people are doing very nicely out of it, thank you.
41:21Hi, I'm Sue.
41:22Really nice to see you.
41:23Very nice to see you.
41:25Nice to see you.
41:25Hey, nice to see you.
41:27This is the Supercar Club,
41:29a group of wealthy young men who meet every Sunday morning
41:32to take their fancy new cars out for a spin
41:35on the fancy new roads of the new town.
41:43Why these cars?
41:44What do these cars say about you?
41:46Passion, driving pleasure,
41:48a kind of stress reliever for us.
41:51Driving in Kolkata is stress-relieving?
41:54To the highway, Rajarat roads.
41:56What speed can you get up to here?
41:5830, 30, 40?
42:00I guess the camera 30, 40 is good enough.
42:04Anish is the son of a wealthy family,
42:06now making his own way in property.
42:09When you come home,
42:10how many women are just on your bonnet?
42:12How many women have thrown themselves?
42:13I just make sure no one is there.
42:14I like it clean.
42:15Oh, I see.
42:16They're not allowed.
42:17They're not allowed.
42:18Get off, ladies.
42:19There's only one girl for you.
42:21She's bright red.
42:23You think this particular car's been really important, don't you?
42:26Yeah.
42:26So why is that?
42:27This car is so beautiful.
42:29It should inspire other people to work hard.
42:32To be honest and be successful in life.
42:36That should be the message.
42:37So this car is a sort of symbol of the changing face of Kolkata?
42:42Yeah, absolutely.
42:43Praveen is a 32-year-old entrepreneur
42:45and already has a fleet of supercars.
42:48He's made his fortune
42:50by expanding his father's small plastering business
42:53into one of Kolkata's top real estate developers.
42:56I bet your dad's very grateful now.
42:58Yeah.
42:58He's very happy with you.
42:59I've just lost my dad three months back.
43:02Oh, I'm so sorry.
43:03I'm so sorry.
43:03Three months back, I've lost him.
43:05Well, he would be very proud.
43:07Yeah, he was very proud.
43:09And probably he's watching me.
43:12Because you took a family business
43:14and you developed it.
43:15And that's all the parent wants.
43:18Oh, I'm sorry.
43:19I'm so truly sorry.
43:21I didn't mean to bring the...
43:22You know, he would be very proud.
43:23Yeah.
43:23To see you driving around in this amazing car.
43:26Yeah.
43:26And, you know, being so brilliant.
43:31Okay.
43:33Okay, let's give it a rev.
43:34Let's feel it.
43:35Let's feel...
43:44I can grow a beard
43:45just for the amount of testosterone
43:46that's in this vehicle just now.
43:50I feel you.
43:59Oh, this is a beautiful car.
44:03Well, I love it.
44:04You can really feel it being driven.
44:05It's so low.
44:07Everything is just hard and tight.
44:09It's so raw, isn't it?
44:10And rough.
44:10Oh, it's great.
44:19Come on.
44:20Let's open this thing up.
44:22Sorry.
44:23My clutch is gone.
44:24Have you blown the clutch?
44:26Yeah.
44:29I guess we'll take the other one.
44:30All expectation, no delivery.
44:33Has it literally gone?
44:34Yeah.
44:34My clutch is gone.
44:36Well, that was that, then.
44:38Clutch is gone.
44:40Don't laugh.
44:42Oh, but we did.
44:43I can't help but feel that this scene
44:45would be very different at home.
44:47We'd think they were too flashed by half
44:49with their bright orange Lamborghinis.
44:52But here, they do seem to be an inspiration.
44:55Get a good education,
44:57work hard,
44:58make your parents proud.
44:59Buy a supercar.
45:00People like these young,
45:03people like these young, educated,
45:04fiercely ambitious,
45:05are transforming Kolkata.
45:11This is the new town.
45:14Mile after mile of shopping malls,
45:16smooth new highways,
45:17apartment blocks and hotels,
45:19spreading in a vast ring around the city.
45:24The investment and the ambition here is staggering.
45:28This is a property boom on a superhuman scale.
45:33So this is one of how many projects?
45:36Out of, one out of 17.
45:3717?
45:38Yeah.
45:39Do you know how much that totals
45:41in terms of, you know,
45:42accumulated wealth from all those sites?
45:44120 million pounds.
45:48120 million pounds.
45:50Yeah.
45:50It'll just start.
45:51If this stops,
45:53my life stops.
45:55Really?
45:56So that's how closely connected you are to it?
45:59It's a passion.
46:00It's not just about money as passion.
46:03Like, if the passion stays,
46:04you're living.
46:05If the passion dies,
46:06you're dead.
46:12Oh, there's literally no windows there.
46:13So it's about to lean forward.
46:17This is great, isn't it?
46:18See, I look out at that
46:19and I think that is stunning.
46:21And you look out at that and think,
46:22mmm, 500 million.
46:24500 million pounds.
46:26Save a little bit, Praveen.
46:27Save a little bit of green.
46:28Just for me.
46:29Yeah.
46:31You lead the way.
46:33These apartments cost 60 grand,
46:35but for Praveen,
46:36it is just the beginning.
46:38This is how the project is going to look like.
46:40Oh, it's got a home theatre.
46:42Yeah, it has got a big home theatre.
46:43And you'll be getting a library,
46:46a community hall,
46:47a gymnasium.
46:48There'll be a place to park
46:49all your Lamborghinis,
46:50by the looks of it.
46:52Well, they are delighted.
46:54They're very happy with it.
46:59Your father was obviously
47:00a massive influence on you,
47:02wasn't he?
47:02So much is placed on the son
47:04that he must succeed,
47:05make money,
47:05be in business.
47:06Do you feel that pressure?
47:08I do feel that pressure
47:09because my father has created a name
47:13and I have joined Han.
47:17And after him,
47:18I have to make his name even bigger.
47:21Even 10 times 20,
47:22100 times bigger.
47:23And that is a big pressure.
47:29So I'm now starting to really see the scale
47:31of development in Kolkata,
47:33the way that this place is just exploding,
47:36that the frontiers are being expanded.
47:38This city is just,
47:39you know,
47:40it's growing almost,
47:42you know,
47:42in front of your very eyes.
47:44And this place is symbolic of exactly that,
47:47this new frontier.
47:48And the fact that people will spend money
47:50on this project,
47:51these beautiful homes,
47:53when there isn't even a road,
47:54a bypass,
47:55or any of the infrastructure you'd expect
47:57just shows you
47:57how much people are banking
47:58on the fact that tomorrow's
48:00could be better than today.
48:06This is the Kolkata of tomorrow,
48:08a brave new world
48:10of middle-class affluence.
48:11The old Kolkata
48:13is being buried
48:14beneath a landslide of progress.
48:16The heritage buildings are falling,
48:18and a new city is being born.
48:26But in this rush to modernise,
48:28some people are making sure
48:30that Kolkata retains
48:31its unique eccentricity.
48:37Out in the city's sprawling suburbs,
48:40something strange is stirring.
48:45So it's seven o'clock in the morning,
48:46and it's fair to say
48:47the only time I've ever laughed
48:49before at seven in the morning
48:49was when the person
48:50who woke me up tripped over.
48:52But to laugh is why I'm here,
48:54in the sort of observatory of Kolkata.
48:56Ready?
48:58Ready?
48:58Come on!
49:12Quite strict.
49:15Ready?
49:17Ho, ho, ha, ha!
49:21Ho, ho!
49:22Concerned that life was becoming too serious,
49:25people began to set up laughing clubs all over Kolkata.
49:29Ho, ho, ha, ha!
49:38Ho, ho, ha, ha!
49:42Ho, ho, ha, ha!
49:43Ho, ho, ha, ha!
49:43Ho, ho, ha, ha!
49:44Ho, ho, ha, ha, ha!
49:44Ho, ho, ha, ha, ha!
49:45And these ladies are pure Prozac.
49:47Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
49:50They think that laughter cures all sorts of ailments,
49:53from anxiety to arthritis,
49:55and strengthens the immune system to boot.
49:57Personally, I'm here for the biscuits.
50:00Ha, ha, ha, ha!
50:02It's ridiculous.
50:03Ha, ha, ha, ha!
50:07So how long have you all been going to the laughing club?
50:10How long?
50:1012 years.
50:11No, 14.
50:1214 years.
50:1314 years?
50:15Yeah?
50:16Yeah, yeah, no, all that.
50:19And why do you like it?
50:20What's good about it?
50:34Cheers!
50:34Cheers. Good health. So, have you noticed that Kolkata has changed a lot in the last
50:44few years?
50:48Right, that confused me then, because you were doing the international sign for no. There
50:53was a lot of no action there.
50:54Yeah.
50:57Yeah.
51:03Yeah.
51:04Yeah.
51:06Yeah.
51:08Yeah.
51:28Since being in Kolkata, I've heard the term Ada being used to describe a uniquely
51:34Kolkattan phenomenon.
51:36I don't know what Adda is. Can you explain to me? I keep hearing about it, but what is Adda?
51:42Oh, no, okay.
51:44Oh, it's good?
51:45It's good.
51:47Is this it? This is Adda?
51:48This is Adda.
51:50This is Adda?
51:51This is Adda.
51:52I'm in the middle of Adda right now.
51:55This is Adda.
51:56So, what is it? Is it just a feeling? Is it a...
52:00What is it?
52:01No, no.
52:04Story, story, variety story.
52:07So, what does Adda, one word, what does Adda mean to you?
52:10Freshness.
52:12Freshness. I like that. How about you?
52:14Fresh air.
52:16I'm going to allow you that as one word because we'll hyphenate it.
52:19Energy.
52:20Energy.
52:21Kushi.
52:22Kushi, I like.
52:24Mind and body, all things.
52:27Just one word?
52:28One word.
52:30Happiness.
52:31Happiness.
52:32Happiness.
52:32Happiness.
52:34Happy.
52:34I've just built a lot of tea, but it doesn't matter.
52:36I'm in an Adda frame of mind.
52:38No, it's good.
52:39It doesn't matter.
52:41That's okay.
52:42Where I come from, we're not very bright.
52:43We think you drink like this.
52:47What's wrong with that?
52:48This is Adda.
52:50This is Adda.
52:51This is Adda.
52:52This is Adda.
52:53This is Adda.
53:03I'm jealous.
53:03Thanos.
53:04We're doing a remake of Michael Jackson's thriller.
53:22In this city of change, the past, present and future of India coexist.
53:28But there is one thing that is constant.
53:31God. Or rather, gods.
53:34There are hundreds of them everywhere.
53:37The Hoodli River is a branch of the mighty Ganges,
53:40and Hindus consider its waters to be just as holy.
53:49Religion flows through every part of the city's life
53:52and is the reason that Kolkata exists at all.
53:58Before anything, before the British Empire, before partition,
54:03before Lamborghinis and high-rises and the cursed invention of the car horn,
54:06there was this place, Kali Ghat Temple.
54:11Kali Ghat Temple is one of the most important spiritual sites in India.
54:16A million pilgrims from all over the subcontinent flock here every year
54:20to make offerings to the great goddess Kali.
54:23I actually think most of them are here today.
54:27So, Kali is a domestic goddess, a little bit like a Hindi spiritual version of Nigella Lawson.
54:32And people come here for very practical things, like, you know, they want a new fridge freezer
54:35or, in my case, a new system of traffic management.
54:41Before I leave, I'm going to brave the crowds to try and make an offering to the great goddess herself.
54:47No one's ever filmed in the inner temple before.
54:49We've got billions of permission slips, but I've absolutely no idea if any of them are going to be valid.
54:54I mean, what idiotic country gifted India their bureaucratic system?
55:00I'm here to meet Vuta, a priest and temple guide.
55:04This is offering to goddess Kali and holy tree for your family person's name, peace and happiness.
55:10See, when I see Kali, three eyes, black tongue.
55:14One long tongue.
55:16I give the flowers and I light the incense.
55:23Single, single, single, single, single, single.
55:26Once inside, it's mayhem.
55:28A heaving, pushing, pulling mass of bodies trying to crush into the inner temple to make an offering to the
55:34Kali idol.
55:37Tuck, don't you? Tuck.
55:40Tuck.
55:40Absolute chaos.
55:45Apparently, Kali's in there somewhere, but it's so packed we can't get through the door,
55:49and the sheer volume of people sweeps us past.
55:54I'm not sure if Kali got my prayer, but she did get my money.
56:06In the relative calm of the second altar chamber, beneath a holy tree, we make another offering.
56:14Namaste Kali.
56:16Namaste Kali.
56:17Namaste Shiva.
56:18Namaste Shiva.
56:19I come to you.
56:21I come to you.
56:22Pray to you.
56:23Pray to you.
56:23For my family.
56:24For my family.
56:25In our world.
56:26In our world.
56:27Peace and happiness.
56:28Peace and happiness.
56:30Om Shanti.
56:31Om Shanti.
56:31Om Shanti.
56:33Shanti Shanti.
56:34Shanti Shanti.
56:35Shanti means peace and happiness.
56:37Om Shanti.
56:38Okay?
56:39I feel very blessed.
56:45It's a quintessentially Kolkathan experience.
56:48Chaotic, bewildering and extraordinary all at once.
56:54So in the West we're used to religious experiences being quiet and contemplative things in locked and cool churches,
57:01but here it's a cross between a market, a rally and just a plain old fashioned bun fight.
57:07All your senses are simultaneously bombarded, which is ironic I suppose since Kali is the goddess who purifies your senses.
57:14So, er, I'm in need of huge purification right now.
57:19It's the perfect end to my adventures in this most beguiling of cities.
57:29You know, I'd be lying if I said that I'd enjoyed all my time here.
57:33I found some of it extremely difficult and challenging and painful to be a part of.
57:38The feeling I'm left with is of this volume of people living in a small space and coexisting no matter
57:44what their race, creed or their social status is.
57:48And, you know, Kolkata may not be able to teach us anything about peace, but I do believe we've got
57:53a lot to learn from it about tolerance.
57:55Kolkata is changing at an astonishing pace, emerging from its colonial past into a prosperous new future.
58:06It is a dazzling place, truly a city of joy.
58:11I just hope that as it develops and grows, it can hang on to the beautiful, crazy eccentricity that makes
58:18it so unique.
58:20I haven't met one person, whatever their social circumstance, not one person that hasn't had a smile on their face
58:26or had something good to say about the world.
58:28And for that reason, I think the future of India is radiant.
58:39India's season continues on BBC Four with a love story between a Muslim princess and a British diplomat at nine
58:45tomorrow.
58:46Right now, you can book your ticket for a whistle-stop tour of the country's frontier railways.