kolkata

Members of the National Students' Union of India burn a poster showing Chinese President Xi Jinping during an anti-China demonstration in Ahmedabad on June 18, 2020.

World News

Tensions with China revive old fears for Indians of Chinese descent

5:00am December 12, 2021

by Lauren Frayer

In 1962, thousands of Indians of Chinese descent were sent to prison camps during a brief war with Beijing. Recent clashes on the India-China border have revived Chinese Indians' fears of persecution.

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee speaks during a by-election campaign in Kolkata on Sept. 26. Famous for her fiery speeches and welfare programs geared toward women, Banerjee, 66, is beloved in her home state. This year, Time magazine included h

World News

Meet the feisty, 5-foot-tall thorn in the side of India's prime minister

12:30pm November 15, 2021

by Lauren Frayer

Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal state, is one of Narendra Modi's fiercest critics. She's especially beloved by women and the impoverished. But gaining national traction may be tough.

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Goat Sales For Eid Were Tanking Due To The Pandemic. So Marketers Got Creative

5:31pm July 31, 2020

by Sandip Roy

It's been hard to sell the sacrificial animal in India for the Eid al-Adha holiday amid COVID-19. Goat dealers are trying everything from a pageant hosted by a TikTok star to WhatsApp orders.

Urmi Basu, center in red dress, with some of the children who live at New Light, the shelter she established.

Health & Safety

A Ray Of Hope For The Children Of Sex Workers

12:43pm August 01, 2019

by Windsor Johnston

The New Light shelter in Kolkata offers a safe home. Founder Urmi Basu was inspired by a walk through the city's red-light district. This year, she was given India's highest civilian honor for women.

Turkeys at an organic farm in Tona village, an hour from Kolkata, India.

To Cook A Holiday Turkey in Kolkata, It Takes A Village, 2 Butchers And 3 Cabs

5:28pm December 22, 2016

by Sandip Roy

Turkeys aren't native to India. But these days in Kolkata, you can buy a turkey for your Christmas dinner. But cooking a holiday turkey can still send you on a surreal adventure.

Gautam Lewis, now 39, poses with some of the photographs he has taken that trace the life and work of Mother Teresa, who took him in when he was 3. The images are part of an exhibition Lewis has staged in Kolkata as an homage to the woman he calls his "se

Mother Teresa Made Him Believe He Could Fly — And He Did

5:03pm September 04, 2016

by Julie McCarthy

The child, who had contracted polio, was taken in by Mother Teresa when he was 3. What has happened since sounds like a fairy tale.

Health & Safety

Why Is Calcutta Now Kolkata? What Other Names In India Are Changing?

6:29pm September 02, 2016

by Sandip Roy

With Mother Teresa in the headlines, so is the name of the city where she lived for decades. But is it ... Calcutta? Or Kolkata? And what's the difference?