For many years, as I listened to my colleagues ' stories about India, I mentally traveled with them around the country... But no matter how many stories you listen to or read about India, every person who has been there has their own story. India leaves no one indifferent...
Kolkata, which until recently, until January 2001, was called Calcutta, met us with a 35-degree heat wave. The "Ambassador" provided to us - the first-born of the Indian automobile industry-joined the general flow of vehicles, sometimes overtaking and sometimes cutting off other cars.
A car very similar to our Moskvich is as much an essential attribute of Kolkata as a black cab in London or a yellow taxi in New York. The first "Ambassador" rolled off the assembly line in 1948, produced by the Hindustan Motor company, founded in Calcutta in 1942.
CARS AND SLUMS
Thanks to new roads crossing Kolkata, the demand for cars in the city has increased dramatically. Although the reason is not only in the quality of highways-the way of life of Indians has changed. Over the past 10 - 20 years, the level of well-being of urban residents has significantly increased. In addition, many banks issue loans to buy cars. Thanks to the release by Tata of the cheapest (in the world!) The price of a Nano car is just 100 thousand rupees, or 2 thousand dollars, and in the near future their number on Indian roads will significantly increase. This Indian company, like Ford's enterprises in its time, created a car for the middle class. However, the appearance of a large number of personal vehicles did not lead to the disappearance of rickshaws, in huge numbers scurrying through the streets of Kolkata.
The airport is located on the outskirts of the city, and the picture here is monotonous and bleak: tents, huts, adobe buildings, street "sewage"... But the tap is running water, and someone is collecting it in buckets, someone is washing, washing... Here, closer to the water, children play and dogs relax... The slums, where al ...
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