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New Market Tales
Author: Jayant Kripalani

Publisher: Picador India
ISBN: 9789382616061
Pages: 206
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Heart-warming and nostalgic tales of lovable characters set in the historic New Market area in Calcutta in the 1960s and 1970s written by well-known Indian film, television and stage actor and director JAYANT KRIPALANI

There was something about Calcutta in the 1960s and 1970s – a once-glorious city found itself torn by the Naxalite movement. Revolution and history were being staged at every street corner. But not all of Calcutta would succumb to that chaos and confusion. Certainly not New Market. Lives had to be lived, goods had to be sold, money had to be made. Nothing had shaken the historic market since its illustrious beginnings in 1874, not the World Wars, not the struggle for Independence; the market thrived no matter who was in power.

Armed with a fistful of memories, Jayant Kripalani weaves nostalgia into these short stories about the inhabitants of New Market. A sprawling landscape that houses both enterprise and extraordinary people, New Market continues to be something of an institution in Calcutta. And any time is a good time to revisit it by taking a trip down Kripalani’s memory lane and meeting Francis the jewellery maker, Ganguly Gainjeewallah and his activist-daughter Gopa, and a cast of characters who excite you, exasperate you but still win you over.