From Calcutta to Kolkata: A City of Dreams – A Poetic Cartography of Memory and Metropolis

In From Calcutta to Kolkata: A City of Dreams, Mitali Chakravarty crafts an evocative love letter to a city she has never lived in, yet intimately understands. This third poetry collection is a compact yet richly textured volume that captures Kolkata’s layered soul—its cultural grandeur, ideological contradictions, and lived paradoxes.

With an observant eye and empathetic voice, Chakravarty moves beyond nostalgia to unearth the city’s pulse—its rhythms shaped by rituals, legends, and the lingering scent of old books and street-side delicacies. Through her poems, Calcutta is not merely a backdrop but a breathing character—at once ancient and modern, joyous and anguished, sacred and chaotic.

Blending personal reflection with social critique, and memory with myth, Chakravarty constructs a poetic mosaic that is both deeply researched and viscerally felt. This book is more than a tribute; it’s an immersion—a lyrical journey through the city’s shifting shadows and sunlight. A must-read for anyone who has loved, longed for, or simply been intrigued by the City of Joy.