calcutta

From famous personalities and historical landmarks to everyday life, here are 30 rare photographs that show a different perspective of Indian history.

Julia Margaret Cameron, was a seeker of beauty. She was born in India more than 200 years ago in the City of Joy, Calcutta, in 1815, but her rebirth as a photographer happened at the age of 48.

At a time when the rest of the world believed that Indian women rarely ventured outside their kitchens, 19-year-old Arati Saha overcame obstacles, both physical and mental, to carve her way to success.

A man whose genius transcended boundaries, Jagdish Chandra Bose was a quintessential polymath: a physicist, a biologist, a botanist, an archaeologist, an author and a connoisseur of fine arts. On his 158th birth anniversary, we bring you the story of his path breaking work on the discovery of plant stimuli.

While the warmth and friendship India and Cuba have shared since the tiny Caribbean nation's revolution serves as a continuing reminder of Fidel Castro's affection for India, it was the legendary rebel Che Guevara, who visited New Delhi and Calcutta in July 1959, who laid the ground for that relationship.

In 2001, India’s ‘Cultural Capital’ Calcutta was renamed Kolkata “in order to match Bengali pronunciation”. However, the origins of the city’s name are still shrouded in mystery. Here are some of the most popular theories regarding the origins of the name of India’s City of Joys.

Separated from his older brother at a train station in 1986, 5-year-old Saroo found himself lost in the slums of Calcutta. A quarter of a century later, now settled in Australia, he painstakingly searched for his family using Google Earth and, incredible as it may sound, found his way home.

The story of how the mysterious distribution of chapatis spooked the British administrators of the Raj shortly before the outbreak of rebellion in 1857.

On it's 80th anniversary, learn some interesting facts about the nation's favourite radio broadcaster, All India Radio.

On International Jazz Day, we celebrate the evolution of jazz in India, from elite clubs in 1920’s Bombay to a post-independence revival with Indian classical influences, to a modern day love for Indian jazz in the new millennium.