Kolkata Overpass Collapses

Kolkata bridge disaster a symptom of India's growth, neglect and fatalism - As my plane touched down last night in Kolkata, I reflected on how much has changed in the city I grew up in. When I was a child it had a different name: Calcutta, the former capital of the British Raj. Now it's called Kolkata, the change part of a national wave of linguistic and cultural reclamations -- Bombay to Mumbai, Madras to Chennai, Bangalore to Bengaluru.

I left Kolkata in 2001. Every few months I would return. On those visits, everything would feel the same, comfortable, easy, drenched in nostalgia. But when I adjust the telescope a bit and compare then with now -- 15 years later -- things feel very different: The Communist Party is no longer in power; Kolkata has continued to fall behind the pecking order in India, overtaken by previously lesser metropolises; and there's been a considerable brain drain, with the best and brightest students packing their bags for other cities.

Even the old world charm of Kolkata seems masked, diminished: new malls and high rises jostle with the old three and four-storey homes that once dotted the city. The changes are necessary, though, as more and more rural Indians throng to the big cities in search of work and opportunities. Meanwhile, India has gotten more middle class, the youth have become more aspirational.

Perhaps the most visible masking of old Kolkata can be seen in its many overpasses -- what Indians call "flyovers" -- crisscrossing and snaking through the city. They are being built to ease traffic congestion and connect the old parts of the city to newer suburbs, but they are also an eyesore - big, ugly, often plastered with political advertisements or billboards for Bollywood films.

At least one thing hasn't changed. My parents still pick up their now middle-aged son from the airport. Always. They too look a bit diminished, but still sturdy, a constant source of stability in my life. They usually greet me with a big hug. Not last night.

Rescuers dig for survivors from overpass collapse

"It's a shameful day for our city," says my father. He doesn't need to say why. I am home to report on the deadly collapse of a bridge in north Kolkata. Rescue operations were to continue through the night.
As we drive home, we take the usual new shortcut. It's an overpass.

"Is it safe?" I ask. My father says the authorities allow cars to go both directions on the bridge at night. During the day, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., only one-way traffic is allowed. It can only bear so much weight, he says. It is a well-known fact amongst residents, he says.