Flower Market devastated by fire ...Contd.

12th April 2008: The next day

The burnt portion of the flower market from a rooftop.

The flower vendors sitting idly inside a burnt out structure.

Flowers to be sold and water pots before a burnt shop.

A burnt out shop in the market. Police forces had been deployed for security reasons.

It was suspected that the fire was caused by LPG cylinder burst.

A burnt out temple in the market.

A burnt earthen flower vase in the debris.

Vendors stocked flowers in the market expecting boom in sale due to the imminent Bengali New Year. They met with huge loss after the accident.

The opposition parties organized a political rally in the market demanding proper investigation of the incident. They were the strong believers of the conspiracy theory.

Curious passersby having a glance at the site of devastation.

The horticulture minister, the chairperson of the administrative body of the flower market and other administrative heads discussing the future course of action. It was decided that the site will be cleared up working whole night, so that from next day morning business activities could be resumed at least partially. Some sort of temporary structures would be erected later for the shops.

Question-answer session with the journalists from different media houses.

Business was in full swing at the unburnt portion of the flower market.

In a temple a few pace away from the burnt site people were engaged in their daily worship.

An old lady taking rest in the afternoon was probably on her daily routine as usual.

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Flower Market devastated by fire

On Friday night, the one before this last Friday, a devastating fire broke out in the Flower Market near Mullick Ghat. Although the fire could be controlled before dawn broke, but it had already turned the major portion of the market into ashes. Bursting of LPG cylinders was declared to be the cause of the accident. However some people there were sniffing a conspiracy, as there was an order from the authority asking the flower vendors to move to somewhere else which the vendors didn't abide by since it was a booming business season in the Flower Market as Bengali New Year was approaching. The Government is planning to develop the Flower Market as an international bidding centre for flowers and flower products.

I took photographs of the Flower Market in the morning just after the accident and on the days following that, to document life there as the market struggled to resume its normal business as soon as possible and to minimize the loss.

Published photographs:

On the next day - 12th April 2008


On the second day of the fire - 13th April 2008

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Mike Fox - Photojournalist: Grants Source for Photographers

Mike Fox - Photojournalist: Grants Source for Photographers
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Flower Market - More photos

Last Saturday I went to flower market again to capture some more colors. The day before at night we had heavy rain here. Naturally the place was filled with mud, small pools of water and rotten flowers scattered here and there. These are the problems of any thriving market place here. So instead I focussed on its beauty, its colorfulness.


I found this vendor in the market showing his beautiful garlands to the buyers.

In the lotus market sticks of lotus bundled together can be found for sale.

Decorative flowers of different colors would be sold to the retailers who will make beautiful flower bouquets to sell them in the local market.

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Jagannath Ghat

Last Saturday I and my friend went to Jagannath ghat to try our luck with street photography. A "Ghat" in general term is a concrete structure built on the bank of a river to facilitate bathing, and as such has a rest room and the stairs that get down to the water. Jagannath ghat is one of the oldest on the bank of the Ganga in Kolkata. The installation has some architectural speciality, unlike others. One can find the porcelain tiles lining the inner walls of the rest room, wrought iron columns and nicely curved ventilators.







Photographers flock the place to shoot at the colorful flower market nearby. The colors are fascinating!! I hope to go there again to capture some more color.

The ghat itself is the place for lots of activities. The daily life passes by with the devotees singing bhajans at their ashrams or local youngsters watching latest Hindi movie in a shady video parlour or people bathing in the river and observing different rituals.

While returning I found this lovely couple playing in the shade of the rest room.

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Holi - The Color Festival

The Friday before the last one was very special, it saw religious celebrations by the three major religious groups - the Hindus, the Muslims and the Christians in India. The Hindus had Holi, the color festival, the Muslims commemorated the birth of the Prophet and the Christians observed Good Friday.

On that day I visited Santiniketan with my friends, which is one of the cultural hubs of Bengal. It was conceptualized by the great poet Rabindranath Tagore. Holi at Santiniketan has a special aura of cultural sophistication around it which people flock there to enjoy. However, change is the only constant in human life, so these days you can also find some not so well known rock-bands performing there. I tried to capture these moments while taking photos there.

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