This year, at the end of three months in Bhutan, Pakistan, and India, I was powerfully drawn to the slums of Lahore and Kolkata: their rich color, their fascinating characters, and especially their friendly and open people. Feeling both safe and spellbound, I roamed Kolkata's worst slums day and night, meeting hustlers, con artists, thieves, drug dealers, prostitutes, addicts and beggars...as well as lots of honest, hard-working people including quite a fewhijra,or transsexuals.
This year, at the end of three months in Bhutan, Pakistan, and India, I was powerfully drawn to the slums of Lahore and Kolkata: their rich color, their fascinating characters, and especially their friendly and open people. Feeling both safe and spellbound, I roamed Kolkata's worst slums day and night, meeting hustlers, con artists, thieves, drug dealers, prostitutes, addicts and beggars...as well as lots of honest, hard-working people including quite a few hijra, or transsexuals.
I spent 10 days in October at the Indian National Library in Kolkata, researching a chapter in my new book. In 1974, I worked for Mrs. S. A. Cha...
