Kolkata (Calcutta) not trying for Copenhagenize list of bike friendly cities

[lordofthemark]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/city-of-kolkata-bans-bikes-to-reduce-traffic-but-indias-environmentalists-workers-protest/2013/10/15/f07ac840-3189-11e3-ad00-ec4c6b31cbed_story.html?hpid=z4

And with 8% mode share, they’d be well placed. If they weren’t trying to ban bikes. (note, this is counter to what the Govt of India and other Indian cities are doing.)

On a positive note, apparently a $500 bike makes you Elite over there.

[ShawnoftheDread]

I never understand the need to change the spellings of transliterated names. If you want to be authentic, you’ll have to write it in Hindi.

[fuzzy]

When I was in Kolkata/Culcatta, however you want to spell it, EVERY NIGHT I blew my nose the snot had black shizz in it. I’m sure I shortened my life span spending time there and it was only 1 week. Rickshaws everywhere, everywhere! The air quality is terrible. I took pictures with a 35mm camera and you could see all the grainy crap in the air from the flash. There seems to be no regulation on what exhaust small engines can emit.

Its a shame, we have it so good here in the states and most, except bike riders-they tend to usually be happy folk, complain about the minute BS and over there people are living piss poor but they, for the most part, still are happy people.

[DismalScientist]

It’s nice to know that bike riders don’t complain about minute BS.:rolleyes:

[fuzzy]

@DismalScientist 67028 wrote:

It’s nice to know that bike riders don’t complain about minute BS.:rolleyes:

yeah, I’m rethinking what I typed;)

[americancyclo]

@fuzzy 67027 wrote:

EVERY NIGHT I blew my nose the snot had black shizz in it.

Same thing happened to me living in London for the first month or so.

[PotomacCyclist]

Same thing in Paris. Plus there were no pooper scooper laws. (Maybe there are now.) So there were particulates in the air, and brown stuff all over the sidewalks.

[mstone]

@fuzzy 67027 wrote:

When I was in Kolkata/Culcatta, however you want to spell it, EVERY NIGHT I blew my nose the snot had black shizz in it.

London underground will do that also.

[creadinger]

@ShawnoftheDread 66767 wrote:

I never understand the need to change the spellings of transliterated names. If you want to be authentic, you’ll have to write it in Hindi.

It’s not just changing the spelling of the transliteration. It changed the pronunciation and meaning, and in the case of Madras, changed the name entirely. “Calcutta” as a place name doesn’t exist anymore. The Portuguese came up with Bombay, but the Indians changed it back to Mumbai. The colonial names Madras, and Pondicherry were removed entirely and changed to Chennai, and Puducherry.

It’s similar to the push to get rid of the name Mt. Mckinley and change it back to Denali, because that’s what the locals called it.

[Author]

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