The nostalgia on the verge of extinction

The great city of Calcutta was the first capital of India, which came to be during the British Rule. The flavor of the British period has been carried on in the very soul of this city. And amidst all these, are my childhood memories, a time which I long to relive. There is a striking difference between the ambiences of now and then; many professions in abundance then are on the verge of extinction now. The streets of Kolkata are changing rapidly, modifying the old Calcutta, the City from my childhood memories. What affects me the most however is the exponential decrement (leading to extinction) in many traditional and age-old occupations and the very architecture of the city itself.
The caste defined the occupation of people in the earlier days, and it was therefore hereditary. And the work itself defined the status of an individual in the society. This age old practice is however obsolete in the modern era, with the onset of globalization. However, a few of those occupations are now becoming endangered in the process. A “visti-wala” (one who delivers water in a bag made from goat-skin) may not want his son to follow in his footsteps; he might have a different dream. The taste has changed over time, we can go to a mall or go online to buy our necessities rather than waiting for Ferriwalas to come to our doorsteps with the goods. We all know the demand curve of economics; people are hence forced to give up those traditional practices to cope up with the current financial needs. Modernization is good, there is no doubt about that, but it is making us ignorant of what we and the society are losing. Our succeeding generations may never know about such things unless we make an effort to archive such facts.
Here, via this modest ongoing documentary series of mine, I am trying to vivify those endangered and extinct occupations in front of the people and modern society. Not inanimate objects, these are some really strong emotions and nostalgia hidden behind the stills. There is a longing to relive those childhood memories of old Calcutta, but in the foreseeable future, there will exist no such things to relive, just some old myth, an ancient folklore. The construction of new buildings over the ruins of the architectural nostalgia triggers the same sense of fear in me. As a documentary photographer, this is my tribute to the Artists of those Dying Professions, and Architectures. This here is my small and humble effort to give them their deserved eternal glory.