Do the people on this train get off before or after you?
Mostly after; they’ll go to Bardhaman – there are many other stops after mine. See, here, this is Coal Gas’ plant, they produce the gas that we use in gas cylinders here. Now, the village has started. Take the train and you’ll see, two-three stations from Howrah, slowly, the village areas start. And if you travel on the Tarakeshwar line, the town area goes till Sewrakuli, after that, the villages start. The orchards start there – mango orchards, banana trees…
So when cultivated land starts, then the village starts. And when does the city start?
The city… Howrah, Liluah, Belur and Bali – these are towns. Then from Belanagar, the villages slowly start, there is a part-town-part-village atmosphere.
What is the difference between city and village?
There is no land available for farming there: whatever is there, houses, flats, there is no land for farming. Here, where the villages start, there are fields on both sides, and people are engaged in cultivation on both sides. When it is day you can see it clearly, there are many people on the fields, cultivating.