Ignoring and avoiding the past is a tendency that often engulfs the people who have successfully 'climbed up the stairs'. This is most conspicuosly manifested in the spatial arrangements of the late capital built in spaces. The first among those in rhe city of Kolkata happened to be the shopping malls and gated communities. These are often built on poor performing and locked down factory sites. Like Kaleidoscope saw that the South city was built on erstwhile USHA factory. One of the workers stayed back in the middle of rubbles, and earned by working as a bus conductor. His protest was too small to be heard, his body was found mysteriously beside a road. No one knows what happened to his family. Kaleidoscope has had his brief experience in South city mall, attended programmes at the post residential complex nearby and like everyone else he too has forgotten the story of the bus conductor.
Diamond plaza, pantaloons, quest are all success stories of conversion from places of production to spaces of consumption.
New town, the extension of shopping mall, built on the country lands is perhaps showing every symptom of the othering process. While the residents are demanding more and more exclusivity from the rest of the world, the so called natives curve out a variety of places and transform it on their own. Kaleidpscope has seen cows and buffalos are grazing on the neatly kept lawns, people occupying such lawns and hawkers making quick sales.
As water is a great leveler, so during a spell of rain kids started playing football on the park where gralss lawns were supposedly representing aristrocacy.
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