“There are no Marwaris as such in Rajasthan; they only become Marwaris when they leave.” Thus writes Anne Hardgrove in her 2004 study, Community and Public Culture: the Marwaris in Calcutta, c. 1897-1997, the most detailed account of a people who have been integral to the birth, development, growth and continued life of the city of dubious joy, yet who still remain strangely elusive when it comes to historical or sociological analysis and understanding. When talking of Calcutta’s cosmopolitanism, the Marwaris seldom get a look in, with Armenians, Baghdadi Jews, Anglo-Indians, Parsis, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the like hogging the limelight. Which is strange if one considers that Calcuttans live in buildings constructed with Marwari cement and steel, go to schools run by Marwari trusts, worship in temples built by Marwaris, still ride in Ambassador taxis made by a Marwari firm, watch movies produced by Marwaris, get treated (those who can afford it) in private hospitals run by Marwaris and gawp at the marvels of the cosmos in a planetarium built by Marwaris. Why, the book-loving Bengali wouldn’t even be able to read her Feluda or Byomkesh (or Lila Majumder or what have you) if it were not for the illumination provided by the electricity produced by a Marwari-owned firm… the list of Marwari contributions to the day-to-day life of Kolkata and Bengal is potentially endless. Read More