By Soham Gupta

The Howrah Bridge:  More than 1,000,000 pedestrians and approximately 80,000 vehicles use it every day. It connects the twin cities of Howrah and Calcutta, separated by the river Ganges in her lower course. But little is known about a small group of homeless individuals, who live under it. Many of them have taken to drugs and most have developed mental disorders in the course of their life.  Some of them even show symptoms of AIDS because of the common practice of using shared needles. While some of these people had originally left their home in the rural parts of Eastern India (West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa) to migrate to Howrah/Calcutta in search of jobs, some of them are simply runaways. Most of them have ended up being destitute in the ‘twin-cities’. All of their dreams have been shattered and the ‘big cities’ have proved to be completely different from the image they had in their minds, of them. Biswal, from Orissa, who ran away from home in his village in Dhenkanal, in search of fortune, told me, ‘I’ve heard so much about Calcutta and Howrah. Before I landed here, I heard that money floated in the air here!’

About the Author

Soham Gupta is a young humanitarian photographer, based in Calcutta, India. Through his photos, he loves to celebrate life. Soham initially started off as a writer but later realized that he has the ability to tell stories in a better way, through photographs. He wants to give voice to the voiceless: the disadvantaged people of our earth.To see more of his works, go to http://sohamgupta.wordpress.com/