ABSTRACT
This chapter examines in the backdrop of a State-initiated urban renewal project which intended to give Kumartuli a quintessential ‘modern’ look with multi-storied apartments and artist’s studios. The ‘Kumartuli Urban Renewal project’ sanctioned under the Jawaharlal Nehru urban Renewal Mission was a joint venture of both the state and the central government. Nimai Pal, a veteran artist at the age of 67 and the president of the Kumartuli Mritshilpa Sanskriti Samity, never thought he would have to leave his ancestral home and take refuge in a godown, which was an old flour mill locally known as ‘Maida Kal’ in the colonial era. The banner at the entrance of Kumartuli, the potters’ quarter, seems to proclaim Kumartuli’s position loud and clear. It is the banner, like many such banners in the locality, which announces Kumartuli’s resistance to the renovation process. The people of Kumartuli know that their way of living made them unique in front of the whole world.
