Calendars usually promote an institution or a product, but in Kolkata, a 2026 calendar has come out to represent a struggle: to save the almost-extinct iconic tram, that too at a time when AQI levels in the city are reaching unacceptable levels.
The calendar — wall as well as desk — has been printed by Tramjatra, a moving tram carnival that was started in 1996 by tram enthusiasts from Melbourne and Kolkata, one of its anchors being Roberto D’Andrea, a former tram driver-conductor from the Australian city.
“The main goal is to highlight the Kolkata tram’s battle to survive. At the moment, the city stands at a painful crossroads, ready to erase its own 152-year-old living legacy. But we are discreetly critiquing, without resorting to overt criticism. The design is clearly pro-tram ‘calendar art’, our idea being to create a love for trams,” said filmmaker Mahadeb Shi, a co-founder of Tramjatra.
Last year too, a calendar had been created, for the first time, with the help of colour pictures of trams taken in the 1960s by an unknown Australian enthusiast who had passed them on to Mr. D’Andrea. The 2026 calendar contains pictures taken over the years by Mr. D’Andrea himself, along with quotations from literary giants including Rabindranath Tagore, Tennessee Williams, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Narayan Gangopadhyay, Shibram Chakraborty, and Bibhuti Bhusan Bandyopadhyay.
