I didn't know it at the time, but thanks to the convenience of a certain online mapping site, I learned that this is Hogg Street. I took this photo through a window in New Market.

I had brought loose cotton and linen clothes that were appropriate in Rajasthan, but in Kolkata people dress a bit more formally and since I was feeling under-dressed, I was shopping for a new shirt. Western-style clothing is very popular with men, and eventually I found a shop with shirts that didn't have silly and meaningless things written on them. I tried on a shirt, but decided not to buy it because it didn't quite fit. The clerk asked why I didn't want it, so I explained and then he said (perhaps with a facial expression) that it wasn't a problem at all and waved me to follow him down the hall and upstairs to where a few guys with Singer sewing machines (yes, the foot treadle ones) were packed into a little room. Words were exchanged, thread that matched the colour of the shirt was threaded onto a bobbin and in less than five minutes the shirt had been altered to fit. We went back downstairs, where I paid for the shirt (alterations were included in the original price).