KOLKATA TO KABUL
Kolkata/Calcutta
“Look! Brahmins and chumars, bankers and tinkers,
barbers and bunnias,pilgrims -and potters -all the world going and coming.
It is to me as a river from which I am
withdrawn like a log after a flood.
And truly the Grand Trunk Road is a wonderful spectacle.
Such a river of life as no where else exists in the world.”
- Rudyard Kipling, Kim
Kolkata
Howrah Bridge
For more than 20 centuries, travelers have walked, ridden, prayed, traded, invaded, escaped,
fought, and died along the 1,500 miles of the Grand Trunk Road which stretches from Kolkata to Kabul.
On the GTR in Bihar State, India
Here are some pictures of people and places I have taken along the route of the Grand Trunk Road during the past thirty years.
Varanasi, India
Varanasi, India
Varanasi, India
Agra, India
Near Agra, India
Red Fort, Delhi
Allahabad, India
Kumbh Mela, Allahabad, India
Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Buddhism all developed along the route,
and Muslims proclaimed their beliefs on their journeys along the road.
Kumbh Mela, Allahabad, India
Amritsar, India
Amritsar, India
Sikh Golden Temple, Amritsar, India
The Grand Trunk Road served as the two way escape route for
75 million refugees caught between Indian and Pakistan during Partition.
Lahore, Pakistan
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Peshawar, Pakistan
Peshawar, Pakistan
Peshawar has been a haven for Afghan refugees during decades of war.
Outside of Peshawar, Pakistan
Peshawar is strategically located at the crossroads of Central and South Asia.
Landi-Kotal, Pakistan
Near the border with Afghanistan
Khyber Pass connects Pakistan and Afghanistan
Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Jalalabad, Afghanistan
This ribbon of humanity stretching Northwest from Kolkata, the city of culture and joy, to Kabul, the city of conflict,
has been moving merchants, buyers, conquerors, refugees, prophets, nomads and pilgrims through what is today
India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Jalalabad, Afghanistan
On the road to Sarobi
Along this road, forged by conquerors and invaders,
the GT facilitated some of the most significant historical developments which affect us today.
Kabul, Afghanistan
Kabul is over 3,500 years old; many empires have invaded the valley for its
strategic location along the trade routes of Central and South Asia.
Kabul, Afghanistan
Kabul, Afghanistan
Kabul, Afghanistan
Kabul, Afghanistan
Along the route of the GT there is a struggle between secular modernity and the conservatism of ancient religions.
