From Kabul to Kolkata: Of Belonging, Memories and Identity

A photography exhibition by Moska Najib and Nazes Afroz.

Afghans have travelled to India for centuries, but it was in 1892 that they were given a romantic, and lasting identity. This link was set into history when India’s most famous modern poet and one of its greatest cultural icons, Rabindranath Tagore, penned his short story about the Kabuliwala or man from Kabul.

Inspired by the story, Moska Najib and Nazes Afroz, two journalists cum photographers, embarked on a 3-year-long project to tell the story of a century of social transformations among the Afghan community in Kolkata. The two photographers have captured the stories of this secluded and little-known settlement in the present time through documentary photography.