Piece Description

Recorded in downtown Calcutta, India in July 2004. I was looking for a film library in the center of town and got terribly lost. I passed a row of government buildings where I saw hundreds of people queued up outside. On the street were makeshift carts and stands, where people dictated to men using manual typewriters for their official paperwork. The sound of the manual typewriters tapping away outside in the context of the bustling city sidewalk struck me as beautifully surreal and Kafkaesque, so I pulled the mic out of my bag so only the tip showed and walked down the street.