Hors Sciences is a special feature dedicated to the talents of the laboratory’s members, revealing them through a lens other than research.
Srijoyee Datta has been a postdoctoral researcher at the C2N since 2025. Her daily work is devoted to research, particularly on an optical resonator for nanobolometer devices. Yet behind the scientific rigor lies a woman with many perspectives. An amateur photographer and artist at heart, she has received several distinctions, including the Photographers’ Favorite Award at the Urbaine Festival in Fabrègues, near Marseille.
Through her lens, Srijoyee captures far more than images. Her photographic universe revolves around life itself, and more specifically around emotions and fragments of everyday existence. Spontaneous portraits, ordinary scenes, or suspended moments in time: each photograph tells a story. Her work also captures moments destined to become historical, silent witnesses of our era, such as Kolkata’s famous yellow taxis, which we invite you to discover in this feature/article.
The yellow taxis of Kolkata became a symbol of the city in the 1950s, when the Hindustan Ambassador first appeared on its streets. By the 1960s, these sturdy bright-yellow cars had become the city’s most common means of transportation. For decades, they carried millions of passengers through Kolkata’s bustling streets, while their drivers became known for their remarkable sense of direction and countless local stories. However, since March 2025, more than half of these taxis have been removed from circulation, and within a year they are expected to disappear entirely from Kolkata’s streets due to service restrictions imposed by the state transport department. Although modern taxis now share the roads, the yellow cab remains one of Kolkata’s most cherished symbols — an enduring reminder of the city’s heritage, warmth, and character.
Srijoyee has captured these yellow taxis as the memory of a world in transition. Could her photographs become the final witnesses to a chapter of Kolkata’s history?
