KOLKATA’S CULTURAL CHRONICLER BUNNY GUPTA DIES AT 90

September 27, 2026

Bunny (Jayati) Gupta, a writer and chronicler of Kolkata’s social and cultural history, died in the city on Saturday morning, days after turning 90 on September 8. She was known for documenting aspects of the city’s cosmopolitan past and its changing cultural landscape.

Gupta began writing short pieces on Kolkata for The Statesman’s “Now & Again” column in the 1970s. She later collaborated with writer Jaya Chaliha on articles for several newspapers and magazines, including The Telegraph and Frontline. Their work included extensive documentation of historic cemeteries in Kolkata, including the Scottish Cemetery, South Park Street Cemetery and Lower Circular Road Cemetery.

She also co-authored The Calcutta Cook Book: A Treasury of Recipes from Pavement to Palace with Chaliha and Minakshie Das Gupta, reflecting her interest in the city’s diverse culinary traditions. Her early documentation of graves at the Scottish Cemetery in the 1980s subsequently contributed to preservation and restoration efforts, according to historian Rosie Llewellyn-Jones.

Gupta, who lived in one of the surviving bungalows of Sunny Park during her final years, is survived by her three children, Nandita, Pratap and Jayaditya. Urban historian Debasis Bose described her as an important link to Kolkata’s early 20th-century social history.