Bhaskar Chakraborty was still in his mother’s womb when his parents and family were forced to give up their home and adjoining ‘pukur’ (pond) in Howrah’s Shibpur area in June 1980. Today, Bhaskar is 42-years-old and even though he never saw that old house, Bhaskar feels he still lives there. The smell of moss that is inherent to buildings that co-exist with water bodies seeps through his dry and dingy flat in the HIT quarter, where his and countless other families were “rehabilitated” in the 80s after their homes were broken down to make way for development. Today, the Second Hoogly Bridge or Vidyasagar Setu stands where Bhaskar’s home was. Inaugurated in 1992, the flyover is one of the most popularly used routes that connect the township to the ‘Mahanagar’ Kolkata across the river. For Bhaskar, however, the flyover is more than just a brick and mortar road between two places. It is a bridge between his past and his present and a constant reminder of the high cost, both physical and emotional, of development. And the reason why he chooses to fight on to defend pieces of his childhood that still remain. “I could not save my home then. But I will not let anyone take away another part of my identity,” he says, pointing at the sprawling park beside him in the heart of Howrah.