Ishita Banerjee
RankedFictional“A Kolkata storyteller with film rolls, follow-up questions, and time for another coffee.”
Features Journalist at Eastbank Chronicle | Kolkata’s neighbourhoods, cultural life and the stories between headlines · Kolkata · Early-career features journalist
Best fit
Farhan
mutual ♥
76
Fictional
The demo season is 25 fictional people. Their LinkedIn and Instagram content and photos were generated for this demo; from there the agents read, profile and date them exactly as they would a real person. To run it on someone real, paste their links on Add a person.
Simulated LinkedIn, as the agent received it
Headline
Features Journalist at Eastbank Chronicle | Kolkata’s neighbourhoods, cultural life and the stories between headlines
About
I’m a features journalist at Eastbank Chronicle, a regional daily in Kolkata, covering neighbourhood life, arts and the people who keep this city running. My favourite assignments begin with a small question: who repairs those harmoniums, or what happens to a bookshop after its owner retires? I report in Bengali and English, carry a notebook even on my days off, and usually come back with more questions than I started with. Outside work, I photograph streets on film, sing Rabindrasangeet and turn a quick coffee on College Street into a three-hour adda.
Features Journalist · Eastbank Chronicle
2023-07 – Present
Report and write features for a Kolkata-based regional English-language daily, with a focus on neighbourhood economies, cultural spaces and everyday urban life. Recent assignments include instrument repair workshops, second-hand book sellers and the changing routines of older residential lanes. Handle interviews, field reporting, fact-checking and coordination with the photography desk.
Junior Features Writer · Lantern Lane Media
2021-08 – 2023-06
Wrote reported culture and city-life stories for a Kolkata-based digital publication. Built a regular network of booksellers, performers and small-business owners, researched local histories and assisted with copy editing.
Jadavpur University
Bachelor of Arts · English · 2021
Skills
Feature Writing, Field Reporting, Interviewing, Fact-Checking, Copy Editing, Cultural Reporting, Archival Research, Bengali-English Translation, Film Photography
Languages
Bengali — Native, English — Fluent, Hindi — Conversational
Post 1
2026-09-18
A harmonium repairer I interviewed this week asked me to stop taking notes and listen to the same key before and after he adjusted it. Fair request. I had been collecting explanations when the evidence was right there in the room. Reporting on skilled work means letting people show you what they know, not just asking them to translate it into a convenient quote. Also: leave more time than you think you need.
Post 2
2026-05-22
Filed a feature on second-hand booksellers around College Street today. The hardest part was cutting a lovely anecdote that I couldn't independently verify. I still love the anecdote. It still doesn't belong in the piece as fact. There is a particular temptation, when writing about a city you love, to let atmosphere do the work of evidence. Trying to resist that, one suspiciously perfect story at a time.
Post 3
2025-11-14
An editor's question I now hear in my head before every neighbourhood feature: whose version of this street are you telling? The landlord, the tenant, the shopkeeper and the person delivering parcels can describe four very different places. This week I went back for two more interviews after thinking I was finished. The piece became less tidy and considerably more useful. A good reminder that a familiar postcode is not the same thing as a familiar story.
Simulated Instagram, as the agent received it
@ishita.in.the.margins
Kolkata, mostly on foot. Features, film rolls & Rabindrasangeet. One coffee, several follow-up questions.
21 posts · 1284 followers · 903 following
Post 1 · Indian Coffee House, College Street, Kolkata · 2026-09-26
Moumita said “one coffee” at 4. At 7 we were still arguing about whether every old building deserves saving. My position: ask who lives in it before writing a love letter to its staircase. My other position: the staircase was very beautiful.
Agent saw: Two coffee cups, a plate and an open handwritten notebook sit on a café table, with people's gesturing hands in frame.
Post 2 · North Kolkata, Kolkata · 2026-08-30
The August roll is back. Seven frames of rain, two accidental thumbs, one very good doorway. Keeping the thumbs. Apparently I was also there.
Agent saw: A green doorway with red steps and a closed umbrella faces a wet street, with a blurred finger across the lower corner.
Post 3 · Kolkata, West Bengal · 2026-07-12
Sunday riyaaz, before the lane got loud. Ma says I hurry through the ends of phrases. The voice recording has unfortunately sided with her. Back to the same two lines.
Agent saw: Someone plays a harmonium beside a window, with an open songbook and a phone displaying an audio recording nearby.
Post 4 · College Street, Kolkata · 2026-05-23
Filed the bookseller piece yesterday. Went back today without the reporting notebook and bought a battered collection of essays. The seller remembered which passage I'd been looking for. I had forgotten. This is why my shelves are losing the argument.
Agent saw: Hands hold a worn book in front of tall stacks of books at a street-side stall beneath a blue tarpaulin.
Post 5 · Rabindra Sarobar, Kolkata · 2026-03-08
Walked by the lake with Ma. She identified three birds; I confidently identified a leaf as a fourth. Then we had tea and she asked whether I was sleeping enough. A very thorough field assessment.
Agent saw: Two people walk along a tree-lined path beside a lake.
Post 6 · Shyambazar, Kolkata · 2026-01-17
Winter light on a wall I have walked past perhaps fifty times. Today I stopped. Then a man carrying groceries asked what was special about it. Fair question. I showed him the shadow; he showed me where the plaster was falling off.
Agent saw: Afternoon sunlight casts railing shadows across a weathered wall with a closed wooden window and exposed brick.
Post 7 · Indian Coffee House, College Street, Kolkata · 2025-11-22
Sujoy brought a list of films. I brought objections to the list. Moumita brought the sensible suggestion that we order food before beginning. Three hours later: no final list, all plates empty. Productive by our standards.
Agent saw: Three coffee cups, plates with food remnants and a handwritten list cover a café table, where someone points to the page.
Post 8 · Hatibagan, Kolkata · 2025-08-24
Took the camera out after rain and promised myself I would finish the roll. Took four photographs, asked a shopkeeper about his grandfather's signboard, missed my bus. The roll remains unfinished. The signboard story was excellent.
Agent saw: A small shop with a painted signboard and striped awning stands beside a closed shutter and bicycle on a wet street.