What exactly is a “sky city”? A city in the sky? A city made of vapour? A city coloured like the sky? (In that case, night sky or morning sky, clear sky or cloudy sky?) Or is it just a metaphor for an unreal city — a city that cannot or must not exist, or exist only in talk? Perhaps Calcutta is seeing the birth of a new phrase of such universal application that it will soon be in the Oxford English Dictionary. Sky City — a city that exists only in ministerial whim. The notion of a cosmetic change is taken to unprecedented heights of innovation by the idea, apparently floated by the West Bengal transport minister, that Calcutta’s taxis will be painted blue and white, in keeping with the general blueing of the city, which, in turn, is in keeping with the chief minister’s vision of the city in blue and white — the colour of the sky on a clear day. Everything, from park railings to illumination on important government buildings, is going to be painted or lighted in these key colours. The reason, as with all mystical visions, is beyond reasoning. Presumably, the mystic municipality will be at it in the next few months, and since the task is more mystical than municipal they will be better at it than they have proved to be in matters more directly municipal. Finding the right colour combination is undoubtedly the crucial first step in making a city safer, healthier, cleaner and generally more user-friendly for its inhabitants. It could, with as little doubt, sort out its core problems — chaotic healthcare, inability to implement pollution control norms, arsenic in the water, archaic sewers and garbage disposal, bad roads, killer buses for public transport, an airport falling apart and beyond dismal, priceless paintings rotting away in public art galleries, to name a few. But who said that a city is made of such unimaginatively inventoried tangibles? How much more visionary and ethereal is a city with history and songs and colour and poetry flowing in its veins. Taxis? People? Roads? Blueness conquers all. ||||| Image caption Calcutta landmarks, and the city's distinctive yellow taxis are to be painted blue 
 
 The eastern Indian city of Calcutta is to be painted blue, a local minister has said. 
 
 Government buildings, flyovers, roadside railings, and taxis should be painted a shade of light blue, a minister in the ruling Trinamul Congress government said. 
 
 Owners of private buildings will be also be requested to paint them in the same colour, the minister said. 
 
 The capital of West Bengal, Calcutta is home to more than 14 million people. 
 
 "Our leader [chief minister of West Bengal] Mamata Banerjee has decided that the theme colour of the city will be sky blue because the motto of the new government is 'the sky is the limit'," Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim told The Indian Express newspaper. 
 
 "From now on, all government buildings, whenever they are re-painted, will be done in sky blue. The owners of private buildings will also be requested to follow the same colour pattern. The necessary government orders will be issued soon." 
 
 The colour of the city's famous yellow taxis are going to be changed to light blue and white, while a number of famous landmarks are likely to be repainted too, reports say. 
 
 'Cosmetic change' 
 
 The owners of private buildings will have to pay from their own funds to repaint their premises, the minister said. 
 
 Blue is a beautiful colour and is also soothing for the eyes Sobhan Chatterjee, Calcutta mayor 
 
 "Blue is a beautiful colour and is also soothing for the eyes," Calcutta mayor Sobhan Chatterjee said. 
 
 The announcement has been criticised by opposition parties and sections of the media. 
 
 A local Congress party spokesman said the government was "preoccupying itself with non-essential issues". 
 
 The city's Telegraph newspaper said the "notion of a cosmetic change is taken to unprecedented heights of innovation by the idea" of painting Calcutta blue. 
 
 "Finding the right colour combination is undoubtedly the crucial first step in making a city safer, healthier, cleaner and generally more user-friendly for its inhabitants," the newspaper wrote in an editorial. 
 
 "It could, with as little doubt, sort out its core problems - chaotic health care, inability to implement pollution control norms, arsenic in the water, archaic sewers and garbage disposal, bad roads, killer buses for public transport, an airport falling apart and beyond dismal, priceless paintings rotting away in public art galleries, to name a few." 
 
 Other Indian cities have colour-based themes. 
 
 The northern Indian city of Jaipur is famously dubbed the Pink City after its terracotta-colour dwellings. 
 
 In 2006, Aurangabad, a crime-infested city in the state of Bihar, was painted pink in order to uplift, according to authorities, its sagging morale and spirit.
– Calcutta's new government has decided it's time to go out and paint the town ... blue. Government buildings, taxis, and footpaths are to be repainted blue and white, and owners of private buildings will be strongly encouraged to follow suit, the BBC reports. "Blue is a beautiful color, and is also soothing for the eyes," the city's mayor says. With the right color scheme in place, steps to sort out problems like "chaotic health care, inability to implement pollution control norms, arsenic in the water, archaic sewers and garbage disposal, bad roads, and killer buses for public transport," will surely follow, scoffed the Calcutta Telegraph. Opposition parties say the paint job is a waste of public funds and an attempt to scrub the city of the red of the Communists who ruled it from 1977 to 2011.