Kolkata!

leaving the flower market (some temporary housing)

Me by the bridge over the Ganges/Hooghly

Victoria Memorial

Pareshnath Temple

temporary housing by the flower market

(too dark to take pictures there)

Our first impression of Kolkata from the skies was that it is very lush and green. After dry, dusty (we were in several dust storms) Delhi it looked beautiful!

We had a fast paced all over Kolkata in 4 hours tour. We let our guide have free reign in showing us around (he was super-fantastic by the way- we had conversations about arranged marriage, Indian weddings, religions of India, why Indians don't paint their homes and why they're taxed when they do!!, immigration of Bangladeshis, stray horses, dating the Indian way, the history of the Raj, etc. etc. and learned sooo much). And one benefit of this was that we saw things we definitely wouldn't have chosen out of the guide book. Of course we saw some of the traditional sites- Victoria Memorial, the former Raj buildings (now Indian government buildings), Fort William, the Maidan park and Mother Theresa's shrine (he was going to take us over to the orphanage as well but it was closed- not sure if I am relieved or disappointed about that) where a funeral for a nun was taking place.

But he also took us on a walk by the river (it's the Ganges but is called the Hooghly in Kolkata) where we saw a funeral rite and our guide explained the process to us, saw laundry people working, people bathing etc. It definitely was not a tourist walk but it was important and eye-opening. We also saw the Howrah Bridge- one of the busiest (our guide thought maybe even the busiest) in the world.

He also took us to a Jain Temple- Pareshnath- which itself was arresting and interesting (had several talks about religion here) but to get there we had to go down a rabbit warren of alleys- which provided a close-up view of some of the more residential areas of Kolkata. Our guide was not shy- he would simply say- "those are some of our slums" and explain about the population and overcrowding. Lastly, he took us to the flower market. I'm sure we were far from the first tourists to go there, but we did attract a lot of stares. It is under a bridge next to the river and the stalls are packed in tightly so we were squeezing by the sellers and the patrons (its wedding season so there were a lot of flowers and decorations) and stopping to look at the different kinds of flowers. One young boy gave me a rose and said only 'it's a gift for you'. Sounds like an innocuous enough experience but this was the first time we'd been stepping through the garbage piles we'd seen, stepping over open sewage lines, yet it truly wasn't intimidating or scary. The people certainly stared at us but no one approached or asked us for anything. One little girl said hello and acted as if she might approach but her mother held her back and admonished her for her manners. These people were living in temporary quarters next to the flower market (read tarps and bamboo) in rough conditions but they asked us for nothing.

Again, we have seen heartbreaking scenes- the one that got me today was a little naked boy maybe two (not much older than Jack) playing in the water, who clearly had open sores over much of his body and was quite sick. The children by the river were adorable. They also were living in 'temporary' quarters in an old shipping building but were playing games and laughing (I was dying to take their picture but their mother was nursing an infant and I didn't want to disturb her). They smiled at us but didn't approach us to ask for a dollar or food or anything. I have honestly been shocked at how few people have asked us for money. One boy outside of Mother Theresa's and a woman down by the ghats but that's it. It makes our lives easier for sure although it doesn't make the first-hand knowledge of the desperate poverty any easier.

Tomorrow is the big day! We cannot wait!

Oh and by the way- Kolkata drivers waaaaay crazier than Delhi!