Kolkata - Instalment 1!

Namaste!

Hope this blog finds you well & happy! Apologies once again for not blogging in so long... we've been busy! Richard & I have been in Kolkata, India since late November & have been very busy beavers. I have been busy getting into the swing of things at work, while Richard has been drowning in study. We've managed to see a few things nearby, but still have a lot more to go.

We're heading to Rajasthan on Tuesday to see the palaces and forts in the area, including the Taj Mahal! I thought I should try to update you all on where we're at before we go, since I'm sure we'll have hundreds more photos once we get back!

We're staying in a very luxurious hotel in the middle of the city. I've included a pic of the room, and also a pic of an unexpected room guest we found on the first night (the lizard). The hotel is very central, however my office is fairly far out of the city. It takes me around half an hour to get to work in the morning and around an hour or more to get home in the evenings. Traffic is pretty bad, as are the roads. I think my blood pressure has increased substantially over the last month due to the hair raising nature of driving over here. As my colleague described it... a white knuckle death ride... is actually fairly accurate... however I think I'm getting used to it. Watch out when I get back behind the wheel!

The city itself is pretty amazing. There are some gorgeous places and some disgusting places - the old cliche about India being a country of contrasts is actually very accurate. There are whole families sleeping on the pavement, while millionaires drive past in their BMWs.

One of the first places we went to see was the Victoria Memorial, which is a tribute to Queen Victoria and a gorgeous building. See the pic of the building with the lake in the foreground at the top of the blog.

We also went to see St Pauls cathedral which is up the road from us. Pic on the left. We also went to midnight mass there on Christmas Eve for the atmosphere, and couldn't believe the number of people packed in there!

Last weekend our driver, Shiv, took us on a tour to the areas around the city. Across the Howrah bridge into the Howrah area, which is completely different from the area we live in. I've attached a picture of a very cute couple waiting to cross the road, who we saw as we were driving through Howrah. We headed up to see the Ramakrishna temple on the Hooghly river where we saw hundreds of people praying and washing themselves in the Hooghly river. We also took a photo of one of the buildings covered in Bamboo scaffolding (a common sight), and also a picture of Shiv & I in front of hundreds of devotees bikes!

After visiting the Ramakirshna temple we headed further north to the Dakshineswar Kali temple. Both were very interesting and absolutely packed! Unfortunately cameras were not allowed. We didn't end up going into the Dakshineswar Kali temple due to the line to get in which was literally several kilometers long. Apparently now is a time of holiday for a lot of people from Mumbai and Delhi who come to make offerings at the temples.

On the way back from the temple we managed to take a photo of a rickshaw in action on the roads. The rickshaws are rickety old carriages on two wheels which are generally pulled by a wirey, leathery older man, and are everywhere, dodging the traffic and pulling one or two people.

From the temples we came back down into Kolkata & then over into the Botanical gardens. It was great to check out some greenery and with a variety of birds (all we see in Kolkata city are black scavenger birds)! Also in the botanical gardens is the largest Banyan tree in the world. The Banyan tree has proproots which it drops from its branches which allow it to continually expand. This tree covers an area of approximately 14,000m2!

Anyway, back into Kolkata, yesterday we went for a walk in the morning to take a photo of some of the things we'd noticed over the last month or so. You can see a few street scenes photos we took, including a local corner store, with the two shop keepers sitting up on the counter serving a guy. Also a cyclist cycling down a street early in the morning with what we think are gas bottles hanging off the side of the bike... this is a really common sight all the time actually - cyclists with gas bottles or other huge items riding through the streets.

We also took a photo of some people still sleeping on the pavement at 7am on a Sunday morning. They are the big bundles of cloth on pavement in front of a white wall. This is also common in the mornings. People everywhere sleeping on the pavement, from older people to children to whole families. The climate here is quite warm at night which means it is a comfortable temperature outside for sleeping.

Another common sight is fellows getting a hair cut or a shave with a cut throat razor on the side of the pavement. Barbers who don't have a shop, just a razor and a stool who are set up waiting to give you a hair cut or a shave. After asking permission, we took a photo of one such barber who seemed quite surprised that we would want to take a photo of such a common thing.

Finally, we also took a photo of some of the decrepit buildings which are everywhere in Kolkata. Apparently rents are set at very low levels, so building owners don't bother to maintain or upgrade the buildings, which leaves them in amazingly delapidated states. Its incredible some of them are still standing! Also, one last random photo of a line of motorbikes which look like they haven't been ridden in over a year, covered in dust & leaves on the side of the pavement. Very bizarre, and I have no idea where they have come from!

Anyway, as I said, still lots of things to see and describe, and I'll try to keep it more regular!!!

Lots of love to all
Richard & Corryn