Kolkata

After a fitful night of sleep due to Jetlag, up and out to discover Kolkata. Most people who visit India do not come here. It is huge, dirty, noisy and clogged with traffic. It is also situated near Bangladesh. Quick history lesson, when India achieved its freedom there was an East Pakistan and a West Pakistan. West Pakistan is the state we now think of as Pakistan. East Pakistan was carved out of the Indian State of Bengal. The city of Kolkata remained in the severed state of Bengal which is now called the Indian State of West Bengal. Kolkata until the early 20th century was the British Capital of India and the major city and financial capital of Bengal. When the British carved East Pakistan out it was separated from its major city Kolkata and was born a crippled country. It eventually obtained its own status as a country freed from Pakistan and re-named itself Bangladesh. It is still a very poor country. Over 6 million people commute to Kolkata every day for work, mainly from Bangladesh. They are extremely poor.

Few tourists who visit India would stop to see Kolkata on a first Indian visit. All though it has lots of culture, it is not a pretty city. It is chaotic, poor and filthy. If you can get passed that there are of course many things to do and see. Plus Bengali food is good! There are lots of beggars, both young mothers with children and the old and crippled. Our guides all say, to not give them money for you will be immediately surrounded by dozens more. We follow his advice but it is very uncomfortable to see such poverty.

We went to the giant flower market and walked around. We saw many street barbers – I passed on getting a shave! The people are amazing, while carrying heavy loads on their heads they stop and smile for a picture and continue on. We then drove to an area where they make statues of gods and goddesses for the many festivals. Kolkata is a festival crazy city with over 500 festivals a year. We then visited a Hindu Temple. The temple is situated on the holy river Ganges and people use the river for spiritual ceremonies.

In the afternoon after a large lunch (these people like to eat!) we visited another Hindu Temple where 150 goats a day are sacrificed. The meat is given to the poor. Luckily, for us, the sacrifices are in the morning and we were visiting in the afternoon. The good news is up until the British put a stop to it; they didn’t sacrifice goats but sacrificed people at this temple.

The temple has been targeted by Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and has much security around it. Next to the Temple is Mother Teresa’s original hospital. It is still in use serving the dying. The guide said if we wanted to look around in the building we could, but don’t spend a lot of time because most of the people are dying of communicable diseases. We all declined to visit the hospital.

In the evening we went to a really interesting cultural presentation. It was an art show of Japanese artists followed by Indian Dancing. The Governor of the State of West Bengal arrived for the ceremony surrounded by security. He is Mahatma Gandhi’s Grandson. We felt safe!

We then went out for a typical Bengali dinner, and returned to the hotel for drinks and hopefully a full night of rest.