Tuesday, November 14 Kolkata, Museum, Victoria Memorial, Shopping

I woke up and had a fun time on the toilet. I walked down busy Chowringhee Street, teeming with a pack of Christian students, European tourists, streetdwellers, annoying street hawkers, taxis, and even a herd of goats. I descended into the Pride of Kolkata, the underground Metro. It is the first Metro in India, built in 1984 and covers the major areas of the city even though it’s only one line. It’s not as immaculate or modernized as the Delhi Metro, but it has TVs on the platform, and it’s not as dirty or old as the New York City subway. The trains don’t have AC, and are really crowded so I had to stand amongst the rest of the young student and businessperson commuters. The train runs from Tollygunj to Dumdum, I thought that was kind of funny. I stopped off at Shyam Bazaar, on the outskirts north of the city. I was expecting it to be really impoverished and slummy considering all the negative things I’ve heard about the city. However, it wasn’t unpleasant at all. It was a bunch of four-story colonial buildings flanking narrow but clean streets. I walked a little further, where a bunch of small homes were located, but they weren’t really slummy. Shops, churches, and schools could be found at every corner. Everything was in English and Bengali. Whole families were outside, the men were out working, women were cooking and washing laundry, and naked children were playing. Men in plaid skirts were bathing in the well pumps, which were installed right in the middle of sidewalks. This city is a perfect example of how every aspect of life India occurs right on the streets. I could see how people not used to poverty would think this city is particularly bad, only because everything is public and visible, compared to Delhi, where the impoverished are spread out and harder to find. It’s more like Mumbai, without the massive squatter towns and vast dichotomy of wealth. I feel Kolkata is unfairly portrayed in the Western media. I took a human rickshaw back to the Metro Station, basically just to say I did. A poor 50-year old tiny man with a limp ran with the rickshaw, clanging a little hand bell with his finger. I was scared it was going to tip over, since it was on only two wheels. I can’t believe people actually patronize these; you can walk faster than these skinny malnourished guys, and it’s reducing humans to the level of animals. I visited the Indian Museum, which was fabulous. It had thousands of rocks and fossils, stuffed animals with real skins, paintings, sculptures, coins, cool exhibits on all the different ethnic groups making up diverse India, and a nice green courtyard. I walked through the sprawling Maidan, essentially a huge park in downtown Kolkata, containing enormous grass fields, the Birla Planetarium, old British Raj buildings, a race course, and the largest cricket stadium in India (capacity 95,000 and selling-out every match). It’s really pretty, and a nice oasis from the congested yellow and blue of cabs and buses of the concrete streets and buildings. I made my way over to the Victoria Memorial, and saved 240 Rs by getting the Indian fare. The main building is surrounded by sprawling beautiful gardens with grass, stone pathways, fountains, courting couples, picnicking families, and friends. It looks like someone took a French palace and put it in the middle of the second-largest city in India. The Memorial is a neoclassical white domed building built by the British to commemorate the crown choosing Calcutta as the capital of India. Besides being a symbol of domination and subordination, it was nevertheless full of foreign as well as Indian tourists. It housed a lot of amazing paintings by British artists, mostly with scenes of Indian landscapes and portraits of people. It would have been amazing to see India as the British did, before any Westernization or colonization. I had my palm read by a phony on the street, who predicted I would have good travels in December, and good luck in money in December/January. He said I should worship Durga and his prophecy would be realized. After that I did some shopping, and Kolkata, just in Chowringhee’s New Market and Streethawker’s Market, was some of the best shopping I’ve seen in India. Kolkata isn’t as expensive as Delhi or Mumbai, and has everything that these centres have. Believe it or not, I love West Bengal and Kolkata. Yes, it’s dirty and has extreme poverty. However, the weather (at least right now) is near perfect, it has every type of climate from the Himalayas to the Gangetic Plains to the brackish mangroves to teeming Kolkata, Bengal has some of the best food in the world, and it’s exactly what you’d picture India as, but most importantly, the Bengali people are the friendliest and most cultured I’ve met in India. And all of this made this trip one of the best I’ve taken in India. I got picked up in a cab for the airport, which took an hour and a half since the city was in gridlock. The city at night is fully awake, and within the narrow dark streets, life pulses on. It looks like New York City during the 1920’s, driving through at night, with small dilapidated buildings, small streets, and a sea of yellow taxis. The airport was alright, but freezing with AC. My flight was for Indigo Airlines, the cheapest airline in India. It was really comfortable. They had a brand-new plane, pretty flight attendants, new décor, but no food or beverage service, perks, or first-class. I got to Delhi at 1, and took a cab home. Everyone in Delhi looks like they’re preparing for a blizzard (it’s about 70 degrees), with their wool shawls, thick jackets, and cows in the street even wore blankets. I’m glad to get back to Delhi because I’m feeling pretty sick.