head first in the deep end

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I arrived here at about 1 AM last night, and decided to spend the wee hours in the airport terminal. All the officials were very friendly (some weren't at first, but were tickled once I called them "Saab"). I got about an hour of sleep on top of the two or so on the plane.

First thing I noticed outside was the heat and humidity. Then the creepy looking crows. Seriously, the curious should look into that, they are like crows but partially blonde on the head and with sinister looking beaks.

The taxi ride was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. The rules of the road in India seem to be
1) honk to announce your presence to larger entities
2)honk to warn smaller entities
3) honk for the hell of it
4) try to get out of the way of larger vehicles
5) pray (my driver kept doing some Hindu version of crossing himself)
6) look out for cows

At first, I thought we were driving through a slum. I then realized that almost every available land in Kolkata is utilized by squatters. The neighborhood by the airport seemed particularly slummy simply because of all the available space.
I didin't mind the dead dogs. It was the two human beings who appeared to be dead that bothered me. School girls in their uniforms walking past a corpse on a sidewalk is an image that will almost certainly be forever etched in my memory. I realized that this city I am in may be the poorest, most polluted, and most crowded city in the world.
The taxi dropped me off across the street from the Salvation Army. It was closed. So then, I, laden with bags and reeking of tourist money, had to look for another place. The first one a street person brought me to creeped me out and cost too much. The second one also creeped me out, but less so, was cheaper, and nicer. For 290 rupees a night (about 6 bucks) I get a clean bed, an overhead fan, and a bathroom where the shower water smells strongly of waste. At this point, I was convinced that I may not be on the plane of existence I hoped I was.
I had something akin to a paranoid panic attack. I wanted to go home. Immediately. I then hit the streets to find an internet connection and I realized a couple of things:
1)these are people
2) there are about 15M of them
3) they survive (and some flourish)
4) if I keep my wits about me, I will survive too
5) this the coolest, most interesting place I have ever been in my life

There are all sorts of people everywhere. They want me to give them money or to sell me things (and already I've been offered just about everything) because they are poor. I am rich. At the same time, I went to the toughest middle school in Seattle, and I tower over these people. I know how to handle myself in potentially dangerous situations. And the people of Kolkata seem genuinely kind, and very fascinating. If I say "na" to a beggar or a rickshaw driver, they simply say "I hate you" and go on with their lives. After working through about 1.5 hours of regret and panic, I am now very happy and excited. Life here is packed to the brim with humanity. I am a human being. I have so much to learn from these people. But first, I need to eat and sleep. I have my youth, some food, some 100 rupee notes and a place to sleep for the night. That is much more than many of my current neigboors could say. This place is vibrant, pungent, sweaty and plays a non-stop symphony of humanity. I already feel deeply enriched, and I haven't even yet had a good night's sleep.

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Photos

Scary looking crows!
I'm just glad they already have something for breakfast.

Comments

[devin@work]

espalande
that's the name of the neighborhood you're in, right? i tried guessing from the wikitravel page for kolkata. ( http://wikitravel.org/en/Kolkata/Esplanade ) glad to hear you survived your inaugural taxi ride and passed through your inaugural anxiety flurry. still bracing for the inaugural stomach ailments, but i'm sure you'll pass through them with less notice than i would've given. stay cool, milky!

[momma]

crows
they are common house crows corvus splendens interestingly there is a band called Crows of Calcutta there in Calcutta and utube videos of India's crows people like them except last February when some dead ones caused birdflu fear

[Rachel]

Maybe the lack of sleep is why you feel enriched.
Just kidding! Traveling in developing countries is deeply fascinating and forces us stupid Americans to reexamine how much privilege we have. I look forward to hearing more of your adventures!