Oh! Calcutta!

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Alive and well ....
not eaten by tiger or crocodile....
survivor of boat trip and ship fare!

Monday was spent at the apartment of a most pleasant lady whose husband is an architectand who teaches english. She cooked delectable Bengali food whose recipes she provided. The arrival was a bit early so an eye catching ramble thru a totally different layout of a market was engaged in. The market seemed to be under a roof but actually was in the alley between the houses. The fruits and vegetables were arrayed on raised surfaces in geometric order that were pleasing in an artistic sense. And the variety was mush greater. Being led by David from Koli Travel iot was impossible to linger for long.
The exit came out onto a breath taking display of flowers in bunches, arrangements, and garlands. Total Eye Candy!!!

After cooking and eating the afternoon was over. Taking a shared autorickshaw back to the subway a trip was made to New Market in search of soap, toilet paper, shampoo, lotion, and some cloth for a 'suit'. Shopping took some time and the hotel was reached by 20:00.
It also involved a trip to the railway station to cash in the tickets...missed that opportunity by 7 minutes ...therefore a hassle yet to come. At this point I am also a confused tourist. I know I did the above mentioned but right now have absolutly no idea in which order!!

HERE is some semblance of order...written last night ...inserted here.

Tuesday was spent in beaurocratic hassles trying to get money back from cancelled rail tickets. After 3 and 3/4 hours of going to four offices the money is still pending... to be picked up today before 18:00. On Monday after an inspiring cooking class and a choking walk to the train station the wicket for ticket cancellation was missed by seven minutes...well two....I was in line but short of offering a bribe which I did not do there was no getting the man to work one minute past 18:00. The final excuse was that the computer shuts down at 18:00?!?

It is very tiring being a conscientious tourist!!

The Broadway Hotel offers small snacks and drinks. The Bar is always full of men. But hunger stirs the restless beast ... and these smoking, drinking men have nightly entertainment as they gape at two grey haired tourists eating and drinking beer!!

....and then it was Tuesday. Breakfast is always the same....lousy tea, greasy omelette, tiny thick toast = Rs 56



So after such a runabout a reward was in order ...and it consisted of lunch at THE PARK... spiffy beyond my means especially if travelling for 9 weeks. The taxi driver stated that a night at the GRAND minimum is Rs3000. Have not even gone there to pee....not yet anyway.

Once at The Park the AC was the first delight ....then the colourful 'Atrium Cafe' .... and a menu offering an array of delicious luncheon choices. After visiting a bathroom not as luxurious as The Peerless cucumber soup and spaghetti with mushroom and gonzola cheese was consumed....with a knife and fork! The capuccino was not worth mentioning....again The Peerless wins out!!

The visit to the Indian Museum was informative...the display boxes are oroginal from the victorian times and the things in the displays are also as ancient, badly lit and dusty. In some of the display areas cameras hae been installed because the sculptures stand unprotected.
In the textile area embroidered lama clothing hangs in a glass case again badly lit and showing years of dust. In one display area the artifacts have been removed and one can see the accumulation in cm.

One area that was very worthwhile was in the anthropological section where all the tribes of India were represented in lifelike dioramas. Each glass box contained the scenery of the state and a male and female dressed in traditional dress. Outside the box was a description of the area in Hindi, Bengali and English. Down the middle of this very long room were glass display tables showing examples of utinsels, tools, weapons, weavings, and carrying vessels that the different tribes used. Tiny dolls in couple formation showed the varied dress of Indians today in all the regions of India on a map at the end of this long hall. MAny pweople had visited this room ..... the brass step guard is worn smooth from the tread of feet.

Another display most worth the visit is a house front totally carved in wood .... door, balcony, window frames, door jams pillaars to hold up the balcony....fabulous!!

There was a dislay of water colours by contemporary Indian artists in another area..... two or three were sublime .... all were pleaseant to view. At 16:30 the museum closed.

A quick trip to a shop to buy a top for warm Goa .... it is already warm enough here that I sleep with no pyjamas (this word apparently comes from one of the indian languages).

THen one more ride on the subway back to the hotel to freshen up and get ready to meet a new friend from the Sunderbans for coffee. After meeting and a long taxi ride the stop was made on Elgin Street in front of The Forum ... a big Shopping Mall ... one of at least four here in Kolkata. It also has a three screen movie house and an Imax ....if I am not mistaken...will check that!

Here in Kolkata there is an absolutely fabulous restaurant....Oh Calcutta .... seems this is a movie.... at the top of an equally formidable shopping mall containing Benetton, McCain, and other outlets that were seen in a flash.
With the new friends we ate three kinds of fish; breaded, steamed in banana leaf with lots of lemon, more in a banana leaf with mustard: also a small square of coconut with other delightful things in a banana leaf, potatoes in a thick sauce and puffy deep fried breads called luchi or puri that stayed puffed up and were a sheer delight to break into. All in all it was a perfect meal in splendid atmosphere.... even the plates had a Kolkata theme... the Victoria Memorial with the angel at the top of the dome. The angel no longer rotates and in the paper it was written that Mr. Blair has been approached to assist in correcting the problem...this memorial is originally British in construction.
It was another great reward after a long day dealing with beauracracy(sic). The new friends are interested in trekking and bird watching.... this will make for a great visit to Canada.

Because the trip to the Sunderbans lasted 2 nights and 3 days it was a great opportunioty to make new friends, collect emails, exchange ideas and look forward to corresponding with exceptional people. What the trip lacked in wildlife it made up in humanity.

At 07:30 in the morning all participants met at the West Bengal Tourist Office on BBD Bagh. The BBD represent 3 freedom fighters whose names are known by every school child in India ...I have forgotten all but one..Bose..
Once the bus arrived I immediatly boarded, with a retired army colonel, planning to sit at the front... my plans were twarted by the fact that seats were assigned and seat 13 was mine.
The ride was hot, bumpy, long and absolutely fascinating!! Driving out of Kolkatta large apartment houses could be seen. A total change in neighbourhoods happened... the small crowded tile shingled, tarp draped, old mansion takeover dwellings made way for woven split bamboo walled and circular, square or rectangle clay houses with thatched rooves.
Bamboo grows here readily and is used for building material for ladders, scaffolding, wagon bases, carrying baskets and supports where ever a pole is needed.
The mud comes from the fields and is the same substance used for brick making...of which there was a lot here.
The thatch comes from the rice grass .. rice being one of the major crops here.

And as the city was left behind the water surfaces increased. At first because it was the sewage oozing out of the city with accompanying odour. And then as the sludge thinned out and mixed with other sources of water (we are now entering the pre delta region) the area becomes more lush and can be seen to support agriculture in the form of vegetables, rice paddies and even further from the city large square water beds for prawn, shrimp and fresh water fish breeding. One gentleman on the bus told me that this area produces a .6 billion dollar? rupee? shrimp export industry.

As the bus travelled further away from the city the air became cleaner, there was less evidence of the ever prevelant tossed refuse, and there seemed to be less people about. The horns on all vehicles still blared incessantly! Even the bicyle toot-toots were given plenty of exercise.

168km and about five hours later the bus arrived at a small town and all 46 passengers left the bus and boarded a small skiff to get out to the bigger metal ship. Once on the ship everyone found their alloted bunks. I sharted a 'cubicle, with Wendy two men who were long time friends. Blankets,sheets and pillows were distributed to be used for the two nights of sleeping.

After only eating a small boxed lunch (white bread, apple, sweet and muffin with water) the lunch about to be served smelled good.

All the food was brought from Kolkata and had to be loaded onto the ship same as the passengers.

In general I remember we ate dhal and rice at each meal. The variations occured between fish for lunch and chicken or mutton (read goat) for dinner (read close to 21:00). A sweet accompanied each meal. Cooked vegetables included cauliflower, potatoes, peas, spinash. green onion and capsicum (read green pepper). Because there were so many people and al the food had been brought there was a limit as to how much chicken, mutton, fish or sweets one could get. There was no limit on rice or chapati. For breakfast we had curried potatoes one morning and cooked lentils the second with puti/luchi a deep fried bread that becomes flakey and puffs up ( not to be compared to the ones at Oh Calcutta) but good when one is hungry.

The food was served on sectioned stainless steel trays that were starting to rust. Everything had to be brought up a set of stairs so steep that the huge aluminium food pots, the trays and the boxes of water had to be steadied by resting them on the steps. Tea or coffee was served in small plastic dixie cups.

I had to admire the ladies who cook their own food at home. But being 'at sea' one had to eat.

We stopped in five places and climbed five watch towers attempting to see the elusive wild life of the Sunderbans. Three flat faced dolphins, one crocodile in the river, many beautiful birds, some butterflies, a type of salamander, horn shaped mullusks, spotted deer, tiger paw prints, and 2 domestic cats ( these are called the tigers auntie) was the extent of what passed before my binoculars. The german tourist claimed to ahve seen a wild boar.

We were five tourists; two from Spain,one from Germany, two from Canada. The rest of the passengers consisted mostly of people from Kolkata and some from other parts of the country like Delhi. One family came with their two sons...the four year old was ready to steer the ship. All those with whom I was in conversation agreed that there was a high quality of people on the ship...tourists included. It was anice change o be among women and to be able to get a woman's point of view and learn womany things. There are very few women on the street with whom one can speak.

After three days of meandering thru the delta of the Ganges ... (the largest in the world and most of it lies in Bangladesh). .. after being in site of the Bangladesh border, after seing some Bangladesh freighters, after being only three km from the Bay of Bengal we once again returned to the bus. And we found a new one ... that is to say a different one...the original bus had had puncture on the way down.

So new seats ... this time beside a husband and wife who lived in Salt Lake ... a development of private one to two houses begun around 25 yrs ago on reclaimed land. The gentleman is a retired mechanical engineer, has a daughter and son(both married) in Californiw. The couple go to visit their children every six months for six months.

Five hours is a long time and after much talking and sharing of information the couple invited me to their home for lunch. I made sure they knew we were two and the invitation was set; Wenesday for lunch.

Originally the mode of transport from Kolkata to Goa was to be rail....since my gross disappointment in train travel mainly due to the fact that the travel agent booked the absolutely cheapest seats ( in a hard pressed state I give him the benefit of the doubt concerning availability) it was decided to fly. Hence the hassle about cancelling and attaining refunds for rail tickets as mentioned earlier.

This hassle has taken two days, three if the trip to the rail station is counted.

1.walk to reservations office ...two minutes from hotel...hurrah no second trip to rail station

2. walk to 3 Koilcut Rd.... cannot find the place

3. find once spot sent to tourist office. fill out forms. three people regard the tickets as if from a foreign land. India rail cannot make refund(but they will sell the four spots as soon as I cancel the tickets. must send request to travel agency in Delhi after getting coach refund paper?

4. go to next office to get refund paper. again two people regard the tickets and filled out form. have to fill out two more forms = 4 by me; 2 by employee aand now this employee fils out another form. the dossiers is buiulding.

5 sent to 3 koilcut rd. ask direction . this was the roadoriginally not found. two people two sets of instructions. finally follow my nose up the stairs ask again and lo and behold ....The Coaching Refund Office....brass p[laque on the wall and all.

6. must leave all the papers plus the tickets. return next day before six. leave in search of a reward for the 4hr run around.

7. begin at above office. the dossiers has become big enough to hae a string holding it together. the straight pin from yesterday does not suffice. hae to sit. hae to wait ...but not for long. hae to sighn a paper stating I am taking form such and such. one form for each trip cancelled.

8.shirley accompanies us to an office taking numerous short cuts... so many I have no idea where I am ...back ways thru living quarters past vendors and then I recognize the path taken yesterday to office mentioned in 4. .... same address - different office. we are stopped by security guard....she shows them the sheaves of paper ...we are on our way up a steep stiarway through a narrow no-way-is-this-a-corridor and emerge into an office with three employees.

9. man behind the desk rearranges all in search of his pen. fills in ledger. i sign two pieces of paper and we are off to counter one same one we were at yesterday.

10. need a guide to get out of office and we take the employees shortcut and there we are at counter one ... the person is on break...we wait 15 minutes....obsere a verbal dispute/fight about line position .

11. no word spoken ... man motions for the slips of paper....counts the amount manually three times with pencil and paper and counts out the money in 50,500,100 ....Rs3647

12. all that for how much?.... I'll drink an extra beer!

The Wednesday lunch will be tommows topic. Again wonderful people and another view of Kolkata.

It is better to stay longer in a place because than connections and friends are made.

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