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Published: March 15th 2008
OH - MY - GOD, we're in India!!
People have been warning us that India is an assault on all your senses, that everything is really intense and that it takes some time to get used to ... and each of those warnings is absolutely true. The only description we've come up with is that it's like a non-stop rollercoaster ride with all the highs and lows. From one moment to the next we either love it in India or hate it. It's not a matter of good days and bad days, it's a matter of good minutes and bad minutes. Can't beat it for excitement, though, it certainly hasn't been boring.
We started the Indian adventure in Kolkata (Calcutta), a city of close to 15 million people. Usually when we first arrive in a new city, one of us stays at a restaurant or hotel with the bags while the other hunts down somewhere to stay. Chris went out to find a room and was gone for about 45 minutes. I stayed back to guard our bags and chatted with a girl who was in Kolkata doing work with the poor for an NGO. She was dressed in
the usual hippie traveler clothes - billowy cotton pants and a mismatched old t-shirt. She also had a shaved head, which she explained was a recent look and a result of getting lice. Lice?? All I know is that I'm not willing to sacrifice my hair for my Indian adventure!
Chris got back and had found a place on Sudder Street, in the backpacker district, which he described as "not too shitty". Chris was clearly in a state of shock. He said that nothing in his life could have prepared him for the chaos, dirt, people, animals, traffic, sewers, smells and noises he'd encountered on his 45 minute search for a hotel. I was worried that India might be too much for him; and if it was too much for him, it certainly would be too much for me. After dropping our stuff in our "not too shitty" hotel, we searched out a rooftop restaurant recommended by another traveler. Up on the roof, away from the streets, it was quiet(ish) and peaceful(ish) and we stayed for 3 hours regaining strength (several drinks were consumed). We knew it was time to get back out there and when I asked where
Bex in Kolkata
Note the Scarfwe should head to next, Chris replied, "how 'bout back to Bangkok".
After our rest on the roof, Kolkata seemed more manageable. We ended up walking around and checking out some of the markets and street vendors. The traffic was crazy. First, the honking. All vehicles continuously honk their horns and it's to the point that it loses all meaning. Lots of different types of horns blare from all directions. Also, they drive on the other side of the road, which is something we can deal with on its own, but the cars and motorbikes come from all directions and don't seem to follow any clear road rules. In addition to this, the drivers don't stop for anything and you really get the sense that if you make one false move out there, they'll run you down and won't even look back. We have to plan ahead and come up with a strategy each time we cross the street.
On our walk that night I also noticed that the men walking in groups holding hands (interlocked fingers to boot) could not stop staring at me slack-jawed. It seemed that each man I passed (in India that's alot of
men) gave me a good long stare. Men are turning their heads, nudging their friends and motioning towards the western girl coming down the street. Even Chris notices and thinks it's bazaar. After a while, Chris suggests I wrap a scarf around my neck to cover my chest. At home men never make such a scene over my little B cups, but form fitting clothes are not the norm in India. Instead of enjoying the attention, though, I find it really disconcerting and I haven't left home without my scarf again. The staring hasn't stopped but has been reduced because of my little green scarf.
The next morning, we got up and got ready in our little room. When we walked out of our hotel, I was truely shocked to see that India was still going on outside. We took a deep breath and started walking towards some of the sites. Hold up, hold up...did I forget to mention that there was a dead woman in an open coffin in the hallway...ya, the owners mother died the day before we arrived so they decided to keep her in the hallway of the hotel. Ok, I can continue: Kolkata has
Victoria Memorial
The one place you were allowed to take photos! some really nice colonial buildings, but unfortunately, you can't take photos of most of them. We would come upon a beautiful, but old and run down, building and reach for our cameras, only to be yelled at by military personnel with machine guns. Needless to say, we kept on walking, which is why there are no photos of those buildings on the site. Apparently, no photos are allowed for security reasons.
We took a break from touring to get some lunch at a little restaurant downtown. When we walked in, the whole restaurant turned to stare at the westerners - the Lonely Planet doesn't list this restaurant, so they clearly don't see many foreigners! Once we sat down and ordered, people turned back to their own lives. We had a great lunch with great Indian food - it was as good as we'd imagined authentic Indian food to be. We ate up our vegetarian thali plates (we've gone veggie for our stay in India) and eavesdropped on a mother and her son having lunch and arguing about a wedding they were going to that week. The mother wanted her son to wear traditional clothes to the wedding and he
flatly refused and said that he was going to wear western clothes, since that's what everyone his age was wearing. The conversation ended when the mother stormed out of the restaurant. He continued to eat his lunch and she eventually came back. Times are a changin' here in Kolkata!
The next day we stopped by Mother Teresa's mission in downtown Kolkata. We arrived just in the nick of time for mass. We didn't sit in, but toured the museum adjacent to the chapel where Mother Teresa's tomb is, and could hear the mass as we walked through. I was raised Catholic, so the background sounds of mass didn't affect me, but Chris is not Catholic and found the whole thing creepy. He left and I continued through on my own. I found her story to be really interesting and really liked the museum. When I went outside, Chris was teaching a young Indian girl and her mother how to use the poi. As a thank you, mom grabbed some sticky doughy bright pink sweets...which she handed to us with her bare, cleanish fingers. We ate the sweets and neither of particularly liked them, but were touched by her generosity.
On our way home, we walked through a local market, which was truly incredible. We walked through and dodged cows, goats, motorbikes, countless vendors, butchers stalls swarmed with flies and even eagles swooping low to pick up food from the streets. Ya, eagles! As we kept walking, Chris came within an inch of losing his life when a motorbike nearly ran him down. We made the rest of the way through the market without incident and continuously said "no, no thank you ... no I don't want a bracelet ... no thank you ... no I don't want to go to the silk shop ... maybe later ... no I can't promise ... no thank you ... no thank you ... what's my price? Zero ... no thank you ... no thank you..." (We're a couple of weeks into India as I write this and now we sharply say, "NO!" and keep moving).
Kolkata was a chaotic and crazy introduction to India, but on the whole we enjoyed our time there. The people were friendly, there was lots to see and do, the food was good, and neither of us was attacked by the roving packs of dogs
or carried away by a street eagle!
We left Kolkata heading to a little place called Bodhgaya, and had our first encounter with Indian trains. We purchased a sleeper class ticket. When we got on the train I was really surprised with how many people there were. The train car is broken down to about 10 sections and in each section there are 8 beds - like bunk beds. Rows and rows of people. Our little section included a disgusting man with a terrible hacking cough and lots of mucus, a family of three, the mother of which openly and proudly farted and burped (a few times) after finishing her dinner, and a nice young engineer who spoke a bit of English. The train was really dirty and all the people in the car were staring at us and Chris suggested we just get off. "Get off? And do what?" I asked him. To which he replied "go back to Bangkok?"
Well, we didn't get off and we made it to Bodhgaya, which is the place that Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. Bodhgaya was a nice small town and most of the tourists it attracted were
Buddhist monks from around the world. We spent quite a lot of time at temple complex at the Bodhi Tree. Leaving our shoes at the front, we wandered around the peaceful sanctuary, stopping at the temple. It was full of foreign monks on pilgrimages. We sat and listened to the different types of chanting, collected fallen leaves from the Bodhi Tree, and watched the endless streams of people walking circles around the central temple. They've kept a beautiful clean park around it and it was a great place to sit and watch the Buddhist world go by.
At night, Bodhgaya reminded us of a movie or a play set in old world India. Cows walking in the square, a man in a turban selling peanuts on a cart with a little kerosene lamp in the middle for light, blind beggers singing for money, and women in saris selling jewellery on colourful blankets on the ground.
The next day we took a rickshaw out to the nearby Dungeshwari Cave Temples, where Buddha spent six years of penance and meditation before attaining enlightenment in Bodhgaya. We arrived and hiked up a mountain in the midday heat and arrived sweaty and
thirsty. Before we could cool down and drink any water, we were invited into the cave to meditate. We both went in and sat with a man who explained the significance of the cave and asked us to sit with our hands together and meditate. Although we may have missed the deeper significance of this cave it was a nice place to cool down and get out of the midday heat.
We left Bodhgaya apprehensively, knowing we were leaving the little Buddhist sanctuary and heading back into India, but feeling recharged and up for the challenge.
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Susan
non-member comment
The Indian Rollercoaster
Chris and Becky....OMG what an adventure you two are on...Becky your descriptions of every place you have written about has been wonderful and the photo's great. India sounds like something you have to go to to actually believe. My husband Greg went there four or five times and Nortel actually asked us to move there with 3 children....I couldn't do it....Greg was there when there was a major earthquake and life just keeps moving on like nothing happened. Your description of your train ride cracked me up....continue having fun and stay safe!!! Susan