Kolkata/Calcutta

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Oh Calcutta (Kolkata). The people here don't seem to mind what you call it so I'll stick with the old name.
Calcutta has a very bad reputation. People don't seem to have a good word to say about it, without ever having actually been there. All I knew about it was the black hole and Mother Theresa so I had images of a squalid filthy place full of beggars. So when we got there we were pleasantly surprised. Its not that its not dirty and full of beggars its just that its nowhere near as bad as you imagine it to be, then it starts to grow on you.
We arrived late at night and got a taxi straight to our hotel. In the dark of night I was not impressed with the guest house we had booked. It looked so bad that I half expected to wake up with a rat on my face. It was too late to do anything about it and we were tired from the flight so we just crashed with the intention of checking out first thing.
Morning came and I realised that the room wasn't that bad. It wasn't actually dirty, just falling down. The paint was falling off the walls, the walls themselves only just holding together, but it had a certain kind of charm. After our first exploration of the city we found this to be the case for most of Calcutta.
The architecture is really impressive with very grand colonial buildings but they don't have the money or the inclination to keep them in good condition.
The strangest thing about the city is all the crows. Not the prettiest birds in the world and they are really noisy, the caw-cawing only just masked by the constant blares of car horns. Apparently all you need to drive in India is good brakes, a good horn and good luck.
We were lucky to be here for the start of Durga Puja which is a massive Hindu festival. All over the city and I believe all over West Bengal they build these shrine like constructions called pandals which are brightly decorated scenes from a Hindu story. The pandals are built on the roads, in the streets, where ever they feel like putting them. Then lights are put up everywhere and people party in the streets for about four days. At the end of the festival the pandals are submerged in to the Hooghly river which is linked to the Ganges. People come from all over the country to see family and worship, so it gets very very busy.
Calcutta has a population of 14.7 million people on a normal day, I have no idea how much this must rise to for the festival. I have never seen so many people in one place.
The atmosphere was great and the people were really friendly. We did not see one other westerner whilst we were at the festival so we were a bit of a novelty.
The lights and the colours were gorgeous and the women all put on their finest saris in bright blues, and greens, fushias and deep red, and loads of jewelry, toe rings, ankle bracelets, necklaces and sparkly glass bangles all the way up their arms.
As an introduction to India you couldn't get much better.

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Photos

Hunk
Yes. Steve does now own a hunk vest.