INDIAAAH!

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So India. India India India. Considering I have been here for a few days I should have loads to say, which I do but I got to keep it quite short. So much of Kolkata and the area around Antara is smelly, dirty, congested, polluted, and horrifically impoverished, but I would not swap being here for anywhere else at the moment. It is absolutely AMAZING. Just a simple tuk-tuk ride to the Internet café from the hospital had me wide-eyed in awe and delight. Everything is a feast for your senses. I know this novelty feeling of everything being new exciting is going to go when I get used to it, but I just want to hold onto that feeling of wow. I guess growing up in Kenya and seeing the slums of Peru and Bolivia put me in good enough stead so that I was not hit by culture shock upon arrival, but every little thing is a tiny shock to the system which the girls don’t even seem to notice now they have been here for five weeks. Amanda, who had hardly ventured out of Yorkshire before coming to India, ambles down the street through the crazy traffic of tuktuks, bikes, buses, lorries and all types of rickshaw, with me thinking every vehicle is going to crash right into us, until at the last minute they swerve, literally missing us by mere millimeters. It is no wonder that most transport in India have realigned their wing mirrors (if they have them) to work from inside the vehicle.

The hospital is great, and I will give a bit more of a description next time. Its good that the 4 girls have had a couple of weeks here before me as it means I can get stuck in quicker and get to know the staff and patients in no time. We get Sunday off so have ventured into Kolkata, where I am now after visiting a church fete last night. The highlight had to be the local school rock band playing some incredible Maroon 5 covers, with the artistic addition of beat-boxing the last two verses. Pow pow.

We are off to try and book a tour to Sunderbans Tiger Reserve for next weekend. Promise of visiting a pizza hut as curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner at Antara is really starting to hit us. And I have been eating it for only 3 days. I sense food is going to be a bit of a problem…

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