Kolkata

---

Our trip to Kolkata from Varanasi was just mammoth, after the trains departure being delayed by five hours (glad we weren't in the second class waiting room, check out the photo) we spent a further 24 hrs on the train itself. So you can forgive us if we didn't think much of Kolkata when we arrived. At the train station in Kolkata we were greeted with hundreds of people sleeping on the platforms. On our taxi journey from the train station we saw homeless people everywhere. In Delhi it seemed less shocking as the city itself was so poor but here the difference between the have and have nots is more striking, it really wears you down. At first glance the city seems to be a modern industrial hub with its high rise office buildings. Well that's till you look closer, walking the streets you see countless people busy typing letters along the street on old type writers. The skyscraper interiors haven't changed in 60 years and you feel you've stepped back into the 1950s. A couple of good things about Kolkata - we saw many of the street vendors giving food to the poor, cleanest city so far and no touts!.

---