Blogs from Kolkata, West Bengal, India, Asia - page 37

Parlons de choses serieuses: nous avons fait nos debuts au grand ecran, ou nous incarnerons deux vilains americains qui tentent de soudoyer un ingenieur indien ayant fait une importante decouverte. Rien a faire, le heros est, comme il se doit, incorruptible, et prefere servir sa patrie plutot que d'accepter nos millions de dollars... C'etait a Chennai (aniennement Madras), la seconde capitale du film apres Bombay. A elle seule, Chennai produit quelques 600 longs metrages chaque annee, ce qui illustre bien la gourmandise des Indiens pour le cinema. Mais pas n'importe quel cinema. Leur cinema.Contrairement au reste du monde, Hollywood n'occupe que 5% des ecrans, principalement parce que l'Inde est une affaire de famille...Tout ce qui est etranger est rejete ou absorbe. Les regles de l'Inde sont si opaques qu'elles arrivent a faire fuir meme des ... read more

כלכתה - פרק הסיום של הודו Asia » India » Kolkata » sudder street By oshri yaminApril 20th 2007oshri yamin אז אחרי חודש פשוט מטורף באיי אנדמן המראנו מפורט בלייר ונחתנו בתחנה האחרונה שלנו בהודו - כלכתה. על אנדמן חבל לבזבז מילים, כי שום דבר לא יתאר יותר טוב מה ראינו ועברנו שם כמו התמונות.. ומה יש לספר על כלכתה? אז כלכתה ממש אחלה עיר, באמת, לא מה שסיפרו לנו. הגענו ישר לאיזור המתוייר של העיר וגילינו שאפילו בהודו יש מקדונלד'ס, דומינו'ס פיצה ואפילו בתי קפה, והכל במחירים רק קצת יותר יקרים מהודו הרגילה! כיף!! הכי מטורף זה שאתה יכול לצאת מארוחה באיזה בית קפה פלצני, מהמזגן והפינוק ופתאום לראות איזה ילד קטן, בק... read more

My first entry from India and probably the last one for a long while. The hospital is apparantly in the middle of the jungle in Assam and we have to travel at leat 2 km to reach a computer. It is going to be an experience! The last week has really been a big mixture of emotions and experiences. Having left the peace and beautiful Zanzibar (truely paradise) in Tanzania to arrive in Dehli really was a HUGE culture shock. It is very busy and fairly dirty. I also felt very much a foreigner alone in the city because I really didn't know any of the language. Coming from Tanzania where I had picked up a small amount of Swahili. It was easier when I met Becca and Heather who arrived the following day. I didn't ... read more

I arrived in Kolkata on Holi. The colour festival of India where people have massive water flights and paint each other brilliant reds, greens and yellows. Too add to the spectical of brightly coloured people I was also welcomed on trhe train by a transvestite singing and dancing. She came down the carrage clapping and singing as loud as she could and asked for a donation, I didnt have much change left so I said "no, sorry" but that was greeted with a sharp 'talk to the hand' gesture, I found a couple of rupee in my pocket and gave it to her. It must have beenthe right thing to do becuase she tapped me on the chin and forehead in approval ajnd moved on. I found my way to Sudder street and got a bed ... read more

In my imagination Calcutta was a romantic, exotic place; home of the British Raj. I imagined old steamboats chugging up the Houghli River arriving at veranda bungalows. This image was battling beside what I knew was one of the world's most besieged cities, the waves of floods, people, poverty and pollution had caused other travellers to warn us that it was not a place to hang around in. Still it is India's cultural capital; many great authors, academics and cricketers hail from here. Calcutta has not disappointed. Now known as Kalkota it is described as "the City of Joy" or "the City of the Heart" in the tourist blurb, but the name comes from "Kali Ghat", meaning the riverbank (ghat) of Kali, the Goddess of Destruction. Fancy Raj buildings and churches are dotted around the city ... read more