Blogs from Kolkata, West Bengal, India, Asia - page 40

Hi all, Thanks so, so much for all the updates. I really appreciate it.. Well, where do I start??!!! The last few weeks have been quite hectic that I feel as if months have passed.. I have been working very hard and also getting unexpected news from Ireland didn't help matters.. Back to the 25th of October when I arrived in Darjeeling.. The train was 10.5 hrs night journey so got bit of sleep. When we got off the train it was very warm, and I was wondering WHAT 'cold' people were talking about... However, we were 4 hours from the Mountains.. Constant up hill climb in a jeep with 2 other couples (one of the couples were in my carriage on train - a Medical Scientist / hobby:Coin collecting (there for Conference) and his wife. ... read more

Hi All, I hope you are all well. Thanks so much for all the lovely mails but my sincerest apologies that I have not replied to all yet.. Notime.. Before I start with the next update I want to apologise for such detailed emails and being a perfectionist. If it was me who made a donation to someone I would want to know Exactly how it was used and for what purposes. You trusted me with the donations and I owe it to you all to explain how and where itis spent.. So far, I have withdrawn RS.15000 .... (56 Rupees is €1 ... so you can work outcosts!!) On 29 Sept I treated 10 of the members to a train ride at the Carnival and they loved it - 135 Rupees On 17 Oct I ... read more

When i was young, i used to venture every now and again to papaw's garage. It was a tall barn that had high ceilings and an office loft. I don't know what sort of business he conducted there, but i remember it seeming very exotic at my age. My little eyes would peer over the countless tools sprawled about, and the mysterious leaks and oil pools on the ground. There was a smell of sweaty metal, and everything in the garage, including his hands, were covered in a black film. Calcutta is kind of like that. I wish i could explain how eerily dreamlike yet forcibly conscious this place is. It feels like a living catacomb. The architecture is strikingly colonial, but ghostlike. In jungle settings, buildings left from civilization are eventually reclaimed by the earth, ... read more

I'm typing this up with a few hours to kill ahead of my train journey to Siliguri and then a jeep trip to Darjeeling in the West Bengal Hills. I've been in Kolkata for 3 days and I must say I have enjoyed my time here. I thought the city had a lot of charm, with an abundance of old colonial buildings, tree lined streets, and friendly people. The city itself sits upon the Hooghly River, with the huge Howrah Bridge (450m long)spanning across. The Howrah bridge itself has a Sydney Harbour Bridge feel to it - apparently 100,000 vehicles use it each day, making it the busiest bridge in the world. It was certainly chaos when we went across it by taxi when we first arrived - absolute gridlock with much blarring and honking of ... read more

Kolkata is submerged. Everywhere you look, huge swathes of pavement lie hidden under water that's neither brown nor green, turning parts of town into a no-go area for those of us too wimpish to stride through the stagnant mini pavement ponds. Journey from London reasonably uneventful. Surpisingly security light- I wasn't searched or anything, tho was aware of the occasional random check going on around me. We landed at about 5.15am this morning, and after a few hairy moments waiting for my little rucksack to make its debut performance on the carousel (actually, it was more than a few moments!) I left the airport to find it pissing down. Managed to locate the cab driver that the hotel had sent, and here I am. This morning, after a couple of hours kip, went and found the ... read more