India part I - Kolkata

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February 23rd 2009

Published: June 25th 2009

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Ake Och Emma

Hand pulled rickshaws

The reason I went to India is that I was very determined to see hand pulled rickshaws at least once in my life.

I have seen hand pulled rickshaws

I, Ake, had in February a chance to travel for a week. Emma could not go with me this time because she had to work so I had to go alone. I don't really mind travelling alone. Sometimes I even think it is quite nice. I can then go and visit all the weird places that I like so much but Emma doesn't. So as long as I visit Ake-likes-but-Emma-doesn't-like-places Emma is usually OK with me going on my own.

We both travelled in India some years ago. That was before we started to keep this blog so you won't find any story from that trip here I am afraid. Emma was not entirely happy with that trip. It was right before the beginning of the monsoon started and in India that means that it was extremely hot and very humid. We both suffered badly for a few days there. For those of you who have never been to India you need to know that Indian cities are often crowded, noisy and very dirty. There are beggars sitting with oozing wounds on their hands, there are stray children (yes stray children, not stray

Hand pulled rickshaw

One of the best places in the World to see hand pulled rickshaws today is Kolkata in India

dogs like in the rest of the World) living in garbage dumps eating whatever they find and there are large slum areas where people don't even have toilets. I was not shocked by any of this because I was mentally prepared for what I was going to see. But Emma was bothered by the dirt and the dust and never really liked India. So Emma is not very keen on going back there and that's the reason she let me go there without her.

Do you want to know how the people in the slum areas can live without a toilet? They use whatever land there is as their toilet. If you arrive in Delhi by train in the morning you can see hundreds of people sitting along the railroad tracks doing number two. Those strips of land must have the best fertilized soil in entire India!

It might seem strange that I went all the way to India when I didn't have more than a week off from work. The reason is that I was very determined to see hand pulled rickshaws at least once in my life. One of the best places in the World to

Me in a hand pulled rickshaw

Of course I had to take a ride in one. Trust me, I paid him a lot for this. A lot more than the locals pay

see hand pulled rickshaws today is Kolkata in India. This means of transport was once a common sight in India. As India became more modernised they were in most cities replaced by cycle-rickshaws or taxis. In Kolkata the rickshaw pullers could not afford the more expensive cycle-rickshaws and kept with the old tradition of pulling the rickshaws. There are other places in India where you can see hand pulled rickshaws. But if you really want to see hand pulled rickshaws Kolkata is the place to go. First of all, there are many of them in Kolkata. Many more than in any other city. Second, in Kolkata the hand pulled rickshaws have become a difficult political issue. The city has tried to outlaw them but the rickshaw puller union protested against this and refused to stop their business. So in a way Kolkata has become the last bastion for the hand pulled rickshaws. When they are finally removed from the streets of Kolkata, and they will no doubt one day disappear from the streets of Kolkata, they will also disappear from every other city in India in a matter of months. So I wanted to see hand pulled rickshaws before they

The fire brigade headquarters

The fire brigade headquarters. The fire trucks really look old. Almost like they could be from the 1930-ies.

are all taken out of traffic.

If you think it is wrong for humans to pull a rickshaw more or less like a donkey would do it I totally agree with that. But we must also remember that those who fight the hardest to keep the hand pulled rickshaws on the streets are the rickshaw workers themselves. They are doing this job, a job that is such a disgrace that politicians and many others want to see them outlawed, and they fight fiercely to be allowed to keep on doing this job. It is not hard to understand why, most of the rickshaw pullers either do this for a living or they don't have any job at all. If you don't have a job in India that means you either have to beg or starve to death. These people have nothing else so they do the only kind of work they can get, pull rickshaws. Personally I have seen worse jobs. Being a rickshaw puller in Kolkata is better than being a porter in Nepal for instance. Nepalese porters work harder, work more hours each day and get paid less.

Well, it may sound weird to you but

Fire truck with bell

Look carefully and you can see that the fire trucks don't have any automatic siren. Instead they are equipped with a bell that you operate by hand.

I actually went to Kolkata for the only reason of seeing hand pulled rickshaws before they vanish from the streets forever. But for obvious reasons that was not all I saw on this trip. In fact I saw plenty of other things. Just read the blog and/or look at the photos and I'll guide you through the entire visit in Kolkata.

Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, is one of the largest cities in the World. According to Wikipedia more than 15 million people live in Kolkata. Like many cities in India Kolkata is a very noisy and crowded place.

But to me Kolkata felt different from the other Indian cities I have been to. To me Kolkata felt like a time capsule. My first thought was to say that I felt like I was warped back in time or transferred into an episode of the Twillight Zone. You know one of those stories where the main character is thrown back 100 years in time. But that is not quite the feeling I had. Instead it felt like the city had been thrown forward in time. So you might say it was more like the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. You know the

The Bell

Close up of the bell on the fire truck

tale where the princess is poisoned by a magical potion and falls into a 100 year long sleep together with all the staff in her castle and even the castle itself. After 100 years everything is brought back into life again. If you picture yourself what the castle in Sleeping Beauty would look like right after it was reopened after the 100 years then you get an idea of what Kolkata looks like. The city looks like it has been totally abandoned (or magically put to sleep) for 75 years and then reopened/brought back to life. Many houses in the city were covered with dust. Not a dirty kind of dust, more like the dust you find in an old attic (or in an old castle that has been closed for 75 years). Many houses were run down, the walls were crumbling, paint was peeling off and things attached to the houses were falling apart. But it didn't feel like houses were falling down from wear and tear. More like due to old age. Like old wallpaper would fall off the walls in an old house if the house is locked and not opened again for many years. All of

An electrician's worst nightmare

In the school where I work we educate electricians. Our students did not make this. They know better than that

this and much more added to the feeling that this city was been left to itself 75 years ago and only repopulated last week.

This Sleeping Beauty-feeling I had when I visited Kolkata can't really be captured in a photo. Sure, I could take a picture of the dust but that would be pointless to publish. It's a feeling and feelings are often difficult to take pictures of. But I did see one example that I took a photo of - the fire brigade headquarters and the fire trucks. The fire trucks really look old. Almost like they could be from the 1930-ies. But the best thing of all is that they don't have any automatic siren like a modern fire truck has. Instead they are equipped with a bell that you operate by hand.

One attraction in Kolkata that added to this Sleeping Beauty-feeling is a museum called the Marble Palace. I found this museum very interesting. The museum is in a private mansion and the exhibits are all privately owned. Everything in the museum was collected by the original owner of the estate, a man who without a doubt had an interest in art and handicraft. The collections

Marble Palace

The museum is in a private mansion and the exhibits are all privately owned.

include paintings, some by famous artists such as Rubens, statues, expensive furniture and high quality handicraft. All of it was covered with a thin layer of soft dust and many of the sofas and armchairs were also covered with blankets, like you would expect in a castle where the owners have closed the doors and expect to be gone for a long time. In the park surrounding the mansion there was also a small zoo.

I don't have any photos from inside the Marble Palace. I wanted to take photos but wasn't allowed to. The Marble Palace is a privately owned mansion and the owner actually lives there. Photography is prohibited to protect the owner's privacy.

In Kolkata there are a few places a visitor to the city should visit. One of them is the Victoria Memorial. The Victoria Memorial was erected in the early 20th century as a monument over Queen Victoria. It is constructed from white marble and sits in a large park. Inside the memorial I've been told there is an exhibition with various paintings and statues relating to the years when India was part of the British Empire. There are also some items on display

Victoria Memorial

The Victoria Memorial was erected in the early 20th century as a monument over Queen Victoria

related to Queen Victoria herself. The exhibition sounded so boring that I couldn't be bothered to go inside. Instead I spent some time in the park, it was a park worth spending some time in, and admired the monument from the outside.

Near the Victoria Memorial there is a church named St Paul's Cathedral. Unfortunately it was closed when I arrived there so I didn't get to see the inside of it. That's a pity but according to my guidebook the cathedral is nice inside but not spectacular. There is nothing there that you can't see in other churches or cathedrals. Well, I have seen other churches and cathedrals so I didn't feel bad about skipping this one.

Through the city of Kolkata runs a river named Hooghly River. Over this river spans the Howrah Bridge. According to my guidebook Howrah Bridge is the busiest bridge in the World. If that is true or not I don't know. But if you consider that Kolkata is a very large and busy city and Howrah Bridge is the bridge connecting Kolkata with Kolkata railway station, thus making it a very important bridge. It makes sense that an important bridge in one of the

Victoria Memorial

Victoria Memorial seen from the park

largest cities in the World could be the busiest bridge in the World.

I have added a few photos of various buildings in Kolkata more to give you an idea of what it looks like in Kolkata. One of those houses I'd like to write a little about. The building contains some kind of office for the Indian Railways. But that is not what makes this building interesting to me. It is the fact that it is built in a style that reminds me of Casa Milà in Barcelona. I did not expect to find a Gaudí-esque building in central Kolkata.

A visit to Kolkata in not complete unless you visit Missionaries of Charity's headquarter and Mother Theresa's grave. The Missionaries of Charity is a religious order founded by Mother Theresa with the aim of bringing healthcare and other kinds of help to poor and homeless people in Kolkata. For her work to help the poor Mother Theresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

I personally don't really like missionaries. But I strongly believe that the order Missionaries of Charity is doing a lot of good for people and that it is an organizations worth supporting.

In

St Paul's Cathedral

Unfortunately St Paul's Cathedral was closed when I arrived there so I didn't get to see the inside of it.

the building where the Missionaries of Charity's headquarter is located, also known as the Mother House, there is a small exhibition on Mother Theresa's life and work and in the next room is her grave.

Any visitor to Kolkata today can see that the Missionaries of Charity is still needed. There are still many poor and homeless people in Kolkata.

When Mother Theresa was still alive I remember that she didn't enjoy publicity about her as a person. It then comes natural to assume that she also wanted to pass away with as little notice as possible. When she died surprisingly little was written in the newspapers about it. The reason for that is that she drew her final breath on September 5 1997, only five days after the death of Lady Diana on August 31 1997. The newspapers were all busy mourning Lady Diana and therefor didn't write much about Mother Theresa's dismissal from the land of the living. I don't believe in God but when a coincidence like this happen it makes me think that there somehow was a plan behind it all. The timing of the end of her existence as an entity could hardly

Howrah Bridge

According to my guidebook Howrah Bridge is the busiest bridge in the World.

be better if she really didn't want anybody to notice. Well I guess it could have been even better. She could have gone to meet her maker on September 12 2001 or on December 27, 2004. But you know what I mean.

Additional photos below

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