Second Impression of Calcutta Proper...

View from the terrace.

Our soft landing in India came to a screeching halt when we finally took a cab down Dum Dum street towards the city centre and our LOUD, slightly cockroach-inhabited hotel room near Mother Teresa's house. The noise and what seems like sheer "chaos" to the Western eye is pretty overwhelming. Sensory overload is a good way to describe it because when you're not trying to process what you're seeing or smelling or trying to hear above the honking, you're dodging cars/buses/trams/rickshaws (auto, bicycle, foot-powered) and motorcycles. A lot of the honking is of the "I'm here behind you/trying to pass you on the left or right/move your ass/move over/don't stop or merge or turn or drift" variety. Given that at any given point in semi-gridlock, many of these contingencies may be happening gives rise to the constant cacophony of klaxons and cursing.

Baj's street.

Downtown Calcutta.

It's actually kind of like Barcelona on a Friday night - except with les "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" from the motos.

I think that a trip to the Darjeeling hill station in the pre-Himalayas may be in order... : )

Views from the terrace...

Last night was not like this at all. Baj picked us up from the airport and the driver took us to his grandmother's home in a nearby suburb. Best moment of the trip on the relatively new 4 lane highway? Going down an on-ramp so that we could then do a u-turn into on-coming traffic and exit closer to the house... oh ys... amazingly, the bus that we came across half-way down the up ramp didn't even blink its lights or honk.

The swastika is a symbol of peace in Hindi culture.

Once at the house, we had a great evening of catching up with Baj, bantering with the ladies who help his grandma and eating very, very well. We have been so lucky to have been invited into so many homes on this trip; it really makes the chain of hotel rooms bearable and lets us learn so much more about the various places that we have seen. They gave us the freshly painted room even and then the next morning, after taking tea on the terrace and snapping some pics (which I will post when I can get connected with my laptop), went for a wee walkabout the neighbourhood, We visited Baj's communist auntie and then went to his great-grandmother's shrine, where a local priest was doing prayers and making offerings. At the end, we all got blessed and given sweets. Sweet!

Offerings.

Leaving Baj's place.

After that it was off to the airport again to pick up Denise (my mum-in-law), who, thankfully arrived from Montreal via Paris and Delhi sans probleme.

Which brings us back to Calcutta proper... on the way here I saw something that was frankly new to me: cows fighting dogs for garbage dumped in the street... with a murder of crows sitting atop the cows waiting either to see who would win or to scavenge any bits that might be about to fall...

In the afternoon, Helene and Denise went to Mother Teresa's volunteer orientation (men aren't allowed to volunteer with the orphans and I am not moved to do hospice work so I'll be catching up on my writing and doing some exploring while they are busy during the days). The it was back to the hotel and its funky '60s nightclub-like restaurant for some good food, internet and then my first beer since Africa...

It's my birthday tomorrow and we're going to go for a nice lunch with Baj and then maybe head out to his other grandmother's place for a visit, Helene had some good ideas for a birthday present, including: a local cooking course; a trip to the 19th century race track for some wagering and gin & tonics; some champers; and maybe even a new suit made by one of the local tailors... Thanks! I'll take them all! ; )