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Having backed out of a machismo fuelled suggestion to myself that I take the train all the way from Kerala to Kolkata (Calcutta), I arrived in this amazing City last Monday having taken some sleazyjet (read: Jet and Indigo) flights, changing at the lovely Chennai airport. Hmm, lovely. Anyway, I'm now writing on my final day before I leave for Delhi tomorrow morning in order to collect Miss T from Delhi airport on Thursday (Yey! Currently looking for a sign with 'Mrs Beth' on it so she can spot me easily).
Unfortunately I can't really regale you as usual with assorted stories about the City since I've only really seen half of it. A frantic 2 days of sightseeing and wandering around various testaments to colonial times - the British influence is overwhelming here - and I'd succeeded in getting some sunstroke. Bonus. Anyway, I'll spare you the messy details but Dan has been a poorly boy and feels a bit sorry for himself. Aaah.
Despite my sightseeing having been restricted, it's been cool to just sit (lots of sitting) around talking to other people in my 'Hotel'. Like I did in Bombay, I'm staying at the lavish disposal of the Salvation Army who have also imaginatively titled this Dormitory 'Red Shield House' as well. I'm thinking now about trying to tick off some more Red Shield Houses and at a mere 70 Rupees or approx. 90p a night who can blame me? Actually, I can (!) since the bed bugs have given me a nasty rash. The Hilton this is not! Anyway, back to the story. Most of the guests are not travellers primarily but volunteers (lots of nice people from France) who work mainly at clinics for mentally and physically ill people and who are also normally extremely poor people to boot. It sounds like really rewarding work and some of the volunteers stay in Calcutta for months, occasionally even years. I was going to go along for a day but sickness intervened. Nevertheless, there are some sights on the streets which makes me feel very lucky to live in London and by talking to the volunteers you get an impression of the difficulties people here face. I'm sure there are some places far worse but travelling around it feels a bit voyeuristic.
I'm really looking forward to Nepal now since this 'love/hate' attitude I have with India is now very draining. It's such a complex blinkin country with lots of stuff going on and 2 months just about scratches the surface. If anybody now wants to know what it's like (and mostly so far it's just Indians asking me) be aware I'll probably just say 'amazing' or 'so interesting' or something similarly vague as it covers a multitude of sins.
Hoping everything at home is good. Also hope you like the entirley unrelated to Calcutta picture of the Orangutan. Ps - Beardwatch is getting interesting.
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