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One arrival at the school we had my favourite breakfast of semolina made with dried fruit and nuts and sweet chapatti that are very similar to pancakes. Some of the older boys help serve our food and they make it a game to try and get us to eat more. I have finally learnt that Aak Da means only one - so maybe saying it in Bengali might stop them trying to give me 3!
The coach arrived to take us on our cultural trip into the heart of Kolkata. The strodies loaded onto the bus, followed by some of the children followed by boxes and boxes of food for packed lunches. Then some string appeared and after a degree of speculation of its purpose we discovered that a banner was to be tied to the side of the bus explaining to anyone who read it that we were on a cultural exchange.
It never ceases to amaze me that buses can get along the very windy narrow road to the school but somehow they manage it, narrowly missing some of the stalls on the sides of the road, occasionally manoeuvring is done with a chap who accompanies the driver and jumps out and begins shouting loud instructions to the driver.
Our first stop of the day, after about one and a half hours of stop start queuing through the traffic of Kolkata was the Mother Teresa House. It is a fairly innocuous building from the outside with a simple sign hanging over the door. Inside opens into a small courtyard, and then a larger one which is the centre of 3-4storey buildings. There are smiley nuns there to greet you and since currently they are having building work done, just like many places in Kolkata. Therefore there is no need to remove your shoes. (I think there might have been some problems with people stealing each others shoes in the past as well - a little odd perhaps).
Somehow despite the crazy city noise going on outside the building (which you could still hear) there is an immense sense of peace about the place. The drifting sound of a hymn, sung either by visiting groups or nuns, just floats through the place. People pray with great intensity at Mother Teresa's tomb and others take photo opportunities. There is also a small museum which tells her story, how at the age of 38 she was excaulcated (released from her convent) to begin the Charity Missionary work in Kolkata.
After the Mother Teresa house we went to the Tagore House which really wasn't that far away but seemed to take ages and rather like London would probably been far quicker to walk, however not very safe with the crazy traffic and not very pleasant with what is increasing heat day on day. Rabindranath Tagore is one of the most interesting characters I have ever heard of. A Polymath, poet, artist, and philosopher. He was a peer of Kipling, was also awarded a Nobel Prize, and more importantly a British knighthood which he returned in protest of the partition - for those Dr Who fans amongst will have learnt a little on this in the first Jodie Whittaker series. Subsequently Tagore has essentially disappeared from our history, which is a travesty. His poetry is beautiful and lyrical and his art inspiring. He believe that it was philosophically possible to hold together the tension between oriental spirituality and western capitalism - I'm not sure I agree but it is an interesting and brave argument. As Dan and I came out of the museum we discovered our group sitting in the sunshine and Ivy was reading Tagore poetry to a little group of Strodies and Mathieson Music School children.
Back on the tour bus, and more queuing, this time to New Market. The Strodies off loaded the bus in a traffic light change and accompanied by Sairul Molla and Dipak Sapui we threaded our way through the crowd. I cannot describe the experience of the noise, the people, the smells, the sounds and the sheer vibrancy of colour it is almost overwhelming. Snaking 14 of us plus Sairul and Dipak was challenging so we moved into the undercover market - this meant that we didn't need to worry about the traffic. The downside was the there were some extremely keen stall holders and runners who just wanted to show our group every single sari, salwar kameez length and scarf available. It didn't take to long for us to get quite frustrated not least because they were trying to charge way over the odds for what we wanted to buy. Personally, having written the risk assessment for the trip, I would opt for safety rather than saving a few pounds but there have been a number of varying opinions on that subject. Generally the students were happy with their purchases but delighted to have only had a small taste of the experience. We may do a little extra shopping trip for those who didn't get the chance to get what they wanted.
When we all got back on the bus most of the children were fast asleep, and pretty much remained that way until the bus got back to the school just under 1 1/2hours later. The driver took some tiny side roads and I couldn't quite believe how quickly we got back to the school.
I'm not one of those people who posts instagram photos of everything I eat so I haven't taken pics of much of our food but the sweets we had whilst waiting for dinner to be ready were some kind of curd and lots of sugar and in my opinion truly delicious - almost equal to burfe which I am truly looking forward to purchasing from Haldiram on Monday (and maybe more at the airport on the way home).
Dan, Angela and myself had begun to notice some very dark shadows under our students eyes so we did a spot of negotiating for a very early night and a much later start in the morning. I can't speak for the boys but the girls were all in bed by about 10.30pm and no alarms set for before 7am.
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