2/8 & 9

We took a baby auto to Seva Kendra, which is where I stayed the first night I arrived in India. It is like an SWI organization in Calcutta. We took cold showers, and had a really good breakfast of fried chapatis, (they had a name that starts with p) and hard-boiled eggs. After breakfast Hannah and I read in the sunlight and waited for Shupbra. She was our guide. Matias, a driver who used to be stationed at SWI, now stationed in Calcutta, drove us around for the day. Matias’s wife also came along. She is from a village near Raiganj and had never been out of the village. Our first outing was my favorie. We went to the Missionaries of Charity Mother House and saw Mother Teresa’s grave, the room where she died and an exhibition about her life. It was really powerful. We sat with one of the Sr.’s there, who is related to one of the SWI staff meembers. After that we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral, Victoria Memorial, stumbled across a massive communist party rally (the ruling party in W. Bengal), did some marketing, saw a museum and then went to Science City. It was quite the day of site-seeing. We had lunch at a local restaurant, it was mutton and rice. All in all the day was exhausting! The marketing was fun, although it sucks being a Westerner and getting cheated on prices where ever we go. Shupbra taught us some bargaining techniques, which came in handy as the day progressed.
I feel sick as the day progressed, it was hot, loud and I was dehydrated. I had a really bad headache and ended up staying in bed instead of going to dinner.
The next day we slept in, which was good, because after a sound nights sleep I felt much better. Then Hannah and I met Father Succi, who took us to a bank to exchange some money, and then across a famous bride in Calcutta. He took us out to lunch at a very fancy Chinese restaurant, and then dropped us off at New Market, a large market in Calcutta. We were alone for the first time in Calcutta! I bought some pashimas and some fabric for Mom’s quilt. After an hour of wandering around New Market and shopping we met up with Regina and Johannes who were in Calcutta picking up there friends from the airport. We spent the rest of the afternoon together and took a taxi home, just in time to pack and leave for the night train.
On the drive to the train we ran into horrible traffic. A jam in Calcutta means that you remain still for hours with cars, busses and motorcycles all around you. We decided to get out and walk down the street until we reached the end of the jam, otherwise we wouldn’t make the train. So we all (Hannah, Puthumai, Father Herman, who had arrived that morning, and me) schlepped our baggage over our shoulder and started speed walking down the streets of Calcutta. We speed walked for a km and a half, and then we began approaching what sounded like a large rally. Puthumai had heard about some violence earlier that day in the city. We avoided the large rally and headed down a side street. Finally we grabbed a baby auto and we were on our way to the train station. We made it just in time and settled into our beds early, as we were all very tired.
So there is the play by play of what happened in Calcutta. More importantly, here are my reflections on the trip. Calcutta is an assault on the senses. It is louder than Raiganj (which I didn’t think was possible) and much hotter too. The city is bright and full of over stimulating images. There are children begging carrying babies and persons who are disabled sitting on the side of the sidewalk. There are people in Western dress and white people. Hannah and I found ourselves staring at the white people. Calcutta alternates between smelling like feces, urine, fish and pollution. I have never breathed such polluted air in my life. I can’t describe to you the overwhelming sensation of a child pulling on your sleeve and motioning that they want money for food. Or the sensation of crossing traffic that seems more dangerous than a death penalty. Calcutta is more developed than Raiganj in so many places, but there are still others where the poverty is so raw, that it grips at your insides. The poverty is harsh, abrasive, and in your face. And at the same time, there are shops that rival US stores and people dressed as though they belong in the West. Hannah and I also noticed our ability to toughen up. In a city like Calcutta, being a Westerner, often means you get taken advantage of. And although I am sure we were cheated more than once, we also became more astutely aware of who was cheating us and how to fight back. We became aggressive with people following us around New Market trying to be our guides, we bartered with the shop owners over price and more than once walked away feeling successful. I guess in the end Calcutta made me exterior a little harder and my interior a lot softer.