This is a small part of the amazing trip that Jonathan and I have experienced over the last two weeks. It is very fresh in my brain right now and was quite emotionally draining. I am not quite sure we were both ready to get off the airplane from Nepal to be hit in the face with the overwhelming sights and smells that are big city India. We arrived at the airport only to be overwhelmed by the many men demanding we get into their taxi. We soon realized our mistake of not getting a pre-paid taxi. We marched right back into the airport and got a pre-paid taxi for about a third of the price! After riding through Kolkata for an hour in a taxi we arrived at our beautiful hotel - it really was a splurge! Within minutes of Jonathan telling the receptionist his name he tells us that they did not in fact hold a room for us despite the booking and our email contact with them. It was all a matter of the language barrier. However, this rather kind man did show us a hole in the wall right down this sketchy alley. Yup we stayed there. It was really dirty and the circumstances were all very odd. We both were near tears initially but after a hot bucket bath, food, and a beer we could truly laugh about our scenario!
The sights of Kolkata are unreal and unlike anything I have seen thus far in India, well, now that I think of it, very similar to Varanasi, but I will talk about that in a later post! The discrepancy of wealth was more noticeable than where Jonathan and I live. Many people are living on the streets. Their whole lives take place on the streets, using the bathroom, bathing, cooking, waking up your parents, playing games, doing the wash, getting ready for work, all aspects of your life are there happening on the streets in the public eye. We saw families huddled around little paint cans with a small fire in it to keep warm in the cool winter air. Another pretty interesting thing we saw was these kitchens that are in the streets. They are full kitchens that produce amazing looking food. We were tempted but the idea of being laid up in that hotel with stomach and bowel issues was not too enticing so we just looked on in awe at the mass production of beautiful looking food that took place on the street. The thing that really blew me away was the beautiful looking dough that was in round balls waiting to be thrown onto a well oiled wok to create delicious roti. Or the oil drums which had been recreated into a tandoori oven. People are so amazing and so beautiful. One thing we also noticed which is very sad is the number of children that you see working. There are children working everywhere. That is something we definitely do not see in Tamil Nadu.
My last thing that I must write about Kolkata is the human rickshaw pullers. Having ready City of Joy and learning about it a little in college I was fully interested in seeing this because a part of me could not believe that it was real. I am not sure how I convinced myself that somehow it would not be true, but it was. Thankfully I had someone as beautiful, loving, and supportive as Jonathan with me to experience the human rickshaws with. They made me very emotional. They were so small and fragile looking sometimes carrying these massive loads of goods, heavy Indian women with shopping bags and the nicest saree you could imagine, a tourist with all their luggage, a couple running errands, etc. It is hard to imagine living a life where you would engage in such an act. Where you would not think about how dehumanizing it would be to pay a person very little money to pull you around when you know that they are not eating proper meals, are probably homeless, and have a family to support. Jonathan and I did buy bells from some of them. He surprised me by just all of a sudden asking one man on a corner if we could buy a bell. He over enthusiastically handed over his bell and asked us for 200 rupees. Jonathan gladly handed over the money and handed me the bell as a gift. It was the best gift I have ever received. I had read about the bells; buying bells is a way to support the rickshaw pullers without supporting the system that exploits them. Many men on the same corner then swarmed us and held out their bells. I wanted to buy them all. We then walked around with the intent of buying more. I bought three more and Jonathan bought one. We ate lunch at this cool stand called Hot Kati Rolls. They make delicious wraps made out of chapati with whatever stuffing you want - it was delicious. I got a potato and veggie mix and Jonathan got chicken with this amazing spice mix on it! We then got in a taxi and headed to the train station. But I made the taxi driver stop on a street corner and I got out and bought one more bell. The man was super excited and happy. He held his hand out to shake my hand and with a very pleased expression folded his money. I shook his hand and ran back to the taxi. I can't wait to someday go back to Kolkata. It is a city with so much to offer, so much more to see, and so many more bells to buy.
The sights of Kolkata are unreal and unlike anything I have seen thus far in India, well, now that I think of it, very similar to Varanasi, but I will talk about that in a later post! The discrepancy of wealth was more noticeable than where Jonathan and I live. Many people are living on the streets. Their whole lives take place on the streets, using the bathroom, bathing, cooking, waking up your parents, playing games, doing the wash, getting ready for work, all aspects of your life are there happening on the streets in the public eye. We saw families huddled around little paint cans with a small fire in it to keep warm in the cool winter air. Another pretty interesting thing we saw was these kitchens that are in the streets. They are full kitchens that produce amazing looking food. We were tempted but the idea of being laid up in that hotel with stomach and bowel issues was not too enticing so we just looked on in awe at the mass production of beautiful looking food that took place on the street. The thing that really blew me away was the beautiful looking dough that was in round balls waiting to be thrown onto a well oiled wok to create delicious roti. Or the oil drums which had been recreated into a tandoori oven. People are so amazing and so beautiful. One thing we also noticed which is very sad is the number of children that you see working. There are children working everywhere. That is something we definitely do not see in Tamil Nadu.
My last thing that I must write about Kolkata is the human rickshaw pullers. Having ready City of Joy and learning about it a little in college I was fully interested in seeing this because a part of me could not believe that it was real. I am not sure how I convinced myself that somehow it would not be true, but it was. Thankfully I had someone as beautiful, loving, and supportive as Jonathan with me to experience the human rickshaws with. They made me very emotional. They were so small and fragile looking sometimes carrying these massive loads of goods, heavy Indian women with shopping bags and the nicest saree you could imagine, a tourist with all their luggage, a couple running errands, etc. It is hard to imagine living a life where you would engage in such an act. Where you would not think about how dehumanizing it would be to pay a person very little money to pull you around when you know that they are not eating proper meals, are probably homeless, and have a family to support. Jonathan and I did buy bells from some of them. He surprised me by just all of a sudden asking one man on a corner if we could buy a bell. He over enthusiastically handed over his bell and asked us for 200 rupees. Jonathan gladly handed over the money and handed me the bell as a gift. It was the best gift I have ever received. I had read about the bells; buying bells is a way to support the rickshaw pullers without supporting the system that exploits them. Many men on the same corner then swarmed us and held out their bells. I wanted to buy them all. We then walked around with the intent of buying more. I bought three more and Jonathan bought one. We ate lunch at this cool stand called Hot Kati Rolls. They make delicious wraps made out of chapati with whatever stuffing you want - it was delicious. I got a potato and veggie mix and Jonathan got chicken with this amazing spice mix on it! We then got in a taxi and headed to the train station. But I made the taxi driver stop on a street corner and I got out and bought one more bell. The man was super excited and happy. He held his hand out to shake my hand and with a very pleased expression folded his money. I shook his hand and ran back to the taxi. I can't wait to someday go back to Kolkata. It is a city with so much to offer, so much more to see, and so many more bells to buy.
When I am able to hear you ring those bells, Kylie, it will be angel music as they were bought out of love.
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