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Kolkata, India
22° 34' N 88° 22' E
Apr 11, 2006 11:45
Distance 1616km

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WoW

Text written in: English

So Noah and I arrived in Kolkata  this morning very early (about 3 am) and took a cab into the heart of the city to catch 40 winks before attempting to purchase a rail  ticket to Mumbai.

As we drove through the streets of the city in a car that  took 4 tries to start and appeared to be 30 years old, I was not at all shocked by the appearance of the city. Trash everywhere,  crumbling worn buildings, and hundreds of  half naked people sleeping on the street. This is what I had expected, and because I was not surprised at all by the generally terrible condition of the city, I was shocked that  I had an accurate picture in my head.  For the past 5 months, every image of nearly every place I have seen has been different than what I had originally thought, except for when I arrived here.  I'm not sure why I got this one right, but if you think that  the center of Kolkata is crowded, dirty, and impoverished you are right.

so our plan this morning was to go to the train station and procure a ticket to Mumbai (bombay) to meet up with a friend for the passover holiday, and after walking about aimlessly for 30 minutes,  breaking down and getting a cab, asking 15 different people where to buy tickets, and then standing in line for 30 minutes, Noah and I had two tickets for the 36 hour ride to mumbai. hooray. Luckily we sprung for the sleeper class with ac so the ride shouldnt be too uncomfortable , just long....

After procuring tickets  we decided to try and see somethign of kolkata with the 6 hours we had before departure time, so we hopped in a cab to head to the kalighat temple. Every day  thousands of pilgrims come to this temple to pray to kali (the protector god) , to watch goats being sacrificed, pay homage to a holy tree which helps with fertility, or to eat a free lunch. When we arrived we were immediatly spotted by  one of the brahmans of the temple (we think a brahman) who lead us around and helped us participate in the prayers (unfortunately we had missed the goat sacrifices, but could stil see the decapitated heads and pools of blood). He also showed us the kitchen and answered our questions. Of course at the end, they asked for a donation for the kitchen and because  I had felt very welcomed by the brahman and because of the large amount of pitiful looking beggars near the temple, I gave 30 dollars. A fortune by my standards. 

Afterwards we saw  one of the big parks (where cricket games were plentiful), looked at an old british palace, and then ate lunch, and I am continually struck by just how crazy this city is. Luckily we will have a bit of respite (even if it is boring)  on our upcoming train ride.