Day 90, Kolkata [Saturday 1st March 2008]
Previous day: Day 89, Kolkata (Calcutta) [Friday 29th February 2008]
Next day: Day 91, Kolkata [Sunday 2nd March 2008]
We go across the road from our hotel to get a cup of tea from the man who is there, on the pavement, brewing a sauce pan of it on a little wood fire. He has a wooden stall next to the fire, and a wooden bench for customers. On the stall sit some loaves of bread, waiting to be toasted on the fire once the tea is done and the pan removed. There is a boy, too, about 7 years old, who takes packages of tea and toast and disappears on errands with them - presumably takeaway orders. There is also a man sitting under he tree, next to the stall, completely covered from head to toe in soap lather. He is sitting cross-legged, a towel across his waist, having a bath in the street, next to the tea stall, across the road from our hotel.
We are sitting on the wooden bench, sipping the delicious, hot masala tea. When the man having the bath has rinsed himself off with his bucket of water he walks past us and reaches into a cupbaord which is adjcent to the tea stall. He removes a freshly laundered shirt, and behind the door gets dressed. He then takes over tea-making duties from the other man. We can only presume that he lives here, on the bench and in the cupboard, and that we are drinking tea in his front room.
We order some toast, which is grilled on the fire and comes buttered and sprinkled with sugar.
We walk through the Maidan, watching people play cricket, herds of goats nibbling the patchy grass, goatherds walking behind them with sticks, others just sleeping under the shade of the trees.
The Maidan is enormous, and we see the imperious Victoria Memorial long before we reach it. Eventually we arrive there, a magnificently imposing British monument plonked in the middle of a vast, flat park. Its immediate surroundings are filled with pretty gardens and landscaped water features. A statue of the elderly Queen Victoria stands in front of the building, and another one of her younger self stands inside the grand central court. The building is currently being cleaned, and sparkels bright white all along its facade except where the scaffolding still stands over on the right hand side. There worker scrub at the yellowed and stained stone.
Inside the are exhibits of Calcutta photos from the Raj era, painting collections from the same, and an extraordinarily details history of the founding of the city and its ensuing growth. It covers the trade, politics and wars of the 17th to 19th centuries, the ridiculous pomp of the Raj merchants and the consequential, simultaneous suffering and enrichment of the local population. It's a holistic, honest, provocative and through exhibition. We come away with a much clearer idea of Calcutta's place in the history of India, and of the Raj.
We go to a 'fast-food' place, Haldirams, which turns out to be anything but fast. In true Indian organisational fashion I end up queueing in a disorderly rabble for 10 minutes, just trying to and my money over to pay for what I want, in return for a series of vouchers. After that I need to then go and queue at 3 separate food counters to collect each of my dishes, and each counter has different food supply problems, and a different, or non-existent, system for dealing wth the vouchers. Some just take all the vouchers being thrust at them from all angles, and then rely upon memory to recall just who ordered what, and in which order. Others refuse to take a voucher until your order is ready, which results in a whole queue being held up waiting for one person's dish to be heated, or packed, or cooked.
After all that, at least the food is good.
We finish the day with a couple of beers at a rooftop bar in one of the hotels near Sudder Street. The bar is full of posh Indians ostentatiously drinking cocktails. We can see the famous Howrah Bridge from here. It's massive.
Next day: Day 91, Kolkata [Sunday 2nd March 2008]
Previous day: Day 89, Kolkata (Calcutta) [Friday 29th February 2008]