Day 91, Kolkata [Sunday 2nd March 2008]
Previous day: Day 90, Kolkata [Saturday 1st March 2008]
Next day: Day 92, Sunderbans [Monday 3rd March 2008]
We go and book in advance our train ticket from Kolkata (Howrah) to Darjeeling — the train is very busy, but we manage to get a 3AC ticket. It's very early in the morning and the city is so quiet. All the shops are shut and there is very little traffic on the streets. The only noise comes from the street hawkers waking up on their market stall tables, washing and dressing by the roadside and cooking breakfast. We take pleasure in just wandering around watching the place waking up. At one point we see a man pull up his dhoti, squat down in the middle of a roundabout and expel a long stream of watery shit.
We pass the famous Writers' Building, but get stopped when we try to take a photo. We wander through the leafy Park Street Cemetery, home to lots of Raj-era tombs. The're currently 'renovating' the memorials — part of the great, ongoing Indian beautification project.
We meander all the way from the north of the city to the south, getting the metro for part of the considerable distance. The streets are increasingly dirty and the area appears poorer as we approach the Kali temple, Kalighat. There are the usual stalls selling temple offerings, but the atmosphere here seems a little edgy. Kali is an aspect of Shiva, the destroyer, and takes the form of a terrible, vengeful demon with blood red eyes, spikey teeth and a drooling mouth. She wears a necklace made of human skulls and has snakes in her hair. They regularly perform got sacrifices at the temple, beheading the animal with a huge knife. Although we don't see one, we do see eveidence of Kali's followrs — she represents the baser values of Hinduism and attracts an 'earthy' crowd. The streets immediately around the temple are crumbling and poverty-stricken. The temple itself is particularly unfriendly, unimpressive, crowded and bland.
Afterwards we walk through a surprisingly affluent residential neighbourhood, with security guards outside gated apartment buildings with pretty gardens. We head to the Birla Academy of Arts, a fanastic private gallery. They have several shows on, focusing on contemporary artists from Kolkata and West Bengal. We even get to meet one of the artists while we are there. Kolkata feels cosmopolitan, educated, imposing, poor, historical, ramshackle, huge, culturally rich and full of contrasts.
Next day: Day 92, Sunderbans [Monday 3rd March 2008]
Previous day: Day 90, Kolkata [Saturday 1st March 2008]