Lazy days in a Kolkata haze

I've been in Kolkata for the last few days taking a welcome break from teaching. It's not really the teaching I want a break from, but the isolation and also the politics (which is a whole other blog entry!). I'll return to the school in January with a friend, but for now I get a Christmas holiday (as you all do in England) which is so nice and I really appreciate after a challenging two months.

I'm finally melting into Kolkata life. When I first arrived I wasn't quite at ease. I was used to quiet, beautiful surroundings - peace and calm. Suddenly it was cold, dark, busy and noisy. There was unforgiving traffic, constant horn beeping, people trying to talk to you on the street, rubbish everywhere. But Kolkata is a city with many different sides for many different people. You can do anything - mingle with the middle class shopping at the 'mall', go pray at a temple, watch cricket, eat delicious street food with the working men, meet other travelers in the backpacker cafes that serve an attempt at Western food, live it up in the lap of luxury at a 5 star hotel, barter for shawls and bangles at the busy market or sip chai from small clay cups.

In particular I love my room. It's high up above the backpacker street so I can watch the hubbub below through my open window without being seen. Several hours have passed as I just people watch. My room has it's own bathroom (although I have water only 25% of the time as they are digging in the street at the moment) and I also have a double bed with a mattress. It's a terrible mattress but compared to having none (like at the school) this is a serious upgrade so I am sleeping very well. My bed time has also dramatically changed, it's back to being midnight rather than 9pm!

The view from my window

My first day I was in such a daze arriving at 5am having had little sleep. I'd adventurously decided that I would not book anywhere and I would find a guesthouse on arrival. This actually went most smoothly. I immediately found a room for two pounds per night but it had no windows and no toilet and the walls were definitely going mouldy. But I just needed a base to recover after the rickety bus journey. Luckily I ended up moving from this slightly grim place in the evening as the guesthouse owner and one of his staff erupted into a huge fight that involved hair pulling and punching! It was all because of my camera charger which they thought was lost. They hadn't lost it......but they still fought so I decided it was definitely time to move on.

It was already dark and was a real struggle to hunt for another place to stay. Eventually I bumped into a really friendly couple from Greece who were leaving at 9pm so I said I could take their room. It was perfect. For about two hours we chilled out together and chatted in their/my/our shared room. At this point I had not talked to other people for months. So not only did I get a room, but I got some well needed company and the best hug from the girl when I explained I'd not had one for two months, it was amazing! Now I'll never forget this girl even if we never meet again.

My lovely room (this is luxury for me!)

Since my arrival I have been given some really stunning henna on my hands and feet by a lady that lives on the street outside my guesthouse. If I'm completely honest I think I only acknowledged her as I'd been so deprived of company that I was happy

to talk to anyone. She had three children, one a young baby that kept crawling towards us as she delicately tried to henna onto my skin. I enjoyed playing with her children who were cute and giggled lots but were quite grubby - but then what in Kolkata is not a bit grubby? With no water in my room, I'm also grubby! So after many more hours of sitting and chatting I ended up spending money on blankets for them as it's very cold at night here.

Have I been conned? A cynic would say probably, why would you trust someone on the street, they probably always do the same! I admit that twenty pounds is a huge amount for them, yet I spend that on a night out easily. So my thinking is that I haven't been conned as, no matter how I look at it, for me this money is not going to make any different to my life (maybe I travel for four days less), yet for them they still have no home and they still live on the streets so let them have some relief (or warmth or perhaps even fun if its is just all a scam). Plus it was interesting to see the street from a different perspective (now Ive seen from above and below).

Beautiful Indian Henna

Being back in civilization I haven't done any of the usual touristy things but instead I've just enjoyed city life - eating nice Indian food, using the internet and doing Christmas shopping. Spending money was very strange at first as I hadn't spent any money for so long. But most fun and interesting of all, I've taken the opportunity to talk to any people that cross my path. Spending time with the people of the city, all from different walks of life, has been intruiging. I've drunk chai with the beggar women in the street, the proud shopkeeper who gives me 'a good price', the educated business man, the vegetable and paneer roll man who wants to learn better English and of course the backpackers. It's been great.

So to all at home Merry Christmas in cold England. I can say with heaps of sarcasm that it is truly terrible having sun each day :-P