Lots of Lovely Lucy

Reflecting on my time so far in India, I wasn't fully happy being at the school alone. I am proud of myself as I also wasn't unhappy by any means, but I think company was what was missing. I was so excited when I went to meet Lucy, who I will be travelling with from now on. We didn't stop talking for three solid days and despite now having been together for a while we still find ourselves chattering away which I didn't think would be possible having spent so much time together.
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Lucy and I in the busy backpacker area (Sudder Street)

What vividly stood out for me when I first met Lucy was how clean she smelt. I just couldn't stop sniffing her. She convinced me that paying someone to do my laundry was a good idea despite my initial reluctance to splash out a whole three pounds (half my daily budget). It sounds ridiculous that for this little money I was uncertain, but being and living in India, my idea of what is right, wrong, good, bad, clean, dirty, expensive and cheap has completely been turned on its head. My external and internal points of reference have been scrambled and I no longer no what is 'normal'.

For example I took Lucy to the 'amazing' room I'd had in Kolkata before with the great view from the window onto Sudder Street. I realised that it wasn't quite so great as I first thought. Back then having an actual mattress was a highlight after the hard bed of the school. But there was still no running water, the walls were dirty and scuffed and you definetely would not want to lay your head on the grubby brown stained pillows that were provided. We only stayed one night but I guess it was an eye opening experience for Lucy.

A festival in Kolkata with many Naked Holy Men (note the irony of the Coke Ad in the background)

I enjoyed taking Lucy around Kolkata and was able to navigate well having now spent quite a lot of time there. We went shopping which was fun as I could advise Lucy on on what Indian loose fitting tops (called Kurtas) would suit her so that we can be modestly dressed throughout our travels. I found it strange to eat in proper restaurants again as I've fallen in love with Indian street food which is delicious, but I needed to give Lucy's stomach some time to adapt. We were lucky enough, through some contacts, to spend some time at the British Council offices which were very interesting and apparently not that dissimilar looking from the London offices.

Poojas at the river early in the morning

Early one morning we took a trip to the Hooghly river to watch Hindus bathe and make religious offerings. After that we saw a religious festival where many naked holy men covered in paint (Sadhus) wandered around and performed prayers. That was very surreal and I felt like we stuck out so much being white, female (and not naked!). Lucy also met the henna ladies who lived on the backpacker street and too got reeled into spending three hours with them. All of my feeling of questioning them and how genuine they are bubbled up again but I could finally talk to someone who'd met them.

The Henna Women

It was very intriguing watching Lucy react and adapt to the craziness that I've grown in many ways accustomed to. From there being predominantly men everywhere, to hearing loud horns constantly, to being stared at to being asked personal details by random strangers such as marital status and income, to having ridiculous amounts of sugar in your tea. It can be very overwhelming but she took it in her stride. Or she did until our journey to the school...

After one hour the bus in front of us suddenly braked causing us to collide. The large, wide, front window screen smashed and completely fell through. OF course the driver continued the journey as planned as if nothing had happened. Everyone was freezing cold. Not much later I could smell melting plastic and we had to stop to fix the broken radiator. To top it off, without any warning the door suddenly fell off. Feeling strangely calm among the chaos, I tried to reassure Lucy that it was fine, although this can't have been a good first impression!

'No problem' is a phrase which I often hear Indians use. If this happened in London I would be totally shocked, but somehow in India it doesn't phase me. After all, we are still here to tell the tale and we were able to recover in the beautiful, still countryside of Jharkand. It's so good to return with someone to keep me company who I get on so well with. My lovely Lucy :-)