Feb 17
Arrived Calcutta about 7AM, only an hour late. Kennedy says that this train is frequently 5 or 6 hours late. He is traveling down to Madras later in the day, a 30 hour journey.
There are fewer porters hassling me even though the station is huge. Made my way to the street and tried to hire pedal rickshaw but when I explained where I was going, the taxi drivers told me that it was not allowed for pedal rickshaws to take anyone over the Howrah bridge.
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| Calcutta |
Went “walk-about”. Had poor sense of geography. Wandered roughly south west and found, “The Maiden”, a large green area which is the Central Park of Calcutta. It contained many athletic clubs, press clubs and athletic fields. I stayed to watch cricket for some time, there were about 10 games proceeding in parallel on a space large enough for one and a half cricket matches. The wickets were offset by perhaps 25 feet and all the players were interdigitated. Somehow they were able to keep track of each game without interfering with each other’s games.
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Feb 18
Breakfast at street vendor on right (2nd time there). 4 puris and some yellow vegetable curry, couple of sweet enchilada things. As usual, it tastes great, is incredibly cheap and is very fast. Only downside is that a lot of the street vendor stuff is deep fried. This would not be a problem if I was getting lots of exercise, but as yet, I’ve not gotten much since leaving Hyderabad.
Asked at Paragon Hotel if they knew a good travel agent. One of the people behind the desk escorted me to his friends’ travel agent. They were absolutely clueless about Tawang. They had never heard of it and did not know how to get there, what permits were required, etc. I need to contact a couple of the local travel agents listed that specialize in Arunachal Pradesh travel. Then perhaps go back to his friend to book the “easy” travel.
Went for dinner from 7:10 to 8PM. Went to restaurant on corner (name is “Super Fried Chicken”) and had chicken kebab, realized after ordered a banana lassie that they had KingFisher, so ordered one of those as well. Total meal 170RS + 10 tip (80 of this was the beer). Walked around block and got egg chicken roll (Kathi Kebab), where they take a chipati, heat it in a wok, throw an egg on it and then add some chicken and veggies and roll it up into a tube. Absolutely delicious! Thus far, I am a big fan of the street vendor food.
No pictures today! Am I slowing down? Sick?
Today’s biggest accomplishment is making contact with Mr. Wange, who might be able to get me into Arunchanal Pradesh and also finishing the Indian section of Liz Gilbert’s book, Eat, Pray, Love. This third of the book dealt with Gilbert’s search for happiness and her discovery that for her, happiness lies deep within her and is released when she communes with God through meditation. Definitely some good food for thought for me.
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Feb 19
- Walked east to Maiden, the large park in the middle of Kolkata. There are many colonial era buildings east and north of Maiden, and they are all in a sorry state of disrepair. I heard that rents have been held to ridiculously low rates so that land lords cannot afford to put money into the buildings for upkeep. Made my way to Howrah bridge and the famous flower market. It is indeed very large.
Someone pointed out to me as I walked that my shirt was ripped at the shoulder. I found a small sewing shop whose proprietor fixed my shirt while I waited. A small crowd gathered to both watch the shirt repair, but more importantly, see a white guy stand around with no shirt. I took some pictures of the repair in progress and true to form, the audience clucked and hooted when I showed them the pictures. Unlike the ripoff guy in Varanasi who charged me 50Rs, this kind man charged me 5Rs, a much more reasonable amount. I get a kick out of interactions like this, where this tailor and his son will likely remember this event for a good long while. It cost me nothing and provided some good entertainment for a group of locals.
Taxis are the norm in this city, unlike Hyderabad where three-wheeled autos are the norm and Varanasi where pedal rickshaws are the norm. Not sure why autos are not more prevalent, might actually be for reasons of pollution, since the 4 stroke engines of the taxis would be far less polluting than the two-stroke auto engines. A 15 minute taxi ride from Chinatown back to Sudder Street cost me 50Rs.
My taxi went past the “Great Eastern Hotel”, which looks like it has been neglected since Indian independence. I think it would pay someone to purchase many of the “old” buildings having classic architecture styles and restore them. Another prime one was the old cannery, which is built near the eastern end of the Howrah bridge. One day, it will be like the other restored canneries in Monterey, London, Halifax, Boston and other cities which have revitalized their water fronts.
I met a Korean woman in the hotel who tells me that I must see the Indian movie: Tare Zameen Par. She likes to sit in the theatres and watch Indian movies. I need to do this at least once for the experience!
Went out about 3PM, found a stand selling egg/chicken rolls and ate one. I love them! (Navneet tells they are called Kathi Kebabs.)
Ended up at Indian Museum at 3:45. Closes at 4:30PM. Had time to quickly peruse most of the exhibits. As mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide book, one of the biggest reasons to visit this museum is for the ambiance. The rooms are grand, with 35 to 40 foot ceilings. They had rooms full of minerals, fossils and different stuffed animals. The different specimens were housed in 12 foot high wooden cabinets with glass doors. One of the first things to greet you upon entering is an ancestral elephant with twelve foot long tusks. Absolutely immense.
Many French are staying at my hotel (Paragon Hotel). I hear it spoken constantly, one of the guys staying next door likes to sing, so I hear lots of French songs.
After the museum, wandered a bit, found a couple camera shops, one was quite good and asked about Nikon scratch guard. He knew what I was asking for and directed me to another district where it sounded like many camera shops could be found. It is soooo hard to find street names in this city, I looked for the other shops and asked around but was not able to find anything.
Made my way back to hotel area and went to a bar close by. Asked for a gin and tonic and was told there is no tonic. Was told the same thing by a bar in Hyderabad. I wonder if this some cruel joke on the English, to boycott tonic water? Seems odd one of the places where it was most needed would not have tonic water. Ended up having a “Thunderbolt”, strong beer. I looked at the label trying to determine what constituted a strong beer, but never did figure it out. It was definitely more malty than other beers I have had, perhaps that is what is meant by strong?
Was sociable this evening, sitting in the courtyard around 7PM. Met Matthew, a young Frenchman taking a year off before starting to practice law. We started talking about blog sites and when he learned how illiterate I was, he took me across the street to the internet café and showed me how to import pictures. Soon I will have my site running.
Feb 20
- It rained like crazy in the waning hours of the night. I remember wondering whether the monsoon had started 4 months early.
- Talked to Mr. Wange, he found a way for me to visit Arunachal Pradesh on Feb 27. It involves saying that I am with a group but then the other members of the group do not turn up. There will be a fee paid to the government of 8000Rs but this is a one time fee so this is OK with me.
- Went looking for a place to fax a couple pages from my passport. I was re-directed several times to different shops, as the signs claiming fax capability do not really mean that a working fax is inside. I eventually ended up in a tiny shop, Lindsay Business Centre, having a desk, three phone booths (one occupied by a computer) and various phone related equipment. The chubby proprietor, Mr. S. K. Samad was friendly, helpful and competent. He had a beautiful assistant helping him with most of the clerical work. She sat in a corner and had a folding ladder over her head which provided access to a small loft area. She would ascend the ladder whenever copies or laminations were required. I was amazed by the amount of business this tiny operation generated. I spent an hour in his shop and over that time they serviced about 30 transactions.
- When I realized that Samad’s shop was also a travel agent, I asked about getting to Cherrapunjee. I ended up booking a flight to Guwahati this Friday. I will need to find my own way from Guwahati to Cherrapunjee.
- After sending the fax and booking travel, the next priority on my list is getting a Sikkim permit. Went back to the Foreigner Registration place and they said I could not book my Sikkim permit more than two weeks in advance. He said I would have no trouble getting a permit from Guwuhati, Silguri or other places in the north. One less headache for me to worry about. During much of the morning I kept asking for an internet café that had wireless access, since my laptop does not have an Ethernet connector. It was fruitless. If you travel to the third world and must connect your laptop to the network, make sure you have a computer that has an Ethernet port. I ended up going to a Reliance Computer Café and was able to use some of the minutes I paid for in Hyderabad. I borrowed a USB stick and transferred some photos onto the picasa website and then into my blog. I have not tried doing anything with the text but will work on that transfer today, along with posting all of my good pics.
- The best snack food I have found is something called Mad Angles, Chilli Dhamaka. They are a bit like potato chips by thicker and lighter. They have a chili flavor that is very tasty.
- I was having a hard time finding my way back to Sudder Street. I knew I was close, but found myself in a Muslim neighborhood. I was taking pictures of the street vendors when a barbershop caught my eye. I got my first 20Rs shave. The whole process took at least 30 minutes and proceeded in three phases. The first phase was removal of my beard, which had grown to almost ½” since my last shave in Hyderabad. The barber used a straight razor with replaceable blade. Then he re-lathered my face and did a close shave with his normal blade and he finished up by daubing five or six different lotions onto my face. The first seemed to be some sort of astringent, as I felt my face stinging in quite a few locations, and I assume this first layer is to seal up my face to prevent any bleeding from small nicks. Then he applied various lotions. I felt that he was using every aftershave in his shop in order to impress me. The whole time, a small group was gathered on the edge of his shop, watching this foreigner get shaved.
- Got back to the hotel, rested for a bit, and was heading out to get some food and met the two Danesh women, Peeya and Mette, and we decided to go eat together. I mentioned to them that I had just seen the French Canadian return to his room and for the first time in three days, he was not singing. I commented that he must be unhappy (my actual thoughts were that he sings to impress women and he likely struck out with his romantic attempts and was feeling down). The women laughed and relayed how they spent the whole afternoon with him and perhaps that’s why he was unhappy.
- We went to a vegetarian restaurant just off Park Street, recommended by their guidebook. Peeya, the dominant one, commented on how much the restaurant reminded her of Rajasthan, with colorful painting on the walls and the ornate, velvety dress of the waiters. We ordered a variety of dishes and also after much deliberation, ordered a bottle of wine. The wine, at 900Rs, cost as much as the rest of the meal. It was a white which was just tolerable. The Indian wine industry has some way to go before becoming a world power.
- After eating our fill, Mette and Peeya remarked that they would prefer not to return immediately to the hotel, as it is not the most pleasant place to hang out. They had been to a club which had live music, so we sauntered over to the club just as the band was setting up. I was shocked to see margaritas on the drink list and immediately ordered one as did Peeya. It was very good and I ended up having three before the night was out.
- Our arrival before the band started was fortunate as we scored some seats and a table. The place really packed up once the music cranked up, with about 120 men and perhaps 10 women, including the two Danesh blonds. Peeya knew all the music, Beattles, Dire Straits, Eric Clapton and others. It was all from the 60’s and 70’s and very danceable. For the longest time, no-one was dancing, but eventually a few of the guys started dancing together. Peeya, Mette and I were the only mixed dancers on the floor.
- Back at hotel around 12:30. English poet and a couple other brits sitting at table, while guy with guitar playing and singing softly. Joined them briefly till a Chinese woman came out, clearly angry, and asked that we please be quiet. I headed off to bed at that point. I hate the spins.
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Feb 21
- Awake at 7AM, feeling quite fuzzy headed this morning. It is most noticeable when lock my door when going to the bathroom. Turning the key in the padlock while holding the padlock in place on the door seems to be a big challenge for me. I guess the margies and wine last night were stronger than I realized.
- Spent all day working on pictures and text for blog site. This takes a lot longer than I expected. In the evening, I’m ready to upload my work but all the cyber cafes close to Paragon and they are all full. Eventually found one on Park Ave. Uploading is painfully slow but I did make significant progress.
- Tried to hire a rickshaw on my way home since I was quite tired by 11PM (I closed down the internet shop.) I thought I heard the driver say 20 rupees and when I said this, he started jabbering Hindi to me, I kept repeating 20 rupees, several other drivers came by and all their body language said no, it was more. I got PISSED and walked off. Then they all started jabbering furiously and saying, “Hello, Mr, 20 rupees OK.” One of them in particular was chasing me and I made it clear that they had tried my patience and I was going to hoof it home. It was all of 7 minutes back to the hotel, so it would have been an easy 20 rupees for the driver. I’m curious whether he just did not know what I was saying or if he was playing for more money. In any case, I missed out on my chance for a rickshaw ride in Calcutta.
1 comment:
Hi David,
The egg roll thingys are called Kathi Kababs and they are just absolutely delicious. There are very few places in the US that make those, so have your fill of the Kathi Kababs while you can.
Navneet
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