Kolkata

The word culture shock doesn't come close to describing what I felt when we arrived here yesterday ... and ironically it started so calmly.



Despite reading stories of mosquito swarms at the airport and touts, crooks and con artists hanging off every limb .. arriving at the airport was a pleasure. no car came from our hotel but we got a taxi straight there with no problems ... we are staying at The Fairlawn which is a very famous / trendy arty types hang out .. chintz and memorabilia everywhere and an eccentric armenian proprietress widow of an englishman. The place is like a throwback to colonial times ... waiters in white regency suits and turbans, set menu meals served at tables with your eating companions dictated to etc and walls covered with actors / artists to have stayed there. All very pleasant !! (OMG the food is too awful to describe though .. 50's english food cooked horrendously and set menus every meal)



But then we stepped out !!! The drive from the airport had passed slums and plenty of street children but when we left the hotel with Toby on our back we were immediately accosted by women and children ... and when you have a three year old with you , you feel so much more defensive !! We walked to Park street described as the 'buzzy eating centre of the town' but that is not how we would describe it . Dusty, squalid and decaying works better for me ... the old architectue is stunning but crumbling like I have never seen.



On the way home ..having managed to find a lovely patisserie and fill Toby with sugar we had to deal with questions that are not easy from a three year old ..."why is that woman holding onto daddys leg" "why is that boy asking for money" and hardest of all "why are those babies sleeping on the street" are not lessons we were prepared for ... but I guess they were eye-openers !! We had been told that kaklota is the least tourist friendly town in India and the most poverty stricken but until you are there and see family after family (7 in a row all with babies) sleeping at the side of the road in a sewer directly outside your hotel you can't comprehend !



Today we ventured to the park for a walk (ripped off for a horse ride and then someone asked to have their photo taken with toby before standing next to kate ... another scam where they later pretend it is their family to win the confidence of westerners) and the victoria monument before heading for the sanctuary of the Tollygunge Club ... an exclusive members club with swimming pool ... although our sandals were deemed to poor to allow us in the main restaurant !!

Also worthy of comment is the traffic ... although nothing in volume compared to Bangkok the sheer disregard for other cars, bikes , pedestrians etc. is unbelievable ... the highglight being the scrums to cross the road which neccesitate police holding us back with ropes like horses at the start of a race while people jump under and over the ropes to dodge the cars !! quite scary with toby on our back !!

Lastly ... I was amazed to see human pulled rickshaws ... Kaklota is the last place to still allow them (they are best for avoiding flooded roads during monsoons apparently) but the thought of sitting up high in a carriage while someone pulls you through the streets is so distasteful ... would be worse if they weren't desperate for you to do it to support their livelihood !



We are only here becuase we couldn't get flights to Delhi ... another lesson in preparation !! but hesd to varanasi tomorrow night by train (12 hrs overnight) before Agra (another 12 hrs), Delhi and a flight to ahmedabad for the wedding .

p.s. Much props to Oli and The Epstein on getting 4 stars in Rolling Stone Magazine (Germany) for their new album ... as well as a great review in Q magazine !!

(Rolling Stone (xxxx) Germany: "The Epstein have recorded this beguiling debut with an overwheing sense of ingeniousness and enthusiasm... There has not been a better band to come out of England this year, the epstein play in another league - in a vast, desert like land of the soul." )

read the reviews ... joiunt the facebook group here ... http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=5946829493&topic=3906