An Indian Experience

(Colonial Buildings downtown Kolkata, Park Street Cemetary reminiscent of New Orleans, Bodhgaya temple, looking down the Ganges during a burning).

Calcutta or Kolkata as it is now known has a bad name for itself and I'm not completely sure why. There are far dirtier places in India. There are lots of poor people, unyielding begging could be a little tough. Women with babies hanging off them, people with disabilities of all kinds, withered elderly people and lots of children. Nevertheless, we liked Kolkata. It's crowded with people all the time, down the market streets and in the expansive parks where everyone is playing cricket. We visited the Victoria Memorial, Kali Temple, the Marble Palace, the Park Street cemetary (members of royal family, famous writers etc. were buried here) and Tagore's house. I'm sure none of these places are even remotely familar, most are familiar with Mother Theresa and gheap homes of the homeless. I am getting used to men elbowing me in the chest, sometime very painfully, I have yet to catch one of them.

We spent a night in Bodhgaya after a painful SL class train ride (the lowest class where 9-10 people cram into a small space and even if you book a sleeping bed, some Indian man is found fast asleep in it upon your arrival). Space is not an option here. Bodhgaya is the site where the prince obtained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree to become Buddha. A Bodhi tree that is said to be the descendent of the original was planted in 1873, I can't remember the previous dates for Bodhi trees, but it looks like the current one is dying due to mass tourism as explained by a concerned Buddhist. See! You can learn something from a crazy, ranting European hippy.

We are now in Varanasi after another gruelling train ride, made a little better by having some other tourists to speak to. We both caught the bug...AGAIN! We haven't been eating meat here, but it could have been from anything. We noticed that people are notorious for resealing water bottles, as we once found dirt smeared against the inside of our bottle in Bodhgaya. I was finally well enough to walk around the ghats (steps down to the river) today and saw a family burning a body on the edge of the Ganges. That didn't freak me out at all... Hopefully we'll muster the energy to get up early for a river ride at 5am.