just some calcutta points of interest

A number of people have pointed out that I have not blogged in a while. So, here I go- an abridged version since pictures are always more interesting. My parents visited for two weeks, and I have been away. Their tour de India included a 3 day look at Calcutta and its traffic, a visit to Darjeeling (tea capital of the world), Sikkim (the northernmost state fixed between Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet, and India), and finally a very brief visit to Agra, city of the famous mausoleum- Taj Mahal. I have some pictures (and apparently my dad has 400 of them). I will be sending out a link to pics at some point in the relatively near future. Until then, there’s only this written description.

For two days and three nights I dragged my parents all over Calcutta. It was a good introduction to this chaotic, polluted, congested, and amazing city. We spent nearly a day attempting to find a variety of locations (Tagore’s boyhood home, an old synagogue) which we never found. We had a car and driver for the day, and we involved scores of people in many hoods in our escapade (directions). Yet, we never made it to any of the desired locations. Instead, people recommended and the driver drove to other locations where they thought we would want to go instead. These other lcoations were generally interesting but still not at all what we were looking for. It was without a doubt, however, a very Calcutta experience. Finally, the frustration in the hot car came to a head on the part of me, my parents, and the driver and we decided to part ways. We asked to be dropped off on college street, a street of book stalls and students. I took my parents for a gourmet lunch at The Indian Coffeehouse, a coffee cooperative with excellent crumbling ambience. I love it! By gourmet I mean that we each ate two slices of toast, with butter. After lunch we took a cab to Dalhousie, a government area with huge colonial style buildings. We were in the area to search for the largest and oldest synagogue in Calcutta- Mogen David Synagogue. Apparently it is not a big tourist attraction, because even when we finally made it to Jewish Synagogue Street, people did not know where exactly the synagogue was located. In fact, they showed us the way to a church instead. Incidentally the church guards knew where the synagogue was located and pointed us in the right direction after a multi bhour search through many neighborhoods. when we were nearly there I kept asking for “Old China Bazaar," since my mom’s crappy book indicated we should look for the synagogue near the bazaar. The synagogue was not in fact on Old China Bazaar Road, and after a few more slip ups of my mom’s useless travel book we read its contents only to mock it.

Interestingly, Old China Bazaar is one of the most interesting places I have been in Calcutta. One end of the street features about 98% men walking and doing all manner of “manly” things such as carrying huge plates of glass covered in hay, creating and carrying metal pieces, selling pipes, locks, plastic things, etc. The other end of the street (this is a very long crowded alley-like street/lane/bazaar) was a more even mix of men and women (maybe 60%men/40%women) and the stores sold school supplies, plastic toys, kitchen supplies, and other items. It was a very obvious and interesting point of note. That evening we had some tasty but overpriced Chinese food.

The following day’s Calcutta highlights were the botanic garden and the Dakeneshwar Temple in the far north of the city. Driving anywhere was/is always treacherous but we made it to both these divergently located locales relatively unscathed. The huge park featured the largest banyan tree in the world, and was a nice respite from the city. I would not have any idea how to return to the park, however, which is actually not in Calcutta, but in the next city over- Howrah. We then drove to the amazing temple in north Cal. Again, getting there was treacherous but it was worth the trip. Dakeneshwar is a beautiful Hindu temple, with a huge complex, on the bank of the Hoogly River. There is one main complex, with two smaller complexes beside it for prayer, and 12 smaller temples for the God Shiva. I have no pictures because none are permitted inside the complex (but it really is amazing- so you’ll have to visit if you want to see it.) It is built in a Bengali style, with slanting terraced roofs made to look like rural Bengali huts. As with all temples, one also has to leave one’s shoes outside the main gate. When we returned to pick up our shoes we found that Rob’s new trainers had been stolen. Then we noticed a stall behind where we were standing that was set up to watch the shoes for one rupee a pair. Ooops. Later we went to eat at the tastiest Thai restaurant in Cal. Mmmm.

Moving on from Calcutta will have to wait til tomorrow...