Kolkata: The Streets and V0lunteering
I arrived in Kolkata/Calcutta almost a week ago. What an amazing place! Big. Busy. So in your face. About the time I think I'm getting a handle on things, something happens and my thoughts start reorganizing.
To start with I'm staying on Sudder Street, the haven for backpackers and foreigners. I've met one other American-a woman from Hawaii. The others are from Germany, Ireland, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, France, Switzerland, Mexico, etc, etc. One German told me Sudder Street has really cleaned up since he was first here
20 years ago. I'm glad I'm here now.
I'm staying at Hilson Hotel, another funky place. The second day I was here I looked at a less grungy place but stayed with Hilson because the room is spacious with high ceilings. Also there are two large windows. The sun never hits them directly so they and the overhead fan keep the room amazingly comfortable. The tiled bathroom is nice too. There are no mosquitoes and only one quiet mouse. Add to that there is a line on a roof for drying wash and the guys who run the place are pleasant and I decided it was a keeper.
Once I leave my room the streets seem pretty grungy too. Things are swept every morning, but this is a city of 14 to 15 million people with few trash cans and much dust and grime. And there are people sleeping and living on the sidewalks. It seems I am often walking through some one's living room, bedroom or kitchen. This is Burnside in Portland one hundred times over. I don't know if you can see the bathers in this photo. They are are on the right side of the street. Bathing and washing clothes at the tap or pump at a curb is common. It's also common to see men sitting on the sidewalk getting a shave or a trim.
Hawkers, in stalls and not, are also common on many streets. This is Nehru Street where it connects with Sudder Street. You can eat, drink, and shop at stalls like these. Shoes, bags, clothing, books, watches, jewelry, underwear...its all there.
I'm not sure what happened to Park Street. It's uncluttered and relatively clean. The shops are more high end. The street has a newer more modern feel. It's not as interesting to walk down!
But the rest of the streets I've been down are brimming with interesting things to look at. You're apt to see men pulling rickshaws, herds of goats, milk cows, someone hauling water...maybe in a leather carrier that looks like it might be the hide of a goat,chai stalls, street eateries, green coconuts and fresh fruit stands, shops the size of a closet or window, a street urinal at a curb the walls of which reach a man's shoulders, cable cars, yellow taxis, women in burkas or saris or chudia thars or even just pants and a top, men playing cards on the sidewalk, etc, etc. And beggars. When I first arrived every time I sat down to eat there was a woman with a baby on her hip at the door or window looking at me. And when I bought water a woman with an empty bottle would be saying, "Auntie, no money, just milk." I've shook my head or said No enough that some of them are ignoring me now.
Through these streets I now walk 30 minutes Friday through Wednesday mornings to the Sisters of Charity, the organization Mother Theresa began. I'm volunteering at Shishu Bhavan, a home for orphaned children. I'm working with handicapped 1 to 5-year olds. So far I have made beds, fed, worked on motor skills during exercise time and generally entertained. Cameras are not encouraged. They are seen as distractions from the work that needs to be done. And they are. But maybe on the last day I can get a photo or two ...unobtrusively.
20 years ago. I'm glad I'm here now.I'm staying at Hilson Hotel, another funky place. The second day I was here I looked at a less grungy place but stayed with Hilson because the room is spacious with high ceilings. Also there are two large windows. The sun never hits them directly so they and the overhead fan keep the room amazingly comfortable. The tiled bathroom is nice too. There are no mosquitoes and only one quiet mouse. Add to that there is a line on a roof for drying wash and the guys who run the place are pleasant and I decided it was a keeper.
Once I leave my room the streets seem pretty grungy too. Things are swept every morning, but this is a city of 14 to 15 million people with few trash cans and much dust and grime. And there are people sleeping and living on the sidewalks. It seems I am often walking through some one's living room, bedroom or kitchen. This is Burnside in Portland one hundred times over. I don't know if you can see the bathers in this photo. They are are on the right side of the street. Bathing and washing clothes at the tap or pump at a curb is common. It's also common to see men sitting on the sidewalk getting a shave or a trim.
Hawkers, in stalls and not, are also common on many streets. This is Nehru Street where it connects with Sudder Street. You can eat, drink, and shop at stalls like these. Shoes, bags, clothing, books, watches, jewelry, underwear...its all there.
I'm not sure what happened to Park Street. It's uncluttered and relatively clean. The shops are more high end. The street has a newer more modern feel. It's not as interesting to walk down!
But the rest of the streets I've been down are brimming with interesting things to look at. You're apt to see men pulling rickshaws, herds of goats, milk cows, someone hauling water...maybe in a leather carrier that looks like it might be the hide of a goat,chai stalls, street eateries, green coconuts and fresh fruit stands, shops the size of a closet or window, a street urinal at a curb the walls of which reach a man's shoulders, cable cars, yellow taxis, women in burkas or saris or chudia thars or even just pants and a top, men playing cards on the sidewalk, etc, etc. And beggars. When I first arrived every time I sat down to eat there was a woman with a baby on her hip at the door or window looking at me. And when I bought water a woman with an empty bottle would be saying, "Auntie, no money, just milk." I've shook my head or said No enough that some of them are ignoring me now.
Through these streets I now walk 30 minutes Friday through Wednesday mornings to the Sisters of Charity, the organization Mother Theresa began. I'm volunteering at Shishu Bhavan, a home for orphaned children. I'm working with handicapped 1 to 5-year olds. So far I have made beds, fed, worked on motor skills during exercise time and generally entertained. Cameras are not encouraged. They are seen as distractions from the work that needs to be done. And they are. But maybe on the last day I can get a photo or two ...unobtrusively.
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