Wow. Just WOW. Kolkata is like nothing I've ever seen. Nothing like I thought it would be. And so much more. And words can't do it justice. But I promised I would blog about my trip so I will do my best.
First of all, I will generalize as say that the Indian people are quite pushy and have no regard for personal space. From the moment we stepped off the plane I have felt pushed and shoved in every which way. I don't say that to be rude, it's just that there are cultural norms, and personal space is not one here.
First of all I was very surprised at how small the airport was. I kept looking for other gates, more terminals, different airlines....but as they say "what you see is what you get". Then we all checked in through customs. Our guy was so happy to see me! We even had a nice conversation about New Years resolutions. NOT. He examined our passports and visas for a very long time. He was really irritated with me about putting both Lauren and I's passports and visas on the counter when he only wanted to do 1 at a time. He made me really nervous but he finally stamped the passport and let us proceed.
I was elected as our group's porter for baggage claim. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I'm the tallest and can see the bags coming. Or maybe because I was dumb enough to volunteer. Or maybe because I can push back. At any rate, collecting 23 suitcases from a conveyor belt while fighting off 75 Indian people felt less like travel and more like Fear Factor. When it was all said and done we had 23 suitcases and 21 carry ons that overflowed 5 heaping carts. I just found it so odd that when the people around you saw you getting a suitcase off, no amount of " excuse me's" or obvious glares would promote them to move out of the way. It was very weird. Another thing we all noted at both airports is that because there are so many different cultures nobody walks on the same side. In America we drive on the right and obviously therefore walk on the right. But in the Dubai airport there were so many different nationalities that walk and drive on different sides that it was difficult to know where to walk.
We were met with Omar and we all shouted "O"! When we saw him. It was SO NICE to see a familiar face. We pushed our 5 heaping carts to the 3 awaiting Jeep-type vehicles. Don (our guy here) hired a man to help load luggage. He crawled to the top of the car in about 1 second flat because there was no way all this luggage was going to fit in the 3 cars. So he tied a bunch of them to the roof. There were beggars everywhere. We were somewhat trapped since we had to wait while they loaded all of the luggage. The beggars are relentless. One lady just kept saying "chocolate". I assumed she was selling chocolate but really that was just the only English word she knew that meant "food" and she was asking for food. Lauren's eyes were as big as saucers as she soaked all of this in and I just prayed fervently for her for so many reasons. I'm sure any of you parents know what I mean.
The car ride. Oh, man....the car ride. I recorded some of it on video. I've never seen anything like it. You know the whole personal space thing I mentioned earlier? Yeah, that goes for vehicles, too. I sat in the front seat next and just tried to take it all in. I asked Don a million questions on the way to the house. Just a few examples of interesting things we saw:
-grown men peeing (actually that's not a big deal anymore now that's I've seen it 6-8 times). They have no regard for privacy. Not all if them were homeless men, either so it's not that.
-more spit than I've seen in my lifetime combined. Did I mention I'm 40? The men here spit relentlessly. And again, no regard that some of it might have landed by you. They chew beetle nut tree tobacco. Whatever THAT is.
-dead body riding in the back of a flat bed pickup truck. It pulled up next to Lauren's window at a stoplight. She didn't say anything and none of noticed. Finally I glanced over and said "What is that?" and Don replied, "Dead body. They're on the way to the crematory." It was covered in flowers but the feet were sticking out.
-Children. Children EVERYWHERE. And many of them alone. Just wandering.
At one point during our trip we abruptly pulled over and Don got out of the vehicle. We were in a very busy part of the street and it looked and felt dangerous. But Jana and I and the girls assumed that we had arrived at the house so we jumped out and walked to the back of the car to begin unloading the car. I kept saying, "This doesn't look like the pictures!" Then all of the sudden we heard Don say "Where are my girls?" and then we realized that we were NOT at the house but instead had been pulled over by the police. All was well and we jumped back in the car to pressed on to the house.
So in the middle of a VERY busy street in Kolkata and large security guard stands behind a gate that swings open just long enough for vehicles to slip in and then I knew we had arrived at the house. The grounds are impeccably groomed and the whole place is just an oasis in a dirty, crowded city.
A little guy that's an employee at the BMS dragged all 23 suitcases up 3 flights of stairs, sometimes carrying 1 on his head and 1 under his arm. We tried to carry some and it took the 12 of us 3X as long. Most of these bags weighed around 40 pounds.
We took about 45 minutes to get settled and freshen up. Then we left headed to lunch at a little diner. We all tried some Indian food. It was good!
Then we came back to the house to unpack supplies and see what all we still needed to get. Then Omar took us on a field trip that I'll never forget. We visited the place where Mother Teresa worked and lived. It was amazing and interesting. Then we walked further down the street to Sishu Bhavan, Mother Teresa's home for orphans. I wish I could bring them all home with me. Their smiles were so big and their faces are so sweet. They held their arms out and really just wanted to be touched. We rubbed their arms and played peek-a-boo and just generally fell in love. Funny side note: the nuns are all like little grandmas in so many ways. They are so patient and kind. And they always think the kids are cold so they dress them very warmly. The temperature was comfortable, probably around 80 degrees and yet the kids were all wearing flannel and polar fleece. Then we went outside to their playground. Omar told us the story about how it was donated by some wealthy woman but I'm a little fuzzy on details right now. The kids on the playground were so sweet. The kids I was talking to We're fascinated by my watch.
Then we decided to walk down to a shopping area. When we were told that it's a 40 minute walk we all decided that we were just too tired to walk so we rode in little taxis called "rickshaws". These were not the 2-wheeled kinds with a man pulling them. These are gas powered, 3-wheeled vehicles. They don't have doors or sides. They drive them very aggressively and at several points along the way I was pretty sure I was going to die.
We did some shopping Omar took us out for McDonalds. We all took funny pictures of the menu. Not a single beef item on the menu. Hindus do not eat meat as there is a chance that they could be eating Grandma since they believe in reincarnation.
After several tries at trying to get a taxi, we gave up and started walking to the trolley lane. We were so glad that we had Omar and our trusty guide S. the trolley barely slowed down for us to get off or on. It was quite comical. We were also so exhausted that everything seemed funny.
Needless to say we were all asleep by 8 pm. Talk about a long day!
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