WALKING CALCUTTA

Thursday, March 14

Walking Calcutta

As I didn't start my volunteer work until last Friday as Thursday's are a day of prayer and there is no volunteer work,  I took advantage of another balmy 97 degree day to dive into a great book that Bob gave me as a gift before I left, Walking Calcutta: On foot through the backstreets and byways by Keith Humphrey

I started out at 8am to tackle Chapter 1, "Around Dalhousie Square to Old China Bazar Street."

This covers just a small section of central Calcutta.  Dalhousie Square has been renamed, like so much of the city and is now referred to as Benoy Badal Dinesh (BBD) Bagh after three Bengali martyrs.  At the center of the square is an artificial lake where it's not uncommon to see people bathing and washing clothes.  I remember this from my previous visits.  

Highlights of the walk - PLEASE NOTE- I'm still trying to figure out how to add photos to this blog, so I realize the next section won't be terribly interesting without them, so my apologies until I do!

Writers' Building - completed in 1880 - originally used to house clerks of the East India Company, now houses the offices of the Bengal State Secretariat

Old Mission Church - built in 1770 and said to be the first Protestant church in East India

St John's Church (aka 'The Stone Church) - built in the 1780's and is one of the oldest churches in Calcutta and supposedly built to a plan adapted from London's St Martin-in-the Fields Church.  There is a large painting of "The Last Supper" by Johann Zoffany that is actually pretty nice

Great Eastern Hotel - the once famous and grand hotel (recently saved and currently under renovation) is the oldest in Calcutta and one of the oldest to be found anywhere in India

Monument to those who died in the "Black Hole of Calcutta"

St Andrew's Church

Calcutta General Post Office

Old China Bazar

On the way back from the walk I decided to take in a noon showing of a Bollywood movie, "Saheb Biwi aur Gangster Returns."  It was a "thriller" with a lot of plot and not much singing and dancing (which I prefer, surprise, surprise!), so it was a bit difficult to follow as I don't understand Hindi, but it was enjoyable all the same.  Love he intermission and every time someone in the movie lit up a cigarette a message would appear at the bottom of the screen, "Cigarette smoking is injurious to your health." They also ran some very graphic anti-smoking commercials during the intermission.  The ticket for a "dress circle" center aisle assigned seat was $2.21!  Two last things: people talk on their cell phones, loudly, during the movie and nobody else seems to mind and I saw a huge cockroach scurry across the aisle in front of me, so I felt a little itchy for the rest of the movie!

It's truly amazing observing the everyday life here as I walk around.  The mix of the "haves and the have nots" is fascinating.  And the daily coexistence of everyone is just amazing.  Walking around and absorbing my surroundings in just a few short days quickly reminds me of why I fell in love with this city the first time Bob and I visited in 2008 and during my subsequent visit in 2010.  The crazy honking of horns, the countless sleepy street dogs, the smells (some of the worse and some of the most wonderful I've ever smelled), the sight of men and boys of all ages bathing and brushing their teeth at street side pumps as men in suits and young guys in designer jeans and Nike sneakers are quickly passing by on their way to work or school, beggars - women with naked little children, men with missing limbs, uniformed school children all bright and shiny, street food vendors on almost every corner cooking the most amazing looking and smelling dishes (I so wish it were safe for me to eat it!) ..and it just goes on and on.  A never-ending dazzle of color and life.  It may sound extremely chaotic...and it is...but there seems to be such order to it all. 

So, a HUGE thank you to Bob for the great gift of this book and I look forward to doing most if not all of the other walks on my days off.