This is my first blog since actually arriving in India. I am in Kolkata. Some basics first. I am primarily writing this blog as a personal record. As I am here travelling I want to know a bit more about the places I am visiting and some of that information gained will be found here in my blog. The photos below are all taken on my mob and I will update with better ones from my camera when I get back to the UK.
Some travel info. I flew with Jet Air. Only problem was fog delay at LHR caused me to miss the transit flight from Mumbai to Kolkata. For anyone planning a similar trip please note that as it is an internal transit you have to collect your baggage and clear immigration and customs before taking a shuttle bus to the domestic airport and re enter as a new passenger. This all takes time. One tip. As outside most airports you have to be careful with taxis. At Kolkata the local police dept sell paid taxis - they have a booth in arrivals. It is a great system and takes away all the stress. The longish drive into Calcutta cost 350IR. I stayed at the Bhammar's Inn. Cheap. Very clean, air con and wi fi.
So what of Calcutta - since 2001 Kolkata ( now back with the Hindu pronunciation rather than British ). Kolkata is India's second largest city over 14m people. Is was India's capital until 1911 when it was moved because of continuous unrest.
A very quick history lesson. India was in British control until Independence was gained in 1947. Previously there had been history of mass fighting between between the main faiths with people like Gandhi trying to hold the country together. With Independence came Partition. There followed an extremely bloody period with as many as 500,000 people killed by fighting between Hindu's and Muslim's. Partition acknowledged Hindu's and Sikh's could not live with Muslim's and out of the mess East and West Pakistan was created as Muslim countries and India as we know it now - 90% Hindu. (E Pakistan broke away from West Pakistan 24 years later to form Pakistan and Bangladesh).
Partition meant millions of people moved very quickly. Muslim's fled to Pakistan and Hindu's to India to be safe. Kolkata being a busy commercial centre and leading port and near to E Pakistan saw a massive influx of people in a short period. This has been one of the biggest factors in Kolkata creating the reputation it still has for squalor and deprivation.
I must mention the black hole. My dear mum would go into my brothers bedroom (never mine - ha! and say it is like the black hole of Calcutta in here! It has its origins in an uprising against the British. Some Brits were arrested and imprisoned overnight and 40 odd died of suffocation in the cramped dungeon in which they were held. There was an outcry in London and Clive to become Clive of India recaptured Calcutta for the lovely Brits.
Kolkata - arrived after a long flight. Never been to India before. Kolkata hit me straight between the eyes. I thought what have I done. This place is a nightmare! It was a bit of a nervy reaction although it is definitely full on by any standards - and that includes Cairo and Kathmandu! I smile now after a week of India. It is not as bad as it seems. You get used to the numbers of people, the traffic mayhem, the noise and some grim sights if you are squeamish.
The overwhelming impression of Kolcata is it is a place of business. Everyone is working. Thousands and thousands of small enterprises. No evidence of sitting around drinking tea and playing checkers in the way you see in so many countries especially in the Arab world.
I should mention the poverty. It is very evident and of course I never got near the worst of it. Having said that I have a view that today's Kolcata is a much improved place. There was plenty of evidence of urban cleaning and rubbish collection. All vehicles switch of their engines when in a jam. There are signs referring to a clean up the river campaign. Perhaps even the poorest areas are gradually benefiting from India's economic progress.
The traffic is a feature. Few heavy goods but yellow taxis, vans, swarms of tuk tuks and motorbikes. They honk continuously. It is incredible - for 24 hours a day. To their credit there is aggressive driving in the sense of grabbing space but they are not aggressive in a temper sense and I have come to realise that in the main the horn is used for warning.
In the short time I have been here I have found the Indian people to be polite, even deferential and certainly helpful. English is at least a second language. It seems Calcutta is not really big on tourism. I saw few westerners and people were always looking at me - perhaps they thought I was a film star - ha!
I found Kolcata quite hard to move around - I did walk a lot. Streets are often dedicated to one thing. I found sewing machine street and wheel trim street - not really what I came for and it takes time to navigate out of them.
Some of the things I saw.
The Victoria Memorial. A beautiful building in white marble set in lovely grounds of lawn and lake. A place for some peace in the centre of the city.
The Howrah Bridge and Railway Station adjacent. It is one of the two or three busiest bridges in the world. It is a massive suspension bridge and a national monument. The station is crammed with people - a city in itself. If you want to get a flavour of Kolcata just come down to this area. Over,under, around there are people living out the drama of life. A brilliant spectacle.
I took a ferry ride and back on the Hoogli River - upstream referred to as the Ganges but merged with other rivers. I got on the wrong ferry for the ticket I bought. It caused a laugh and an extra 5p's worth of ticket! All good stuff.
One of the last thing I tried to do was visit Mother Theresa's home that she made so famous. It was a long eventful taxi ride. Worth doing in itself. I get to the door of this ordinary looking building to read closed between 1 and 3. I started to walk away philosophically when this Indian gentlemen (who had seen what happened) called me back and said they will let westerners in. He knocked gently and persistently. Eventually a tiny little nun came to the door - might have been Mother Theresa's sister - opened it a few inches and said - wait for it - we open at 3 and closed the door before my guardian could say but he is a westener! No matter. I had some street food just around the corner. Tell no lie - I sat down on a tiny stool on the street waiting for my fried veggie rice to be cooked next to me in a massive wok - when a smartish looking Indian came out of the next door - pulled his tethered little goat from the main road side of the fence to the path side and tied up a bunch of what looked like laurel leaves to the fence for it to eat and then walked off. Urban farming indeed!
Some travel info. I flew with Jet Air. Only problem was fog delay at LHR caused me to miss the transit flight from Mumbai to Kolkata. For anyone planning a similar trip please note that as it is an internal transit you have to collect your baggage and clear immigration and customs before taking a shuttle bus to the domestic airport and re enter as a new passenger. This all takes time. One tip. As outside most airports you have to be careful with taxis. At Kolkata the local police dept sell paid taxis - they have a booth in arrivals. It is a great system and takes away all the stress. The longish drive into Calcutta cost 350IR. I stayed at the Bhammar's Inn. Cheap. Very clean, air con and wi fi.
So what of Calcutta - since 2001 Kolkata ( now back with the Hindu pronunciation rather than British ). Kolkata is India's second largest city over 14m people. Is was India's capital until 1911 when it was moved because of continuous unrest.
A very quick history lesson. India was in British control until Independence was gained in 1947. Previously there had been history of mass fighting between between the main faiths with people like Gandhi trying to hold the country together. With Independence came Partition. There followed an extremely bloody period with as many as 500,000 people killed by fighting between Hindu's and Muslim's. Partition acknowledged Hindu's and Sikh's could not live with Muslim's and out of the mess East and West Pakistan was created as Muslim countries and India as we know it now - 90% Hindu. (E Pakistan broke away from West Pakistan 24 years later to form Pakistan and Bangladesh).
Partition meant millions of people moved very quickly. Muslim's fled to Pakistan and Hindu's to India to be safe. Kolkata being a busy commercial centre and leading port and near to E Pakistan saw a massive influx of people in a short period. This has been one of the biggest factors in Kolkata creating the reputation it still has for squalor and deprivation.
I must mention the black hole. My dear mum would go into my brothers bedroom (never mine - ha! and say it is like the black hole of Calcutta in here! It has its origins in an uprising against the British. Some Brits were arrested and imprisoned overnight and 40 odd died of suffocation in the cramped dungeon in which they were held. There was an outcry in London and Clive to become Clive of India recaptured Calcutta for the lovely Brits.
Kolkata - arrived after a long flight. Never been to India before. Kolkata hit me straight between the eyes. I thought what have I done. This place is a nightmare! It was a bit of a nervy reaction although it is definitely full on by any standards - and that includes Cairo and Kathmandu! I smile now after a week of India. It is not as bad as it seems. You get used to the numbers of people, the traffic mayhem, the noise and some grim sights if you are squeamish.
The overwhelming impression of Kolcata is it is a place of business. Everyone is working. Thousands and thousands of small enterprises. No evidence of sitting around drinking tea and playing checkers in the way you see in so many countries especially in the Arab world.
I should mention the poverty. It is very evident and of course I never got near the worst of it. Having said that I have a view that today's Kolcata is a much improved place. There was plenty of evidence of urban cleaning and rubbish collection. All vehicles switch of their engines when in a jam. There are signs referring to a clean up the river campaign. Perhaps even the poorest areas are gradually benefiting from India's economic progress.
The traffic is a feature. Few heavy goods but yellow taxis, vans, swarms of tuk tuks and motorbikes. They honk continuously. It is incredible - for 24 hours a day. To their credit there is aggressive driving in the sense of grabbing space but they are not aggressive in a temper sense and I have come to realise that in the main the horn is used for warning.
In the short time I have been here I have found the Indian people to be polite, even deferential and certainly helpful. English is at least a second language. It seems Calcutta is not really big on tourism. I saw few westerners and people were always looking at me - perhaps they thought I was a film star - ha!
I found Kolcata quite hard to move around - I did walk a lot. Streets are often dedicated to one thing. I found sewing machine street and wheel trim street - not really what I came for and it takes time to navigate out of them.
Some of the things I saw.
The Victoria Memorial. A beautiful building in white marble set in lovely grounds of lawn and lake. A place for some peace in the centre of the city.
The Howrah Bridge and Railway Station adjacent. It is one of the two or three busiest bridges in the world. It is a massive suspension bridge and a national monument. The station is crammed with people - a city in itself. If you want to get a flavour of Kolcata just come down to this area. Over,under, around there are people living out the drama of life. A brilliant spectacle.
I took a ferry ride and back on the Hoogli River - upstream referred to as the Ganges but merged with other rivers. I got on the wrong ferry for the ticket I bought. It caused a laugh and an extra 5p's worth of ticket! All good stuff.
One of the last thing I tried to do was visit Mother Theresa's home that she made so famous. It was a long eventful taxi ride. Worth doing in itself. I get to the door of this ordinary looking building to read closed between 1 and 3. I started to walk away philosophically when this Indian gentlemen (who had seen what happened) called me back and said they will let westerners in. He knocked gently and persistently. Eventually a tiny little nun came to the door - might have been Mother Theresa's sister - opened it a few inches and said - wait for it - we open at 3 and closed the door before my guardian could say but he is a westener! No matter. I had some street food just around the corner. Tell no lie - I sat down on a tiny stool on the street waiting for my fried veggie rice to be cooked next to me in a massive wok - when a smartish looking Indian came out of the next door - pulled his tethered little goat from the main road side of the fence to the path side and tied up a bunch of what looked like laurel leaves to the fence for it to eat and then walked off. Urban farming indeed!
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| Victoria Memorial |
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| Wrong ferry. I should have been on that one! |
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| Howrah flower market - under the bridge. |
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| A small part of the Howrah Bridge |
Footnote - I have much better photos to lt the end of the month.oad from my main camera on my return to the UK at the end of the month.
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