Leaving Kolkata

The month in Kolkata ends. Tonight I take a train up to Gaya and a bus to Bhodigaya, which is supposidly where Buddha reached enlightenment. Plans have changed.

On Friday I had a realization that in no way did I have the funds, or energy, to travel around the South as well as do the North. This is due to a number of factors. First of all, I realized a train from Mumbai to Udaipur is 24 hours...hmmm...Also, the girls I was going to travel with down south are not on a shoe-string budget. They might be on a budget, but still enjoy going to 100 plus rupee dinners, having 'spa' days, and in general not fully emerging yourself in the culture. If I went with them I would be the only one eating street food and wanting to search out for the cheapest lodging. Anyway, Scott and his friend Matt, who I was going to meet in Goa at the end of the NOvember showed up in Kolkata on Sunday, and I jumped ship and joined there's and am now travelling with them up NOrth.

Basically I had to make a decision, North or South, and ultimately I decided I wanted to see Rajastan and that probably wouldn't happen if I went South. Similarly, the South is huge and dawnting and a lot of the stuff to see down there are places I would not understand the significance of. HOly sites from 2000 years ago that Hindus flock to - I would just see a piece of sand and not quite understand. I am still a bit sad and wondering if I made the right decision..but its too late now. It will be a nice change of pace travelling with Scott and Matt, they have been all over Asia the past 3 months (mongolia, china, tibet, myanmar, nepal...other places I can't remember) and I like the speed at which they travel, it should all work out.

Unlike many of the people here, I am not in any way sad to leave Kolkata and right now cannot think of anything I will miss, other than the party rickshaw. Maybe next month I will feel differently, maybe not. A big part of it has to do with how isolated I was the whole trip. It was only until last week that I even tasted the real local food. I didn't make great friendships with the people I worked with either. There's more I could have done to immerse myself in the city, but really, I didn't want to that much. I don't hate the city. Don't get me wrong. It is a great city with a lot to offer, a lot to love and a lot to hate. But as they say, not my cup o' tea.

Anyway, I am excited about the next part of my adventure. Blog's maybe be slightly less frequent depending on where we stay, but I will keep careful notes and take lots of pictures. I am very excited to see more of the country.

wahoo!

Corrections...

So, I concede a bit of my rant yesterday. It turns out its a very very good thing that the 14 year old girls we were with were not allowed down to the docks where they dropped the idols. When mobs of drunk and overlly excited males are out in full force, girls should not be let in. It turns out a few girls (young girls) were gang raped at night and one person even got killed. Icky. It makes me feel gross just thinking about it, and even typing it, but I thought I should clear the name of...I don't know who. But I guess sometimes these rules are useful, and really do protect the women of this country.

Today we made dozens of journals. so satisfying. the majority of mine were perfect. It feels good, real good, to produce something tangible. I think I'm going to become a book binder...



Just kidding, hahaha, scared some of you didn't I? Just like in college when I was a sign makers assistant and decided to open a sign making busines...

Last day of Puja and Jain Temple

After that perfect morning I recently described we went out to dinner in the evening. We always do this on Sundays because that is the one meal our cook mary has off. So after dinner walking down the street we saw on of the trucks bringing the Idols to the river. In front of the trucks were drummers and about thirty guys dancing around. They all were having a total blast. "come join the moment!" they said to us. Stacey and Adam immediatly went in and started dancing with them, but the rest of us stayed behind, a bit embarrased. Eventually we decided we couldn't pass up this opportunity and ran up and jumped on the back truck with a bunch of teenage girls. They were very welcoming and immediatly demanded we start dancing and cheering at the top of our lungs. They asked us the usual questions, "what country. how long in kolkata. where are youstaying. why are you here. first time in india?' all of that, but most of our time driving along the street was spent dancing and yelling. it was a sort of roll call, one girl would yell something, than we say "jaaaaa" then she says something "jaaaa!!!!!" then she says something "habat mada" (something like that) then over and over again. it was great. then. 'why aren't you dancing, dance, please dance, dance somemore...why aren't you dancing more" they covered us in this pink powder, from the ganesh idol i think. All along the street other trucks would zoom by and we would yell out 'jaaaaaa!!!!!". We were going really slow because we were a truck full of kids, but eventually we made it to the Ghat (next to the giant Cricket stadium...) with about 10 other trucks in line ready to put the idols in the water. Women were not allowed to watch the dunking or leave the truck - we might fall in...

i'm having more trouble than i thought accepting the discrimination against women in this country. its really starting to get to me. I mean - there are some temples where women aren't allowed during 'that' time of the month. COME ON. are you serious? its just hard for me to accept a belief system that thinks women are so mentally unstable they aren't allowed in a holy place. its insane. Anyway, i'm sure it wasn't that exciting anyway, it was dark...

So...we dumped the idols and then literally raced back. We got back to their apartment complex and danced and danced..and had more pink powder dumped all over us..had some sweets..then the music stopped, and it was over. "ok, its done. Puja's over, have to wait until next year.." There was a huge fuss about us leaving, we kept trying to leave, and then a mob of 40 some people rushed towards us and said - no no, wait wait, we will take you home, you can stay here, its too far to walk. you joined our festival we can take you..", "no no, its ok, we can walk, its not that far" then they all rush towards us again. Eventually we piled in one of their cars with 4 of the girls and they drove us home. it was almost too much. They were just soo excited that we had chosen their truck and wanted to go with them. They couldn't believe it. "never forget us" they pleaded as we got out of the car. "don't worry, we difinitely will not forget you"..

So, that was amazing.

yesterday we went to the Jain temple. it is hard to describe how breathtaking it was. From head to toe, inside and out, covered in sparly mosaic and mirrors. So beautfiul. There were just a few pieces of stained glass and the light shown in so perfectly that there were a few rainbows on the ground.. i took some pictures of the outside, not allowed to take photos on the inside. But if you can see the sparkly mosaic pictures, imagine a building completely covered in that. Every inch accounted for. All walls, the ceilings were exquisite - a emerald green chandelier..So amazing. Still - There are a few sects of jainism - one thinks that women can be saved, another says they can't...i just...the men in this country are taught to be pushy and boss women around...

Actually..i digress...Anubhav's cousin is a really perfect example of this point. When we were walking he would say, "you walk here, come over here" even when I didn't think I really needed guiding...all the usual stuff. he even took a few pictures for me when he thought i didn't have a good enough view, or was taking the wrong angle. Anyway, typical Indian male behavior..but then as we were walking back he was saying he still lived with his mom, and how it is not uncommon for men to live with their moms until the age of fifty. and i quote "indian men don't grow up" "we are all little boys" - he was only 19 so is is just a kid, but still. They are taught to have confidence and be controlling and have an air of knowing - but they don't..they are scared little boys whose mommies tell them what to do...

another example - when you start asking one guy for directions, or show him a map, after about thirty seconds there is a crowd of dudes all trying to tell you what to do. They see you talking and strut down the streen "lets see what all the fuss is about, I be I can help figure out this mess.." They all know. You know nothing. ugh..

I keep managing to end on a rant. its ok; here is the link to the pretty pictures. the first bunch are of different pandals. They are a bit tedious and repetitive, i just want to show how many of them are, and how different they can be. Next is a few of the cemetary - I don't think I mentioned they were all Scottish, and a bunch of them were boys who died around age 33 at the turn of the century...Then there are pictures of the Jain temples.

http://ups.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023787&l=622e6&id=17701665

Chai Cha

Ah, this is a brief interlude. Best morning ever. Since I didn't have to go to work the last few days I allowed myself to sleep in. This means not getting up at 7:30 am to stuff my face with white bread and watery oatmeal, and sugar. It's great.

So, I woke up at 9 am and after a day of rest needed to get out and move around. Hardly anybody is out that early in the morning, and its a major holiday, so the streets were almost empty. just the people who live there and maybe 20 cars and 1/4 the ammount of honking.

I just walked down AJC Bose rode farther than I usually do and came accross a cemetary. It was totatlly grown over and the gate was locked, but these sorts of places have caretakers that pretty much live in a hut by the property just waiting to let random people like me in. So he let me in and it was very small, all the paths except for the main one were grown over. It was a Scotttish cemetary. Isn't it interesting how everything takes on a greater significance when in a cemetary? There were all these dogs lying around and they trotted away when I came near them. Spooky dogs, guarding the graves, friends with the ghosts? maybe? Crows hovered around, at least one on each tree, crowing as I walked by. Souls of the dead not ready to move on? I think so!

Anyway, I moved on and kept walking and walking and I turned down a street parallel to one i knew - I wasn't totally lost - and found a place to get Chai. This chai was 4 rupees instead of the usual 1, which at first I was angry about, but it turned out to be the best chai in the city. The perfect amount of spice and sweet, and a generous serving at that. Not too much sugar, mm mm good. For the first time it actually tasted like tea, not just sugar milk. Yummy. Then a little but further down I got a delicious simosa. Now I know what they are so I can get them with confidence, along with the sweet sauce. It was soo spicy. My head was hot and sweaty, but I felt all cleared up and a little more alert afterwards. Delicoius. Then I went a round about way home along Ripon street. There are about 15 ripon streets in the area so its hard to know if you are actually going the right way..I just kept walking knowing I was going sort of the right direction. Eventually I made it to my new favorite ice-cream/sweet shop and got a refreshing ice-cream and some sweets for later. I'm really getting anxious to taste all the local food. As of yet we have been eating the same veggie/potato mush and cadbury chocalates, its time to expand the horizons.

Anyway it was such a great morning I just had to write about it. This afternoon I hope to find which Ghat they dump the idols in and make sure I get there. It should take all day to dump all of them since there are so many, so I am confident we will succeed.

I will leave with a link to one of the videos I took at the dancing ceremony the other night -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwxgGl46sds

Pictures

Durga puja pic's...they are not the best, but i think you can get the idea..

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023668&l=1e4b8&id=17701665

Durga puja

Hm, where to begin.

A city of 17 million people, crowded, congested, turns into a city of 40 million for the 5 days of durga puja. Walking down Park Street, a street normally covered with people and cars honking honking honking honking, is deserted at 4 pm. once again this city is the queen of paradoxes. more people. less noise. But, if you are at one of the thirty plus parks/areas/alley ways home to a beautiful pandal (temporary structure thing) home to an ornately painted and decorated sculpture of the idols, and if you are at this location after 6 pm, you wont be able to move through the crowds and crowds of people. Everyone goes freakin nuts. The bigger Pujas are at parks and are like mini carnivals. Stands selling food and drinks, there are even carnival rides, the whole deal. There are at least 10 of these big parks throughout the city. Then you turn a corner and a drab alley way has been transformed into a lighted festive scene drawing you in towards their own special pandal. Apparently each district or area is supported by a given organization, some have more money, others don't. Regardless, the pride and joy and love that goes into making each pandal is breathtaking. They call it pandal hopping, going from one to the next, looking at the scene of idols, giving a short prayer. I went Pandal hopping with my Internet buddy Anubhav of Thursday. he took me to the biggest ones in the city that were close by. unfortunately, i forgot my camera because i didn't know that's what we were going to do - however, the big ones all kind of look the same. There are two molds of the idols - well, let me explain about the festival.

This is a meshing together of the many varied stories and takes on the festival i have heard from locals. Durga is the mother goddess. She is married to Shiva. She is the one with 10 hands. She has four children; Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth), Saraswati (Goddess of Knowledge), Ganesha (God of Prosperity) and Kartikeya. The sculpture has Shiva in the middle, with two children on either side. Shiva rides a lion and is killing a demon. From what i could understand from Anubhav, the demon came up and took over the world, and Shiva was the one who defeated him. Then from Anubhav's cousin - she went on a killing spree and killed everyone and didn't notice who she was killing. At one point trampled on Shiva and killed him (almost killed him?) - when she realizes she is standing on Shiva her tongue sticks out - that's the incarnation of the goddess kali. Kali puja is next month some time.. Anyway, during Durga Puja Shiva comes down to visit us mortals and gives us good luck for four days, then on the 5th day we dump all the idols in the river as she has to return to her husband Shiva. During the first two days a priest/shaman goes around to all the different pandals breathing life into the idols. Anubhav took Kate and I there on Thursday night. It was sooo cool. I have a couple videos that I am trying to upload to youtube so you can see. Mere pictures can't describe the mood of the event. So many people. So much drumming. So much incense. There are groups of drummers all around the city - practically going 24 hours a day. Sometimes the rhythm is a bit off - they're going all day long - but the spirit is always there.

Another thing. This holiday compares to the Christmas of western countries. Universities get the month off. People buy each other gifts. Woman - oh the woman - where beautiful new outfits. A new outfit for each day. Sometimes two. They looked amazing. Some of the jewelry...all to match...wow...

So I only got to see the big Pandals, but these other two girls went on pandal hopping north of the city, and the stories they told. These weren't as big, had less funding, but were more creative. The structures are less traditional, - we saw one shapped like an old Tall Ship! - and the inside decor more orginal. They said one had hundreds of hand crafted birds floating from the ceiling. When you see just a few pictures of these buildings you will see. Everything is made from bambu and cloth - what! - bambu and cloth. man. its cool.

So, Anubhav. My almost travel companion. He is such a sweatheart. He is just a loveable guy who's friends with everyone and is a total law nerd and just hilarious. He took me around to see the pandals on Wednesday, and showed me some amazing traditional Bengali food - simosas with a special bengali touch - fried fish things - mmmmm good. he told me all about the city and the festival and was just truly gracious. Then he invited me and whatever friends wanted to tag along with his friends for the celebration on Thursday - the first official night. His friends were mostly lawyers - his cousin just got her masters in international relations - and were all really nice. They spoke mostly in English which was really great of them. Sometimes they spoke so fast you couldn't understand anyway..So, we hung out at his house awhile, went to see the dancing priest dude, then got egg/chicken rolls. Soooo good. yum. They came from this random alley stand with a menu written with magic marker on cardboard. We never would have known to go there before. it was a lot of fun walking through the city with locals. These were kids our age who grew up here, went off to university around the country and returned home for the holidays. Anyway, later we went back to Anubhav's to hang out. It was so interesting. They were all talking and gossiping about law school kids and what happened one night at the bar - at one point this girl said, "oh, I think we're boring them" but we said "no!, this is hilarious", really, all we had to do was subsitute our own friends names for their's and we were talking about the same people. We are all the same. its truly amazing.

As nice as Anubhav is, i don't think we will end up travelling together. I need to experience this country for the first time. He wants to explore places off the main grid. While at one point in my life that might sound good - not now. Now, I want to go to the tourist places in the south, even if he thinks its a bad idea. i think we both understand that so its cool. He's also one of those people always talking about grand plans and what they're going to do - but the plans change constantly and most of it never gets done. A lot of his e-mails make more sense to me now, the listing of all the random cities, not wanting to book train tickets yet...it will all work out. For a few days I was really nervous about cancelling our plans, to be honest, I'm not sure he ever thought it was going to work out...ah well...it was great having him show us around.

Now - work is off for a few days. The past few days we have busilly been glueing notebooks for the imminent order. Basically I am extra factory help so the girls can go on vacation - but, if I can support this organization that is ok by me. They are trying to expand and are currently working on a water purifaction project...i just have to keep reminding myself...

happy Durga Puja! yay!!

Pictures

Here they are:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023586&l=8468b&id=17701665

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023585&l=9a512&id=17701665

Cicada Sunrise

Ah, Darjeeling. Sitting a top a hillside station in a cafe with the capacity to make one dish at a time, overlooking a fog hidden view of the Himalayas, sipping my cup of deliciously strong coffee and eating french toast made from home made wheat bread with honey and sesame seeds, I realized how happy I was. I quickly realized how much I did not want to go back to Kolkata. We could breath fresh, the people were friendly, no unashamed stares by the young men; an aura of peacefulness and tranquility radiated throughout the whole town of Darjeeling. Don't get me wrong, this is still India. People live humbly and there are dirty squat toilets and sad disease ridden roaming dogs, but it is different. No honking horns, unless you are turning a windy corner, no one hassling you for anything - pure bliss.

The first two days we were there it was fog covered. We walked around the one path, went to the small shops, went to this great little Hindu/Buddhist prayer center covered in prayer flags with little buildings where you could offer a few rupees and get blessed by the men there and get the third eye paint stuff. I watched for awhile before I had the guts to go in, but I eventually did, and someone gave me incense and said to walk around the building three times. Shiva, Buddha..and something/someone else I couldn't quite figure out. Anyway it was great. The whole place was covered in monkeys as well. Real monkeys. The cutest little babies running and playing and being cuddled - it was great. When I get my pictures to upload I will send the link. They were soo cute. We did get attacked a few times though. At one point we were trapped at the bottom of this stairwell surrounded, but a guy gave us some banana to feed them as a peace offering and we made it out alive. It was close.

So on Sunday morning we got a tour up to tiger hill to see the Sunrise. We had to get to the car at 4 am so we could get up to tiger hill on time. After a sleepless night we made it to the van and proceeded on a very bumpy journey up the hill. Side note - the jeep ride from the train station to Darjeeling was 4 hours of bumps and turns - we were all nauseous - but compared to that this was cake, even after 1 hour of sleep. Anyway, we got to the top of this hill where there were all ready at least a hundred people gathered. WE found a spot right up front facing where we thought the mountains were going to be, and waited. It was almost pitch black. Slowly the sun rose to our right, and straight a head we see that those clouds off in the distance aren't clouds, their freakin the Himalayas. Imagine being in Seattle on top of a hill and seeing other hills in Portland. It was insane. They were so far away, but we could see the details and the shadows...I can't even describe. We were so gitty. And that was just the beginning, almost the whole landscape in front of us was filled with rolling hill tops and the Himalayas poised along the backdrop. Completely breathtaking. I decided then and there that I will go to Nepal. You have to after seeing that. I never thought Nepal was a place I needed to go. Things change. It was awesome. I wish this computer had a USB for me to upload pictures, but they will come. I promise. My little camera couldn't get too close, but I think you get the idea. There are a few ones that look boring, but they are part of the panoramic scene that we watched rise out of the dark fog. Wow. There is one with a tiny little white peak in the background - that's old Everest. Pretty darn cool.

Another thing that made me not want to return to Kolkata: Kate found a grey hair on my scalp during lunch on Saturday. A GREY HAIR. I am 22 years old. I know I can get stressed and anxious about things, but a grey hair. This city is obviously too much for me. I was close to accepting defeat. But, I came here for a reason, to put myself in a hard situation and I have to continue. However, I don't think I'm going to be working everyday all day for the next two weeks. Luckily Puja is coming up and we will be on vacation. I took the day off today to read and chill out - hopefully I will get some sleep tonight. I didn't sleep Saturday, and I couldn't sleep on the overnight train last night because: My seat smelled like urine and crap (literal crap..., and a 10 person Nepali christian singing group was sitting next to us and decided to stay up all night talking and practicing their ballads. It put the others to sleep, but I couldn't do it...tonight is the night. tonight i sleep!

Well, a few days ago I wrote a whole long entry but the internet bailed out on me and it didn't save. When I wrote it it was raining. It rained for two days. now its a bit cooler. The first day after the rain the smog cleared up a bit which was wonderful, not its just kind of grey and humid. The thing about this place seems to be you're wet no matter what. you're either sweating, or wet from rain. Its just a fact of life. ah well.

Before I get into the current thoughts here are some quick notes on food and clothing;

Food- mostly rice, lentils, fried potato things, vegetables, meat, more potatoes, more rice, more lentils...food is included in my program fee, so we get cooked meals at the guest house. They're OK. After the first day i became a vegetarian and haven't really craved meat since. i think the first day it was bad because it tasted like the streets smelled - not the icky poo or anything, but all the smells of food and pollution all melded together...anyway I don't eat the meat. The lentils are really delicious. Everything has sugar in it, which of course makes it good. The guest house food isn't too spicy because of all the frequent travellers, my favourite is this fried veggie potato onion patty deal...its the best..yummy...and all the varieties of fried breads are delicious as well. The fried street food is starting to look pretty darn good, I'm going to try it one of these days, the fruit looks amazing..but alas...cannot..eat...yummy...fruit...drinks...:(. Everyone drinks chai as well. They boil milk, chai, and sugar and dispense it in little tiny espresso sized cups for 1 rupee. YUMMMMY. Aparently the hot tea is better for hydration than cold drinks...

Clothes - free for all. The men wear funny seventies style tight bell bottomy pants and tight button up or polo shirts. The men here are TINY, and they all wear really tight clothes. Its funny. The younger 'cooler' guys wear weird acid wash jeans with buckles and pockets all over...then they wear shirts that say things like "jeans" and "modern"..hmmm... Women- married woman wear Sarees and unmarried wear the long shirts with pants underneath and a scarf. The deal is cover your upper chest and most of your legs and it doesn't matter what you're wearing as long as you're covered a bit. You can wear sleeveless shirts (not spaghetti straps) as long as you have a scarf. The younger middle class girls wear western clothes - tight jeans and short shirts - on the subway today a girl was wearing an above knee black skirt, nylons, black pumps and white button up shirt - that's rare though. I don't really go places where girls like that would hang out..ritzier nicer places..

So...

Things are finally starting to fall into place. There is actually work for us to do and Kate and I have a nice routine getting to work with the auto-rickshaw and the metro. party rickshaws are hard to come by, as much as I put out the party rickshaw vibes they are always taken...it'll happen again...someday. The girls at work are warming up and talking to them is a lot of fun. Ranjita speaks the most English and is such a sweetheart. She is 22 and has two older sisters who both have kids, and lives with her mom. Her father passed away. She is so funny though, i asked if she was married and all the usual questions they understand and she's all "me, no marriage, never marriage, me no baby. But my sisters babies, they don't call me auntie, they call me mommy. Us small family, but very happy, i have a good life, very happy." It was really great to hear her say that. And today when I was working on the excel spreadsheet she came in and was just watching me. AT first i thought I was getting in trouble for browsinging the net...only for a minute...but really she was just fascinated. She asked me to teach her how to use the computer. So I opened up a word document and she typed her name and I had her write "Ranjita is cool. So is Radha. They are in kolkata" She knew how to spell almost all the words. She had such a smile on her face at the end. i pushed her to write more but by the end she just said "OK, we done now?". She's definitely one of the brightest girls there, she works really hard and seems to practically micro-manage the whole operation. Maybe its just because she speaks English but she definitely is a go-getter.

While work is going well, the city is a bit claustrophobic and you get a bit stir crazy. So, we are taking a mini-vacation and going to Darjeeling this weekend. WE are all sooo excited. it took a few days to figure out where to buy the train tickets but we finally got them and are taking a sleeper train Thursday night. From there you take a jeep up the hill to Darjeeling - hopefully it doesn't rain more because otherwise the roads might be too muddy...we'll see. The volunteers before us went and their pictures are breathtaking. My little camera might not be able to pick up Everest, but we will hike up tiger hill at sunrise and it should be able to capture something.

Plans for after the program are starting to fall into place as well. Daniella, one of the new volunteers and i are flying down to Chennai on Oct. 30th where we will meet her friend from Canada and tool around the South for three weeks. Apparently her friend has been researching where to go, but it should be fine. I'm sure we will see some cool temples, hang out on the beach in Goa, go to the market in Mysore and i definitely want to make it up to the Ellora caves. Then, a friend from college might be able to meet me in Goa (woo beach) and we will go up to Mumbai for the wedding and then up North to Rajastan and the Taj and maybe Dharamsala. All of this is up in the air but that is my ideal. Whatever happens happens and things always seem to work out somehow. Getting the flight down to Chennai was good though, I was having trouble committing to anything, but now it is set. As long as the airline doesn't flake..which might happen...as I was finalizing the purchase of tickets the woman said "oh, and while this ticket is non-refundable, if the flight is cancelled then we can refund your money"...the fact that she said that means it happens enough...statistically and all...it'll be fine...

Pictures

I was able to upload pictures to facebook, so here is the link to the album..

http://ups.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023256&l=7e748&id=17701665

Party Richshaw woo

Man oh man, everyday here is an adventure. Yesterday, when I got to work Semal told us one of us needed to go back to the BMS (where we are staying) to get two letters for him. He wasn't feeling well and couldn't go. Not thinking clearly in this heat I didn't question why letters for him would be delivered to our guest house half way accross the city, and not keen on stitting watching girls sew, I volunteered. When I got on the metro it was jam packed. I mean I was literaly smooshed against the window and could not move. At the next stop about 8 more guys got in and we all managed to fit. It was insane. Everyone is sweating and shoved up against each other, let me tell you I was holding tight to my bag. After a few stops more people got off and it was fine. Then I walk back to BMS, i got a little lost on the way back but no big deal. Elliot street, my hood basically, was in a complete standstill. See there are these trams that go along elliot and totally random times, and cars and rickshaws as well. So when traffic is busy the trams can't get by because the cars and rickshaws weave in and out of the tram tracks. Basically everyone is stuck and and horns are a honking. Its faster to walk during these times...anyway, I go to pick up the letters - turns out their invitations to a Christian giant prayer megathon at the end of the month wehre 15,000 will gather. So I'm running a private errond for Semal. Let me tell you I was livid. Absolutely pissed off. One of the other volunteers jokingly nicknamed me CfJ. Courier for Jesus. I was about ready to quit. After my blood sugar level was restored and Semal gave us time off and paid me for my travel expenses I felt a bit better. I'm not running anymore erronds though...

The best part of the whole trip, was the party rickshaw. Some of the auto-rickshaw drivers 'pimp' out their rides and put in loud speakers and flashy lights. So I was in this rickshaw with 5 other young Indian dudes wearing the hip western clothing and flashy sunglasses cruisin' down Elliot street with the indian version of drum and base - uhn sis uhn sis uhn sis uhn sis - tre surreal.

This morning we had the day off so we walked to the Victoria Memorial which was great. On the way there we walked though this open field filled with goats and goats. hundreds of goats. more goats then you would every imagine. It was cool. The memorial itself is standard. Well kempt gardens, huge colonial styel building...colonial art and 'greatness'... it was nice to be somewhere quiet..

Its starting to thunder! rain! yay! We were talking last night about how they air felt heavy and thick. One british person called it pregnant which caused confusion with the canadians and americans...anyway at certian times of day you can hardly breath because the air is so thick with gasoline fumes and spices and trash and just the city...

First Day and other notes about the city..

So we had our first day today. Walking to work the streets and allys are filled with people making bambu frames for the huge Dunja festival coming up. The whole city literally shuts down from Oct 18-28. There are huge parades, festivities, and overall absolute mayhem, as if the city wasn't chaotic enough to begin with. Anyway, the craftmanship of these people is simply astounding. As of now we just see bambu frames, but they are starting to add paper mache and we can see shapes arising- dragons, egyption figurines - everything. Its going to be sooo cool! The women we work with are very nice. It is a small space on the top floor of a building. There are eight woman and one man who oversees the project. The NGO that started the business is Christian, along with most of the organizations we work with, and live at..which isn't a problem. I have no problem with that, don't get me wrong. AS long as I don't have to go to the prayer readings after or before the girls go to work I'm fine with it. Yet - For the first 30 minutes today our boss/manager guy gave us a whole schpeal on Christianity and how finding Jesus/God(he wasn't too clear on the distinction) was the way to happiness and peace of mind and there is only one god and realizing that is the only way...neadless to say I got a little miffed...It seems to me the people who converted all these people from hinduism to Christianity really focused on the importance singular God and lumped that all in with the teachings of Jesus - I'm not sure if I will take the time to find out. Its actually really interesting. In this country, one of the first things people ask is "What do you believe?" not, "what is your religion, or do you believe in God", but "What do you believe?". Its a little disconcerting, I still haven't quite figured out my answer. So far all I've come up with is "I dunno, everything? nothing?" That answer gets me a very peculiar look...so does the fact that I am 22 and unmarried - that was the first question the girls asked me at work today. It is hard talking to them as of now, but I will practice my phrases and get better with my sign language and I think I will have fun with them. They are just a bunch of young girls doing craftywork all day...its not a sweatshop because we get tons of breaks - all though we do sweat all day..hahah...but I think it will be fun. The very best best part is that I will get to do computer stuff. Semal asked me to help him type up some prices for a proposal to send to Boston and I had to hold back from making a spiffy excel spreadsheet. I couldn't help from fixing the formatting though. I think now that he knows I like doing stuff like I will do it more often. He has to catch up on the books for the past three months in the next week because the big boss is returning..:)..Today was my first day walking around by myself, it felt good to not be with a huge group all the time. All the other volunteers are really nice and I have fun hanging out with them - but sometimes you just need some space. There is an older woman, Anne, from new york, who is great, but is staying at a hotel accross the street. Her days of dorm living are over..I went over there last night with the other older woman and talked for awhile which was fun. After I mentioned wanting to go to the Jewish settlement in Kochi we found we were all Jewish and are going to try to find the one Temple this Saturday. In fact I'm going to look online for the phone number right now..still no pictures, they will come..

Slow Down

Despite the relentless car horns and hustle and bustle on the streets of Kolkata, things actually move quite slowly around here. For the first few days you are thrown into this mess and feel like you must be moving constantly. Something to do, something to see, somewhere to go. However, the only way not to go crazy is to just relax. Sure they wake you up at 7:30 in the morning for breakfast, but then, you chill out until 10 or 11 before getting up and taking a shower and starting the day. Almost nothing is open before 10, and a lot of the work projects don't start until noon. Instead of going to work today we went shopping with Vashal and saw more of the city, and we all wanted to get cell phones. What we (I) did not realize was that you don't just get a cell phone in one day - oh no - first you have to get the passport sized photo - then in the next few days you make photo copies of your passport - then a few days more you go with Vashal to the head office to get SIM cards - then later you go to by a phone, and finally a three month pre-paid plan. Like most things the whole process will take a week or so. Its no problem though, it gets done eventually right? This is what my job is going to be like. I will be working at a small factory near the red light district. I will be working with former workers of that district who are now seamstresses and book binders. I will be helping sort the good products from bad products, and serving as an sort of manager/keep people motivated to work person. I will hopefully get to screen print and make some journals of my own that will then be sold to the clients. I'm pretty excited to start tomorrow. Its a little sad I wont get to play with little children, but thats ok. What we're doing is pretty good as well - we are enabling this women and giving them a sort of self confidence they didn't have before. However - as Claire - the former volunteer has warned us - these people do not work fast. It is tediously slow moving and slightly inefficient, with little change in sight. That's just how things are around here, relaxed and slow going..If I learn one thing in India it is to relax and SLOW DOWN.