2 Weeks in Kolkata

Saturday, Nov 2^nd in the morning we left BCC and Shillong. It was a bittersweet “see you later” to the sisters, novices, our friends in the city and the house girls, but not a goodbye as I’ll be back to Shillong just as soon as the Universe guides me to be. After we spent almost 2 weeks outside the convent, we moved back on Wednesday, October 30^th and were there for the funeral mass and burial of Sister Lilly who passed away a few days before due to a long struggle with invasive cancer. See Circus’sblog for a beautiful telling of that story.

During our last few days in Shillong we were happily able to continue consulting for BCC. We finally met the original architect and helped to line up some other building professionals very close to Bellefonte who are willing to consult and assist as this stage of the school progresses and construction on the next stage begins after the New Year. A new committee has just been put into place to oversee the day to day construction and hopefully to improve on the labor time as building has been going slower than anyone would like for the past few months, especially due to the ILP bandhs and threats. And a grant proposal for some funding for the next stage of the building is nearly finished. So I’m happy to report that things are moving along and students should be filling benches early next year.

I extend another humungous thank you to those who have supported BCC in the past few years in so many ways. It has been a blessing to get to meet and work with the students whose lives you are changing and the sisters who so greatly appreciate all your prayers and contributions. During our last few days we found out that the money raised from Laugh for a Change had finally arrived in BCC’s bank account, thanks to the Salesian Sisters in Texas, and those funds will go to the building project in the very near future. Be assured of more updates as we get them.

It took 2 days to get to Kolkata, our next destination, via taxi, train, a spontaneous camping excursion in front of a Kali Puja thanks to Circus and the kindness of strangers during a 6 ½ hour train delay, and another taxi. Kolkata is a whole other kind of India! Some might say it’s more of the “real” India, what you see in pictures and hear stories about. India is so vast and varied that every place is like a different country, so I’d say it’s just a different face of India. Like the Hindu religion worships many different manifestations/personalities of God, India has so many personalities. Kolkata is, obviously, more famous than Shillong, though, and more touristy. Immediately we noticed the prevalence of tourists, and especially Caucasian tourists, here.

Our first few nights we stayed with a very kind family we met in Shillong, and then moved to Sudder Street which is a quintessential backpacker district. If you’ve ever done the 3^rd world country backpacker scene, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. Streets and alleys filled with cheap Guest Houses and Hotels, corner cafes with continental menus, banana pancakes, and free wifi, rickshaws and taxis lined up on the streets, plenty of beggars and stray dogs, and people trying to make a living off the wants and needs of foreigners.  Our first night on Sudder Street we stayed in a room just a foot wider than the double bed that was, well, less than comfortable. It was cramped, dirty, noisy, and smelled of mold, pretty much what you’d expect. The next morning we walked around in search of better accommodations before we checked out of our “honeymoon suite” – always better to do without the big backpacks in tow – and found a very comfortable room for the same price ($8US) with 4 twin beds, very high ceilings, big windows and our own bathroom. BYO padlock (which you should always carry in India FYI) and there’s no toilet seat or hot water, but those are things we can live without! There is also a nice rooftop terrace where travelers convene in the evening to talk over their adventures and drink Kingfisher Beer and which also makes a great, quiet(ish) setting for morning yoga.

The roof is also a great place to cook since we’ve finally been able to get petrol for our camp-stove in Kolkata. Shillong was a no-go as they wouldn’t sell petrol except to cars because of the protests. This will help us save money whenever we have time to cook, which does take at least an hour and a half with 1 burner and everything from scratch. We’ve done well with food so far (knock on wood, please!) as neither of us have gotten sick except a few incidents with too many chilies and the usual repercussions. We are careful to not eat anything raw unless it’s fruit that we can peel ourselves, anything that’s been rinsed with tap water and not cooked, or street food that isn’t piping hot. It is nice to prepare our own food, though, as we can feel safer when we eat it and it’s usually cheaper.

Kolkata, I believe, is the 3^rd largest city in India after Delhi and Mumbai (Bombay) and ranked just above Madras (Chennai) which I spent a few weeks in on my last trip to India. The Bengali people are quite friendly and we still get stared and pointed at, even though there are more foreigners in this city. It’s big and we’ve found the best way to get around is by the Metro which is a surprisingly clean and straight-forward underground subway. A few times we’ve gotten on nearly empty subway cars but a few times they have been packed, as you’d expect them to be in an Indian city. This afternoon was one of the latter. Fortunately, Indian trains have “ladies cars” in which only women can enter the section of the compartment. And it’s really, really, really great. While women will glance at me and even occasionally smile when our eyes meet, men just blatantly stare, sometimes mouths gaping and eyes glued open. Frequently I’ll raise my head and look down a subway car and see at least half the train staring at me. It doesn’t help that I’m at least a head taller than 95% of the women and 50% of the men. But to tell the truth, I probably wouldn’t ride the subway without those ladies cars. There is no such thing as “personal space” in India. Thus, on a crowded train you are literally smashed up against the people around you. And before the invention of separate areas, women were often molested or felt up on those crowded trains.  I’ve had my fair share of being groped or touched on crowded Asian transportation and it’s not a situation I’d like to repeat. So thanks to the ladies cars, I actually feel safe on an Indian subway.

In other ways, though, I don’t feel so safe in India. I mean, I’ve had no reason to not feel personally safe, but reports of abuse towards women and gang rape (2+ men) is on the rise in India. I was reading the newspaper regularly but had to stop a few days ago as it makes me afraid to go outside. In North Kolkata alone last weekend there were multiple gang rapes reported, one which led to the murder of the victim. There was also in interesting story in the paper about the need to regulate and mandate the use of rape kits and treatment of the victims as it has been a seriously neglected practice, especially considering how common it is. In fact, one of the ways that doctors have always tested for evidence of rape is to check the condition of the hymen. So that means there will be no evidence if a sexually active woman has been raped?? They are just now talking mandating regular forensic tests and psychological support of women who have been assaulted.  Many activist groups are fighting for the rights of women and more care taken in the evidence that is collected as it is the only thing, besides a quickly scribbled doctor’s note with his opinion if the woman has actually been assaulted or not, that is admissible in court.

I’ve met plenty of women who are traveling alone and I was alone a good portion of the last time I was in India and nearly every day on this trip. There’s no reason to get paranoid, but of course there is a realistic safety concern that I will always be aware of. And I have my big strong partner to watch my back, too. I forgot the first few times I went out without the sisters in Shillong that women aren’t really supposed to make eye contact or smile at unfamiliar men. I’m a friendly person and usually smile at most people but after a day or so I realized that my eye contact was being met with overenthusiasm and that I really shouldn’t look men in the eye. So I avoid eye contact with passing people, except children, of course. J

We’ve taken time to see a few sights in Kolkata and were hoping to do some volunteer work but not knowing how long we were staying in the city made it hard to commit to anything. Mother Teresa’s mission is here and they take volunteers daily, weekly, and monthly, but I haven’t offered my service to the Missionaries of Charity yet. I went to the Motherhouse and saw Mother Teresa’s tomb and her humble room where she served for 40 years as houses were set up to fulfill her vision of missionary work to the poor around the world. There are 6 houses in Kolkata alone and it seems like most of the foreigners who come here participate in their flexible volunteer program. It’s the only place I’ve been where the first thing travelers as you is, “are you volunteering here?”

We had contact with another NGO, Destiny Foundation, a local group who rescue girls from brothels and forced prostitution, finds them affordable places to live and employs them making beautiful hand-sewn products which they sell locally and internationally. Their goal is to become self-sustaining by marketing their products to more regions and finding distributors in western countries. If you might be interested in storing or distributing their products please contact me or Smarita, the owner, through their website. Also, if you're thinking about holiday gifts that also helpl out your fellow human beings, consider getting together with a friend or two and placing an order! (Because you're shipping from India it makes more sense to order in a group to cut costs.) Hopefully next time we come to Kolkata we will stay longer and can help more with their NGO.

I did get a chance to teach finally, helping a Spanish friend who just started teaching with an NGO called Uddami. They supply free computer and vocational education to very poor young people. They want to offer conversational English classes to their students but haven’t had a regular native speaker in the last year or two. Maria found them on the internet and offered to help for 1 month and they asked her to teach English, which is WAY out of her comfort zone but she still agreed to do it. Yesterday she wasn’t feeling well – most of our street got sick this week, including me – and I offered to come help her teach which she quickly agreed to. So I went with her to teach today and ended up teaching most of the 4 hours which was so much fun for me. I feel most alive in the classroom and the classes were small with enthusiastic students of varying ages. In the more advanced class we talked about global warming, being a responsible Indian citizen, and how to educate communities about the environment. Tomorrow I will help write a conversational English curriculum for their lower level classes. And then Saturday we’ll be helping to paint a local school with other travelers.

And our next stop? … Stay tuned, it seems to be unfolding in front of us as I write this.