Kolkata

March 14, 2018

After 29 1/2 hours of travel time I arrived at my hotel in Kolkata, India. First impression of the large city wasn’t the best. Leaving the airport there was a distinctive foul smell and the air was thick with smog. At 1:30 in the morning there was very little car traffic but hundreds of large trucks rolling into the city. The guy that picked me up said that trucks were only allowed in the city between 11 pm and 6 am.

After a few hours of sleep I met with the rest of the group and we toured Kolkata today. Daylight certainly changed the traffic and people situation. It was very crowded and noisy. Someone needs to disable the car horns over here. They constantly blow at everyone and everything that might get in the way.

Our first stop was at the Victoria Memorial. It was built between 1906 and 1921 to be dedicated to the memory of Queen Victoria who ruled over India while it was controlled by the British. The memorial serves as a museum today and sits on 64 acres of surrounding gardens.

Outside the entrance of the memorial were these really fancy horse carts that you could hire to take you around the area. The horses were not as well taken care of as the carts. 

This is what the majority of the taxis looked like. Most of the lettering looked hand painted.

Next we visited the James Prinsep memorial. It was built in 1843 in honor of the Anglo-Indian scholar. Locals refer to the park as the Prinsep Ghat. Ghat refers to a series of steps that lead down to a body of water, particularly a holy river.

There is a very nice park area with a peaceful walkway along the river. 

 

As you can see it was a very popular place. These people were bathing and immersing themselves in the river which is considered holy. Some were also bottling the water and collecting mud  to take home for religious ceremonies. This is the Hooghly River, traditionally called the Ganga River because it flows from the holy Ganges River.

Notice all the trash on the bank next to where they were.

One of the ceremonies is to bring clay figurines and throw them in the river as a token sacrifice. It appears the man in the middle is carrying such figures wrapped in the red cloth. We didn’t have time to stay and watch. We did visit the area of town where they craft the figures.

From here we went to the St. John’s Church. The cornerstone was laid in 1784 and the church was completed in 1787. It’s the oldest Anglo church in the city and was one of he first public buildings erected by the East India company.

The clock in the tower has to be wound every day but still keeps good time. 

The inside isn’t over decorated but had some interesting paintings and a beautiful stained glass window that is original.

Pipes of the original organ which is still used.

In one of the meeting rooms at the front of the church was a hand sink built into the window sill. I thought it was very interesting.

Water drained directly outside.

Outside on the church grounds are a very memorials. One is for the Black Hole of Calcutta event. It was reported that during the siege of Calcutta on June 20, 1756 a soldier locked 146 prisoners in a small 8 X 14 foot room at Fort Williams. 123 of them died of suffocation or heat stroke leaving just 23 alive. 

There were several other memorials.

Next we visited the area where the clay figurines are made for the various ceremonies. The base structure is of straw and then they are covered with mud from the river banks. There all all different sizes and shapes available. First here are some shots of the traffic around ton. 

You can see all different types of transportation is used. Hand pulled rickshaws, tuktuks, bicycles, and motorcycles.

Books lined the streets around the university.

Straw forms being made for the figures.

Mud being applied 

The figures are decorated with fancy trimmings.

A statue of Mother Theresa 

This old bike cart has seen better days.

People at the train station. How would you like to tackle this everyday?

Our last stop of the day was at the Missionaries of Charities where Mother Theresa lived. 

Her tomb.

It was a very interesting day and I learned a lot in a short period of time. Tomorrow I leave at 5:30 in the morning to fly to Bhutan. It was 98 here in Kolkata today and it’s supposed to be around 50 in Bhutan. Better put my short pants away for a few days.