Calcutta Calling
Going back to a city for the second, third, fourth time, always feels different. Returning to Hong Kong on the second time I felt less disconnect from my Chineseness, and on the third time felt at ease. In Seoul on the second time I discovered how awesome Korean food could be, on the third and fourth, learning to piece together the mysteries of hangul and its script.
Going back to Calcutta for the second time feels part homecoming. Leaving the plane, smelling the air (swear it smells distinctly Kolkata – must be the pollution, but still). I know the city but it does not know me. Wandering part of the city alone, in search of paracetemol, I aimlessly wandered from Free School and Sudder Street (backpackers’ ghetto), through the alleys to Lindsay and Hogg Street, buying lunch along the way: chicken egg kathi roll (Rs 14), big cup of chai (Rs 2), papri chaat (Rs 12), bhel puri (Rs 10).
The election machines are in swing, there are campaigns, and people talking politics everywhere. There wasn’t a better place to experience that than at the Indian Coffee House, so we wandered down College Street, and found the ICH - home to generations of Calcutta University students, and the city’s intelligentsia. It was surreal to be there, in the midst of history, sipping cold coffee with cream and eating a chicken kaviraji.
This is a city that demands you pay it full attention; a city not for everyone. A city in extremis. Walking along the road you have to pay attention to your right, a car might be reversing from the lot; to the left, a rickshaw might be ferrying two young children to school and just nearly run over your left foot. The front, and back, always. Looking down to avoid potholes and the assortment of things which shouldn’t be on the ground but are.
Fab Cal, Crazy Cal – I’ve been asked thrice which part of India I come from, 4 times if I was married, a few more times if I loved India. Z. reckons she’s managed to find herself in India with an Indian grandmother, and she’d be right: at any moment you’re likely to find me extolling the virtues of ayurveda (particularly neem and tumeric), smelling of said ayurveda concoctions, and of coconut oil (for hair softening), eating my ice cream sandesh and misti doi; snacking on papri chat out of a bag made from yesterday’s newspaper.
It’s taken us only 2 days to appear on Calcutta television: we appear on the state news tonight. Which leaves me to wonder how many days it will take for us to be a Bollywood extra when we get to Mumbai.
Tonight we leave on the Darjeeling Mail and spend a week in the mountains, in Darjeeling and in Sikkim, before moving on to hotter places in the northern plains. We’re safe, happy, and very, very hot.
And I couldn’t be happier with the Calcutta guesthouse I found.
- Posted by popagandhi at 04:41 pm
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Yup. Poppy is very hot indeed. 8)
i wanna hear more stories from u soon!
anyway u come up with some of the best travel writings around.. release a book soon? i’ll write ur preface. haha.
u take care!
(i wanna go india too! soon!)
yaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyayyayayaya
Now that you’ve mentioned kathi roles, I cant wait to go back home after 3A and that’s more than a month away.. and it’s misti dahi (pronounced dohi). Well the chai in Calcutta.. wow, there is no place on earth you can get that feeling. Speaking of which, Darj is famous for its tea, has a peppery tinge to it. I’m sure you will love it!! If you’ve got time, try and visit St. Paul’s School.. and trust me, every window of every hotel/guest house opens up to the breathtaking Kanchenjunga in the background. Hope you have fun!!
darlings, what did girls do to get yourselves on state tv? Nothing naughty I hope wink. Enjoy your trip. Damn I wish I’ve gone with you! Next time can?
It seems like you are taking everyone to India. Safe journey :)
awwww duck!big hug to my lovelies!
good to see the dispatches :) enjoy Kolkata! hope Darjeeling is good too.. try and catch Mirik (though I dunno how its turned out to be now..). and yeah, ‘misti doi’ is RIGHT ON THE MARK! (don’t let anyone tell u otherwise)
Hi Adri !
Hope you having your “macher Jhol-baht” !!
Darjeeling would be a lot of fun i guess ! wish i had no work, even i wanted to go to india at least for a while !!
Anyway, take loads of pics, and enjoy the eastern beauty of India !
chao
Bir
Much jealous girl! Can’t wait to see the pictures and experience this all vicariously thru the visuals as well as your words!
Enjoy your backpacking mate. Have fun. Stay safe.
“It’s taken us only 2 days to appear on Calcutta television: we appear on the state news tonight.”—just curious, why were you in the news?
um, the tv station wanted to interview some foreign women on their views of safety in calcutta (vis-a-vis the Sheraton setting up a womens-only floor in their calcutta branch): we were obviously the most foreign looking people in sudder st (think the other backpackers had gone to thailand).
so.. i went on state tv and proclaimed that “I FEEL VERY SAFE IN CALCUTTA”. maybe the Left Front should use my footage for their campaigning.
“maybe the Left Front should use my footage for their campaigning.”—maybe they just might do so.. they love anything foreign! But do you “really” think its that safe? Ever seen (/wondered) the reason behind the existence of “Ladies-only” carriages on the EMU (aka local yellow-n-green) trains :)
Hi! Found your website through a Google search for Calcutta guesthouses – can you share the name of the guesthouse with which you couldn’t be happier? Cheers and safe travels.