It is impossible to express all the emotions and sensations experienced over the past few days - beginning on Nov 4th (Election Day) when I flew to India and learned on the plane that Barack Obama had become our new President - to finally making my way from Mumbai (Bombay) to Kolkata yesterday. Our first day of exploring was November 7th and by day's end my mind was whirling. Kolkata is a city not for the faint of heart. We explored the flower market, an area where artists make the religious statuary used by Hindus, we went to a temple to see worship during a special festival day, we drove through the city (at a snail's pace due to clogged traffic) and saw what appears to be a city that is overwhelmed by its people and completely unable to provide even the basic needs for them. Think of living areas like the townships of South Africa or the Hutongs of Beijing or areas where homeless people live in New York - these areas are far worse, far more crowded, far less sanitary. There are many many slums filled with refugees from Bangladesh and other neighboring areas, essentially living in acres and acres of cardboard boxes. My impression today is that Kolkata is a city of decay and sorrow. All buildings left from the British Raj period are crumbling and appear vacant until you notice wash hanging inside windowless rooms.
On the positive side it is a city of great energy with 6 million people moving in and out of the city each day to go to work on bicycles, pedicabs, cars that look like time has stopped in the 1950s, buses crammed with people and motorcycles. Women wear lovely saris and thankfully men do not wear western attire but it's a bit difficult to describe what they do wear. It's often sort of a loincloth with lots of fabric and shirt.
I don't know what to say yet about India having been here only one day. We got our first view of the sacred river Ganges and learned about Hindu deities such as Kali whose face is blue (see photo) because "darkness" represents "the real truth". We were told that light only reflects, whereas darkness is truth. Krishna is the rising sun, Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and at the end of the day Shiva represents dissolution and transition to a new day. Shakti is energy, which interestingly enough also represents female power. The body is about energy so we must keep our bodies in their best condition so we can connect with the gods. Yoga means "plus" in the sense that is a path to move the human body closer to god. Religion is a boat to help humans cross the river of suffering that is life. (these are all comments made by our local guide today) Certainly religion must be vitally important to these people of Kolkata who truly have a life of suffering.
It is difficult to transition from this thought to the next idea - we all felt we'd been transported into some other world when in the evening we were invited in the Indian Cultural Center to see of show of Japanese Bamboo, ceramic and paper works. Tomorrow's host, Darshan Shah (an extremely elegant business woman), was the host of the event. The Governor of this area was there (a very distinguished man in an Indian style white suit with a full head of gray hair reminiscent of Scott's) who presided over the ceremony of dance and speeches and song.
I will end there because tomorrow I'm sure will give me entirely different impressions of Kolkata, as I see the city through Darshan's eyes. Darshan runs a textile cooperative which we will visit. A full day is planned. We depart the hotel at 9:30 and don't return until 9:30 pm and rush to be ready to fly out to Varanasi at 6am the next day. All of this is to say that if my next post is delayed will be due to the fact that I have purchased many textiles and am having trouble stuffing them into by bag and have no time tomorrow to post. We'll see! It will certainly be interesting to see how the other half lives. Assuming that there IS an other half. More soon I promise. (And thanks go out to fellow travelers Cliff Meyer and Cathy Root for being such an inspiration for my blogging; and for setting many fashion trends on our trip).
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