OFF TO INDIA.....!!!!!!

India....it gets a smile to our faces to recall what different people told us about this place. Whatever you hear or read does not prepare you for the real thing. India is literally and assault to all the senses.... it's something totally unique, both in good and bad ways...what is experienced cannot be fully described in words. Try it and you will understand.

Unbelievable Calcutta (08.03.2008 to 11.03.2008) The two and a half hours flight went pretty smooth, though it took us quite a while to get our luggages. On our way out of the airport we were welcomed by some eight taxi drivers all offering us their service with a smile on their face. One of them was so kind to offer us a ride for Rs800 (which by Indian standard is a hell of a lot of money). We settled for a friendly looking guy who offered us the ride for only Rs 250...and off we went on his vehicle : an English-style, English-time, yellow cab with an equally old, non-functional taxi metre. The ride towards the centre of Calcutta was an experience by itself, and the action started as soon as we were nearing the centre. We were welcomed by a horde of vehicles, mostly public buses and taxis all jammed into each other....we could literally spit at the person seated in the vehicle next to us (which, by way of note, is not so uncommon in India...). Our ears were literally violated by the disarming hooting of the horns, irrelevant of what the vehicle was doing, the driver used the horn for an in numerous number of times. Needless to say this landed us at our guesthouse with a terrible headache. On the way our eyes feasted on the joyous colours of the saris and salwar kameezes worn by the Indian women. Most of the women, especially if they are Hindu, wore these traditional clothes. The diversity and beauty of the colours is impressive. This came as a big contrast to the dullness and gravity of the beggars occupying some corners of the streets. After around ninety minutes we finally made it to our destination and settled at the Salvation Army Guesthouse. We had a good room with shower inside for a good price. After checking in we immediately made our way to a tailor as we thought it was a good idea for Janet to get a couple of salwar kamezee done, so as not to attract too much attention. This proved to be a fascinating experience. The salesman asked us to sit comfortably, offered us some chai (tea with masala spice) and started showing us a huge amount of different cottons (all based on Janet's favourite colours : orange and maroon). It was nearly impossible to settle for something as all of them were beautiful, but she had to. We chose two particular designs and the tailor came to take Janet's measurements. The salwar would be ready on Friday, which unluckily meant we had to spend three more days in Calcutta! We decided to head on to a small tour of the surroundings. This proved to be a very tiring experience given the amount of Indians who tried to talk us into going to the shopping mall or to buy something from their shops. Before we mentioned that India was an assault to all senses. We tackled hearing as regards to the car horns; sight as regards to the colourful clothes of the Indian women. Next comes smell. The smells which hits you when you walk along the roads where the street stalls stand is capturing. The food, spices, chai together with everything else just engulfs your senses. This is then mixed with another kind of smell...that of dirt, pee and other unmentionable things which hit these roads as well. After a tiring hour getting round we decided to head back to our guesthouse. On the way to the guesthouse we met Ska and Carm and decided to have dinner at Zurich Restaurant. At first we were a little bit apprehensive on what to order given Indian food's reputation of being very spicy. Our experience proved totally satisfactory. We savoured some excellent thali which consists of a selection of different dishes, usually served in small bowls on a round tray. The round tray is generally made with steel with multiple compartments. Typical dishes include rice, dal, vegetables, chapati, papad, curd (yoghurt), small amounts of chutney or pickle, and a sweet dish to top it. Thus, after this meal, we had tickled yet another one of our senses....taste. After dinner we headed for a drink and then straight back to our guesthouse. Before we settled down to sleep Yakof noticed that he had something moving on his bed. When we switched on the light we discovered that his bed was infested with our persistent enemies the bed bugs!!! There were some thirty of them...all on Yakof's mattresses. He did his best to kill them but eventaully he gave up and went to complain at the reception. The person on duty came to have a look, smiled and said that , yes, they were bed bugs (as if we needed any further confirmation), but there was nothing they could do until the following morning. In conclusion, we had to sleep two on one single bed, so one can imagine the comfort of our first night in Calcutta. The following morning we woke up to discover that the bed bugs had feasted on Yakof’s blood galore. He had bites all over his feet and hands and even in his scalp! Luckily enough, Janet was spared. As soon as we went out from our room we discovered a number of mattresses all thrown on the floor. Yakof’s complaint had raised a whole chain of complaints from the entire guesthouse....everyone had bed bugs in their rooms....but we definetely outnumbered the rest. Our second day in Calcutta was dedicated to quite a lot of walking. First we went to the tourist information office to get some information on the trains to Darjeeling and the Jaldaphara Wildlife Sanctuary. Then, after a small rest at our guesthouse, we headed to the computerised booking office to book our train tickets to New Jalpaiguri. We decided not to head directly towards Darjeeling but to make a deviation towards Siliguri to be able to visit the Jaldaphara Wildlife Sanctuary. Walking in the streets of Calcutta proved to be an extremely tiring experience. Apart from the cars honking their horns, the number of people hitting the road is incredible. Adding to this, the fact that most of them stopped to literally stare at Janet, results in a very irritating experience. We eventually started to realise that they were not mainly staring at her but mostly at her hair. And when we say staring we mean staring, the open-mouthed kind of staring, like they were seeing some kind of alien from another planet. The evening proved to be a much more pleasant experience. We dined at a very nice restaurant, Peter Cat, where we stimulated our taste buds to some exquisite Indian food. One thing which bugged us the most in Calcutta were the beggars. First and foremost it’s the fact that they mainly ask charity to foreigners, as if we have more money than their Indian compatriots!! Second is the fact that they grab us sometimes to ask for charity...it gets really on our nerves. Most of the beggars begging on main streets, like Park Street and Chowringee are given the privilege to work on those roads in exchange for a big chunck of their ‘earnings’. That is why we were really put off from giving any charity. On our third day we went to visit the Victoria Memorial which basically represents a memorial to Queen Victoria. Though we set off with the intention of visiting the place we changed our minds when we saw that foreigners are charged Rs150 to enter the place whilst Indian only Rs20!!! We do accept the reality of having to pay more than Indians but this was a total rip-off. So we settled just to go inside the garden, which cost us just a minimal fee. After spending some time in the gardens we headed off for lunch and then back to our guesthouse for a three-hour nap...it was the first time we really actually slept since we have been in India. We said our goodbyes to Ska and Carm as they were heading towards Darjeeling that same night.... Our last day (thankfully) in Calcutta was spent in much of a relaxed way. We checked out of our room and left our back packs for storage. We checked our emails and went to have breakfast. We spent most of the time at our guesthouse playing cards or reading and in between we went to pick up Janet’s clothes, which were really gorgeous. We set off to find a taxi for the train station at around 19:30. The short drive was quite frightening considering the way our taxi driver was zig-zaging in between vehicles. We were at the train station two hour prior to our departure, so we settled down on two chairs and looked at the crowd flowing by...or rather should we say the crowd flowing by were looking at us. Janet wonders whether she will get used to it....if we had to ask for Rs1 from each person that looks at her we would cover the cost of our trip :) The train came on time and we were pleased with our ‘beds’...just the two of us right next to the window. The engine of the train started, we settled comfortable in our seats, and prepared for the night journey towards New Jalpaiguri.

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