Howrah

A friend who works in microfinance invited me to go with her one day to see her organization in action. Howrah is an area across the river from Kolkata proper, and I was able to see very different communities from those I usually interact with in Kolkata. I was privileged to watch women, who are the clients, repay their loans and show my colleague and me their small businesses. The first photo is the line of taxis outside of the Howrah train station waiting to receive passengers coming in from all over India. The railways are still very much in use here. The four women in the one photo are standing outside of one of their vegetable shops. The other photo, showing a lane in a small village, was where I got to meet a whole group of children, who were fascinated by the westerners who were visiting.

Jharkand

In September I was sent to Jharkand for work. It's a state west of West Bengal (where Kolkata is) that is home to many mining communities and farming areas. I drove with some colleagues from Ranchi to Dhanbad, which is where I was able to take some of the photos in this post. It took about six hours in each direction, partially due to the fog and the late rains. In one photo you can see a bike with large bags being pushed up the side of the hill we are on-- the bags were filled with coal that the men were bringing into town to sell. We saw bicycle after bicycle being pushed probably more than twenty miles over very, very rough roads.

The Monsoon

I always joked about the monsoon. As in, whenever it rained hard, we would refer to it as a monsoon. Then I moved to India. I have been taught a whole new appreciation for what the monsoon means for day-to-day life. I drive around in an Ambassador, which has very high clearance. Thank goodness. The photos from above are rather typical for the rainy season (monsoon), and I'm very, very happy that I have not had to wade through the water thus far. Unfortunately this has also meant that when my driver started testing the brakes after we got out of the flooding and we were still driving home, I was informed, "Madam, I'm just making sure the brake works. Sometimes it doesn't work so well after being in water."

Durga

Small community Durga with a traditional drummer.

This is a nontraditional Durga.

This is the one with Ganesh and his banana tree bride (to the left)

Probably my favorite Durga idol.

Every pandal houses a statue of the goddess, Durga. Every one has a slightly different style. You see the eight armed goddess holding a spear to kill the devil while riding a lion. Her children are on either side of her, including Ganesh (the one that looks like an elephant). One of the photos has a sari on the left with red on it. The red substance is called shindur, and is an indication of being a married woman. The sari has a red border and is wrapped around a banana tree. On one of the first days of the puja, the tree is ceremonially brought to Ganesh as his bride. The photos are primarily of non-traditional Durgas, as I found those the most interesting. Each year there are different types of idols, and I love seeing all of the artistry.

Ashtami and Navami

Huts and figures made completely of jute

Pandal made of clay pots

Kashmiri style pandal

Village of bamboo pandal. This was just the entrance

The buildings around this one were painted to match

Everything in this one was made of tiffins (metal lunchboxes), silverware, or plates.

My colleagues tell me that Tuesday, Ashtami, was the most important day of puja for the communities that surround their pandals (temporary temples erected to house the goddess Durga for puja). I mostly stayed inside, but was honored to participate in a small program in a local pandal that had been made through the participation of everyone on the community. From making jute lamps to putting together the lanterns in the pandal, everyone did something to make the pandal a success. The creator, a young Bengali man, told me about his vision that came to fruition, where the pandal was used to build more of a sense of community and bring together families from all economic backgrounds in the community. Today, on Navami, friends and I went "pandal hopping"-- seeing various pandals that won awards over the past couple of days. Each pandal has a unique theme, using various materials and artisans to construct the structures. The photos above capture a small glimpse of the variety in pandals. I'm going to post about the goddess' idols later this week. Today was the final day before the ceremonies to return the goddess to the Ganga (in Kolkata, the branch of the Ganga is the Hoogley River) begin tomorrow afternoon.

Engineers' Puja

In September, the first of the "puja season" begins with the engineers' puja. This is to honor the god who protects/helps engineers, which is loosely translated to all drivers, mechanics, anyone who works on or with some sort of machine. While driving through the city, most taxis, buses, and cars have flowers, sparkly garlands, or other indications that a puja was performed (puja is a religious ceremony) to bring luck and safety for the next year. I have a 1992 Ambassador, which is a locally made car. It needs all the luck it can get to make it through the next year. My driver agreed with this assessment, and this was the result. Ironically, it broke down four days later on the way back from the airport. *Sigh*

Mahabalipuram

Shore temple.

Carvings.

Men attempting to climb onto the back of a carved cow (look on the right)

I recently was sent to work for Chennai for three weeks and escaped for a delightful afternoon about an hour and a half outside of the city. There is a town called Malibalipuram where they are famous for their stone carvers. Approximately 60 kilometers south of Chennai in southern India, it's full of carvings found on the side of the road as well as some spectacular temples. The most famous is the Shore Temple, which borders the ocean and was supposedly uncovered by the wind moving the sands around. Photos of the carvings are above. The final photo was a scene I found particularly entertaining. The young men on the back of the carved cow were trying to fit as many of them together as they could-- this went on for at least ten minutes. Enjoy!

Murder Mystery Dinner Party Menu

I decided to host a Murder Mystery dinner party last Saturday. And I wanted to make some gold old fashioned American food. Being in India, I quickly realized that finding real custard ice cream, fudge, and other things was going to be a challenge. So I cooked all Saturday (and realistically, my housekeeper did all the main course dishes. Thank goodness for her!)
I decided to share my success. 1. I didn't kill anyone. 2. People actually cleaned their plates. So, for those foodies stuck in places with limited food variety available, please pay attention.

Appetizers: I made bacon wrapped prawns, a cheese platter, homemade French bread, and an olive/pickle tray. We discovered if you satay the prawns while wrapped in bacon, they obtain a level of deliciousness we didn't think was possible. (OMG bacon!) The cheeses were imported and expensive, but worth it. As were the olives. Check out Spencer's gourmet section, but watch expiration and import dates as the cheese will often be old. I used my fabulous new breadmaker to make the French bread. Highly recommend getting one!

Salad: This was simple. We cut up a bunch of fruit (any variety will do) early and made a sauce comprised of orange juice mixed with some sugar. Not only does it taste delicious, but it prevents the apples from turning brown. Cover and store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Main Course: Baked chicken with mushroom gravy, wild rice, garlic and onion green beans. All made with local ingredients. The mushroom gravy had a splash of sweet white wine.

Dessert: I made home made vanilla ice cream using my friend's ice cream maker, home made kahlua fudge using my Grandma's recipe, and coffee with a little Bailey's Irish cream. Fudge is really easy to make if you have marshmallow fluff. Sounds a little weird, but it tastes delicious.

Hope this provides some inspiration for other foodies! We had a blast.

Photo Club

Three friends of mine and I decided to start a photo club. There are so many beautiful and poignant sights around India, especially Kolkata, that I want to capture before I leave. Above are three favorites that I took. The third was this elderly man sitting outside of his shop making a plastic based rope.

Victoria Memorial

Along with Flurrys, the Park Street Cemetery, and a few other places, one of the most iconic places in Kolkata is the Victoria Memorial. Already having visited approximately ten times, as every visitor has to go see it, I got the opportunity to walk around more than usual on my last visit. The photo above is of the Victoria Memorial, which was built in honor of Queen Victoria. There is a pretty cool museum that discusses Kolkata history with a focus on the British raj inside the memorial, but they don't allow any photos to be taken.
One of my favorite parts is seeing all of the tourists from around India who flock to the site and the young couples who have escaped into the peaceful grounds that surround the memorial. It's entertaining to count the number of teenagers holding hands, one of the few places they can spend time together away from family. I counted 30+ couples on my fifteen minute walk around the grounds.

Commit No Nuisance

You must have a healthy sense of the ridiculous in order to live in India. A hobby of mine whenever I'm walking around is to take photos of signs I think are hilarious. The "Commit No Nuisance" was spotted when I was walking from Park Street back towards Camac Street. The fuzzy one is the mudflap of a truck that pictures a boy peeing. Not sure why. Public urination is pretty common on the streets of Kolkata-- maybe that's it? There is also a matrimonial website ad. Because the first thing I want a guy to say to me is "Namashkar" (hello).

We Lost a Cricket Player. . . and other tales from Friday night

Some friends and I were invited to a reception last Friday in honor of the Irish and Dutch cricket players who had competed against each other during the World Cricket Tournament. I decided I needed a crash course in Cricket, which I failed miserably. We showed up in our nice cocktail dresses and entered the biggest crush and the most press I've seen in Kolkata.

We wandered to the bar, which was surrounded by very cute, very tall cricket players. I struck up a conversation with a couple of them, mainly them making fun of my drinking canned Guinness, and I introduced myself to one-- apparently the captain of the Irish cricket team. Found that out when he had to go up to make a speech. I also found out that bowlers had to be really tall (usually) while batters could really be any height. Go learning new things. . . awkwardly. :)

As the evening progressed, our group decided it would be a good idea to invite the cricketers out to one of the clubs we knew. Arriving en masse, we danced, and drank, and I realized that three inch heels were not meant to be worn for seven hours. There were three cricketers who arrived with us, and they were pretty good dancers. At the end of the evening, when we tried to collect everyone to go home, the personal security person of the cricketers started asking us, rather loudly, where the third cricketer was who had arrived with us. We weren't aware that we were supposed to be tracking them.

We looked everywhere, and we kind of expect to see some kind of news story, because, well, we apparently lost a cricketer that night. Whoops.

Shantiniketan

A few weeks ago I finally escaped from Kolkata to see some of the countryside. We went to Shantiniketan, which is best known for its university that was founded by famous Bengali poet and author of the Indian national anthem, Rabindranath Tagore.

After a 3.5 hour drive, we arrived and wandered through part of the university, where we found the building entirely made of stained glass above. It's supposed to be a gathering place for those of all religious and backgrounds. Even though it was deserted due to the university break (we went during the winter season), the colors and surrounding flowers were gorgeous.

There were still people walking around and shopping at the tourist stalls despite the school break. Many student groups and film makers were seeing the sites and snapping photos, taking in the museum and the peace that pervades the area around the university. There were no car horns, and you could hear the birds chirping in the trees.

Our last stop was in an NGO run village that sold goods made by local women's groups and meant to support them with living wages. We walked around the to back of the village where there were picnicking grounds. The final photo above was one of the scenes we saw.

After getting to see a little of the village, we had to head back to Kolkata, but I hope to make it out of the city again soon.

Confluence of Cultures

At 8am a group of us met our guide, Ifte from Calcutta Walks, who took us on their walk called the "Confluence of Cultures". Over the next 3.5 hours, we went from a Buddhist Temple, the Anglo-Indian part of Kolkata, a Muslim Mosque, a Jain Temple, a Hindu Temple, and a Jewish Synagogue. The photos above were a couple of the sites and people I saw while wandering through the streets.

Kolkata is a city of many different peoples. We wandered through tight passages through local markets, saw Chinatown, spoke with a couple of curious Burmese tourists, and got to see parts of local neighborhoods that I've never seen before.

When we stopped at Armenian church, which dates back to the 1600s, a lady stopped to speak with the group. She said that at one point there were more than 10,000 Aremenian families in Kolkata, but now there are about 58 and Aremenians from outside the city and country are recruited to come to the school. Even with dwindling numbers, the community keeps the language and culture alive through the church and school they run.

Ending our walk at a small neighborhood mosque, we stopped to sit and rest for a minute, and a local man stopped to tell us a little about his religion. After a short exchange with the group, he came up to my friend and me and asked me how old I was, if I was married, and why not. There are some things that are the same anywhere here as those are the three most common questions I get in India. :)

The Airport or Mass Chaos

Touts and monks-- they stretched for miles when we showed up to the airport and tried to check into the flight from Bangkok to Kolkata. We stood in line patiently until the Jet Airlines folks finally arrived to start checking people in. We got to the counter, and were promptly told to go around to the other counter because they were only checking in people to Mumbai.

We shlepped our stuff around to the other side, only to be met with the sight above. Attempting the line that only had passengers with suitcases, we were told that they would only check in first class passengers. We stared at the touts and all the stuff, looked at the lady, and begged.

After getting to the gate, we were met with many, many Buddhist monks with strange looking bags. They were trying to figure out this security business and what was required of them before they got on the plane. This involved much discussion and searching of bags, right in the middle of the lane leading down to the entrance to the walkway to the plane. After we all got through and eventually figured out what was happening, the touts, in unison, looked at the "just passengers" and motioned us to the front of the line. Every single one of them had to gate check their bags because they had brought too many to place on board. *Sigh*

It was a relief when we got seated and on the plane. Just imagine what happened on the other end with baggage claim.

Street Physics

Transportation on Indian streets defy physics. One example is the photo above. While dodging other cars, lorries, bicycles, pedestrians, and motorbikes (and the occasional human-drawn cart), these vehicles work their way down narrow streets where two lanes are made into four lane roads. One taxi driver recently told me that "God gave us two tools to survive on the streets of India, a loud horn and good brakes." Honking is used to indicate everything from anger, notifying someone that you want to get by, flirting with another cute driver, and general thrill that you were able to get to the other road.

On a trip outside of Kolkata, I truly learned what signals drivers send one another. Our driver, on the return trip after dark, only turned on his lights when approaching semi trucks and laid on the horn to indicate the truck should move over. Until the semi moved over, the horn continued to go. One semi refused to move and our driver tried to pass on the shoulder-- until the shoulder disappeared and we were suddenly off roading. We got back in one piece, however. A colleague suggested that in the future we should offer a tip in 10 rupee notes and tell the driver that each time he scares his passengers, one ten rupee note is removed. Then remove one immediately to show him you're serious. I chose the second method of fall asleep during the trip and pray I don't die. I think I'll try the former on the next trip :).

Either way, make sure you have a loud horn, good brakes, and a lot of luck and you'll be fine on the roads.