Cole on his way to church

  

Joel in Moussourri...Shannon this one is for you!

  

Political rally Cole found himself on his way to visit Joel.

  

Road to Moussourri

  

Ghandi's Assassination Site

  

Dehli Government Building

  

Birthday's to Remember?

As many of you know Cole and I both celebrate our birthdays in September. Cole’s is on the 21st of September and mine is the 23rd of September. You may be wondering how we celebrated our birthdays in our new, exotic home. The pictures below give you an idea on how we spent our birthdays. One is a picture of a toilet and I am sure you can guess why that picture is there. The other picture is of a ceiling fan which is what we watched go round and round and round and round…… as we lay in bed between visits to the object in the first picture. So our 53rd and 51st birthdays were spent very close to home doing not so exotic things. Both of us were better within a day or two and above this post you will see pictures of Cole’s trip to Mossourrie and Dehli (he got ill in Dehli). As they say, no pain no gain!

Views from our Apartment balcony, Cole enjoying curd!

 

Home #2 The Oberoi...View from the Street, the Lobby, the Pool (which was the view from our room)

 

View from Home #1 Duluth, Strand Road

 

Views from Home

It has been a month since our arrival in Kolkata and we have now transitioned to our apartment that will be our home for the next 22 months. To introduce you all to our new home we first have to create some perspective. Take a tour of the views from our front ‘porch’ as we moved from Duluth to the Oberoi Grand Hotel in the heart of Kolkata to our view from our new apartment.

Although you can see the ‘sights’ from the pictures in the post you can’t experience the sounds and the contrasts. While only being here can provide that contrast I will try in words.

The Oberoi Grand Hotel

Imagine sidewalks crowded with street vendors, heavy crowds of people sauntering by, each vendor hawking their wares, street boys tapping your arm with their insistent ‘auntie come look’ as you walk by, stray dogs sleeping in the shade, heat, humidity, taped Hindi music playing from the small shops in the arcade, rows of yellow taxis waiting for a fair, cars moving by all beeping their horns. Then you take a turn into a cobblestone driveway. You see palm trees, uniformed doormen who greet you with ‘namaste’ (which is ‘Hello’ in Hindi) who open the large mahogany, leaded glass paned, brass handled door way to usher you into the air conditioned lobby tiled with polished marble tile in colors of deep green, black and white. The air smells of rose petals because of course everything is scented with rose water. The front office greets you by name and wishes you a good afternoon. You walk past the pool. May be you stop for a cold Coca Cola and chat with the waiter about his home town in Karnataka or Goa or Kerala or Shimla. He tells you of his favorite place of his home area and of his family and you realize everyone is very much the same around the world, proud of where they came from and they miss family and home when away. From the pool you wander to your room passing 100 year old antiques left over from the British Raj, leaded ornamental mirrors, marble topped tables, pictures in elaborate frames….. This was our first home in India. How can I describe what it was like living in the Oberoi? Well, if you have ever seen the Celebrity Cruise ad where the man and the woman state, ‘I once was royalty….fresh flowers in my room every day. The waiter knew how I wanted my tea……’ that was what it was like to live at the Oberoi. Truly the staff became like family as they greeted us every morning for breakfast or as we saw them in the hallways. While we were quite ready to move to our apartment, it was hard to say good bye.

We ‘shifted’ to our apartment on Friday morning. It really didn’t take much work since all we had to move were our suitcases and clothes. We have a small two bedroom apartment in a ‘suburb’ of Kolkata named Salt Lake. While initially we wanted to live in Kolkata to be in the heart of things but we quickly learned that commuting in a city of 17 million people is something that you may want to avoid. Even though my office is only 10 miles from the center of the city it takes 45 minutes to an hour to drive there. So we opted for living in the same area as my office. We are in a complex that is part of a shopping mall area. We are on the seventh floor and our front view over looks the core part of Kolkata. On a clear day we can see both bridges that cross the Howrah bridge. As you can see in the picture there is a part just below our window and if you look carefully you can see the cows that graze there in the morning. Our sliding glass door faces west and we get so see some awesome sunsets.

We have shopping literally just outside our doorstep which does make life much easier. One thing about Kolkata, you can find almost anything you need if you know where to go. Unfortunately we know where some things are but others……well, we need some local assistance to find them. Yesterday Cole needed an extension hose for our washer so we could drain it where we wanted it to drain. He found the ‘hardware’ market but Cole needed the driver to help him find the ‘hose’ stall. Of course the hose stall didn’t have clamps to hold the pieces of hose together. Cole never found the clamp stall and we’re still looking for the duct tape stall. That’s life in India! No Home Depot here!

On our first grocery run at our local grocery C3, we could not find yoghurt in the store. For a frame of reference, yoghurt is a staple of cooking here in India. Many of the gravy type dishes are made with yoghurt so it was surprising to me that the grocery didn’t have yoghurt. As we were checking out I asked the clerk if he knew where we could get some curd, which is the local word for yoghurt. He then instructed the bag boy to escort us to get some ‘curd’. As we left the store the bag boy, with our groceries in a cart, headed off down the street the exact opposite direction of our apartment. A block later I was standing outside as our bag boy was negotiating with a sweets vendor for 500 grams of ‘curd’. After we gave 25 rupees (50 cents) to the vendor we were handed a home made clay pot filled with freshly made curd. Now that’s service. You can see Cole enjoying the curd in the pictures posted. After we purchased our curd the bag boy then carted our groceries back to our apartment. Now that’s carry out!
Tonight Cole and I had our first meal in our new home. We tried out our new rice cooker and our new blender/mixer. For those of you who know Cole well you know he is Mr. Gadget. Well, now he has a whole new world of gadgets to buy. I have to say the rice cooker was wonderful. Expertly cooked rice in 10 minutes! After dinner we made Mango smoothies with the blender and they were excellent too. Sometimes gadgets do make life nice.

Two Weeks in Kolkata

Our adventure as moved from week two into week three of our time here in Kolkata. Our bodies have adjusted to the time change, streets and sights we pass as we travel through town now are beginning to look familiar. We’ve found a few favorite haunts for shopping and refreshment and the street touts (read that ‘sales/advertising come to my shop’ people) are starting to recognize us and are beginning to know when we are ‘just looking’ and when we are truly ready to buy. So what have we learned about our temporary home that is Kolkata? Read on……..

Transportation

Transportation within the city happens via many conveyances. To get from point A to point B you have your choice of taxi, auto-rickshaw, above ground tram, bus and underground subway. By far the fastest way to get anywhere is by subway. Unfortunately there is only one line which only runs North and South. If you want to move North or South in Kolkata, it’s the way to travel.

Next fastest way to travel is by auto-rickshaw. Are you asking yourself what is auto-rickshaw? It’s a two cycle, blue smoke spewing covered tricycle. It’s not unusual that they put 4 to 8 passengers in one and then take you to your destination. They have set routes, somewhat like a bus route. A typical fare is 7 rupees, the equivalent of 16 cents. Because they are the smallest ‘mass’ transit vehicles the auto-rick drivers can squeeze between the taxis and cars in any traffic jam and get further in the traffic than any other type of transportation. They can also take the narrow, old side streets that the taxis can’t fit in.

Next most common mode of transport are the ever present yellow, Ambassador taxis. If there were a way to buy an Ambassador and bring it home I would bring one home! They are the most amazingly durable cars on the planet! They remind me of a 1953 Chevy, only smaller. Look on any Kolkata street during business hours and you will see flocks of yellow roof tops of these work horses of the Kolkata city.

Next are the trams and buses. We have yet to attempt to negotiate these modes of transportation. Even the locals say stay away from the trams. They break down often and when it is busy they are very crowded. As far as the buses go they are almost always full, dented and have loud, extremely squeaky brakes! I’m glad traffic moves slow here and there are no hills. I’m not sure the buses would be able to stop if they were going faster or down hill.

Driving in Kolkata is truly an art. Cole has decided to make his International Driving license a coaster for our glasses as he has NO intention of driving once he saw the traffic. At first when you get here there seems there is no rhyme or reason to how people drive. On first blush it looks like every driver has its own set of rules. Now that we have been here two weeks and have done much traveling around the city a pattern has emerged. The biggest and most apparent difference is that they drive on the left hand side of the road. The second most visible difference is that no one uses their car mirrors when they change lanes and believe me, they change lanes A LOT! The third most noticeable event is that everyone uses their horn all the time. After two weeks here are the driving rules that we have observed.

#1 Your horn replaces your review mirror. The reason the drivers don’t use their mirrors is because any time a driver approaches from behind they beep their horn. There are different beeps for different situations and I don’t have all of them figure out yet. Two beeps seem to mean, “I’m going to pass you.” One long beep seems to mean, “I’m here or Get moving!” Another thing that perplexes me is with all the horns or all that cars that are beeping at once how does the vehicle in front know it’s my driver that’s beeping their horn? It’s a mystery but it works because I have yet to see a fender bender or an accident.

#2 The car ahead has the right of way or to put it in skiing terms, “It is the responsibility of the uphill car to avoid the downhill car.” Again, it’s amazing how this all seems to work out.

#3 If you are crossing the street go at the right time, be careful and be fast. Cars will stop for you if you hold out your hand but your best bet is to wait for break in the traffic or when the traffic stops due to a traffic jam (which happen often) and then cross the street.

Don’t judge a book by its cover

Cole and I began looking for goods for our apartment (when we move in). We searched the shops of Park Street. Park Street is a tree lined street full of restaurants and shops. Some with visible store fronts, some that are hidden in old, mold covered buildings. No matter the look of the store front the goods are amazing! You go into a building of incredible age, wear and tear only to find a show room of amazing furniture and household items. We found the most incredible antique store full of things left from the British Raj….leaded mirrors, armoires, roll top desks, fainting couches, etc……. I didn’t ask prices but will go back once we have an apartment to see what I can arrange!

People

Kolkattans are a very friendly people. Always willing to help you find your way and going the extra step to help. They have led us to the right place when lost, hailed the right taxi for us and instructed the driver not to over charge us, personally escorted us to the right location and in general have made our introduction here very warm and welcome. They have a keen sense of humor and love to pull pranks on each other. They are amazingly hard working. The staff of our hotel work 12 hour days 6 days a week. You would think with those types of shifts and hours the degree of service would suffer. Quite the contrary, I have never seen such a high degree of personal service. On my rides home at night from work (2 AM) it is not uncommon to see the market sellers bringing in by hand cart the goods they will be selling in market. As I drive to and from work we pass many building projects in the process of construction. Despite the fact that all the buildings are built with concrete you do not see ONE concrete truck. Instead you see man after man carrying concrete in buckets from where it is hand mixed to where it needs to be poured.

Things Universal

As Cole and I have walked through the city we have realized there are some things that are truly universal. One of them is the cell phone, everybody has one. Young, old, working class, middle class, businessmen……everyone has a cell phone. The other thing that we have observed is children are the same everywhere. They love to smile and play. Currently in Kolkata the children are honing their skills in kite flying. In about two weeks there will be a massive kite flying contest. If you have read the book, ‘The Kite Runner’ you might be familiar with this eastern tradition. The children fly kites with strings upon which pieces of glass have been glued. As they fly their kites they try to cut the string of their opponents kite by making their string scrape across the string of their opponents kite. The last kite flying is the winner. The contest takes place the 15th of September and I hope to get pictures. Finally, there is one area that unifies all women…..shopping!!! Kolkata women love to shop and the amount of saree shops and jewelery shops available attests to that fact.

So the end of week two, the end of month one of my secondment……