Slow Start, Full Finish in Calcutta

Saraswathi

On January 13, we get a slow start.  Leaving around 11:00 a.m., we head straight to an alley in the old part of Calcutta!  A festival will be held at the end of January for Saraswathi, the Hindu goddess of arts and learning.  Madhu wants us to see the street where sculptors are forming clay images of her in preparation for this festival.  We wander amongst the huge clay forms. During the festival, these will be purchased, paraded, and ultimately immersed in the river. 

Many images of the goddess of arts and learning

Sculptor

These two were viewing the statues, too

Four goddesses

Of course, we pose for a picture as goddesses ourselves!

As we leave, we ask Madhu how many gods and goddesses there are in the Hindu religion.  She estimates over 30,000, adding that deities – emanating from folk forms and beliefs - are unearthed all the time.  Nobody has ever counted them, she says.   As I ponder this tidbit, I marvel how this trip is ending up as my “world religion tour” – having now traveled through Muslim Bangladesh, Buddhist Myanmar, and now Hindu India.

Fabulous fabIndia

We stop for lunch at a very modern mall, and find out that the mall has a fabIndia store.  A favorite clothing store from our last trip, fabIndia is packed with clothing of every hue.  And, Beth looks fabulous in everything she tries on!  Exercising self-discipline, she only buys one item.

We decide to head over to Jadavpur University for Ali’s reading.  As we cross campus, we see students in every direction - jubilant in their “victory” over the Vice Chancellor the day before.  They parade, have colored faces, and prop up hand-made posters.  

Holding hands in solidarity

An example of a poster

Leon liked this poster best.

Consequently, we enter the room for the reading a tad late.  Ali is already reading from her book: Give Me Back My Mother’s Heart.  This novel describes efforts to wipe out aboriginal culture via removal of aboriginal children from their birth families and adoption to white families.  In sparse, direct prose, she paints her own life story.  It is very moving – and Leon is first in line to buy a copy and get it autographed.

Ali - Author of
Give Me Back My Mother’s Heart

Leon gets his copy autographed

We then drive around Calcutta.  Called “the city of palaces” when it was the British capital of India, you can still see why as we pass old colonial buildings in the section called white Calcutta.  Jim and I both comment on the traffic.  While congested, it is much better than in 2008.  And, after being in Dhaka, what was once shocking is now viewed as relatively calm.  

Street scene in Kolkata

Around four o'clock, we stop for tea.  Sitting out front of Dolly’s teas, a local institution, we sip on a very mellow Darjeling tea and mellow out ourselves. 

Enjoying their tea break

Us, too

We return to our B & B and freshen up - then head over to Bapa and Munu’s.  We talk and talk - and laugh a lot.  Then, it’s dinner.  Delicious! -- and served at the not uncommon time in India of 11:00 p.m.   Twelve hours almost exactly from when we first started out.  Time for bed!