Kolkatta: City of Joy

Kolkatta is called the 'City of Joy', what a misnomer, right? The streets are not just streets, they are beds too. a gray light seems to be everywhere stealing color from your sight, but walk around some more you might be thinking, 'hey this place has a nice vibe' see all the community activity in the neighborhood streets, "it's like new york city" you might say, "a dingy new york city" but if you keep walking more not joy things come into view. so many beggars, even for india, some grab you, some women 'rent' babies from the villages to have on their shoulder as begging props, and those are just the ones that work the tourist circuit, the poverty is very difficult to wrap your head around. But there is an intangible that makes Kolkatta, they city of joy, maybe the weirdness of it's history, the weird combinations that make up it's culture, it seems unique to India and very Indian at the same time. there were times when i was knee deep in street water (from constant rain) dodging traffic getting drenched losing my hearing to massively loud car horns, being shouted at,grabbed, having to pee so bad but there is no place because every little piece of the streets and alleys is seems to be someone's house and i was thinking this is city of headaches. but the next morning i might 've had the best 6 rupee breakfast in the city, laughing with kids, seeing all the weird buildings and only in kolkatta experiences and i might think 'okay, okay, city of joy. for now"

a little slice in pictures..

traffic = crazy, and while we were there it rained a lot.. alot alot. the most common sight on the street ...yellow taxi's. a million of them. i think the official figure is 2 taxis for every person living in the city. second most common sight, kolkattas buses. also special to the city.. they look as if they are made out of coke can tin and have gotten a squeeze from a giant's hand, but are painted something fierce, they fly up and down and don't seem to stop for passengers only slow down some. Both of these vehicles spray out the nasty black smoke that gives kolkatta's air it's metallic flavour.

victoria memorial is a weird sight, here is the queen's statue in front...nice place to walk around but strange... nearby is a flowery park area, called the maiden , also nice to walk, we saw some of our first Indian PDA here. way to go, kolkatta.

singing in the rain



sus worked at the mother theresa founded motherhouse, here is a sister of charity during mass.


sus worked one on one with this boy, shubasheesh, at daya dan, a home for mentally and physically handicapped kids.
it was a great experience for her to be able to spend some time there and be a part of mother teresa's work since she has been a big influence on sus's life and worldview.