3 India

Day 4 – At Leisure in Kolkata


(I did not take any photos today, so I have added extras from other days)

Today, I was woken up by my new alarm clock and went for breakfast at 8.00.  I sat with Sue, who was much better now but seemed to be having problems with her contacts lens.  She is a very friendly, lively person and was on her way to a conference in Nepal, which was why she hadn't travelled over with us.  I felt less good so decided to miss the curry and just have toast.  The bread was very sweet, but I felt better after I had eaten it.

There were no formal activities today, so I set off with Bob, Mark and Ken to explore the area around the hotel.  We walked for what seemed like miles, mostly looking at our feet to make sure we did not tread on or trip over anything.  At first, we were bothered by beggars but they disappeared once we had left the tourist area.

Monument at St John's Cemetary

 It was a really interesting walk and we saw all life.  Everyone seemed to live outdoors and it was all happening on the pavement.  Some people were getting washed using water from taps by the road.  Barbers had set up their chairs for shaves and hair cuts, other people were cooking and a few were still asleep despite the noisy surroundings.

Sometimes we would pass a spice shop.  There were all types of spice of all colours, displayed in open bags ready to measure out.  The smells were wonderful.

We passed a small tank with live fish, some still well enough to swim.  Ken spotted a guillotine to cut off their heads before they were gutted.

Occasionally we nearly tripped over a dog, lying on the pavement.  They were all sandy coloured with short hair, which made sense in the heat.  Most were a bit mangy but, with all the rubbish lying about, must have been able to find enough scraps to make a good living.



Mark was in the lead and set a spanking pace, which meant that we could not see everything, although it almost felt as if we were intruding in people’s homes.  Despite the pace, it seemed a long time before we saw our landmark – the fire station at the end of our road – again.  There were some really wonderful old fire engines inside.

Having done the circuit, we decided to try the India Museum which was round the corner from our hotel.  We found it easily, but it was shut until 10.00, so we walked round a smaller block. I dashed back to my room and then rejoined the boys in the museum.

Jain Temple

The India Museum is in a lovely huge old building with a central garden courtyard, and goes up several floors.  The exhibits are stored on all levels and in all corners.  I say stored because this is definitely an old-fashioned museum.  They have lots of things to display, but just put everything out with very little description, if any, and no explanations.  I cannot imagine that it would capture the imaginations of any children in the way that British museums do.

One room was full of rocks.  Some had gemstones attached, but they were mostly unlabelled. To complete the look, there was a stack of furniture – tatty wooden tables and chairs – just left at the end of the room.



Although there were lots of exhibition rooms, it did not really take long to see it all, so I waited downstairs, nursed my toe and swollen ankles and people watched.  One by one the others joined me.  Bob was really pleased that the museum had a statue of the young Queen Victoria, after he had commented on her always being portrayed as rather old when we were at the Victoria Monument.  Once reunited, we went back to the bar in the hotel for a drink.  We had a short walk to try to find a restaurant, but some of us gave up and decided to have lunch in the hotel.



Back at the hotel, we bumped into Rafeeq who said that we needed to clear our rooms immediately and not at 14.30 as we had been told.  So we went and packed and then Bob and I met up for lunch and Mike joined us.

The bus took us to Howrah station.  There was a lot more traffic than the previous day, but we got there eventually.  It took a long time to get to a place where we could be dropped off and then we followed Rafeeq to our platform, arriving about an hour before the train.  I guess the traffic could have been a lot worse!



Platforms in India are very long because the trains are very long – a minimum of 22 carriages. There are stalls on the platforms to buy fruit, snacks and water.  The bottles of water were much cheaper than in the hotels.  People wheeled carts past us.  They looked as though they were laden with potatoes.  There was nowhere to sit on the platform, so we either stood or sat on our bags.  I stood as we would be sitting for a long time on the train.



Health and Safety in Stations

Our train was the express train to Delhi.  Rafeeq said that it was the best train of our trip and travelled at 100km/hr – slightly less than the high speed trains on the East Coast Main Line. When the train arrived, Rafeeq led us in a mad dash to our carriage.  There was a high step to get in and a bit of a crush but we all made it and found our seats.  We were not in first class, but were in air-conditioned carriages, which meant they had fans.  We did not all sit together.  I sat with Sue and we had a good chat, some of it probably a bit outrageous.  We suspected that the couple sitting next to us understood everything, but they said nothing.  Rafeeq came and joined us from time to time as he made sure that everyone was OK.  A young girl called Kushpu sat next to us from the first stop and chatted with us a bit.



Disappointingly, sunset came quite quickly and then we could not see any scenery.  The train crew brought us an early tea, comprising a cheese sandwich, a sweet and some orange juice. We got a full meal at 8pm, with tomato soup and ice cream afterward.



Rafeeq came up to say we would be at our stop in 3 minutes and a panic ensued.  But we got off the train without mishap and found our cars.  The drive to the hotel was a bit frenzied.  The driver went round blind corners on the right hand side of the road, but we survived.  There were lots of potholes in Gaya, but the road improved when we left town to head to Bodh Gaya.

Rafeeq warned us that this hotel would be the worst of the trip, but it was not that bad and it was friendly.  The rooms were done nicely, but the shower just flooded the bathroom and there were cockroaches and other bugs.  I was glad of my Bolivian sandals and made sure my rucksack was stood on end and done up so nothing could get in.