mitchjet: every street in calcutta

my first time to India!
to the city now officially known as "Kolkata" and no longer known as "Calcutta" (i only found that out recently...)

india yanked me right out of my comfort zone, just completely picked me up and threw me right out of there -- and i loved it!

kolkata is loud, abrasive, smelly, and insanely colourful

i've never witnessed poverty like it-- people showering in the street amongst burst water pipes; infants napping in gutters; and children trained from an early age to beg for money

but through it all, there was no complaining, no signs of a depressed society, no "the world is against me" attitude; it was as though the people understood that this is the hand that they'd been dealt, and were going about living their lives

but i learnt one thing -- there's just so much in my life that i take for granted, and i'll think twice before complaining about the small things that don't always go my way because at the end of the day, i've got two arms, two legs, a roof over my head and a family that love me -- who could ask for anything more?

my adventures in Kolkata:
sit in a restaurant listening to the christmas carol "I'll Be Home For Christmas", and tell yourself it's the spicy food that's making your nose run, and not the fact that you won't actually be home for christmas . watch a group of 6-year-olds perform a traditional Indian dance -- these girls could've put Britney Spears to shame, (even before her fall from grace!) . hire a taxi-driver named Dinesh for the whole day, and have him take you to all the popular sights worth seeing . consider getting your face shaved on the side of the street, but decide you don't actually like the look of the butcher's knife he's using to do it . stop and play cricket with a group of local kids, and laugh along with them at how bad you are at that sport (or most sports, for that matter) . buy cashmere, from Kashmir! . search the entire city for the obligatory fridge magnet for the collection, but fail miserably for the first time (i later found out that it would seem quite a novelty to an indian that someone would even want a fridge magnet with Kolkata on it -- fridge magnets just don't exist in india, so i felt relieved that i wasn't just looking in the wrong places!) . hire a rickshaw pulled by a 74-year-old man named Ishmal, but feel so guilty after fifty metres, that you put him in the seat and drive it the rest of the way yourself . buy the best tasting Diet Coke that you have EVER tasted (but i say that after every Diet Coke) . eat a snack from a street vendor, that comes served in a magazine page rolled into a cone, without asking what it's called or what it's made from -- and then involuntarily bring it back up into the toilet hours later . wonder why a taxi-driver laughs amongst his taxi-driver-friends when you agree to his pre-arranged fare of AUD$1.80 -- am i getting scammed here? . refuse to give any money to a boy who makes his baby monkeys dance for you -- i didn't ask him to make the monkeys dance, and besides they were out of sync . visit the Victoria Memorial: a huge palace built in honour of Queen Victoria's reign over india . after catching several taxis, opt now instead for the more adventurous "tuk-tuk" and throughout the ride, genuinely wonder if you'll make it to your destination alive . go shopping at New Market, because i never met a marketplace i didn't like -- my bargaining skills are as sharp as a tack now! . watch a butcher dismantle a goat, and wonder if you'll ever eat meat ever again . drink chai tea from a little terracotta cup (that may or may not have "accidentally" made the trip back home in my suitcase -- it's not like i was thieving it, they just get thrown in the gutter when people are finished with them!) . buy a dessert that simply goes by the name "Special Fancy" -- i have no idea what it was, but it WAS special, and it WAS fancy . visit the orphanage founded by Mother Theresa, and help feed and play games with the orphans, and be rewarded with some flowers from off of her tomb . get a headache from the constant blaring of car horns, but don't mind, cos you've got a headache IN INDIA!!!!

here are the photos: