Can't believe I'm half-way through week two of my month in Kolkata already! Time is flying by and it feels like so much has happened since I last wrote on here, even though it wasn't even a week ago. It's certainly all go here, for which I am so glad as it is helping me not to miss everybody to crippling extremes, although I have had my moments!
I'll start where I left off last time, 'Founder's Day.' This was even madder than I anticipated; they all took it so seriously and expected so much of the children! Before I could get involved however, I had to have my saree fitted - my very own costume fitting, just like all the kids were doing. It wasn't actually as complicated as I thought to put on, although I would never have dreamt of doing that way! I found it quite easy to wear actually. It was relatively cool and didn't massively constrict my movements; the only real issue was that, as anticipated, it led to even more attention than I was getting before! You would honestly think I was some famous model, the way everyone kept going on, and it led to a few somewhat sweeping (dare I say, 'racist') comments...such as 'Oh my God, they are so beautiful!', when asked to clarify 'they', the lady in question said, 'your people' and pointed to my skin! Wasn't quite sure how to respond to that one, so just smiled sweetly and looked demure, a technique that I find myself employing quite regularly over here. All jokes aside though, the saree is a beautiful garment, and it did make me feel very elegant wearing it. The one Nandita chose for me was black with gold detailing; I felt like an Indian princess! I had quite a few pictures taken, so once I get hold of them I will do my utmost to upload them (and some others) on to here so you can all see what I've been up to.
The programme of the day went well, although there was utter pandemonium back stage (where I was) throughout. None of the kids, nor some of the teachers, seemed to grasp the meaning of quiet and no one really knew where they or anyone else was supposed to me, resulting in lots of children running from one area to another trying desperately to find their group. There was not only Lovelock School there, but also the younger school and Mother and Child project, so there were a lot of people around! Considering all this, the actual show seemed to go really well. No one forgot what they were supposed to be doing, and it was all well received. Hansel and Gretel, which was the play I was involved in, went amazingly! Everybody in the audience laughed in all the right places and the kids rose to the occasion and acted their little socks off - I felt very proud :) Apart from Hansel and Gretel, (of course) I think my favourite performance was the 'English' dance from the little-uns' school. They came on dressed as maids and butlers with pinnies and caps, and danced around singing about country fairs and good manners, before moving on to the chorus of 'shake your booty', which no one seemed to understand the meaning of, or why I was finding it so hilarious!
When I got home that afternoon I had a phone call from my hostess's grandnephew, Ray, inviting me out with him and his friends to a club on Park Street, which is kind of like the high street here. I happily agreed, looking forward to the prospect of spending some time with people my age, and, most of all, going for a bit of a dance! Slightly panic-making, though, was the fact that I didn't exactly anticipate going out in Kolkata with local people, who have their entire wardrobe at their disposal, to a pretty posh club and so was at a loss about what to wear. I decided not to panic though, as I had the whole of Saturday to think about it. Or so I thought. At about 9pm, there I am, in my pjs, talking to Mum, ready for bed, and Minu comes over with her mobile in hand, saying that it's Ray. I hang up on Mum and speak to Ray, expecting him to confirm some detail or another, but no, he is ringing to tell me that he and his friends are downstairs waiting for me all ready to go! Well as you can imagine, I was horrified! I was no where near ready to go, had no idea what to wear, and they were all waiting for me! What followed was the fastest turn around in my small history, as within five minutes I was running down the stairs, shoving my hair up as I went, yelling goodbye to Minu and telling her not to wait up!
Despite this not exactly fortuitous of beginnings, the night turned out to be a really good one. Ray and his friends are really fun, and his sister had a Uni friend over from Ireland, which was cool. We went to another friend's house for pre-lash before heading to the club. It was nice, really nice actually, and the music was fab! - Just like I had been dancing with Jess and Livi to on our last night out in Eddie's (apologies to those of you to whom that means nothing!) with a couple of bhangra numbers thrown in for good measure, at which point everyone grabbed my arms, pushed them into the air and started showing me some Bollywood-style moves - amazing! Just felt really good to be out enjoying myself with other people who were enjoying themselves, and not to have to be too respectable; I actually showed my shoulders! Got back to Minu's at about 3am, and knocked for the security guard to let me in, but I think her must have been asleep as there was no reply. I was slightly at a loss about what to do, but decided just to climb over the gate. Perfect end to the night as it meant I was giggling all the way up the stairs, and continued giggling the next day when a very bemused security guard was trying to work out how I had got in!
Saturday I had a full-on sight-seeing day. I went on the metro up to the centre of the city to visit the Victoria Memorial, Park Street (by day) the Academy of Fine Arts and St. Paul's Cathedral. The Victoria Memorial was beautiful, and so unexpected. I walked from the metro station and had gone past slums, people peeing in the streets, unbelievably smelly piles of rubbish and lots of other unsavoury things, but I went round a corner, and there it was: bright white marble, rising out of a beautifully green park, and reflected in a still and remarkably clean lake. Inside was a pretty exhaustive, yet very interesting, history of Kolkata, and it was good to get some background to the city, especially it's relationship with the British over the years. I wandered round the park that it is in for about an hour afterwards, and although it was beautiful, I'm not sure I would do it again, due to the sheer amount of attention I got. I must have had my photo taken 'surreptitiously' at least 20 times, I can't honestly believe that these people didn't know that I could a) see them pointing their phones at me and b) hear the flippin' camera noise! I also had several people come up to me to ask to have their picture with me, and one man who followed me for about 20 minutes. He was the most irritating. He wasn't threatening or anything, and he didn't try to speak to me, but he was certainly persistent, and evaded all of my best 'stop following me' moves! He left me alone eventually though.
Saturday night I met Jessica, an American volunteer who has been here 2 and a 1/2 months already. She doesn't seem to like Kolkata much though and is counting down her days until she goes home, which is a shame. However, she did introduce me to an incredible shop called 'sunshine' in the backpacker district, where I saw at least 20 things I would have liked to buy in the first 5 minutes! I was very good though and resisted the temptation (that time anyway, I will definitely be going back!), and focused instead on chatting to Jessica about what she's been doing since she got here...not all that much by the sounds of it!
Sunday, I headed back towards Park St to visit Park St cemetery (they say we all eventually turn in to our Mothers, but I seem to be fast-tracking in this instance!). The cemetery was amazing. Although it is on one of the busiest streets in Kolkata, as soon as I was inside it was so quiet, due, I think, to the massive trees all around it. The tombs are massive, and could quite easily belong to giants! The whole forty minutes I was in there I didn't see another soul, unless you count a street dog, and it was so eerie, but not in an altogether bad way. As geeky as this makes me sound, it felt like being in some sort of ancient burial ground from Lord of the Rings or something! Apart from anything else, it was really good to be on my own, some respite from the constant attention!
From there I went to Mother Teresa's house where she lived and worked from. It was interesting to see, but I struggled a bit with some of her attitudes, especially towards contraception and abortion; they just seem ridiculous when you are dealing with a city like Kolkata, where pretty much every problem is intensified by over-population. I felt pretty down after leaving. The real poverty here is confronting and overwhelming enough for me, without the need to go to an exhibition about it; as potentially selfish as it sounds, it was just all a bit too much. The area that the house is in didn't help - let's just say I can see why Mother Teresa chose to set up shop there. It's strange, because the area I am living in has plenty of people living on the streets, but somehow this area was worse. I think it was the fact that it felt devoid of community or camaraderie, but I'm not sure really.
Luckily, I had a wonderful phone chat with the fam (minus Jess who, as per usual, was being a social gad-about!) to cheer me up, which it did, immensely. And then the relatives of one of Gran's friends came round to take me out! First we went to their club, (which was definitely a new experience!) and then to a very traditional Bengali restaurant, where all the very delicious food was served on a banana leaf. It was a lovely evening.
This week has been all change, as I am now working at another school that comes under the Bustee Welfare umbrella. There is a lot to tell about it but I am wilting a bit, and so am going to head down the street to buy a sweet or two; it is a completely accurate stereotype that Bengali people make fantastic sweets, and I plan to make the most of it while I am here!
Lots of love,
xxxxxxxxxx
I'll start where I left off last time, 'Founder's Day.' This was even madder than I anticipated; they all took it so seriously and expected so much of the children! Before I could get involved however, I had to have my saree fitted - my very own costume fitting, just like all the kids were doing. It wasn't actually as complicated as I thought to put on, although I would never have dreamt of doing that way! I found it quite easy to wear actually. It was relatively cool and didn't massively constrict my movements; the only real issue was that, as anticipated, it led to even more attention than I was getting before! You would honestly think I was some famous model, the way everyone kept going on, and it led to a few somewhat sweeping (dare I say, 'racist') comments...such as 'Oh my God, they are so beautiful!', when asked to clarify 'they', the lady in question said, 'your people' and pointed to my skin! Wasn't quite sure how to respond to that one, so just smiled sweetly and looked demure, a technique that I find myself employing quite regularly over here. All jokes aside though, the saree is a beautiful garment, and it did make me feel very elegant wearing it. The one Nandita chose for me was black with gold detailing; I felt like an Indian princess! I had quite a few pictures taken, so once I get hold of them I will do my utmost to upload them (and some others) on to here so you can all see what I've been up to.
The programme of the day went well, although there was utter pandemonium back stage (where I was) throughout. None of the kids, nor some of the teachers, seemed to grasp the meaning of quiet and no one really knew where they or anyone else was supposed to me, resulting in lots of children running from one area to another trying desperately to find their group. There was not only Lovelock School there, but also the younger school and Mother and Child project, so there were a lot of people around! Considering all this, the actual show seemed to go really well. No one forgot what they were supposed to be doing, and it was all well received. Hansel and Gretel, which was the play I was involved in, went amazingly! Everybody in the audience laughed in all the right places and the kids rose to the occasion and acted their little socks off - I felt very proud :) Apart from Hansel and Gretel, (of course) I think my favourite performance was the 'English' dance from the little-uns' school. They came on dressed as maids and butlers with pinnies and caps, and danced around singing about country fairs and good manners, before moving on to the chorus of 'shake your booty', which no one seemed to understand the meaning of, or why I was finding it so hilarious!
When I got home that afternoon I had a phone call from my hostess's grandnephew, Ray, inviting me out with him and his friends to a club on Park Street, which is kind of like the high street here. I happily agreed, looking forward to the prospect of spending some time with people my age, and, most of all, going for a bit of a dance! Slightly panic-making, though, was the fact that I didn't exactly anticipate going out in Kolkata with local people, who have their entire wardrobe at their disposal, to a pretty posh club and so was at a loss about what to wear. I decided not to panic though, as I had the whole of Saturday to think about it. Or so I thought. At about 9pm, there I am, in my pjs, talking to Mum, ready for bed, and Minu comes over with her mobile in hand, saying that it's Ray. I hang up on Mum and speak to Ray, expecting him to confirm some detail or another, but no, he is ringing to tell me that he and his friends are downstairs waiting for me all ready to go! Well as you can imagine, I was horrified! I was no where near ready to go, had no idea what to wear, and they were all waiting for me! What followed was the fastest turn around in my small history, as within five minutes I was running down the stairs, shoving my hair up as I went, yelling goodbye to Minu and telling her not to wait up!
Despite this not exactly fortuitous of beginnings, the night turned out to be a really good one. Ray and his friends are really fun, and his sister had a Uni friend over from Ireland, which was cool. We went to another friend's house for pre-lash before heading to the club. It was nice, really nice actually, and the music was fab! - Just like I had been dancing with Jess and Livi to on our last night out in Eddie's (apologies to those of you to whom that means nothing!) with a couple of bhangra numbers thrown in for good measure, at which point everyone grabbed my arms, pushed them into the air and started showing me some Bollywood-style moves - amazing! Just felt really good to be out enjoying myself with other people who were enjoying themselves, and not to have to be too respectable; I actually showed my shoulders! Got back to Minu's at about 3am, and knocked for the security guard to let me in, but I think her must have been asleep as there was no reply. I was slightly at a loss about what to do, but decided just to climb over the gate. Perfect end to the night as it meant I was giggling all the way up the stairs, and continued giggling the next day when a very bemused security guard was trying to work out how I had got in!
Saturday I had a full-on sight-seeing day. I went on the metro up to the centre of the city to visit the Victoria Memorial, Park Street (by day) the Academy of Fine Arts and St. Paul's Cathedral. The Victoria Memorial was beautiful, and so unexpected. I walked from the metro station and had gone past slums, people peeing in the streets, unbelievably smelly piles of rubbish and lots of other unsavoury things, but I went round a corner, and there it was: bright white marble, rising out of a beautifully green park, and reflected in a still and remarkably clean lake. Inside was a pretty exhaustive, yet very interesting, history of Kolkata, and it was good to get some background to the city, especially it's relationship with the British over the years. I wandered round the park that it is in for about an hour afterwards, and although it was beautiful, I'm not sure I would do it again, due to the sheer amount of attention I got. I must have had my photo taken 'surreptitiously' at least 20 times, I can't honestly believe that these people didn't know that I could a) see them pointing their phones at me and b) hear the flippin' camera noise! I also had several people come up to me to ask to have their picture with me, and one man who followed me for about 20 minutes. He was the most irritating. He wasn't threatening or anything, and he didn't try to speak to me, but he was certainly persistent, and evaded all of my best 'stop following me' moves! He left me alone eventually though.
Saturday night I met Jessica, an American volunteer who has been here 2 and a 1/2 months already. She doesn't seem to like Kolkata much though and is counting down her days until she goes home, which is a shame. However, she did introduce me to an incredible shop called 'sunshine' in the backpacker district, where I saw at least 20 things I would have liked to buy in the first 5 minutes! I was very good though and resisted the temptation (that time anyway, I will definitely be going back!), and focused instead on chatting to Jessica about what she's been doing since she got here...not all that much by the sounds of it!
Sunday, I headed back towards Park St to visit Park St cemetery (they say we all eventually turn in to our Mothers, but I seem to be fast-tracking in this instance!). The cemetery was amazing. Although it is on one of the busiest streets in Kolkata, as soon as I was inside it was so quiet, due, I think, to the massive trees all around it. The tombs are massive, and could quite easily belong to giants! The whole forty minutes I was in there I didn't see another soul, unless you count a street dog, and it was so eerie, but not in an altogether bad way. As geeky as this makes me sound, it felt like being in some sort of ancient burial ground from Lord of the Rings or something! Apart from anything else, it was really good to be on my own, some respite from the constant attention!
From there I went to Mother Teresa's house where she lived and worked from. It was interesting to see, but I struggled a bit with some of her attitudes, especially towards contraception and abortion; they just seem ridiculous when you are dealing with a city like Kolkata, where pretty much every problem is intensified by over-population. I felt pretty down after leaving. The real poverty here is confronting and overwhelming enough for me, without the need to go to an exhibition about it; as potentially selfish as it sounds, it was just all a bit too much. The area that the house is in didn't help - let's just say I can see why Mother Teresa chose to set up shop there. It's strange, because the area I am living in has plenty of people living on the streets, but somehow this area was worse. I think it was the fact that it felt devoid of community or camaraderie, but I'm not sure really.
Luckily, I had a wonderful phone chat with the fam (minus Jess who, as per usual, was being a social gad-about!) to cheer me up, which it did, immensely. And then the relatives of one of Gran's friends came round to take me out! First we went to their club, (which was definitely a new experience!) and then to a very traditional Bengali restaurant, where all the very delicious food was served on a banana leaf. It was a lovely evening.
This week has been all change, as I am now working at another school that comes under the Bustee Welfare umbrella. There is a lot to tell about it but I am wilting a bit, and so am going to head down the street to buy a sweet or two; it is a completely accurate stereotype that Bengali people make fantastic sweets, and I plan to make the most of it while I am here!
Lots of love,
xxxxxxxxxx
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