The next chapter

I'm back in the US, and I've started working at Wollam Gardens, a cut flower farm in Virginia. If you have any interest in keeping up with this new era of my life, I'm gonna try and post some pictures, accounts, and maybe some occasional recipes at my other blog: http://peaceanddirt.blogspot.com/

Namaste

Last Day

Today is our last day in India. It's pretty heart-wrenching to be leaving here, and I can't believe the time is over. We've met so many great people, and seen and done so much. Kolkata became a sort of home away from home while we were here. But it is time to move on I suppose. I'm confident that, as hard as it is to leave, it will be good to be home once I get there (especially after the long and arduous flight process). I also have some great things to look forward to. Next week I will be starting a 10 week internship at Wollam Gardens, a cut flower farm in Norther Virginia, that I'm tremendously excited about. I think the people there and the work will be really good. After that Daniel and I will be working at Tree and Leaf, an organic vegetable farm, through the Fall.

For today I think we will do a bit more walking around, taking in what we can while we have to opportunity, and then eventually take a cab up to the airport. We fly out tonight at 8PM and get to Washington DC around noon tomorrow.

50 Years of Freedom Struggle

During our time here in Darjeeling we've been witness to various events surrounding the 50th anniversary of the uprising in Lhasa, Tibet that resulted in the exile of the Dalai Lama and numbers of Tibetan peopl, most of whom came into India. There is a pretty sizable number of exiles here in Darjeeling, so there have been several marches and demonstrations in the past few days. The most powerful one that we had the opportunity to see was last night, a rally and march organized by the Tibetan Women's Association of Darjeeling. At the rally on the Chorwasta some people were handing out sheets of paper discussing the action and the aims of the organization, as well as the struggle of the Tibetan people, particularly women. "The Tibetan Women's Association appeals to Chinese people, and women's groups across the world to join us in our fight for justice and freedom, not only in Tibet but in any regimes across the world where a women's body is ruled by the state." The rally was followed by a march through the town, with people chanting, holding flags and candles. The march came full circle back to the Chowrasta that evening, where the people placed their candles on the paved ground spelling out the letters "Save Tibet" in fire. Then everyone in the massive gathering let out a song, maybe a Tibetan anthem though I'm not sure.

It's nice to have a face to the Tibetan freedom struggle that's not Bono or Lisa Loeb, but rather a Tibetan face.

Holi Hai!

Today is Holi, a major Indian festival that means you have people rubbing colored powder on your face all day. Daniel and I both got pretty covered. The kids seemed to really enjoy rubbing it into his beard. Holi is known as the Festival of Colors because of the use of bright pigments (purple, pink, red, yellow, green, blue) and is a way to usher in Spring. It originated as a celebration of the death by fire of a demoness named Holika, and the subsequent survival of a devotee of Lord Vishnu. Wikipedia gives this synopsis:

"The main day, Holi, also known as Dhulheti, Dhulandi or Dhulendi, is celebrated by people throwing coloured powder and coloured water at each other. Bonfires are lit the day before, also known as Holika Dahan (death of Holika) or Chhoti Holi (little Holi). The bonfires are lit in memory of the miraculous escape that young Prahlad had when Demoness Holika, sister of Hiranyakashipu, carried him into the fire. Holika was burnt but Prahlad, a staunch devotee of Lord Vishnu, escaped without any injuries due to his unshakable devotion."

Today we are in Darjeeling, and the Holi celebrations alone have made it a pretty good time. We got here yesterday evening, a day late, due to a Darjeeling strike. We got up Monday morning, checked out of our hotels, and lugged our packs down to the Gangtok jeep stand only to be turned away saying there was nothing going into Darjeeling because the roads were blocked off due to striking. Dejected, we decided to spend the rest of the day lounging, eating, shopping, and strolling down the Marg. Luckily everything worked out getting here on Tuesday, and I am so happy to be back in Darjeeling. I think I left my heart here when we went to Gangtok.

This morning we were finally able to see the mountain! The views of Khangchendzonga, the third highest peak in the world, are one of the main tourist draws to the area and absolutely stunning. We climbed the observation deck at the top of our guest house this morning, hoping, hoping, hoping that the fog had cleared enough and then seemingly out of no where, floating in the sky atop the mist were the peaks. It's hard to adequately describe how mind blowing they are. It's clouded up again this afternoon, but it should be clear again in the morning.

We took a stroll down to the Bhutia Busty Gompa, a shrine which holds the original copy of the Tibetan book of the dead, and had some polite conversation with a monk there. The picture to the side is of a mural there. After lunch we headed to the Darjeeling Zoo. We were welcomed there by a lively Himalayan Black Bear, and continued on the path to see leopards, Tibetan wolves, Bengal and Indian tigers, and even a snow leopard, a personal highlight for myself who decided when I was 6 that it was my favorite animal. We did all this, mind you, covered in pink and purple pigment. The locals got a real kick out of it and a number of people asked to have their picture taken with us.

Only one more full day in Darjeeling, then it's back to Kolkata on Friday morning. We will jeep down to Siliguri, then overnight train it back to the city.

Gangtok, Sikkim

Today Daniel and I finished everything on our "Gangtok To Do List." Since Friday afternoon we have been staying at a travel lodge on Tibet Rd in Gangtok, Sikkim. Sikkim is an Indian aberration of sorts. It is far more ethnically Nepali, and has the highest percentage of Buddhists living in the state. Also, Ganktok seems to be pretty affluent in comparison to any other city I've been in. It looks like most people enjoy a relatively middle class existence. So, Sikkim only became a part of India in 1976, and before that it was an independent state. In hopes of fostering pro-Indian feelings, the Indian government has given Sikkim some pretty major tax breaks. Oh, and it's much cleaner than any other city. There are litter free and no spitting zones, something I don't think you could successfully enforce anywhere else in India. I've also noticed there are liquor stores and bars everywhere; in most of India it's pretty hard to get a drink.

Mahatma Ghandi Marg is the main downtown road, and cars don't have access to the brick streets. A line of flowers and fountains stretch down the center of the street with shops and restaurants lining either side; something altogether more European than Indian. We've spent a lot of time there in the evenings drinking tea on the benches. Last night we made the acquaintance of a Sikkimese rapper named Jimmy there (again, this is a place of aberrations).

Gangtok rests on a mountain, at the top of which is a park called the Ridge. It's a long green space that offers some pretty good views of the city below. At the north end of it is a large flower exhibition center. It's orchid blooming season so on Friday afternoon we were able to see maybe a hundred different varieties on display there, along with some other really lovely fauna.

Saturday involved an expedition to the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology on the other side of the city. We reached it by means of the Damovar Ropeway, a relatively new zip line car sort of thing that takes you down and over a wide valley. The Tibetology Institute was amazing and one of our first really up close and personal encounters with Buddhism here. It's a museum sort of thing, displaying indescribably beautiful and tremendously old things like statues, thankas, and various sacred implements. The second floor of the building is a massive scroll library. There were scrolls there from the 7th and 8th century, exhortations on or discussions of the life of the Buddha or the nature of emptiness.

Just up the hill from the Institute is a large stupa flanked by Buddhist schools for boys. We were able to look in on one of their sessions at this sea of little boys in red robes looking at their little tablets, while the grown up monks at the front of the room were playing drums and horns, spreading incense and making offerings. We've started calling some of these little boys Buddha babies. Some of them are so young, and can't be older than 5 or 6 and they are kind of all over the place.

W were greeted by a host of young monk boys today on our excursion to the Enchey Gompa, apparently Gangtok's most impressive monastery and temple. Our trip their involved a pretty hearty walk up hill, but it definitely proved itself worthwhile when we got there. We were able to hang out in the courtyard for a while making conversation with some of the Indian tourists visiting, with drums and chanting in the background. From the monastery we scrambled a little further up hill to Ganesh Tok, a view point/Hindu temple high above the city for some good views and a cup of tea. I think we probably walked 7 or 8 km in all today, half of it uphill, so we'll be taking it easy for the rest of the time in Gangtok.

Tomorrow we return to Darjeeling.

Jai Maa Gorkhaland

Long live Gorkhaland; the clarion call of the region surrounding and encompassing Darjeeling, India. It is technically part of West Bengal, but the people here are decidedly not Bengali and assert a separate identity and government. They want their own state, separate from Bengal, and the cries for separation are everywhere. You start seeing flags and signs declaring Gorkha rights as soon as you get out of Siliguri, the transfer point where we took the jeep up to Darjeeling. The movement has vowed to officially establish a separate state by 2010, and I wish them the best of luck because Darjeeling is nothing like the rest of the state. For the time being, people have undertaken various forms of generally non-violent resistance against the Bengali government, primarily by acting as if the state is already theirs. Licence plates, for example, changing their vehicle numbers from WB for West Bengal to GK for Gorkhaland. Also, I have heard of some tax resistance and striking.

I'm sitting in Gangtok, Sikkim at the moment, where we will be for the weekend but we will head back to Darjeeling on Monday morning to stay for the rest of the week. More on Sikkim later, but first I want to catch up on Darjeeling. It's pretty safe to say that we totally fell in love with this town, known as the Queen of the Hills. It started with the pretty magical journey from Siliguri, climbing into the Himalayas by jeep. So, the Himalayas are really big, and we are still not even that far into them. I'm not sure of elevations or anything, but the steepness and magnitude of the mountains we've seen is really amazing. You are supposed to have great views of snow-capped peaks, but so far the mountain mist has been an impediment to that. We are hoping that any day the weather will clear.

Also, the culture of the people in Darjeeling, and the mountain towns in general, is a relief after the stress, hassle, and noise of big Indian cities like Kolkata and Varanasi. This change of pace and temperament is definitely welcome right now. Also, the temperature is considerable cooler; another relief after almost 95 degree days in humid Kolkata.

We got to Darjeeling Tuesday afternoon and checked into a charming spot called Andy's Guest House, run by a Mrs. Gurung who is one of the nicest, most honest and straightforward lodge keepers we've met so far. Also, the cleanest and cutest lodging. From there, we began to wander. Through a narrow path of street stalls selling produce and food, we reached the Chowrasta, a sort of town square. No cars are allowed here so it's a sort of paved park, and social focal point for Darjeeling. It's a great spot to sit looking onto the mountains with a cup of tea and some momos, Tibetan vegetable dumplings which have recently become my new favorite food.

From the Chowrasta we made our way up the hill, and stumbled into Observatory Hill, probably the holiest site in the city. It is sacred to both Buddhists and Hindus, with a shared temple at the top of the hill. As we walked toward the complex we could hear bells ringing from various temples, and see the hint of Buddhist prayer flags strewn amongst the trees. The sounds got louder and the prayer flags got thicker until finally we were at the top and in the middle of this totally magical place. The picture below is a section of the prayer flags, and only begin to hint at the enormity of the place.

Another one of Darjeeling's more notable attractions is the Toy Train on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Railway is a two foot wide narrow gauge line that runs from Siliguri to Darjeeling. It was built between 1879 and 1881, and still uses a steam engine. The use of the narrow gauge at the time was a major innovation in trying to combat the steep and treacherous mountain terrain that the railway needed to cover, and was crucial to the development of the Darjeeling region. We took a two hour round trip joy-ride on the steam train to Ghoom, where you get a half hour for tea and a peak at the railway museum there. Apparently Mark Twain took the railway up during his visit to India and said it was "the most enjoyable day I have spent on this earth."

Oh, also we went to the botanical gardens there which were really cool. Lots of good fauna. Like I said, we are in Gangtok, Sikkim at the moment but will be making our way back to Darjeeling on Monday, in time to celebrate Holi in a more Hindu part of the country.

Varanasi, the Eternal City

On Friday night, Daniel and I cabbed it over to the train station to make our way from Kolkata to Varanasi for the weekend. On the way over I discovered that I, in my infinite brilliance, had got the time of the train wrong so we arrived at the station at 8:20 PM , 20 minutes after it pulled out of the station. Great, just great. But we didn't give up hope, and went in to see if we could some how, by some grace of God, book a later train. The Kolkata train station is a beast unto itself, a mammoth thing that swallows you whole.

Eventually we got to someone who told us there was a train later that night, at 11:45 and to go to the booking office. After making our way through the labyrinth to the booking office, I then had to battle my way through 50 Indian men to even talk to someone about booking another ticket. People here don't ques for things... you just get into this pile of people and try to push your way to whatever your trying to get to. As soon as you feel like your close, in swoop three more men in front of you so it feels like one step forward is countered by three steps back. I was getting pretty exasperated, between the chaos of this booking thing and the dejection of knowing that I had so royally messed up the train thing to begin with. In this moment of weakness though, I met an older American gentleman, also trying to battle his way through the line, who said he and his wife were trying to get to Varanasi too. He took pity on me in my plight, but also gave me heart to carry on the struggle. It so happened had an extra set of tickets. It was for an earlier train, and 2nd class (which is pretty classy). He tried to get them to just switch the tickets over to Daniel and I, but they would have none of this due to some technicality. In the end, I just bought another set of tickets at the window, but it was so kind of this guy to try and help us out that in the end I was happy to have the opportunity to meet him and his wife.

So, while things certainly didn't work out as planned, we got our Varanasi tickets, and at 11:45 boarded the train. A million hours later, with the call of "chai, chai, garam chai" ringing in our ears from the constant repetition on the train, we arrived in Varanasi.

Mark Twain once wrote, "Benares (Varanasi) is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together." I think it is probably one of the most important cities in the world. First of all, it is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. Also, its indescribably sacred to Hindus, as well as Buddhists and Jains.

The main part of Varanasi, know as the old city, is a vast labyrinthine network of narrow streets running alongside the Ganges crammed with shops and innumerable temples. Between the city and the water are the ghats, which is an area of stairs leading down to the shore. There are over a hundred ghats along the whole stretch of the city. Most ghats are cites of bathing, but others are for cremation. It is thought that anyone who dies and is cremated here will be released from the cycle of maya and transmigration. Our hostel was right next to Meer Ghat, one of the cremation ghats. While it is fine for tourists to go out on these ghats to watch the ceremonies and the burning pyres, one can't help but feel a little intrusive and out of place. It was remarkable how many bodies were carried through the narrow street next to our hotel, covered, flowered, and carried by a host of chanting men down to the water. It seemed to happen at least a 4 or 5 times an hour.



The every morning and evening there are Pujas (sacrificial ceremonies) along the water. The most spectacular of these is performed at Dashashwamdeh Ghat, reportedly created by the god Brahma to welcome Shiva as the primary deity of the city. Our two nights there we watched the evening puja, Aarti, which is dedication of fire and light in this instance to the Ganga, Shiva, Surya (Sun), Agni (fire), and most importantly the singular divinity of the universe. It was definitely a spectacle. There were seven or eight young priests lined up along the river bank on elevated platforms. Also, singing and music projected through a sound system. Lots of flowers, lots of incense, and lots of fire. I thought it was pretty amazing. Many people take boats out to view the ceremony from the river, and release little floating leaf boats filled with flowers, candles, and prayers onto the water. Its a tremendous thing to see all the little candles floating on the water, hundreds and hundreds of them.




Our time in Varanasi was spent mostly just wandering along the water watching people and boats, cremations, boys playing cricket, the goats, cows, water buffalo, dogs. Also, there are a couple of really choice tourist cafes one of which is a German Bakery where I got an amazing Cappuchino, definitely a treat after all the Nescafe.

On Monday morning we woke up at 4AM to begin the next leg of our journey, to a very different sort of place: Darjeeling. Our train left at 5:45 in the morning, and didn't get to our stop, New Jalpaiguri, until after midnight. It isn't even that far away, maybe 730km, but the damn train just kept stopping, half the time in the middle of a field somewhere! It was a long ride and we were definitely happy to step off that train, though it meant staying in the town of Siliguri for the night, a pretty unimpressive place. From there we got a jeep the next day to Darjeeling, but I should write more about that whole journey in another instalment. Suffice it to say, we are in Darjeeling and it is amazing here.

Dakshineswar

Saturday afternoon after work we decided to go on another venture, this time up north to the Dakshineswar Kali Temple on the eastern banks of the Hooghly River. I had a particularly potent interest in visiting this temple because of its association with Ramakrishna, a Hindu saint and guru who I spent some time studying at St. Mary's, primarily in the book Kali's Child by Jeff Kripal that is banned now in India for various reasons. Ramakrishna had a pretty interesting life to say the least, and this temple was where he spent most of it. He was head priest there for 30 years.

The temple complex there was beautiful, and probably one of the most peaceful Hindu temples I've been to in India. It was also one of the largest. In the center of a massive courtyard is the Kali temple, and another raised area next to it where people sit to meditate or converse with other devotees. I got there as a group of people began singing and playing devotional songs. On the perimeter of the courtyard are a multitude of different Shiva temples, all of which contained lingams. People would go around to each one to pay their respects before going into the central shrine. Outside this central complex were the grounds, some of which was just gardens, but also several enshrined buildings including Ramakrishna's room, which still houses his bed and a number of Sepia photographs. It is now a meditation room for visitors. Also, a temple to Radha and Krishna, and a shrine for the guru's wife. Since it was right on the river there were a number of bathing ghats.

Also, there were monkeys. Normally, I wouldn't be so excited about the monkeys since they are troublesome creatures but I haven't seen any here in West Bengal, except for a few that were pets. So here, they are a novelty.

I will put up more pictures of this when I get the chance, but for now the computer is being difficult.

Marigolds and Mosques

So, we've had the chance to do a little more sightseeing in the city, exploring some new parts. Earlier in the week we went down to Kalighat, the city's major Kali temple. She is a very popular deity in this part of the country. I got the special Brahman tour, where for a price he took me around and explained various different parts of the temple complex: the main Kali idol, a special tree of fertility, and a small bathing pool devoted to Shiva. He also invited me to the ritual goat slaughter that happens every morning. It was kind of him to offer, but on this I think I will pass.

February 18th was Daniel's 25th birthday! so we decided to take the day off from Prem Dan and do a little more sightseeing, followed by some general relaxation. Kolkata is split down the middle by the Hooghly River. Most of the more notable sights of the city exist on the Eastern side of it which is where we are staying. There are two major bridges that run across, as well as numerous ferries. We headed north yesterday for the Howrah bridge, for the Mullik Ghat flower market just below it.

The flower market was total sensory overload. There were pounds and pounds of flowers, mostly marigolds, crammed into the market with the multitudes of people trying to sell and buy. Everything was to vibrant and colorful and full of activity. I think when people outside think of India, it resembles something like that flower market. I have no idea where these flowers came from, but I imagine most will be used religious ceremonies. It as probably one of my favorite parts of the city so far. Though, getting there proved to be somewhat of a challenge. The thing about trying to navigate here is that very few of the streets are marked, so you sort of just go by direction and general intuition, and also the help of others.

We wandered the area just south of the market... lots of crumbling colonial facades. Also, there were a number of churches and synagogues sort of right next to each other. We took some refuge from the bustle and heat of the street in the pastel courtyard of a Portuguese Catholic Church. On the way back to the metro we detoured to this enormous mosque off of Mahatma Ghandi Rd. A lot of the mosques are very similar here. They all have the same sorts of green domes and minarets. We don't really have a clock or anything, just mark the parts of the days by the calls to prayer. At this mosque we were able to just peak inside and see the men taking of their shoes to go into the main building.

The metro here, by the way, is amazing. It is by far the easiest way to get around the city. It is one line, clean, efficient, and only 4 rupees a ride (not even 10 cents) with no hassle.

We have about another week here, and the time now seems like it's slipping away. We have met so many amazing people here in Kolkata... every one comes from all over the world, but for similar reasons, and we all want to do something good. There is really something sort of magical about the energy I think. Whether it's through Missionaries of Charity or other NGO's or people just working and networking on their own, I am becoming really aware of the great potential in people for good... There are projects and ideas and things starting all over the place. Today I talked to a woman who is helping build a school and clinic for a village outside of the city, and heard of another person who just bought a bunch of land and 14 cows, and will be helping teach ex-prostitutes how to live and work on their own. There is just such a nexus of ideas and good will here. Still, it will be good to get up north soon. Already I can feel the day's heat growing little by little.

Kolkata

So much has happened in the past few days, it's hard to even know where to begin...

Last Friday, at 3 PM, Daniel and I made the walk from Sudder St. to Shishu Bhavan, the former home of Mother Theresa. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday the nuns there coordinate a Volunteer orientation. There is not a whole lot to this, as they hardly have time to train in detail the many people who come in and out to work for various lengths of time. Basically we just give them our name and nationality, and then we tell the nun at the table which of the several different houses for the sick we want to go to. Daniel and I had originally wanted to go and work at Kalighat, the home for the destitute and dying, across from the city's major Kali temple but it was full, so our next choice was Prem Dan.

Prem Dan is similar to Kalighat in that it is for adults and elderly people, but the state of their health is not so severe. Every morning, we get up at 5:15 along with the Muslim call to prayer that comes through the hostel window, and walk over to the Mother House for the mass and breakfast with all the other volunteers. That walk is probably one of my favorite parts of the day. It is still dark, and the city is only just waking up. The streets are not insane like they are during the day, but people are out waking up, washing, opening up there shops, feeding their animals, polishing their cabs, and so on. It's a part of life in India I had not seen before.

Mass at 6, breakfast at 7, work at 8. After breakfast we begin the 20-30 minute walk to Prem Dan. Just the walk itself was a really eye opening experience. For most of it you are just going through the streets of Kolkata, like any other streets, then you turn a corner and you come to the railroad tracks. These are slums, and some of the most destitute living in the city, aside from living on the sidewalk or in trash heaps. Prem Dan is right next to the Park Circus railroad stop. As we walk along the tracks though, next to the shacks and trash and animals, every one greets us with Namaste and clasped hands, children reaching out to touch us yelling "hello! hello!" It's a chorus of good will. I think that many of the patients in Prem Dan come from this surrounding area but not all.

When we get to the gates and enter the courtyard it's like coming into another world... it is relatively calm and clean and there are parrots and palm trees. All the men go to one side of the complex, and the women to another to start our day's work. There are a number of volunteers, who all stay for different periods of time. Some stay for 2 days, others have been there for 15 years. First we do laundry, all by hand. There is a lot of laundry. I really like this as a start to the day though. The work is satisfying and offers a chance to socialize with other volunteers and even some of the patients who might help out, though they only speak Bengali.

Then we go out to visit with all of the women patients, hang out with them, rub lotion on them, give them massages, or help them eat a snack. This is probably the most existentially intense part of the day. You become very personal with these women, many of whom are in pretty bad shape. There are wounds, missing limbs and digits, mental illness, swollen body parts, and very few teeth. It's amazing how small some of these women are, full grown but with the hands of a child, or arms the size of two of my fingers. Most of them are very loving though, and patient considering the fact that I don't really know what I'm doing. Today, after I had rubbed lotion on a woman's feet, legs, and arms, she reached down, touched my feet and then touched her head. This is a really great honor in Hindu culture. It is like saying that the most impure part of me (my feet) are higher than the purest part of her (her head). Of course I did the same in return for her, but I can't express how honored I was by that gesture. I think that Prem Dan is there for us as much as we are there for it.

After that is a chai break for the volunteers. I really like this part as it includes delicious milk tea, biscuits, bananas, shade, and sitting. Also, I get to see Dan who has been busy doing similar things but with the men. From the sounds of it they are a little grumpier than our ladies.

After that we serve a meal which is a pretty hectic time, making sure everyone gets a plate and water, that those who can't feed themselves get help, etc... then clean up. Buy this time it is 12:15 or 12:30 and the day there is done. In most houses there is a morning and afternoon shift, but Prem Dan is only morning. We make our way to the nearby main street, which is an adventure in itself given the tremendous mid-day traffic, and then share an auto-rickshaw with some people back to Sudder St.

After that the day is our own. We have lunch, walk around the shops, go to different sites, or just laze about the courtyard of the hostel with the cats.

I suppose our Kolkata life is starting to really take shape. It is nice to be in a place for a little bit, and not feel like we have to be going out, seeing and doing things. Sometimes it is enough just to sip chai on the roof for a few hours. In another week and a half we will be leaving Kolkata, for Varanasi we think. It was not originally planned, but so many people have spoken so highly of it we feel like we should really make the venture.

Home Sweet Home

We made out way to Sudder St. being sidetracked on the way of course by a kind man who offered us a cup of chai in his shops, and special prices only for us. He expounded to us on the merits of marriage and children, though not too many. It was our first real shopping experience in Kolkata, and all things considered it was altogether a pleasant one, especially given the hawkers you have to pass through on the main road outside our hostel. The nearby bazaar is a hustle of selling and begging that really takes a lot of stamina and determination to pass through unscathed, not to mention un-pick-pocketed :)

We are currently residing at the Hotel Maria, a hostel that cost us about $3 a night to stay in, but we have our own room, and even our own bathroom. The sink doesn't have a pipe or plumbing, but rather a plastic tube that directs the water out of a hole in the wall. The toilet is somewhat similar. But it is our home for at least the next week, maybe longer if we like it enough.

We are surrounded here on Sudder St. by almost as many travellers as Indians which is a little strange, but also frankly comforting. There is a diverse traveller population here too, not just the cliche sort of Western hippie, though they are definitely about. It's nice to have a place where we can settle though, and get to know the surroundings a bit, though I am looking forward to travelling up north, especially when it gets hotter. Right now it gets into the low 80s during the day, which is warm but ultimately still pleasant.

Oh, so the really great things about the hotel Maria are as follows: Computers in the hotel, Courtyards and rooftop, and 3 or 4 stray cats that wander around the premises, and are very friendly!

Test Transmission

So after a million hours in airport and on planes, Daniel and I finally made it to Kolkata. Though the cab ride from the airport to our hotel was a sojourn unto itself, and we didn't finally arrive until 11:30 PM. We crashed pretty quickly after indulging in some India music videos on the television set. Kolkata looks much better in daylight than it did during that long and boisterous car ride last night...

We've spent the day so far wandering the streets and checking out some obligatory tourist spots like the massive Victoria Memorial. The gardens surrounding it are amazing. There are also many gilded pony drawn carriages and musical fountains. I haven't seen any bicycle rickshaws; instead they are pulled by people. The memorial itself is a strange sort of thing, filled with statues and paintings, and pictures from the colonial days. It's simultaneously a memorial to the British reign, and to Independence. But so much in India is like that.

Our next stop for the afternoon will be St. Paul's Cathedral... and another one of those anachronistic sort of sites in the old British capitol of India. Then off to scavenge some dinner.

Tomorrow, we will make our way up to Sudder St. the main drag of cheap tourist housing and food, and try to secure some hostel accommodation there. Once settled, we will make our way to the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity to check out the deal there.

We are flying out tomorrow! We leave Dulles at 12:30, go to JFK, JFK to New Delhi, New Delhi to Kolkata. And then to the hotel I've booked for the first few nights there.... I don't think I'll get too much sleep tonight, but hopefully that will encourage me to sleep well on the crazy long plane ride that begins tomorrow and ends Wednesday night, 10PM Indian Standard Time.

As excited as I am to be heading off to India, and get a general restart to my life, there are certain things that I'm going to miss about life here in the District of Columbia.

• My garden
  
• Polish coffee at Domku
  
• Thursday nights at the Dorothy Day House
  
• Old friends, and new
  
• The people I worked with
  
• Metro
• Being able to walk to so many of the places I need to go
  
• Biking through the city (though I am not going to miss that uphill climb up New Hampshire Avenue on the way home)
  
• Netflix
  
• The tidal basin
• As skeptical as I am of government, it was still kinda cool to spend my days just down the street from the White House and see famous political types on a regular basis
  
• I never had to travel far to go to a protest
  
• The Dupont Circle Farmers Market (though I think this will continue to have a place in my life)
  
• Record stores.  My partner and I were just discussing this morning that outside of urban markets its impossible to buy a record from a store other than Best Buy or FYE, because other stores just don't exist.  
• Have you ever seen the sunset on U street?  I think it's a delight.
• 18th street people watching.  Oh the drama you see
• Rock Creek Cemetary was practically my back yard
• Gus Gus
• Naan and Beyond - the best veggie samosas around, and only a block from my old office
• Oh, and the Jasmine Bazaar,  an Indian market in Takoma Park
• Driving into the city, from Virginia, on 395, at night.  There is this moment where you come around a turn and all of the sudden it is just emblazoned in front of you, a sea of lights and monumental buildings.  Funny that a city is at it's most beautiful in the dark.

Correspondence

I got a letter from Sister Mary at the Missionaries of Charity house in New York today which was pretty exciting.  It was an encouraging letter, and it never hurts to get affirmation about doing something crazy like quitting your job and going to India.  Most of the info about volunteering with the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata I already knew just from reading other accounts of the experience, but it was good to have something concrete like this from someone in the know.  I now have up to date contact info  for the Sisters in Kolkata, but she said that you don't need to do any arranging before hand since they have volunteer orientation everyday at Shishu Bahvan, an orphanage there.  

At the end of the letter she writes "May our Blessed Mother be a Mother to you and prepare your hearts to seek and to find God hidden in the distressing disguise of the Poorest of the Poor."

I'll take whatever help I can get.