7:30 am
So yesterday Collen and I decided we wanted to go to a legit market….none of this fancy mall stuff. After attempting to find the metro we had to ask several individuals where it was… "right here!" they'd say. What they really meant is about three blocks down to the left but ya know…close enough. It was apparently closed until 2:30 pm (things just randomly close and open and we haven't figured out the system yet) so we decided to get some lunch at a lil restaurant. I had Dal Panjeer (essentially cubed cheese with lentils in a spicy sauce with some na'an bread)….delicious. Oh, and since there isnt really toilet paper readily available, you really AREN'T supposed to use your left hand to eat. So, I've had to be self conscious about that. There were some cute little boys working there clearing off the tables and one poured us some glasses of water. He was so cute I couldn't just not drink the water so I stealthily Steripened the dickens out of it under the table.
So the Metro experience. It follows suit with the principle that you fit as many people in or on any mode of transportation as possible. So Colleen and I, the tallest, whitest people on this armpit to armpit (because you have to hold onto the metal bar so you don't fall) atmosphere. Everyone is dripping sweat and kind of leaning towards the bar windows for a good whiff of exhaust air… who cares its like an oven in there! You'd think that only the kids would hold no shame in staring at us… WRONG! We get stared at hard core everywhere by everyone. No hoots and hollers like in Nicaragua (I'm surprised and happy about this), just plane stared at. The metro magnified the staring experience. I just smile.
The New Market--- Well this was our true initiation to Kolkata, India. Shoulder to shoulder, bumper to bumper as far as you could see! The sidewalk and side streets are lined with vendors of clothes, shoes, flowers, bangles, watches, purses… its like Canal St in NY x 10 and on speed. Collins and I stepped off the steps from the metro, and hauled it right into the crowd. Overwhelming is an understatement, though I must say I'm very proud of us for not only braving the streets, but going to the legit New Market underground! This market was literally underground and a maze of jewelry, sparkling colors, saris, tapestries, pashminas, clothes of every pattern and color. While being bombarded by tons of little Indian dudes saying "just have a look! you no have to buy, just have a look!"…"I have pashminas, very good price for you"…"beautiful saris madam, you want sari? you want bangles? I have beautiful arf dart scarf narf rarfararafffarrffs"….good lordy, we just wandered around wide eyed thru this labyrinth. I actually got a lot of stuff for cheap, learned to haggle a bit (not as good as I am in Nicaragua but the language this is a bit difficult here).
Actually a note on the language bit. So everyone here basically speaks their mother tongue--the language of the state they live in (here is Bengali), Hindi, and SOME people speak English…and some of those people I still cannot understand what English they are speaking. So that makes me feel better about teaching English, but makes me not as good at haggling. Oh well, I'll get better.
Well I feel that I have explained the "Chaotic Colorful Calcutta" enough that you can picture enough people from about 5 Dave Matthews concerts swarming in this one area of the city. I would like to explain the "considerate" part. The people here have blown my mind with their hospitality and kindness. I sort of expected to just get stared at and bombarded in markets to buy things; but so far, so many people have gone out of their way to help us in certain situations…even when we didn't ask. On the first day some people in a mobile phone store were very concerned about us getting lost and did what they could to help us figure out how to get back home. (Barb Ryan, you were called in this endeavor and I'm pretty sure I scared the crap out of you and I'm sorry but we were really fine….our rickshaw driver had taken a wrong turn which was not good for us considering it was our first day…love you :-)
But anyways after we figured out where we need to go, the cell dude even went out and bargained with the rickshaw driver to make sure he didn't rip us off. Sam, (the man who is letting us stay in this apartment below him) has shown and told us places to go for this and that, checks in on us to make sure we are ok, etc. We've asked different people on the street where certain things are, and if they don't speak English, they'll point us to someone who does. In the New Market there was a guy who followed us around for a while, and when we needed to leave he walked us out of the market (remember its a maze underground so this was much appreciated) and pointed us back to the metro… expecting no money either. I have definitely expected people to want money for helping (like in that market situation) but someone mentioned to me about good kharma from following the Hindi philosophy. Our English teacher (see future blogs) mentioned that everyone here is family, lives in a community, helps one another. The people here are selfless and hospitable and it truly shows.
"Contains Caffeine"--- Colleen and I tried Thums Up, an Indian beverage that should be familiar to those of you who have read and/or seen Eat, Pray, Love. It looks like any old Coke or Pepsi, in fact its made by Coke. Colleen took the first sip, made a face and said, "It tastes like India smells!" hahaha, but really…. it does! Now that description would hardly explain why we both finished our bottles but something is good about it! It has a weird spice aftertaste but it makes you want more! My theory is that its like the very old school Coca Cola that had actual coke in it…or is that a myth? Regardless, as a retired Starbucks barista i thought nothing could get me wired. HA! This stuff is like redbull, coke, mountain dew, coffee, sugar energy…I was like neeeeaaahhhhHHHHHHHHHHhHH! Yeah. I looked on the ingredients on the bottle… and in big cap letters….in quotations (i find this odd) it says
"CONTAINS CAFFEINE"
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