Bishop’s College Seminary
Back in Kolkata, I had reserved rooms at a place called Travel Inn. I decided to stay a little closer to the area of town where I had stayed when I lived here in 1998. I’ll only be in Kolkata this week for a couple of days before my sister and her friend Alec and I leave town again to travel in the northeast of India, but I figure it’ll be nice to have my base in a different part of town than last month.
View from chapel
What I didn’t realize when I booked the hotel is that it is literally 3 blocks away from my father’s old theological seminary. Bishop’s College is where he did his master’s in divinity, back in the late 1960s, before becoming a priest. I knew I would be near it, but not quite so close! So I had the chance to go over to Bishop’s college and walk around Dad’s old seminary.
Cow Companion for Chai across AJC Bose Road from Bishop’s College
That was enjoyable, as it is very calm and I had been there before, both with my father in 1993 when we visited as a family and again in 1998 when I was in Kolkata. I enjoyed wandering around and also getting tea across the street. The first night I had arrived back in town, I actually decided to walk towards Park Street and Suder Street. These two streets are in/near an area of Kolkata called Newmarket. They are relatively touristy and a lot of foreigners can be found there. When I was younger, I spent some time there, as I was able to walk there from the church guesthouse/B&B where I had been staying. I would often meet my friends there after we spent the mornings volunteering at the different homes for the Missionaries of Charity. I have a lot of memories of that part of town. So, after checking into the Travel Inn, I headed out to walk towards Park Street. Although I remember a lot of things from my time here, for some reason I had my “mental map” of Kolkata turned around. I’m having difficulty reorienting myself here in town. Also, for some reason, although I am able to get my phone and messaging to work, I can’t seem to get my data to work, so when I am out and about, I don’t have access to convenient things like Google Maps. So I get to do a bit of wandering/meandering, when I go places, regardless of whether or not I intended to…. And I feel a bit lost because of the language barrier. When I was in Andhra Pradesh, at least I could get from one point to another, and I felt like I could communicate my basic needs to people. Here in Kolkata, I don’t really have that. And I forgot how overwhelming Kolkata is. Simply crossing the street can be a complete challenge. I find am a bit surprised at my former self. How did I manage? Was I crazy, living here when I was twenty, or did I just have no idea what I was doing at all? I am not entirely sure what was going through my head then (if anything)! I found myself wondering if I have become less capable now than I had been then, or if have just lost my confidence. I find I am hesitant to go places and talk to people. It’s a bit terrifying to do things when you don’t know the language and don’t know if you’ll be able to get somewhere or whether or not you’ll be able to get back, much less whether or not you’ll be able to find help if you can’t. And perhaps I just know a little more now than I used to about all the things that can go wrong, all the horror stories. Perhaps I’m too self-conscious. I feel like people are looking at me and know that I am foreign and out-of-place. I worry that I am a target because I’m different. And at the same time I tell myself I should just calm down and everyone is looking at everyone and I’m no different, and there are plenty of other women, for example, who are walking alone.
After I stopped for some coffee, near Park Street, I eventually found myself in more familiar streets. I went along a street called Short Street and recognized a part of the road where the street zigzags. I was vividly recalled back to how things used to be. Interestingly, not much has changed. There are still shops along the road where men sit inside amongst their wares: cigarettes, shampoo, candy bars. These days, you find less shops selling CDs and more little shops selling iPhone covers, but the overall effect is the same. I noticed, however, that the streets seem even fuller than before. It used to be that there would be many men pulling rickshaws running through the streets, and some motorcycles, with the occasional car. Now, it’s the opposite. Only rarely do you see a rickshaw wallah and the road is congested with cars and motorcycles honking. Add more people as population increases, and you have streets that have become even more difficult to navigate, because of the sheer volume of humanity trying to fit onto them.
It’s interesting in these areas, though, because there used to be more people living on the streets here and many of them seem to have been pushed out of this area, because there simply isn’t space. Now they are in the next neighborhood over, or in the next slum out, it seems. Don’t get me wrong, there are still families cooking their dinner on the sidewalk, and children napping in the afternoon under a patch of shade. At night, there are rows of people seeping along the sidewalk: immigrants from the countryside or day-workers and commuters who won’t go back to their villages during the week or season when they find work. Or the beggars who live there permanently. There are even classes among the street folk, complex and as intricate as India herself.
When I got to the Newmarket area of town, I was able to locate Suder Street and once there, I found the Fairlawn Hotel fairly easily. The Fairlawn is a relatively famous hotel in Kolkata, especially with foreigners. It has a rather nice beer garden and has been used in several films, including the City of Joy (a pretty good movie from the 1990s with Patrick Swayze playing a doctor who quits his practice and comes to Calcutta where he ends up meeting a rickshaw wallah and his family who live in the slums). Actually, I remember the first time I saw the movie, I was stunned to see them walking out of one of his hotel because I recognized it as the place where I spent time with my friends when I lived in Kolkata. It was our regular hangout bar.
Kingfisher Strong! at the Fairlawn
When I returned to the Fairlawn, it was unchanged. I was pleased and a bit nostalgic to see it after 16 years. It was busy and full, lit with a bunch of twinkling holiday lights from the greenery on trellises above the tables. I managed to find a spot at a large table in the corner, where other people were already sitting, but not using the whole table. I don’t really drink carbonation, but I ordered my favorite Indian beer, Kingfisher –Kingfisher Strong, actually – and settled in to people-watch and reminisce.
Sweetie and Neel
After a while, I somehow joined in the conversation with a pair of people who were sitting at the end of my table. Before long, we were chatting like friends. Their names are Neel and Sweetie and they have been friends for a while. Neel has been going to Goa relatively frequently for a while now and enjoys traveling. Both are, I believe, Kolkata natives. We enjoyed our chat and Sweetie and I exchanged numbers. Neel mentioned that he comes to the Fairlawn almost every night when he is in town. He said something to the effect of, “If we’re mean to be friends, we’ll meet again, and we can exchange numbers and info then.” I kind of liked that. I was happy to have had a great experience at the Fairlawn again and walked back to my hotel.
But as I walk home from dinner on Park Street, and realize I’ve gotten lost and am not entirely sure where my hotel is, I have to talk myself down from panic. I feel like a duck on the water, trying to project calm and confidence as I walk down the street so no one will know I have no idea where I am or where I’m headed, while under the surface I’m paddling and panicking! But after a couple of circles and backtracks (all the streets have multiple names and sometimes the signs on the shops are the name of the biggest near street, rather than the one you’re actually on, so that’s not exactly super helpful), I manage to find my way back to Travel Inn.