Over the last week, I’ve been going around to different areas of Kolkata for multiple reasons. I’ve been hanging out with my sister and her friends in various locations – restaurants, clubs, malls, parks, – I’ve moved residences from one area of town to another, and I’ve gone back to the Sudder Street/Newmarket area where I used to hang out during my stay in Kolkata in the 1998. I’ve enjoyed getting reacquainted with the town.
Your Vote is Invaluable!
Sign in Assam
It’s been interesting here in India over the last few weeks as well, because this is election time in India. This will, when all is said and done, be the largest democratic election to have taken place in the world, ever. Admittedly, there is evidence that corruption is playing a part (when is it not?), that people are being paid to go to the polls and vote a certain way, or threatened etc. When I walk down the street, my ears are constantly assaulted by people chanting slogans and telling people how to vote. This is done at top volume from loudspeakers set up along the streets as people stand on stages set up on street corners. This is done from vehicles that drive up and down the streets. Since I don’t speak the language, this sounds like I am being yelled at, rather threateningly, all the time! It’s hard to describe, but Indians have a certain speech pattern, especially when giving a speech, which is quite forceful and pauses, rather rhythmically, between each wave of hi-decibel audio assault. I can hear it from the 12th floor apartment I’m staying at in Hiland Park as clear as a bell. When I’m on the streets, among the sound, the noise is deafening and seems to come from everywhere at once. It will be interesting to see how this election turns out….
Aakash played at a club called the Princeton this week. It was a unique collaboration with a group more new age/jazzy than he normally plays with. The style was very definitely very unique but Jaya’s friend Lily and I were still surprised when the show ended with a song culminating in a French-film monologue track! I also enjoyed running into people I’d met earlier in my Kolkata stay, at Nishad’s party. Actually, I didn’t hear them calling my name at first. Shantha is a relatively common name in India (not in the top ten, but certainly not uncommon), so I’ve been hearing my name frequently since coming here. I’ve had to get used to not reacting every time I hear my name being called. So I was at the club and when my name was called, I discounted it because I wasn’t expecting to know anyone other than the people I was with. It wasn’t until an entire chorus of people simultaneously yelled my name that I turned! That was a new experience!
Family Dosa at the Banana Leaf
Today, I met Alec and Matt at the Banana Leaf, a restaurant specializing in food from Kerala. They make amazing dosas. These are a kind of “Indian Crepes” made with batter from rice and lentil flour. Frequently, they are eaten with potato curry or sambaar. Delicious. This place has a “family size dosa” and it is monstrous. I had to see it to believe it! I think it’s Jayanthi’s favorite restaurant. I like it cause I can get great South Indian coffee there (milky and sweet and mixed in front of you by pouring it dramatically between two cups)!
I went to Suder Street a couple of times, as I said. I met up with Neel the first time, by accident. A couple nights later, I went to the Fairlawn with my sister and her friends, but met up with Neel as well. It was great to see him and I was very glad he and my sister were able to meet. ONe of those first times I went back to Newmarket, I was looking for a place to eat and I came across the Blue Sky Café, a place I remembered eating lunch at after volunteering many times when I lived here before. (It’s also next door to a dairy store, and I love yogurt and milk, so that had been somewhere I knew as well). Both were still standing and operating in full swing. I stopped for a meal at the Blue Sky, which is still full of just as many Videshis (foreigners) as before, and then continued walking around the area.
Newmarket and Hogg Market is a very bustling place. The stores are mostly restaurant and retail and then there are little stores that spring up during the day all along the sidewalks and roadside. This is pretty typical all around Kolkata. The vendors set up in the morning and take down at night. It’s usually the same person in the same place each day, not something where they have to fight for place (that I know of), but it’s fascinating how busy a street can be when you add several feet of goods to sell to the sidewalks. Then, you add people walking up and down the roads and people pushing carts up and down the streets with vegetables and other goods etc. and beggars. Then there’s still traffic – cars, buses, autos, motorcycles, bikes, animals. A few areas of Newmarket are covered or inside, and they are warrens of alley-like hallways with shops and goods to sell and people crowding everywhere. It can all be overwhelming, but it’s a place that just bursts with vivacity. I found a movie theater I remembered frequenting in the past, as well as one of my former favorite tea stalls, where I of course stopped for chai. Delicious!
Kolkata street scene
It’s been great to get to know the town again. I feel relatively comfortable riding the Metro, now and am able to go places on the bus and autos when needed. I still have adventures, however. I missed my stop on the Metro yesterday when returning home to Hiland Park. I got off at the next stop and perhaps I exited the wrong way from the station, but when I came out there was nothing as far as buses or something to get back to the earlier part of town. I had to ask someone for directions, and ended up walking at least a kilometer or two before finding the bus I needed to take to return from the metro station I should have taken.
Nonetheless, I’ve enjoyed some of my trips down memory lane and finding my feet in town. I’ve decided to leave India within a week or two and am looking at flights. Jayanthi’s friend Jess told me about a music festival in Morocco that happens in June. Apparantly it is the local music, and is tribal-style, with a lot of similarities to reggae. It sounds right up my alley. I just need to figure out how to make my itinerary work out so I’m in Morocco the second half of June. I want to spend at least a couple of weeks there, as I’d like to see a bit of the country, as well. Since I only have a little time left in town, I’ve also decided to see if I can help out at Mother Teresa’s place. I’ll go by the Mother House and see what’s what tomorrow.