Planes, Trams, and Ambassadors

If you've been paying attention, you'll know that I just went on a trip to Kolkata (Calcutta).  Before I went, I was asking around the office for any recommendations and the best one I got was from Dr. Sathish.  He said that in Kolkata I can try out soooo many modes of transport!  And it's true!  During my trip, I used air plane, cycle rickshaw, Ambassador car, tram, metro subway, bus and, of course, my feets.  Kolkata is the only city in India that has a tram system.  It's a very old rickety system and of course there are no marked tram stops.  I hopped onto the #22 tram at Esplanade, and apparentlly did it wrong because they promptly made me get off and get back on again.  And then, instead of heading North which I was expecting, it went to a completely different part of town.  Not knowing where I was, I just sat back and enjoyed a tram tour of the city.  At 10 cents a ride, it was well worth it.

  Inside the Tram

Kolkata also has an extensive underground subway system (India's first!).  The subway was fast and fun but just as crowded as everything else in India.  They threatened to kick me out if I took any pics while on the subway, but I did manage this one:

 The Other Park Street

Even the buses are different in Kolkata.  I rode on some wooden buses that had the most uncomfortable seats ever.  But they were charmingly painted blue and yellow, so they were forgiven.

Inside of the bus

Another thing that is unique to transport in Kolkata is the abundance of yellow Ambassador cars.  Ambassador is a car manufactured only in Inida, and one of the main plants is just outside Kolkata. 

And I also rode on a cycle rickshaw, and was surprised by their honesty when it came to prices.  In Chennai, an honest rickshaw wallah is nonexistent!  But we were told that the cycle rickshaw wallahs are in a union, and if they charge inappropriately they will be kicked out.

The city itself is beautiful in an old way.  It looks like how I imagined India would look, kind of old and dusty.  This is mainly because West Bengal (the state in which Kolkata exsists) is ruled by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which happens to be the world's longest running democratically elected communist government (COMMUNISM!!).  You can see the hammer and sickle symbol all over the city.  

As it happened, I ate mostly street food while in the city.  I like street food because it is delicious and extremely ecomonical, and you get to mingle with the locals.  A common thing to eat in Kolkata is a kati roll, which is a kebab rolled up in a grilled paratha with chili sauce and lettuce and onions.  I chose to have egg roll instead.  It was tasty.  I also ate some battered and fried eggs and panner and other fried breads with various chickpea, potato, soy chunk gravies.  I drank an interesting salty sugary lime drink and the best ice cold lassi I think I've ever had.  And lots of ice cream and popsicles.  After chatting up some friendly Indian men at the open market, I managed to score some free tea and butter fried toast covered in sugar.  I was all smiles.   

Tea is served in little ceramic cups that are then tossed onto the ground and sometimes stepped on.  It's like a mazel tov with every cuppa!  The cups were cute and the tea stall wallahs chuckled everytime Jacob and I put the cups in our bags instead of onto the ground!  They make great decorations, candle holders or shot glasses.

The guest house we stayed in was sufficient.  I was so excited to have AC and a bed as I was in bad need of some quality sleep.  But the first night was ruined again by mosquitos.  I have no idea where they came from, but there were more mosquitoes in our hotel room than that night I slept on the balcony!  I couldn't belive it, it was a nightmare!  The second night we managed to fend them off by turning the AC down to 16C (61F), putting the fan on full blast, plugging in 2 different electric mosquito killers (one solid, one liquid), burning a mosquito coil, and sleeping completely under a thick blanket.  Apparently this is what you have to do to get a good night's sleep around here!  I'm dissapointed that the mosquitos keep showing up in my blog, but unfortunately they are a big part of my life here.

I got to visit the SAATHII (NGO I am volunteering for) headquarters.  I met the SAATHII Country Director of West Bengal and had a nice chat about India and healthcare.  I had previously worked with him over email to edit some peer educator literature about HIV issues in MSM (men who have sex with men) population for the WHO (Wold Health Organization), so it was nice to meet him in person.  I spent the rest of the afternoon in the office watching the movie Outsourced on Jacob's computer while he taught the rest of the office something about computers (BORING!!).  That movie is funny, but of course not all that realistic, and I'd recommend that you guys watch it.

Then it was back to the airport and back to Chennai.  Again, it's good to be home!  Pics from Kolkata