Chaos and Contrast

Kolkata is truly a city of diversity. Last night I met a Chinese waiter who spoke fluent Spanish at an Italian restaurant in an Indian city. Talk about culture! We went out to celebrate one of the Italian volunteer's birthdays (hence the Italian restaurant.) It was a great evening- there were 2 girls from Spain, one from Mexico, one from Australia and me- and then we met up with a guy from Rome who now lives in Kolkata. So the conversation was mostly in Spanish and some English- I love the variety! It was also really fascinating to be out at night- when we walked to the restaurant we went through one of the main Muslim sections of town. They call it the meat district (and we could totally see why as we walked by the cuts of meat hanging up beside the carts- if I'm not a vegetarian after that I never will be!!) because Hindus aren't allowed to butcher animals, so they have the Muslims do it instead. It's also Raamadaan here, so all the Muslims fast until sundown, and then everything stops while they have huge dinner parties on the sidewalks (and who can blame them- I'd be starving too if I hadn't eaten all day!) The city is so different at night here, although some things, like the constant honking of taxis, never changes.
Yesterday we went to Kalighat and did some sightseeing. We walked through miles of street markets (where every vendor was selling the same red and white bangle bracelets, pashmina scarves, earrings and incense...) and then we went to Kali Temple. Somehow I expected the temple to be cleaner than the average building here, but no... It wasn't as impressive as I thought. And it's strange to see so many people worshiping something that every street stand sells in miniature. We walked down to the water for a bit and then on the way home we stopped for fresh-squeezed lime juice at a street stand. The limes are funny here- they are sort of like weak oranges and are not sour at all. The juice is really good though- there was an Indian boy of about 10 who mixed mine for me- he adds just a bit of cane sugar and then pours it back and forth between the bowl and your glass to mix it. So while we were standing there drinking our juice, a trolley car went by and the cable snapped off the line. And rather than calling the police and fire department and blocking off the road, the trolley men just got out and pull the cable over and snap it back on the line and carry on their way. The people in the tram didn't look the least bit concerned. I suppose that's just all in a day's work here in India....
Karin