Day 04: 23 Sep’09 - Backtracking to Kolkata
After our harried trip off the mountain from Darjeeling, we arrived at the Bagdogra airport with 30 minutes to spare – a bit too close for this traveling crowd. However, we made it, got checked in, caught our breath, and we were airborne again. Upon arrival in Kolkata and en route to the hotel, we toured Pareshnath Jain Temple. It was a modern temple (19th century) covered in jeweled glass and mirror fragments – kitschy, something you have to see to believe.
We stayed at the Oberoi Grand, which is about the finest hotel we have ever visited, and bonus, they got the food just perfect! And, the beginning of one of our themes that will be explained along the journey, no pigeons in the pool. Jess went swimming, mom and dad had shrimp, calamari and beer by the pool; ah, life is truly grand!
Day 05: 23 Sep’09 - Kolkata
Kolkata is a tricky place. It is a city of 15 million people at night, and swells to 21 million during the daytime. It is the administrative capital for several of Eastern and Northeastern Indian States. And it was the point of entry for the East India Company when the Raj took control of India - even serving as the capital of the country for awhile. Kolkata traffic is traffic with a capital T. Unbelievable! Also, Kolkata claims the centerpiece of Indian art, dance, and theatre; hence there is a different vibe to the place.
The city was bustling with preparations for Dussehra celebrations, and in Kolkata that means hundreds of temporary temples that compete in an art contest - kind of like the Mardi Gras Krews in New Orleans. There were some really interesting themes taken from cultures the world over for the temples, which was a fantastic display of the art creativity of Kolkata. As noted, the temples were temporary. Most were constructed of small logs lashed together with hemp rope, wrapped in what we would call gunny sack material, muddied for stucco, and painted. The most elaborate we saw had a hard panel for walls instead of muddied gunny sack, and real marble for a floor. Most have some sort of lighting to enhance the ambiance, and some sort of sound system, which if there are too many of these temples close by creates quite a cacophony of sound.
Also, visited an upscale Krishna temple. Of interest here was the contrast of the opulence of the place with profuse use of white marble and golden idols to the “poor” woman who had snuck onto the property to pray and was escorted off property by security. I guess she was a child of a lesser caste god. And not to be left off the temple tour, was the Kalighat Kali Temple. If you remember your Indiana Jones, in “Temple of Doom” the bad guys worshiped Kali, the goddess of destruction. Well, at this temple they did not do human sacrifice, but they did sacrifice goats. We did not see it happen, but we did see blood on the marble, and the temple was very busy and was quite odorous.
As indicated above, it was Dussehra season, which honors Durga (one of the Hindu pantheon). We visited the area of the city where the temporary temple idols are constructed out of straw and clay. Quite the slum, complete with a host of interesting resident artists. An eye opener to say the least as there were many very narrow dirt passageways to traverse and people everywhere. The density of Kolkata is very intimidating and almost choking. We never felt at risk, but, well, you know, too many relatives in the house spoil the season.
Lastly, we went to Coffee House in the book district. The book district is several streets dedicated to an open air book market – very interesting, and a natural magnet for book lovers and intellectuals. The Coffee House is where the intellectuals of Kolkata come to discuss lofty subjects, indeed, by watching the patrons, it looked prime for compelling discussions.
Kolkata is not just another Indian city; it has a creatively different vibe. It is not dirty ubiquitous, but ubiquitous decay is very noticeable. B’lore is renewal without forethought, whereas Kolkata had forethought, maintains green space and wide roads – while suffering choking traffic and chronic decay of buildings.
Day 06: 24 Sep ’09 - Kolkata to Varnasi
Ok, a theme is developing about vacating one city to travel to the next via air. The escort to the Kolkata airport was late to pick us up from the hotel, and we arrived at the airport just in time to clear security and walk onto the plane. Again, a bit close for our tastes. Note that folks from the West think in terms of on time, whereas folks from the East think in terms of in time. Of interest this time through the Kolkata airport was Alli’s mom, Bev, who was weary of cramped, hot, noisy Indian airports. In order to clear security, each airline hands out branded tags for carry on luggage. The tags are attached to the carry on item and are stamped by the security personnel when the carry on item is scanned. We did not have the correct brand of tag for the airline we were traveling on. Apparently, that is a no-no. Queue Bev, who promptly informed a CSIF machine gun toting military person at the gate that it was not our fault that his staff messed up, and we were not to be denied access to our flight. Amen! We proceeded without further ado to the plane. I guess the Indian CSIF does not want to mess with mature a blond chick with attitude!
In order to get to Varanasi from Kolkata, we had to transfer through Delhi. Again, we had to move our luggage from one airline to the other – this time to a different terminal. Delhi has a really nice modern airport! We had a leisurely lunch, boarded the plane and were quickly en route to Varanasi. Since we were only in Varansi for one night (at The Gateway Hotel Ganges Varanasi), the tour started upon arrival. Attempting to move ones own luggage into / out of the smaller airports is to attract the baggage gulls [ok, think of the seagulls in Finding Nemo]. They spot you with baggage in tote, and they apparate themselves with baggage cart to your position. If you attempt to use the cart, they will seek renumeration for their service. To that end, it was nice of the greeters to meet us before the gulls got to us, but they were still a bother on the whole trip.
You have to understand Varanasi in order to tour it. It has multiple facets, but there are three major ones.
First, it has been a holy place for Hindus for thousands of years on the edge of the Ganges – Mother Ganga. What Mecca is the Muslims, Varanasi is to the Hindus, with a twist. In order to break the cycle of reincarnation, the Hindu must attain moksha, and it is best done here on the Ganga. So, this is a place of death as people who are dying come here to prepare for death and to achieve moksha. For those already dead, being cremated by the Ganga is huge plus, and there are many crematoriums going 24-7, which was a little surprising to us. The cremations are handled by the Doms, and the Doms are managed by the Dom Raja. The entire death retail practice is owned by the Dom Raja. The title of Dom Raja is hereditary, and the role is from ancient times. The dude has a nice palace on the edge of the river; apparently, the death business is lucrative.
Second, the Ganges itself is the soul of the Hindu, and the Ganga Aarti is performed each evening where the river is thanked for its contribution to their existence. During the ceremony, the guide told us about the aum (om) sound, and that the Brahmin priests would make the sound. He indicated that he has heard this done many times, and that it still raises the hair on his arms. I can concur - when the priests did the aum sound, I did have an odd feeling roll through my body, and my hair stood up – even though it was very hot and sticky.
Third, the morning rituals. Each Hindu pilgrim baths in the Ganga, and welcomes the sun during sunrise. Those that are grieving lost ones begin the process by having their head shaved. Also, several Brahmin priests are available for other spiritual needs, and they set up shop under woven bamboo umbrellas on the ghats of the Ganga. Real estate that is handed down from father to son, and a lucrative business as the donation of gold increases ones access to spirituality.
All of these events unfold on the ghats of the Ganga every day of the year. Being of western decent, and with a rational and reasonable mind, it was quite interesting to behold and not easily understood.
Lastly, Varanasi is famous for silk weaving. The system works similar to the shoe merchants of 18th century Boston, where the merchant would travel into the country having villagers do the task in their home, minimizing his investment in production. A silk merchant, whose shop we visited, had 20,000 Jacquard looms in houses producing silk cloth for him. We visited one home with four looms. Most of the weaving is done by the Muslim community within Varanasi.
Day 07: 25 Sep’09 - Varnasi (then on to Delhi)
Early morning proceed to the Ghats where it is believed that people are cleansed physically, mentally and spiritually at the Ghats of the Ganga, one of the most sacred places of Hindus.
We did the morning ritual tour at sunrise, touring past several temples and buildings that were 1,000 years old and still inhabited by the very family that built them. Of interest was the gold temple that had 1,500 lbs of gold on the roof, and where someone had given 6.5 kgs of gold as a gift the previous day. Also, we wandered about a bit in the pathways of the old town. Being a city mostly predicated on death, the pathways and narrow streets were not all that clean. Several free wandering cows saw to it that our luck increased with each step we took
Jess and Alli stayed at the hotel for the morning tour and went to the pool. The pigeons were not too deep to keep Jess from having a good time and making some new friends. Also, upon return to the hotel for breakfast, we were informed that our flight time had changed, and that we would be picked up 1 hour later than originally stated; however, upon inspection of the flight schedules, the flight time had not changed, and we had to intervene to be picked up to get to that airport in time. We were just in time, again.
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