Kolkata and Varanasi

Our first port of call in India was the former capital of the British Raj, Calcutta, these days known by its Indian name Kolkata.

The city,s colonial influence is clear with its old world sort of charm and decaying relics of the heighday of the British Empire. Crumbling grand palaces, old fashioned tea rooms and second hand English book stores on every corner battle for supremacy with green overgrowth, the immense population, and the traffic.

Unfortunately, the city appears neglected in many ways. Population growth, a lack of planning, and much of the industry leaving the area resulted in distinctive piles of garbage on the streets, incredibly chaotic and noisy traffic, and buildings blocked off for fear of collapsing into themselves at any point.

As an introduction to India it certainly lived up to my expectations of being colourful, bustling and with many overpowering smells and surprising sights. The one thing I had very much underestimated was the noise! The sheer cacophony of constant aggressive car honking causes your heart rate to go up and for your body to be in a constant state of stress which is exhausting and overwhelming.

One of the best days we had in Kolkata was spent at the famous 24h- flower market down by the river and the well known landmark of the Howrah bridge. Rising early before sunset to greet the arrival of new flower stock, the market was brimming with activity, trucks delivering fresh flowers, stacks of them being carried in baskets on peoples heads and displayed in colourful arrangements to be perused. The colours were just beautiful in the morning light and the steaming 5rupee (10c) cup of fresh chai from the whole-in-the-wall stall, served in disposable clay cups, was just the thing to energize us for some further explorations.

We later ambled through the largest second-hand book market in India, observing many students picking up copies of textbooks and preparation pamphlets for state exams.
One of the main reasons for starting in Kolkata was the fact that the Cricket World Cup Semi Final was to be held here during our stay and Hadleigh was very keen to attend. Unfortunately we could not secure any tickets beforehand as they were all sold out online. Not to fear, we arrived in Kolkata 2 days prior to the event and as we walk into our first café, we spot 3 guys sitting on the next table wearing “Cricket World Cup” T-shirts. So, in true Hadleigh fashion, he walks over, introduces himself and asks whether either of them knew of a way to still procure some tickets. One of the men, a young official with the organizers, reaches into his pocket, pulls out two tickets, hands them over and says “today is your lucky day, I happen to work for the ICC”.

The semi final just happened to be between Australia and South Africa. We spent eight hours in the stadium, which turned out to be surprisingly entertaining, even for a cricket newby like myself. Especially when Australia won and then proceeded to win the final a couple of days later. 😊

We tried many interesting foods, including some famous Bengali dishes, such as Prawn Malai curry, fresh fish with mustard sauce, orange lassi, Dahi Puri, Kathi rolls and many more. Unfortunately (as was sort of to be expected in India at some point), one of those things ended up giving me some really bad food poisoning. This meant I was pretty flat out for several days, just staying in bed and rehydrating.

During this bout of illness we had unfortunately planned a travel day, which wasn’t much fun, but somehow we made it to our next destination, Varanasi.

Varanasi is one of the holiest cities in India and is central to traditions involving pilgrimage, death and morning in the Hindu world. It is one of 7 holy cities that are located on the Ganges river, but the only one through which the river happens to be flowing from south to north (due to a curve in the direction of the river).

In Hinduism it is believed that Nirvana lies to the north, therefore if a persons ashes are spread in the Ganges in Varanasi, they will be able to be transported to Nirvana which ends their journey of reincarnations as the ultimate goal. As a result, Varanasi is the place where Indians come to die – literally.

Varanasi is a fascinating place but also very confronting. You have many people from all over India making the pilgrimage to Varanasi in order to perform rituals and purify themselves in the river. At the same time, only a few meters upstream, you have crematoria where people burn their dead and throw the ashes directly into the river. The water is extremely polluted and carries many diseases, but the locals are not to be deterred. You see kids playing in the shallows, people bathe and even brush their teeth in the water. We asked our guide if people were aware of the pollution and his answer was simply: “Faith is stronger than science”.

The city itself is full of narrow winding alleyways where motorbikes dodge cows, rats are seen scurrying across the path and, once again, the noise level is such, that Hadleigh and I started wearing our ear plugs when we were out and about in order to able to focus on the sights. Once you get onto the river front though (the so called Ghats- or Palaces, built by different Maharadshas over the decades) it feels more tranquil. And especially in the early morning hours there is an eery beauty to watching the sun rise over the river banks from a row boat. The boat also drives very closely past the crematoria, where you can observe a burning ceremony unfolding before your very eyes which is a humbling experience.

Overall I would say that our first two destinations in India were a pretty full-on experience and being sick probably did not add to my resilience in the face of this. Hadleigh had promised that Kolkata and Varanasi were the crazy India of your imagination, and they didn’t disappoint. Nevertheless, they have also left some lasting impressions on me for sure.