Kolkata

After the farmer workshop, from Kharagpur to Kolkata we went.  Kolkata: steamy mega-city on the banks of the Hooghly river, 60 miles from the Bay of Bengal.  Capitol of India during the British Raj.  Home of the Indian independence movement and one-time center of politics, culture, science and education in India.  Contradiction embodied, with great marble British-build edifices sharing space with goat butchers and modern telecom buildings.  Urban, diverse, complex. Plagued with  poverty, population, and pollution. Fascinating. A little intimidating. Extremely compelling.

One afternoon we met up with the chairman of a local NGO doing environmental conservation work in the Sundarbans. Thirty seconds after saying "namaste", we were invited to the Kolkata Press Club to attend a press conference for a group of Indian climbers about to make an attempt on Mount Everest.  After the event we drank beer with some of Kolkata's intellectual elite in the Press Club pub. Unique adventure, only in Kolkata.

Kolkata is one of the few cities in India that still has hand-pulled rickshaws

The Victoria Memorial Hall, remnants of the empire

Kolkata street-scape

Taxi-wala taking a break

Bengali food, as served at Kewpies resturant

Married women wear this powder in their hair parting 

Chai-wala serving tea in Bengali clay cups

Street-side restaurant serving up some mean parottas