When I was waiting for everyone to wake up, I went to sit on the roof of the building with a cup of Columbian coffee I had made. I had been requested by a friend to look for shapes in the clouds but the sky was an indistinct haze.
We give names and labels to things to help us characterize and understand them, but these words are imperfect at best. There were no clouds today, just an indistinct haze. No shapes to imagine fantastic creatures from. I sat for a while and watched the sky all the same. It made me think about how we always try to shape the world into recognizable shapes and patterns, even (or especially) if there are none. Why do we do that? The haze was like my time in India. An indistinct flow of time and events. Peaceful and rewarding though on the whole. The craziness and energy of the places I've been are too far from my background to draw me into their storm. My perspective allows me to take things in and drift by, learning, content.
I was thinking about how impossible it will be to describe my experience to people back home. The words I use will help to transfer a little bit of what I gained here, but the boxes we use to capture experiences are not the thing itself and are a poor substitute.
After a while everyone woke up, slowly and hungover. After more coffee and the lazy breakfast, we went to take a rickshaw to an area where we could catch a cab and go to the Spanish Café. I'm not sure exactly but I don't think we left the apartment until around 2. We also have Carlos his birthday turtle with a nice note in Spanish.
The Spanish cafe is a great little restaurant that serves European food, the staff speaks Spanish and it's frequented by travelers. It's hidden in a little alley way but was one of the best meals we've eaten in a long time. We got burritos and fresh lime sodas which are a big drink in Calcutta. We hung out here for probably about two hours eating and chatting with Boris, Paola, Carlos and Andres. There was writing all over the walls in many languages, I added a quote I like about traveling and my name, so if anyone goes there, look for it.
We walked a little ways to a shop they frequent. They trust the salesman, which is rare and we just hung out sitting on a rug for a few hours chatting with the shopkeep and looking at some of the merchandise. Connor almost bought a second out of pants, which would have doubled his wardrobe. He wasn't quite ready to take the plunge though.
It was around 6 or 7 now and we caught a rickshaw to a big temple in the city. Walking around the cool marble barefoot at night was great. We were the only people there and it was much more peaceful than the crowded, dirty temples of yesterday. By the exit, a guard insisted on taking a picture of us.. And then insisted on a tip. Was a good picture though.
After the temple, we walked to a big mall and got ice cream and a quick dinner before Connor and I had to catch a cab to the station. We said our goodbyes and promised to visit each other after we all get home from our respective adventures.
Outside the mall, the cabs were all trying to charge us 500 rupees and only drive us to the ferry. We were way too experienced for the scams by this point so we called them crooks and walked to the other side. A helpful Indian couple explained how cabs should work. It was stuff we already knew but would've been super helpful to have these people the first day we got here. All our knowledge was gained the hard way.
We got to the train station about 45 minutes early and found our car without too much trouble. Our berth was shared with two cranky Indians and a nice Indian couple from Ohio. We were on the side with 3 bunks per row. And we switched one of our middle bunks for a top so that the couple could be closer. It's impossible to sit up on any of the bunks but it was much better than the last train. People actually turned out the lights and stopped talking around the time the train left. The cumulative sleep debt might have also made sleeping easier. It was wonderful.
It's been a great time in Kolkata and it was nice to experience another facet of Indian life. Getting to know new friends from all over the world was also one of the best parts of the last few days.
-AB
Don't need no mo pants
Nice night temple, but must tip
Goodbye Calcutta
See descriptions for burrito and guacamole:
It's weird that they have Christmas decorations and no Christians.
The line to get on the train
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