Wandering in Kolkata

[ From Audrey's travel notes ]

Our first adventure was a tour through downtown Kolkata.  Our Indian tour company arranged for a car and met us at the guesthouse where we were staying .   Our guide first took us to a small Hindu temple where the four of us girls received a blessing and tikkas, a common Hindu ritual.

We drank fresh coconut water from a street vendor.  We watched as the seller used a machete to hack off the tops of fresh coconuts.  The water was so good, then we got to eat our cup!

We walked to the open-air book market -- one of the largest in the world.   It was such a cool scene of thousands of clean, pristine books packed on a typical Kolkata street surrounded by the dirt and chaos of India.

In the University district, we went to the Indian Coffee House.  It’s a huge coffee house and restaurant that’s been around for years.  The servers are dressed in traditional British-Indian colonial style and serve up some of the best Indian food around.  The tour guide explained the history of the coffee house and that the intellectuals of Kolkata gather there to talk for hours.

We visited a Jain temple , which was definitely my favorite part of the entire day of touring.  Not for the temple itself, although the temple was unbelievably beautiful,  and learning about the meaning behind the structures and art was a real eye-opener.  Still, my favorite part of going to the temple was walking to get there.  We had to walk through narrow streets,  taking in all the incredible sights and smells of India.   And then all of a sudden, parting through the madness that is the streets of India, emerges a beautiful, elegant temple.  The experience is hard to describe.

We had dinner in a unique restaurant that was literally in a car garage.  It sounds so bazaar.  And it is.  But it was a really cool ambiance, and the food was incredible.

We ended the day by walking through a typical Indian bazaar where the local farmers come to sell their animals and produce.  Being vet students and considering the reason for our visit to India, this was especially great for us to see the condition of the animals and the process in which animal products are sold.

India and especially Kolkata has such an explainable attraction.  India is so unbelievably beautiful and sometimes so incredibly hideous.  It’s a contradiction.  And every moment spent in India offers an intense experience that kind of hits you full force whether you’re ready for it or not.