Kolkata, the town formerly known as Calcutta

After the airport parking lot, my first experience in Kolkata was a hectic, honk-filled midnight drive that subsided into clearer roads as our two hour drive to the other side of town progressed. Time being transported became adventures in themselves, instead of moments where I typically zone out. I will try to upload a video here in the future but today my connection is too slow.

We stayed at guest rooms down the street from CINI, Child in Need Institute. The CINI complex houses women and children temporarily so that they can teach mothers about nutrition, HIV/AIDS, family planning, and child development. Malnutrition is a big problem in India, and is not simply a matter of food quality and quantity. Equally important are two other prongs, hygiene and emotional support. Giving nutritious food does no good if diarrhea and dehydration are present. CINI has a mini clinic where women come from miles away to access health services for themselves and their children.

The next agency we visited was Antara, a family residential complex for people with mental illnesses. Mother Teresa was one of the founding members of this organization. Services are offered free of charge to those diagnosed with bipolar or schizophrenia who are below the poverty line. Drug additions are also treated. Some counseling sessions were going on in what were called “social work cubicles” with only a curtain for a door. This makes sense in a country where activities take place publicly because of the sheer number of people in a given density, although in the United States, the social worker would be violating confidentiality.

Lunch was an interesting experience in community. Staff, residents, volunteers, guests, and families dine together, mingling amongst each other, eating in a large room with long tables. Afterwards, each person washes their own dishes at a trough-like sink with ten or twelve spigots.

Kalighat
It was my idea to go and I think I traumatized Tabby. Kali is the main Hindu goddess of West Bengal. She is quite powerful and depicted with her red tongue sticking out and a garlande with gruesome dangling skulls around her. She also has matching skull earrings to coordinate her outfit. Her aspect represents destruction of outdated patterns that lack authenticity, in order to bring forth the new truth of the moment. Her fierceness is like a mother's love. Her swift sword cuts through the illusion of time into transcendence. I wanted to experience a visit to a Kali temple so I suggested to Abhishek that we visit Kalighat. He warned us that it wouldn’t smell too pleasant and would be very crowded, since it was the day of prayer.

We stuck close to Abhishek, as he wended his way through the market maze. He had warned us to watch our purses and not bring any money with us. Throngs of people were queued up in concentric circles around the temple, the women dressed in colorful saris. Then we approached the smelly part, although the visuals were what struck me more. Considering animal sacrifice was happening before our eyes, it didn’t smell that bad.

Kali devotees were surrounding lambs and goats that were prayed over and the animal’s foreheads were smeared with orange paste as they awaited their turns. In another area, the throats of the animals were cut. Black blood left a residue against the wall. The fur was stripped to reveal entrails as the carcasses hung. The animal sacrifice is an attempt to cleanse the self of the parts within the human that are like the animal, so said the local guide who began to follow us.

Barefooted men carried the slaughtered animals, stepping through trails of fresh blood droplets that we tried to step around. After the slaughtering spectacle, the local guide who we were now following showed us the bathing pool filled with water from the Ganges where people bathed before approaching their goddess. The guide led us to a small shrine where he was taking donations. Abhishek swooped in at this point to rescue us, as we were clearly marked because we were Westerners and therefore rich. Thank you, Abhishek! I think babysitting us gave him his first gray hair.

I did know a bit about what I was getting into by going to Kalighat, although it surpassed my expectations in unexpected ways. Just so you know, most Hindus do not participate in animal slaughter, and wish not to harm living things. I myself didn’t quite expect to see it up close and personal. I am pretty sure Tabby did not either. I hope she can forgive me!

Bhutan: Down the Mountain, and Over the Mountains, and into Kolkata

We had an excellent vegetarian meal at the cafeteria half-way down the mountain. We were served lentil soup, the requisite red rice (yes, red!) and a chili and cheese dish that I could only eat three bites of. We had it at almost every meal and I was working my way up to....maximum three bites. The Bhutanese love chilis so be warned if you aren’t used to super hot food. I sat and drank tea while taking in the tiny white dot on the side of a cliff where I had just been.

Later in the day, after visiting dzongs (fortresses) and more dzongs, I was finally set free from my guide and allowed to roam the streets of Paro on my own for an hour. I was shopping for a few items, but not finding what I wanted. I crossed the street at the end of the row of stores which constituted the town, and thought I would peruse the other side. As I got closer to a store which looked like it had some interesting items, I heard a growl. Thunder dragon? Magical tigress? The next thing I knew, a street dog and four of his buddies were surrounding me. The lead dog came in fast and nipped my calf. I stopped walking in mid-bite, as soon as I felt his teeth. It was an instinct because I really didn’t know what I should do and I wasn’t having a coherent thought at the moment. My strategy worked, believe it or not, and the dogs went away. After I was safely out of teeth’s reach, I examined my leg to assess the damage. I had pants on and it wasn’t very deep of a bite, not really bleeding but it did pierce the skin.

I told my tour guide about it and I was bundled off to the hospital. Guess what, health care in Bhutan is free, even for tourists! However, the nurse or doctor...not sure which...said that none of the dogs in town were rabid (as if he knew them personally), and that his fangs didn’t touch me so I was okay. He cleaned the wound and gave me a tetanus shot. I felt a smidge helpless that my point was not getting across. I fretted about it and decided to get a second opinion from my supervisor, Dr. Ghosh, who promised to arrange for me to see a doctor as soon as I got to Kolkata and get the rabies shots, just to be safe. The next day, I was flying to Kathmandu and then Kolkata, and then waiting at the airport more than six hours for Tabby to arrive, so it would have to be the next day, which would make it almost two days after the bite. But, I get ahead of myself. Flying out of Bhutan, I was not fortunate enough to be on the smooth behemoth Airbus, but had to settle for the OTHER plane, which was smaller, with big propellers on each wing.

The ascent went between mountain tops, and the climb was rather curvy. My stomach dropped several times as the plane lurched its way above the Himalayas, bumping and bruising through the sky. Some passengers groaned and some screamed. I was hoping the monks dressed in maroon robes were chanting prayers to themselves. I realized it didn’t matter about the dog bite because this plane is going down in these mountains and rescue would be impossible.

Eventually the turbulence settled down, and we reached cruising altitude. The view was stunning from my window. When I began to take pictures, looking through my LCD screen, I saw the propeller stop for a brief second and my heart started beating fast, until I realized that I was pushing the button on my camera, only freezing a moment in time.

Needless to say, the plane arrived without mishap. I landed in Kolkata and spent the evening with Abhishek, MSW student cum guide, and Ritor, our driver, in the parking lot underneath a tree at the airport. Unfortunately, my mosquito repellent was packed in an unknown place so I was a feasted upon.

The next morning, we went to see a doctor. She was apprised of my situation, and frowned, speaking in Bengali to Abhishek that I was doomed because I should have had the shot the first day. I didn’t like her assessment of the situation and started silently freaking out in the privacy of my own mind. My legs started to get weak. I reminded myself that my thick waterproof hiking pants prevented the dog’s saliva from contact with my leg, and the bite was small, away from my brain and many nerve endings, but it didn’t help too much. And then there were the mosquito bites. I ended up with 50 or so. I was due to take meflo-lariam or whatever it is called but I read that this malaria drug might interfere with the rabies treatment, so I weighed my options. Rabies or malaria...what are my chances? I opted to help the rabies vaccine work, since I had already lost time. I felt very far away from home.

Bhutan, Land of the Thunder Dragon

Mt. Everest

Goodbye traffic, smog, masses of humanity! My plane flew near Mt. Everest, which marked the transition into another way of life. There are only 700,000 people in this whole mountainous country. Crisp air, misty mountains, prayer flags, and brown and white painted houses created a magical backdrop. Only one airline, Druk Air, flies into Bhutan, and they only have a few airplanes in their fleet. The beautiful airport had the fastest customs line ever...only one person ahead of me in line. And my bag was there lickity-split. All processed and a bathroom break in under ten minutes. Then, my driver and guide, both dressed in traditional clothing called ghos, whisked me on my private adventure. Yes, Bhutan requires visitors to have a registered guide to escort you through their country. A fee is paid for each day in Bhutan, yet it covers everything. Still, it adds up so I had to choose a very short glimpse of Bhutan as my tour. My tour was arranged by Phuentshok Tours and Treks, which I highly recommend.


Holy Water doesn’t make you sick


My guide took me to a few temples where monks poured holy water into my hands, and the idea is to take a sip and then pour the rest over your head. I tried to make a sipping noise but the problem is that you can’t do that without inhaling a little water. Of course, I had not been weaned off of bottled water, so I created elaborate nightmares in my head about what could happen if the water had any bacteria, parasites, viruses, pesticides, or other unpleasant critters that would startle my GI system. This happened three times. I don’t know what the monks do with it but I am delighted to say that holy water is pure! (Disclaimer: everyone has a different system. I happen to have the nickname “iron-gut Sammy,” so maybe that explains it.)

the highlight of my trip was hiking up to the Tiger’s Nest Monastery (Taktshang Goemba). Legend has it that Guru Rinpoche flew a flaming tigress to the spot where he was supposed to build his monastery, which happened to be conveniently located on the side of a sheer cliff 900 meters up. The hike was estimated to be two hours. After two minutes, I began to doubt that I would make it in that amount of time. I was winded already. I didn’t think I was having trouble adjusting to the altitude because walking level was not a problem. Once we started ascending, it was a different and heavy breathing, sweaty story. My guide was patient and reiterated that there was no hurry, which I heard but chose to ignore and trudge onward, albeit at an injured snail’s pace. Where was my flying tigress? It was a beautiful hike and only two or three other groups were walking that morning when we were.

Near the Tiger’s Nest, prayer flags fluttered, creating bridges through the sky, and ice began to cascade down a half-frozen waterfall emitting a roar that I imagined to be the tigress, reminding me of where I was and announcing that she had not gone away. I heard monks chanting and the blasts of their horns, which was the call of the thunder dragon. Anyone who visits Bhutan, this is not a sight to be missed. On the way down, my breath was there waiting for me.

Kathmandu

My journey from Chicago included a short stop in London where I spent a few hours wandering the streets with my gracious host looking for Apple stores. Yes, I was in search of the elusive leopard. After examining my computer, which was new to me, my friend tried to download Skype for me and proclaimed that I couldn’t use it because my operating system was too old! It turns out the Apple stores no longer carry leopard, which is a pre-requisite to snow leopard, which all comes before lion, and I don’t have enough of something or other to download anyway. All I wanted was to be able to Skype and upload photos. The second hand electronic shops also have made the leopard extinct. So, we canceled the search, and instead began hunting for the Tate Modern, Big Ben, and some Turkish food. I am happy to say that we found all three thanks to Yann’s expert tracking ability.

After London, I spent three days taking in the sites in and around Kathmandu, Nepal, mostly visiting temples. A Hindu festival, Makar or Maghe Sankranti, was going on where devotees had to eat a root vegetable sort of like a potato, which was supposed to be good for the cold winter, giving health and warming the blood. After praying, it is customary for the Hindus to give to the poor, so beggars were lining the streets with their silver bowls. A woman donated two large bags of clothing and as soon as she relinquished them, the swarm around her began fighting for the items. A security woman in a uniform and carrying a large stick blew a whistle and began to beat the beggars on their thin backs as they scrambled for the clothing. I was a bit disturbed, the blows leaving an impact on me as well, just as a mere observer.

Kathmandu has seen a lot of tourists for trekking and chilling out. The people who work with tourism are smooth operators and hard hagglers. The guides at the temples are aggressive and tend not to take no for an answer. I made the mistake of not setting a price up front with on guide at the fascinating Pashupatinath Temple and he became angry and demanding because I didn’t give what he thought he deserved. I had actually borrowed money from my driver because I didn’t have enough cash and there were no ATMs in the vicinity. I happened to have $4 in American currency with me so I gave him that, even though it was way above the going rate. I know it was only four dollars more, so no huge loss. I just didn’t like his method of practice and would rather have given it to the excellent and humble guide at Bhaktapur, which I will get to in a moment.

Three towns in the Kathmandu Valley competed with each other by building elaborate temples. The “my temple is bigger than your temple mentality.” Many sites combined Hindu and Buddhist elements so a guide can open your eyes and help decipher what is in front of you, also pointing out the erotic sculptures on the temples should you miss them. Just choose carefully and set a price. I highly recommend Bhaktapur, for an escape from chaotic Kathmandu and a glimpse into past and present village life.

 

Bhaktapur