Welcome to Kolkata: Immersion in India's Cultural Capital

As I was leaving at 4am, I didn't sleep, taking advantage of this last evening with friends in Amsterdam. Needless to say, going from Europe to India was quite a shock! I took a first plane to go from Amsterdam to Paris and then it was a Paris to Doha and then Doha to Calcutta.

That's the theory... In practice everything was fine until Doha where my plane was late leaving Paris, which meant I missed my connection...

Panic in Doha

The most annoying thing for me in this story was to manage to contact Jitima, who was going to join me directly from Bangkok. So I absolutely had to warn her that I would be late, and I admit that at the time, I was a little panicked at the idea that I would not be able to reach her.

The problem is that I can't call internationally with my phone, and the local phones only worked with local coins. So I tried to connect to the internet via wifi and bingo, it's free too...

So, I managed to contact a friend via Facebook Messenger who had to wake up Jitima who was already asleep to warn her! Phew! Knowing that for the connection, since it was Qatar's fault, they took care of the rest of the trip.

So I got a ticket to Mumbai, where I would be treated to a magnificent sunrise.

There I was being tossed around a bit between international and national terminals under construction, I had to wait a bit for my few companions in misfortune and I left to join Calcutta via a local low-cost airline (Jet Airways, nothing to complain about, the plane was perfect), not without having been able to rest a bit in the Mumbai lounge.

So I arrived in Calcutta and joined my dear and tender without incident, just a few hours behind our initial schedule (around 3 hours).

Calcutta: A Journey Through Time

Arriving in Calcutta is like stepping back in time, not so much the airport, which remains modern, but as soon as you see the famous yellow taxis, and after the first few kilometers.

Seeing these old buildings dating from the colonial era falling into ruin makes me think directly of Yangon in BurmaBut if the old Burmese capital had such a poor appearance, the streets were at least a little clean, here it's almost medieval...

Even though we know a little bit about what to expect, seeing it there in front of our eyes, it's clearly different, at this moment, I have trouble understanding how it's humanly possible to live in these conditions... While we see cows, waste, chaos, lots of people and a concerto of horns which is only the beginning...

Mission Impossible: Driving in India

Our hotel was The Esplanade Chambers Hotel, today's mission for our taxi driver is to take us to our destination... logical. But what a mission in this country, or, how can I put it... Driving in India is probably unique in the world! (and yet in Thailand it's quite folkloric)

Without a horn, they simply don't know how to do it, who knows how it works, in my head, I'm thinking, but since everyone's honking it doesn't make any sense anymore because you don't know who's doing what… They're coming from everywhere and to top it all off, the streets aren't signposted…

So, our driver, not speaking a word of English, found himself wandering around a bit, asking for directions several times, and he seemed more inclined to invite us to get out and get rid of us… Exhausted as I was, I insisted that we be taken to our destination; I had absolutely no desire to end up somewhere in Calcutta, no matter how good my sense of direction was.

Luckily, we eventually found someone who knew the hotel and finally arrived at our place. The taxi fare was 250 rupees. The entrance is very discreet, hidden behind a staircase; you can see this old elevator that can barely hold two people—a surreal scene.

But the room is good, the staff there arranged our train to Bodhgaya for the next day. After a good shower and a little nap, we finally went out into the street.

Hogg Street, a promise and photos

We walked aimlessly in the first direction that came to us. We landed at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Headquarters (KMC), municipal buildings dating back to 1876 which, as the name suggests, house the city's administrative services and infrastructure management, when you see the old dilapidated hotel right opposite, you think they have plenty of work to do...

At the end of this street, Hogg Street, we will see a market (In Lindsay Street, which adjoins the building housing the market called "new market" which is in fact the oldest municipal market in the city... Also called Hogg Market) where we will be accosted by a tout.

Luckily for him, it turns out that we intended to buy local clothes, however, we had to insist on the fact that we would not buy there right away, but at the end of our stay, of course he was there pushing us to buy right away, but we held firm, with the promise to come back to their shop, because we only have one word.

We will go eat in a local restaurant, the kind of restaurant that is rather clean in practice, but typical Indian, namely that they eat with their fingers, for our part, we will choose to use the cutlery also provided (yes, really).

It is also during this first day which is already ending that we will notice this famous tendency known to the Indians to make sure to be in a photo or simply to ask for one, since it was already the case in Sri Lanka the previous month it did not change much for us.