There's nothing quite like the experience of leaving the safe haven of Mayapur and spending a day in the hectic streets of Kolkata. You come back feeling exhausted and grotty, like the smog and dust that hangs in the air somehow attaches itself to you and refuses to come off with a light scrub. I always spend at least 45minutes in the shower when I get home, and sleep in till 7 or 8 the next morning. But the goodies you can come back with after a day in Kolkata are plentiful and they usually make up for the downside.
The unstoppable queens of Newmarket striking a pose
Me, Mani and Mandakini, "bffs fo life yo"
We parted ways with Mani (she was staying in Kolkata with her family for a few days), and headed back to Howrah to catch the 5.30 train back to Mayapur. When Manda and I got to the train station, we found out our train left at 6pm, not 5.30, so we headed up to the AC foodcourt to kill some time. There we met three British girls, travelling around India on a three-month tour, and whose train to Darjeeling had been delayed for 5 hours. It was a nice way to spend the next half hour - chatting to young Engligh-speaking girls about the glories of India and why we (and they!) love it so much. Shame they were nearing the end of their 3 month India tour, they could've stopped through Mayapur for some spiritual healing!
Early morning chai while waiting for the train.
Local train from Krsnanagar to Shealdah
Yesterday Mandakini and I left in the early morning mist to catch a train and meet Mani in Kolkata for a spot of shopping. The train ride was pretty uneventful - we took the ladies carriage and sat ourselves on the top rack where the luggage usually goes. We had a great view of the train hustle and bustle - including the eunuch that strolled through giving us doe eyes for money and slapping her hands in true diva fashion, the yelling of the women fighting over a seat or dropped luggage, the vendors yelling out their wares and trying to convince you to buy from them.
Our friend the eunich (the he/she) giving us her diva hands.
The fan about a foot away from us on the roof that looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the train was built.
We arrived in Newmarket at 11am and met Mani outside the Oberoi Grand Hotel. Getting a taxi to the Oberoi is a mission in itself - the taxi drivers assume because you are pretty white girls heading to the rich hotel, you must have money, and therefore they will try to charge you an arm and a leg, just to rip you off. But then, thats all part of being in India.
I'm going to paint two Indian flags on the back of my car in NZ and have this slogan. Along with "Horn Please". This is on practically every truck and bus on India's streets.
Enjoying a sweet mosumbie (orange) and pineapple juice before meeting Mani
Newmarket was just as busy as ever, and the familiar streets and stalls called us with their colourful scarves, saris, jewellery, bags, shoes... you name it, Newmarket has it. We headed to the Bombay Silk Store - recommended to us by a friend - and bargained our way through a few dozen saris. Mandakini and I left with a new sari each (for me it was the first nice sari I'd bought for myself in almost 10 years), pleased smiles on our faces with the great deals we got.
Mani and I checking out some cloth for punjabi suits.
Next we headed to the cloth stores, where layers and layers of patterned cotton were piled high and stacked on all sides, waiting to be rifled through and sorted. We spent ages choosing fabrics, matching patterns and deciding on cloth for new skirts and punjabi tops. There was so much to choose from that I didn't even end up buying anything for myself but Mani and Manda both chose some gorgeous pieces to be made into outfits. We then headed to the dhupatta shop, where Mani ummed and aaahed over the right colour scarves to match her outfits.... while Manda and I took photos outside and ate street food... and our work at Newmarket was done.
Cloth stacked high throughout the shop. There were about 5-7 shops all the same, lined up next to each other.
Did I mention I love puchkas?
The unstoppable queens of Newmarket striking a pose
Me, Mani and Mandakini, "bffs fo life yo"
Now to Forum. Basically Forum is a shopping mall, and if you didn't realise, you could probably imagine you were in a mall anywhere in the west. Apart from most stores being full of Indian clothing, bangles, bindis, housewares etc. We didn't buy anything, just window-shopped for an hour or so... and then our tummies told us it was time to eat.
Let me just explain something. When you live in India, you don't really feel like eating Indian food ALL of the time. Don't get me wrong, the food is awesome and I love it... but its always available and sometimes all you feel like is some good old pizza or pasta with delicious parmesan cheese and black olives. So thats exactly what we did. We went to Fire and Ice, the best Italian restaurant in Kolkata. A million photographs and a pizza and pasta and some orange juice later... and we were fully satisfied. Perfect way to finish our day in the Big City.
Fire and Ice Pizza. Just what the doctor ordered.
We parted ways with Mani (she was staying in Kolkata with her family for a few days), and headed back to Howrah to catch the 5.30 train back to Mayapur. When Manda and I got to the train station, we found out our train left at 6pm, not 5.30, so we headed up to the AC foodcourt to kill some time. There we met three British girls, travelling around India on a three-month tour, and whose train to Darjeeling had been delayed for 5 hours. It was a nice way to spend the next half hour - chatting to young Engligh-speaking girls about the glories of India and why we (and they!) love it so much. Shame they were nearing the end of their 3 month India tour, they could've stopped through Mayapur for some spiritual healing!
By 9.30pm we were tucked up safely in our Mayapur beds, after making some young Indian friends on the train home, peeking at every train stop for the last half an hour checking we hadn't missed the Navadwip Dham station, chanting, listening to the ipod, playing games, arguing with the rickshaw-wallah between paying Rs100 and Rs40 to get to the boat dock, and almost falling asleep on the boat ride home in the dark.
All in all a fabulous trip to Kolkata with fabulous people.
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