Adventures in Kolkata
Monday 3 December 2012
Thursday 15 November 2012
Durga puja
(A little late posting this, as Durga puja was October 20.)
Mother Durga comes down out of her Himalayan home for an
annual visit. West Bengal celebrates her
return by building elaborate pandals
to house statues of Durga and her four children. Made with bamboo and cloth, these very
intricate pandals are erected for
about a total of two weeks in every local community, and people spend each
evening pandal-hopping with family and friends all over the city. Similar to
Christmas trees and decorations, it’s pretty amazing how much work, thought,
and planning goes into creating these temporary structures. Some are very traditional; others have a
modern flair. No matter the style, every
Durga idol is submerged in sacred waters to return to her husband Shiva at the
end of puja. The festive spirit is in
the air, along with constant music, drumming, and firecrackers. Durga puja marks the start of about a month
of puja celebrations!
Simple pandal |
Elaborate pandal |
Traditional Durga idols |
Modern Durga idols
Remnants of idols floating in the sacred lake |
Wednesday 14 November 2012
Living Your Values
It’s easy to compost in a city where the green bins are
clearly marked, and it’s collected every Tuesday. In this city, “organic,” “local,” and
“fair-trade” are synonymous with “trendy,” and after purchasing one of these
products comes the pat-on-the-back-feeling of environmental-consciousness. I hate that I prefer shopping in the
corporate stores here, where I can browse the big, air-conditioned,
fluorescent-lit aisles with a buggy and fewer stares. Instead of running around to different
markets, asking the owner to retrieve each item from shelves behind a counter,
and bargaining for the price if the MRP isn’t marked, it’s easier to be a
sell-out here.
My friend, an American expat who has been living here for 15
years, chooses the path less traveled. The city has made slow progress to be environmentally-friendly. Implementing a charge for plastic grocery
bags is enough to make me remember to bring my own every shopping trip. My friend goes a step further and brings her
own teacup on the train, refusing to add to any plastic consumption. However, not all Kolkatans understand the
idea of public space and how it is the responsibility of us all to keep it
clean. Very little thought is given to
what happens to trash, where it goes, who takes it there, and why it’s not good
to throw it on the ground. My friend,
the green crusader, has taken up beautifying her apartment complex, turning
trash heaps into flower beds, and using her own compost to grow a garden. She is cleaning out drains filled with sludge
and swarming with mosquitos. She is clearing
a decade-old pile of used sanitary napkins.
She is picking up trash every morning.
I admire and aim to be more like her.
It is easy to live your values in a community who believes the same
things, but how much more effort is required to continue to live what you
believe in a place that doesn’t. She
says it doesn’t matter, that she is the same everywhere she lives: an environmentalist.
No Smoking
“This is your brain.
This is your brain on drugs.” Remember that commercial, where an egg was
cracked into a frying pan and allowed to sizzle for a few seconds before the
anti-drug campaign gave you a hotline number?
Well, India’s version is played with the trailers before any movie in
the theater and has a hand squeezing black goop from a sponge into a beaker,
illustrating how much tar accumulates in a smoking lung per year. I am all in favor of the anti-smoking
campaign, but it does seem a little over-kill when for the rest of the movie
there is a cigarette/pipe/cigar in any scene, the words “Smoking is injurious
to health. Smoking causes cancer.”
appear in the right corner of the screen.
Evidently, the bus driver hasn’t been to the movies recently.
Gas Prices
In one week, the same bus ride went from six rupees to seven
to eight.
The taxi rate went up to 2.4 times what the meter says plus
one rupee. I like math, but this seems a
little absurd.
Sunday 28 October 2012
Value of Money
What is the rupee worth?
My bank says it’s a little less than a penny. Seven years ago the rupee from the dollar was
a little better for Indians; now it is a little better for me, although things cost
more rupees than they did on my first visit.
What is the rupee actually worth? To those who have drivers and
air-conditioning, it is pennies. To
those who have not, it is more. Street
performers and corner solicitors in America would scoff at a couple of pennies
thrown their way. Lepers and beggars in
India only ever expect a couple of rupees.
How do you convert the gap between those who find this coin to be worthless and those who use it to count their daily wage into the gap that exists in the land of the dollar? The bank doesn’t do those conversions.
How do you convert the gap between those who find this coin to be worthless and those who use it to count their daily wage into the gap that exists in the land of the dollar? The bank doesn’t do those conversions.
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