Kolkata

I spent a night in Kolkata with the rest of my travel mates before making our way to Darjeeling the next day by plane and car. That was a 12-day trip to India, Sikkim and Bhutan last year in October. Stopping over for a night in Kolkata was necessary to break down a tedious journey from Singapore to Darjeeling. We arrived rather late in the night in Kolkata and only spent two hours in the morning walking around the vicinity of our hotel the following morning.

We did not visit any tourist sites and most of Kolkata was experienced walking around the bus station and the streets near our hotel as well as what was seen from the hotel van during the long hours travelling in the traffic-choked roads between our hotel and the airport. On the way to the airport we stopped by to visit Mother Theresa's house. On the last day of our journey, we returned to Kolkata and spent the better part of the day travelling in the van on a "city tour" and Kolkata was felt once again through the blue-tinted glass of the window of our van.

Below are photos that I have selected from the many that I have in my web album to show what had captured my attention in a city bulging with a population that went about its daily routine amidst vehicles that moved centimeters from each other without touching, pulling and balancing loads on their heads, bathing in the rain-swelled drains in a drizzle, hidden in slums next to main roads, making a living, busy and not asking for hand-outs. It is unbelievable how the city lives in Kolkata but it does in its own way. I only have a superficial view of what Kolkata is through fleeting moments as the van I was in ferried me from hotel to airport and vice-versa over just 2 days. I can understand why Mother Theresa is a saint and rightly so. My brief glimpses of Kolkata gives me strength to resist petty inconveniences back home and appreciate greatly that I am blessed. I cannot forget this city because of these photos here and elsewhere in the following web albums:

Kolkata 1

Kolkata 2