The Indian Story

Ok, I am now back in Canada, and it has been a very busy week so I have not had much time to update the blog. I will pick up where I left off...

So the next morning I met Will, the English guy I met on my flight, and we check into a triple room at Hotel Maria on Sudder Street. His friend Tom was arriving later that day. We then wandered around the neighbourhood, found a McDonalds and had the local version of the Big Mac. From there we found a nice book store where we sat and read a little over a cup of Darjeeling tea!

I found a book about poverty and aid that I was interested in, but it was a little big and I did not think it would fit in my bag. However, I did find a book about a Indo-Canadian living in Muskoka, so I had to pick up that! That night, once Tom had arrived, we went to go watch the England game at a club / bar a couple blocks away, and came home disappointed and went to bed.

One of my friends back in Dhaka had suggested that I go talk to the two owners of a shop on Sudder St (The main street in the backpacker community). I went over and met them, Sanjay and Ankash - they were incredibly friendly and welcoming. Their shop was filled with scarves, bags and shirts of all different colours, and they were constantly bringing me and any other visitors a cup of tea. At the shop I met a couple from Australia who invited me to come with them to a French Gypsy Jazz concert at the Alliance Francais in Kolkatathat evening! I thought - how many people can say they went to a French Gypsy Jazz concert in Kolkata? so I had to say yes, I would come!

I stayed there for a bit before deciding to go do some sightseeing. I set off to walk to the Victoria Memorial and on the way found Elliot Gardens, a little grassy area in themidst of busy Kolkata. It had plenty of benches for couples to hide themselves away on and escape from the watching eyes of their parents. Eventually I made it up to the Victoria Memorial and paid a whole 4 rupees to get into the gardens there!

The memorial was spectacular. It looked like it was made entirely from white marble stones, with some amazing statues and domes adorning the roof. It was far and away the cleanest and best kept building I had seen in 6 weeks!

That night I met up with Will and Tom and convinced them to come with us on the Kolkata metro to the Gypsy concert. The concert was actually really cool, I really enjoyed the rhythm and beat of the songs, and the performance was capped off with a guest appearance by two local musicians! From there we rushed back to the bar to watch the Ghana-Serbia game and have a couple beers... and I woke up the next morning with my glasses, wallet, watch and camera gone.

The other guys had nothing of their stolen and none of us remembered exactly what had happened. We were able to piece together that we had left the bar showing the Ghana game and had tried to find a bar showing the midnight game, but with no success. However that was the extent of our memories. Maybe my drink was spiked? or I was a little too trusting of my new friends? Who knows.

I quickly cancelled my debit and credit cards, exchanged some of my Taka, which I had left in the hotel, for rupees and I spent the rest of the day in the shop with Sanjay and Ankash. Luckily my passport had been back in the hotel, and I had some extra money there as well. Sanjay was incredibly helpful and he organised a cab to meet me early the next morning to take me to the airport.

So it was a unfortunate way to end my Indian adventure, however I did have a great time there and I definitely want to come back and visit Kolkata again as well as the rest of India.

Cheers,
Mike