Skip to main content

Calcutta/Kolkata

Welcome to one of the most amicable states in India – West Bengal. Don't know if this is equally applicable to every single place within it, but even if I didn't notice much difference Kolkata had it's undeniable, unique ambient. What came to my mind first when getting across it once I arrived was – hectic and „what's going on down here?!”, especially after my 34 hours continuous, lazy journey all the way up through 2 other states (~2000km). Nevertheless the following day we drove a bit through the main centre, still a dense bustle, but a lot to admire too. We visited famous bookstore street spreading along the never ending labyrinth of streets,



had some teas served here in cute, clay cups




and went to somewhat awkward and definitely quaint back street where apparently not many tourists reach (not many people in general) which were a nest of craftsmen manufacturing their art, is to say, big figures of goddesses and gods, mainly. If to come there after dusk might have been truly horrifying, surely not for faint-hearted people. All due to standing everywhere caricatures, not yet finished features, fair numbers of same bold heads lying around or other random physiognomies.. ;) 

That's how those curiosities looked like:

whatever all that is, it enchanted me

...and this as well

Hi Frankie! o/

And here our other strolls along Calcutta's walking paths, odd, interesting and/or very charming places:


DUNLOP - as it stands - workshop





winding staircase

nature always finds its way 


laden; harsh human labor

more FULLY one cannot

incredibly impassable streets...

half-track tram

Victoria Memorial

I'd be very surprised if they ever used it,
but they've got their green-vehicle



really wanted to pose me ;) -
so here he is: A rickshaw driver!

snack station


Very often I felt like if I shifted back in time, to the Victorian times, England's Victorian times... Or that's how for me it could have looked like. All those filthy backs of streets, scruffy kids in their ripped rags and equal adults scrupulously performing their daily duties, business mates tearing some chickens apart right on the street, smell of everything and nothing in particular, corpse incineration units, by Ganga river, busy like on the Christmas day, and if that's not enough cow, dogs, goats doing whatever nature calls them for, right there in the middle of the buzzing city.

All about Calcutta, in a shortcut, very intense, very worth visiting!





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

We

We live in England, in the countryside for the moment, but moving around quite often. Living out of the city is something we find most pleasant and the window-views are soothing all the w orries one may have :) We are trying to reduce our environmental impact, buy local veggies and eggs as much as possible, tend a little garden - we have a few planting beds for our own (with herbs and veg), we make compost and apple juice (from seasonal apples from the grove) and try to reduce waste - which is not an easy thing, here in this part of the UK at least. Except from traveling scribbles, I will be updating my/our attempts of zero-waste attitude and becoming more and more self-/sustainable.  Peace! ^^   Me  - Nati A crazy bun, you all possibly know me so there's not much need to introduce myself. Nevertheless, in case you don't, I'm a tremendously calm person, with loads of patience and life resilience.... naaahh, not quite ;)  I'm proud of being a postgrad

Basque Country - inland / hilly landscapes

Further on we went. From the seashore we headed inland where a few nice spots awaited us. Every day was brining some new curiosities. From the shore, Gaztelugatxe, we went along the coast down to Bakio to have a coffee and to take a shower on the beach ;) Very refreshing one indeed, as it wasn't too sunny.  Later the same morning we headed towards Burgos, going round Bilbao, to the Nervión waterfall ( es )- the biggest waterfall on the Iberian Peninsula, with a single drop of 222 m ! Very impressive it was, indeed, although at that time of dry season there was no water at all, to our surprise ;)  Nevertheless the river's canyon itself was just breath-taking and was making you think about the earth's magnitude and grand self-creation forces.  On the way... leaving the coast for good right before the Nervión there were herds of horses all around <3 After dismounting the motorbike and a short visit in the visitors centre we took a long, a few kilomet

Galician countryside - our ongoing project

I haven't been here for a while, one can probably guess...I was quite busy doing all sorts of things ;) But how engaging, adventurous and exciting!  Starting from the beginning, we've settled quite well by now in our village in southern Galicia. We are on the brink of this particular region, very much adjacent to northern Portugal. Couto Mixto is just next to where we live and that's the area where not that long ago people could choose which nationality they wanted to have, at the time of getting married. Anyway, just to get you guys through, I will better go for the pictures instead of writing too much. The garden area is what, apart from the house, was engaging us a lot and mostly these months, since we got here. We were planning ahead and designing the whole garden space, planting using different techniques like i.e. companion planting and bio-intensive gardening (not foot square though ;)), raised beds, hugelkultur (a bit flattened) and key-hole beds. We also