Kolkata. There’s just so much to take in. From the moment we stepped out from the airport in the cold and misty night, we knew we should’ve just stay inside and wait until the sun rise. I thought I could handle everything India could throw at me – I was overwhelmed. I forgot how different and diverse India could be, and I forgot what a culture shock and assault on the sense of the alienated city would be.
At the end of the day, it wasn’t that bad at all; the run down city, life on the streets, the old cliché culture. There’s people and activity everywhere. Stories are everywhere if you’re just standing on one spot. Every streets you go down is like a visual feast.
We took the iconic yellow taxi from Howrah Train Station to Fairlie Place, the Eastern Railway Head Office, to get our train tickets ready for the whole entire journey.Life is on the streets. In the morning, you can witness people do their daily chores on the streets – men getting ready for work, women fetching water or preparing food, and children getting ready for school or helping their parents. Rapid economic progress has made people migrated from smaller villages and towns to big ones like Kolkata. Most of them end up living in tight spaces in the numerous slums and unauthorised colonies found all over the city.Every day starts with a chai (tea). Most people have it before they leave for work or having it by the road side, in case you want more. For many, a glass of tea and a couple of biscuits is all they can afford for breakfast. Everything coexist here is in perfect harmony. Many people here are still living in the colonial buildings.Goods and materials are often moved between different vendors by manual labor. All kinds of vehicles can be seen on the streets hustling for space during the rush hour, and traffic jams are all too common. The yellow taxis and the hand pulled rickshaws are the remaining symbols of a colonial past in the city.Embarking our next journey to Agra, situated 1,267 km away from Kolkata. A lot of people commute daily to Kolkata from nearby small towns for work.
