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Kolkata Trip – Day 6
Today has been a nice, relaxing change of pace here in Kolkata. We were supposed to head out to Brother Joe’s ancestral village today, but due to unusually heavy rains the drive would have been impassible. There is no proper drainage system here, and many of the roads to the smaller villages are dirt, or uneven old brick roads that you can’t use in the current conditions. So instead we woke up a little later and ate some fish and puli for breakfast. The fish was like sardines in a tomato paste, and you eat the bones and all. Puli is a fried flatbread that is really good as long as you keep it from the before-mentioned fish. After that we got to head to The Bazaar, the large store where they go to get food in bulk for the home and all the children. It would be far too expensive to purchase it her in the local market. When we returned to the home we were told we were going to get a haircut and a massage. Before you get jealous let me explain. We walked down the lane to a tiny run down shack on the side of the village road. Inside were two very old chairs which we were told to hope into. An older man started cut my hair, as they all joke with each other in Bengali. The lights flickered on and off, more off than on as he cut my hair, but it didn’t seem to slow him down. When he was done, he put a head rest on the back of the chair to give me my clean shave. N had to tell him to shave my mustache also. Here they usually keep the mustache, but I’m pretty sure at home I would just look creepy. But the best part was yet to come. He sat me up and started pulling incredibly hard on my hair. I’m pretty sure that any slight receding of my hair is now full blown. Then with closed fists, he started beating on my head like a drum. And when I say beat, I mean beat. He continued by doing a number of other things, massaging my back and arms. As he was doing my neck he slowly turned my head and quickly snapped it back. I have never heard my neck crack quite like that before. As I got up I felt like a millions bucks, but my haircut looks like the 15 rupees I paid for all that had been done.
Kolkata Trip – Day 5
Wow, it was another eventful day in Kolkata. I am calling this post my personal edition of “I shouldn’t be alive”. Maybe that’s being a little extreme, but I will get to that in a moment. We started off the morning by attending a Mennonite church, imagine that, in the heart of Kolkata. From there we went and had some Momo’s, Chinese dumplings, and headed back to the house. Today, 3 of the little girls, one of which we sponsor, had to return to their boarding school today. So we all jumped in the car and headed about an hour away to their Christian boarding school. They supervisor invited us in for tea and cookies. I feel like I have tea coming out my nose I drank so much! The day really got eventful on the way back from the boarding school. The village roads of Kolkata are incredibly dark at night and with the amount of people all over them, it is inevitable that someone would get hit. And sure enough it had happened just before we were driving to the scene. As we pulled up N instantly say that there was something wrong. As we got closer we could see an angry mob of about 100 men yelling. Just moments ago the car had hit a man and the mob stopped his car and pulled him out. We are told that this is how justice is served around here. N said that most likely the driver would be beaten to death. As we drove through e crowd was yelling and brushing up against the car. At one point it looked as if we were trapped by this crowd. And just like that, a miracle happened and the crowd opened up and we were ale to drive out. Later we asked what the crowd was yelling. We were told that some were yelling, “pull out all the drivers and we will bash them! N told us that often if others were in our position they could have their cars flipped, burned or bashed in. I think I may have trouble getting back into a car here in Kolkata after experiencing that. When we returned home we were invited to eat dinner with Brother Joe. His family is Hindu, and due to the death of his aunt and the Hindu customs, the throw a feast for family and the community. He said they fed in total about 600 people. However, we arrived a little late. So they sat us down and fed us, and just sat watching us eat. They are always trying to get you to eat more here, especially when there is a crowd watching. We ate fish, vegetable and chicken curry, mango chutney, rice, Indian sweets and ice cream. We ate while they practiced their English on us. It was actually kind of funny. I’m typing this late from bed because today the power has been off and on. They have had unusual rains here for this time of year causing the power outages. For now I am happy to still be alive and not stuck in the mob. Tomorrow we have been invited to Brother Joe’s ancestral village to eat lunch. We need to be off early to get their so we need to get to bed. Hope I can sleep soundly without thinking too much about what happened today.
Kolkata Trip – Day 4
Today we woke up, had breakfast, and were old that we would be driving out about 2 1/2 hrs from Kolkata to a remote Tribal village that all converted to Christianity. After a long drive on terrible road conditions with 1000′s of people on them, we finally got to what looks like an old brick sidewalk. This sidewalk was actually the dilapidated road put it to reach the village. When we arrived the first thing they were eager to show us was their church, which was funded by a Presbyterian church in Cincinatti, OH. However, none of the supporters had ever been to the village to meet the people there. It is very possible that we were one of the few outsiders to have ever entered their village. We were greeted with more green coconut water. The Indian people are incredibly hospitable, and will offer food until you are sick. We are slowly learning that it is ok to say no. Many people, when they think of remote villages they think jungle, but this was no jungle. The survival of these people depends on fishing. Because of this they live near what looks to be an ocean with a grid of raised walking paths to get out into the water. In each plot of water they are farming fish. Each day they will go out and fish them out to be sold at the market. The people do not, by law, own anything. The waters are owned by someone else, they just work and protect it. The land that their houses are on is also not lawfully owned by them. In fact, the land used to be a river that receded. Since rivers cannot be owned by anyone, they moved onto the land and settled. When we arrived they were so excited to show us around. Many of them invited us in to see their homes. They were made up of thick mud walls with thatched hay for ceilings. The village was very far from any electricity or market, so they very much have to depend on what they catch and grow. To do their cooking they form clay ovens outside of their homes and start the fire inside the hole to cook. After showing us around the village they took us to the fishing area. If you look out over them, you cannot see an end to the waters. The whole area had been dug out, and walls built up, leaving a 4 foot ocean to raise the fish in. An older man offered to take us out by boat into the middle to watch some of the men who were out fishing. With a little hesitancy we hoped in. The boat only stuck out of the water about 2 inches, so any sudden movement and the boat were go over. As we crawled in it almost did just that, scaring us because at that time we had no idea how deep the waters were. The children from the village just sat laughing at every little tip to the side, or the occasional leaping fish almost coming into our boat. The boat went out much further then we were comfortable with and dropped us off on a raised path a few hundred yards out. We stood and watched the men fish for some time, but the timing was not right for taking the fish to the market, so they could not drag in their catch. We walked back following the raised paths and joined the rest of the party for lunch. They set up a small table for us inside of their dark home and served us a huge meal of fish, chicken, rice, eggplant and vegetables. We turned down utensils to eat with, it makes us look a little bit like we know what we are doing. After eating we spent some time talking with them, actually more like listening to translations, and we were also able to give them some left over school supplies that were still in the van from the day before. The children were incredibly grateful at the little gift we could give them. They shared with us how glad they were that we could come, and offered more than once for us to stay in the village with them. They even told me they would teach me to speak Bengali in just one month if I was willing to stick around. As tempting as the offer was, we joined the others in the van and waved goodbye. Please pray for these Christians in Kulti, India. There are no jobs in the area and no schools for the children within a 10 mile walk. Pray that God would protect these people. People in India give up much to become Christians. It is even more impossible for them to get jobs, as they have no place in the caste system, leaving them lower than untouchables. Pray that God would provide them what they need and protect them during the monsoon season when their crops and homes are destroyed by the rains. They were the kindest, most generous people you will ever meet, and yet had so little. They hold firm to God’s promise that He has not forgotten them. May we, too, not forget God’s people, our brothers and sisters, who are living in persecution and with so little in India, in the United States, and all over the world.
Kolkata Trip – Day 3
Today we woke up early for the usual breakfast, Chinese sausages, toast and tea. After breakfast we packed up the van with school supplies and headed to remote village schools in the Sunderban area. The drive from Kolkata was about 2 1/2 hours. When we arrived we had to park the car and walk about a mile off the dirt roads on paths to reach the schools. The girls and boys at these schools will walk hours to get there and the teachers come from great distances to teach completely voluntary. When we arrived at the first school there were 56 children. They greeted us with flower necklaces. They were so happy to receive their supplies. We were also able to give a small stipend to each teacher, $10. It isn’t much, but certainly goes a lot farther than $10 in the US. We then traveled off to the next village and were greeted with green coconuts and roses. We handed out about 60 school kits. The last school was a bit further than the other 2. We could take the van in, but it was almost like driving on an old sidewalk. Here they greeted us with flower petals and a tiny boy, definitely no older than 2, painted our foreheads. They sang us songs and recited poetry. When they were done we returned to the main village where we were given a huge meal of fish, rice and eggplant. We are starting to become pretty good at eating with our fingers, as is the customary way at least here in Kolkata. We then made the long trek back to the house and look forward to getting some rest.
Kolkata Trip – Day 2
Today we started off by eating breakfast with the whole crew. We had toast, boiled eggs and samah (I think that’s what it was called) which looked like thin egg noodles that you pour warm milk and sugar on. It was very good! They only are able to get it during the holidays. We than went on a little walking tour with a Brother Joe as we call him. We first went to visit Naranja’s home. She is a young girl who is supported by people in the states so that she can attend boarding school. Her mother died and her father left, leaving her by herself with her sister and grandmother who suffers from a leprosy-like disease with leaves her with sores from head to toe. The home was very small with just one room, concrete walls and a thatched roof. From there we went to visit a man who helps children here. He invited us in for tea and cookies, as everyone does here. His daughter had a 5-month old baby. If you know me well you know I’m considered a baby-hog in the states,and I had true to that reputation as well here in India. After leaving there we went to the home of 2 small children named Moumita (a girl that our family supports) and her brother Babli. We got to visit their mother. At this house Brother Joe decided he wanted to give us some new experiences, in his words. He climbed an incredibly high coconut tree and threw some down to us. The first ones were green coconuts, so he cut a hole in the top for us to drink the water. It’s definitely an acquired taste, tasting like the water that vegetables or something were sitting in. Then he cut a larger, brown coconut and shared the meat with us. This kind of tasted like a rubbery mushroom. After that Brother Joe took us to his house which he just recently built. We met his family, who are preparing for a funeral for their aunt. It is a Hindu custom to serve a meal to the community, which we have been invited to on Sunday. Brother Joe invited us in for tea, cookies and some Gulab Jamun, which are donuts soaked in a super sweet syrup. At this point we were hoping the visiting was coming to an end as we were getting pretty full from all of the offerings. We left there and headed back for a lunch of rice, fish and vegetable stew. We were taught the Indian way of eating with our hands. We also learned how to eat the fish here. You smash it in your fingers to make sure you remove all the bones. After lunch we went to visit the sewing center. Women come to learn how to sew so they can go off and make money. They go to class 2 times a week for 6 months. When they complete the class they are tested, and if they pass they receive a micro-loan, where they are given a sewing machine and pay it off interested free, as they can. From there we went back and rested for a little while, after all, today was a “day off”. Later we went to town by auto-rickshaw. There is only one thing scarier than an auto-rickshaw on the streets of Kolkata, and that would be riding in an auto-rickshaw on the streets of Kolkata at night. We went in to try some kati rolls, which is spices, meat and vegetables rolled up in Indian flatbread, a popular street food. They were really good. Ryan said that they were the Indian equivalent of a taco bell chalupa. After trying them we bought a bag full, only $.20 a roll, and took them back by taxi to everyone. After dinner we packed 274 school kits which we will be delivering tomorrow to the Sunderban region where there are 4 rural schools. We will get ready for bed now, hopefully less mosquitoes than last night. This morning our jet lag had us up at 4 am, a little better than yesterday. We will probably be used to the time change by the time we are ready to go home.
Kolkota Trip
Day 1
Today N took us on a walking tour of Kolkota. We started off the morning walking up the street through a local market to our first public bus experiences in India. When we first got on there were seats to sit in, but at the next stop the bus was packed, shoulder to shoulder. About 20 minutes later that bus emptied out when it made a stop at a tannery, where many of the people worked. We continued on, hoping on another just as crowded bus. The driving is crazy by American standards. There is no order at all. We hoped off the bus and walked to the mission that Mother Teresa spent her life at. We got to see her room as well as her tomb. From there we walked on seeing G’s child hood home, a tiny thatched roof building with canvas cloth for walls sitting right on the street. N walked us through where he lived on the streets which lead us to the first home that he and G lived in when they were first married. It was an 8×8 concrete home. It was settled on the inside of other buildings forming a community. N and G added 9 to the community, sharing their living space with their 3 biological children and 4 foster children. The community was made up of a small concrete courtyard surrounded by 8 spaces similar to theirs, bringing the total to 50 people sharing small living spaces and 1 bathroom. Some of his old neighbors still lived their and we’re happy to invite us in and show us their homes as well as telling us stories of the rats the size of large cats that they shared their living space with. We the hoped on a rickshaw and went to New Market, which is actually the oldest market in the city. It is very much like a mall with stores selling just about anything you could think of. Later N asked us how old we thought the men carrying the rickshaws were. My guess was 60 or 70 years old. They looked so worn down, eye sight fading and gray hair. He then told us that they were actually probably only in their 30s, but their bodies have been so worn down from their work. The men, mostly poverty-stricken, come from the Bihar state. The Bihar state is filled with poverty, where people are dying of hunger. The rickshaws drivers come here to make money to send back to their family. India is the last place in the world where foot drawn rickshaws are used, as they have been seen as unfit and demeaning to the drivers. From there N took us to his favorite Chinese restaurant where the food was much better than the Chinese we have in the US, and much cheaper. Four of us ate for 420 rupees, the equivalent of $8. From there we walked to the Ganges River, which is very important to the people here despite being one of the most polluted rivers in the world. We got a great view of the world famous Howrah Bridge which bridges the Ganges connecting the states of Howrah and Kolkota. After walking part way over the bridge, just to say we were on it, we ran in and checked out the Howrah train station, which was huge and crowded just like everything else here. We walked back to the metro, took it as far as we could, and finished the journey back on a Auto-rickshaw. The rest of the night will be quiet, with a home cooked meal at 8 pm and hopefully a good nights sleep without waking up at 3 am thinking that it is morning.
