Kolkata

Kolkata for me was a quick stop point and the end of my Intrepid tour. I didn't see a lot of this city, but I did walk a lot. Unlike other cities, finding an auto rickshaw is almost impossible. You have to be in the right place at the right time, and in the right section of town. Taxis are the other route next to buses or the underground, but catching a taxi is almost as impossible.

Located on the east bank of the Hooghly river, Kolkata is the principal commercial, cultural, and educational centre of East India. As of 2011, the city had 4.5 million residents, with its suburbs are home to approximately 14.1 million, making it the third-most populous metropolitan area in India.  As a growing metropolitan city in a developing country, Kolkata confronts substantial urban pollution, traffic congestion, poverty, overpopulation, and other logistic and socioeconomic problems.¹

Some say that Kolkata is the dirtiest city in India, but when I was there I found it much cleaner than Delhi, however again, I never saw much of it. I found the infrastructure in the area that I was very well maintained.

The two main areas I saw before leaving Kolkata was Mother Teresa's tomb and where she lived. The Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity is a blue grey building along Bose Road. The funny thing is I went in search of Mother's house and on my way asked many Kokatians, where I should go. I finally came upon a building that was yellowish and asked a man where the home was. He pointed to the yellow building, but as I found out later, this was not the building.

When I left my last hotel in Kolkata, the taxi driver asked me if I had gone the the home, and of course I replied yes. As we drove towards the airport he came to the acutal house and said would I like to go in. Seeing that I wasn't in the right place the first time, I went forth.

The building is 2 stories in height and you walk down an alley way to enter. The only thing that you can take a picture of from what I could gather was the tomb, but I decided against this. Why, not sure but that was that. It was a nice, quite place with her room kept the same way she left it, and a small museum and then of course the tomb.

The second place I saw and the behest of the taxi driver was a Jain temple, or Parshwanath Temple. Colourful and highly decorated, this temple was truly something to see, so kudos to my driver. From there it was another 20 minute drive to the airport and a flight back through Indigo back to Delhi for 2 more days.

India was magical for me and looking back, I only captured such a small amount of it. I have been asked many times would I go back. The answer is yes. Although the time that I went was the month of January and some days, like that freezing train ride at six in the morning, and a cold for 4 days, India has captured my heart. See you soon India.

 1 Excerpts from Wikipedia