Ghost Town Calcutta

I didn’t know a lot about Calcutta when arriving there, but I had heard a lot of bad things about it. Words like “intense”, “dirty” and “nothing there to see” sounded oddly familiar. So then why go? A good friend of mine from college was from Calcutta and he convinced me it’s a great city and it was also my exit point from India for continued journeys through Malaysia and Singapore. As a result, when I finally felt well enough to travel after my ultra-horrible sickness in Varanasi, we packed our bags and took the 15-hour overnight train to Calcutta.

Tired, but happy, travelers after a fabulous overnight transit.

When we got off the train we were prepared for a brutal attack from countless rickshaw drivers, but there were none. After a few minutes of walking, we found the ferry to the city and got our 5 or so rupee tickets (that were thrown on the ground after inspection) and boarded the ferry. I now knew I would like this city. Perhaps because of my continuous love affair with big bodies of water or perhaps because the city looked oddly modern from a far. But wait a minute; Calcutta is supposed to be a dirty city filled with history, isn’t it?

After the ferry ride, we learned rickshaws are hard to find and took the more luxurious and expensive alternative of a yellow cab. He kindly drove us to Sudder Street, the backpacker area in Calcutta, and after checking a few hostels we settled with a 350 rupee room that we quickly renamed “Jail”.

"Jail" had rigorous rules, bars on the windows and various writing on the walls. Extremely charming.

Once settled in, we knew we would have to do some heavy touristing, as we only had a couple of days in Calcutta. First on our list was Victoria Memorial, pretty but forgettable. I think travel buddy Matt and I both enjoyed the clean and green premises more then we did the white marble.

Can you spot the white marble in the back? There it is!

Next was a temple dedicated to the goddess Kali. This was my first Kali temple and it turned out to be pretty interesting. A priest at the temple showed us around, even though we told him we wouldn’t give any donations (we knew it was coming though). He told us about the goats that are sacrificed at the temple, a few unlucky ones waiting for their turn and traces of blood from the even more unlucky ones on the temple floor. We asked the priest why Kali is always portrayed with her tongue sticking out. He told us she is apologizing to her husband Shiva for accidentally stepping on him while she is dancing.

Apology accepted, Kali!

We were also asked to “cleanse our hands” before entering the temple with some yellow sticky water from the Ganga. Great. Most temples in India are “Hindi only” and white fellows like myself are usually not allowed inside (especially as I am a white WOMAN). This one, however, was a welcome exception. Inside the main chamber we found a rather disturbing statue of Kali with three orange eyes staring us down and as we left, people were grabbing our ankles. I was glad to be out of there, these types of things can be very intense and I was even happier to see a more upbeat side of the religion; kids were playing in a big swimming pool with water from the Ganga. 

After leaving the temple, we went around a corner and cleaned our hands with our remaining drinking water and headed for lunch. The plan was to get to a Lonely Planet recommended Bengali restaurant. Easier said then done. Finding a specific temple/restaurant/hostel or whatever you are looking for can be quite difficult in India, but fortunately Kali had blessed us with some good luck and we actually found exactly what we were looking for. Ordering food can be equally tricky when menus are not available in English and the waiter doesn't know any English. Thankfully, our waiter brought us some plates with food that we could simply choose from. The result was giant shrimp and some fish and a big bowl of rise, naturally scooped in our hungry tourist mouths with our right hand.

The first time I got a plate of food in front of me without utensils to go with it and didn't hesitate was in Varanasi, by Calcutta I was a hand-eating pro!

After two short days in Calcutta, I had come to enjoy the city more than I would have ever thought possible, but my visa was running out and we had to move on. So we headed for the international airport in Calcutta, expecting a busy airport of a 14 million people city. I am from a town of about 60 000 people. The airport in my town is busier then this one.

Good bye ghost town Calcutta of 14 million people, good bye India!

And that's it. My time in India was sadly up, but without hesitation we set foot on the plane that would take us to new destinations and new adventures!