The City of Joy

On paper, Calcutta sounds like hell on earth. It has 14 million people crammed in to it. Regardless of what part of the city your in, walking involves desperately dodging  (to name a few)  cars, rickshaws, motorcycles, cows, goats, and other pedestrians. As a consequence of its population and Indian culture in general, there is perpetual noise pollution. Even in the chapel during mass or adoration at Mother House, you hear honking horns, men spitting, women shouting, hardly an ideal environment for prayer and mediation . What’s worse than the noise pollution is the air pollution. When I first stepped off of the plane and onto the staircase leading to the tarmac at the Calcutta airport, I could, to be literal, taste that the air was dirty and contaminated. Adding to Calcutta’s appeal is the lovely smells that permeate as a result of not having any public trash cans. In Calcutta, when you finish your food or change your child’s diaper (if you can afford a diaper) you just throw the remains on the streets. Of course these smells are exacerbated by the oppressive heat which invades Calcutta 7 months out of the year. Temperatures scorch near 100 degrees every day in April and May (not to mention nearly 100% humidity). And of course, there is the poverty.

The average income in Calcutta is only about $1100 a year. However, this stat does not fully capture the extent of poverty in Calcutta. In Calcutta and greater India, there are massive income gaps between the “haves” and “have nots”. Therefore, the “average” worker in Calcutta earns a lot less than $1100 a year. For so many people, the day-to-day is about survival; survival for you and your family. There is “skinny” and then there is “Indian skinny”. Hunger and malnutrition are still major problems in Calcutta. Its commonplace to see a grown man weigh under a 10o lbs. Moreover, many of these undersized men’s jobs require strenuous physical labor, like pulling heavy carts of bricks or pulling a rickshaw (traditional rickshaw drivers are known as “human horses”). And then there are the children.

As difficult as it is to understand adult suffering, it is all the more difficult to see children suffering. Walking down the street in Calcutta, you witness kids who’s only home is a piece of pavement on the sidewalk. In some cases, their parents do their best to keep them fed, but it doesn’t take a doctor to distinguish that they are malnourished and underfed. Your heart tells you to hand a few Indian Rupees to each child that begs for it, however, in your mind you know better. There are many illicit businesses in Calcutta that exploit children for profit. For instance, many child beggars work for beggar rings that profit off children begging. These rings have territories and children that beg for them. At the end of the day, the children are required to hand-back what they earned in return for a small-cut (usually given to their parents). Worse than this is the child sex trade that exists in Calcutta, though I do not want to expand on this because of how horrendous it is.

If I were asked to summarize in 500 words why one might hate Calcutta, it would probably look very similar to what I wrote above. However, it does not tell the whole story.

Once you begin to peel away the repulsive outer layers of Calcutta, you discover something more profound. Calcutta is more than its heat, pollution, or smell. Despite destitution and suffering, the people of Calcutta know how to smile. They know how to be joyful.

To understand Calcutta’s people, it is important to know that nearly every Calcuttan is religious and family-oriented (this is also true of India as a whole). Although the majority are Hindu (73%), nearly every citizen is an ardent follower of some religion. Through their trials and tribulations, Calcuttans remain close to their faith from which they draw hope and purpose. Because the basic necessities of life are not a given, they recognize their dependence on God. Almost everyone in Calcutta seems to have a sincere reverence for God and the spiritual world and unlike the western world (for the most part), God is a normal part of everyday conversation. It is not shameful or taboo to mention His name or wear religious jewelery or clothing.

Families are all important in Calcutta. A family attitude puts more emphasis on self-sacrifice and less emphasis on the individual. Once you learn how to love within your family, you can spread that love to your local community and beyond. Just like their faith, most Calcuttans  stay close to and rely on their families. In Calcutta, family values are heralded and emphasized and therefore (in my opinion) love becomes contagious and is able to spread.

Calcutta is nicknamed the “city of joy”. It is a place that where most of the poor live with joy and hope because they have something to believe in. Their food supply may be short and their bodies aching, but they still have their faith and the love of their families.

So much more could be said about how special Calcutta is but I would like to elude on one more thing. Despite the immense poverty, foreigners are hardly ever the victims of serious crimes (petty crimes like pick-pocketing exists). Poverty or desperation is rarely used as an excuse to inflict harm on another human being. Witnessing this type of respect has helped me understand how this country achieved their independence through non-violent measures.

It’s a hundred times harder to sum up why one would love Calcutta in 500 words than it is to sum up why one would hate it. Honestly, I could easily write 20,000 words on the beauty of Calcutta. I hope my little inadequate explanation has given you somewhat of an idea of why I chose to stay in this place over teaching in China and why I hope to come back someday.

Cheers,

Joe

War and peace begin at home – Mother Teresa

Ancient desert cities and an urban capital….

I’ll start with sad news. I lost my camera during a trip to the beach and was unable to recover it. Moreover, my pictures were not stored anywhere other than the memory card which was in my camera. This is a hard a pill to swallow but it is the reality of things. My apologies and regrets that my blog posts will no longer contain photos.

The only thing I’ve come to expect during my time in Asia is the unexpected. Very little about this trip has been predictable.  My plan was to work in Calcutta until mid-May and then travel around India until it was time to fly home on June 10.  Shortly after my last blog post my oldest sister, Tina, made an impromptu decision to come to Calcutta in mid-May. Overall this was fantastic news, however, it required me to make significant alterations to my travel plans. As I mentioned in my last blog post, my sister Marie (second oldest sister) bought a ticket to Calcutta. She arrived on April 28 and  stayed until  May 11 (more on this in a subsequent blog post) . Tina is arriving on May 18 and staying until I go back home. As a consequence of my sisters’ visits, the only window I had for a big trip was a couple weeks in April, which I decided to take advantage of.

I picked up my Lonely Planet India (guide book) off the window-sill and browsed it carefully for places to travel to. After weighing a couple options, I decided to travel to Rajasthan and Delhi. Rajasthan is a desert state in northwest India and Delhi, as many of you probably know, is the capital of India. I chose Rajasthan because it is a mirror into ancient Indian civilizations. In contrast, I chose Delhi to build a better understanding of modern India.

On the night of April 12  I boarded the Calcutta-Ajmer express (Ajmer is a city in eastern Rajasthan) and after an epic 28 hour train journey I arrived in Ajmer at 3 AM on April 14. I waited at the train station until 7AM to take a bus to Pushkar,  a Hindu pilgrimage city in eastern Rajasthan (Pushkar is only a few kilometers from Ajmer). It took me a day and a half to get to Pushkar from Calcutta and though I slept quite a bit on the train, I was exhausted and disoriented when I arrived. The only thing I wanted to find was a comfortable  bed.  Of course, in my desperation, I couldn’t find the hotel recommended by the Lonely Planet. After what seemed like an eternity, I found the hotel. The manager showed me the only room available and to my dismay it was infested with mosquitoes and there was a big spider crawling across the wall. I was so tired and the room was surprisingly cool, so I took it anyways (also it was only $2 a night). I don’t know how it is going to be when I return to the United States, but living in Calcutta for three and a half months has desensitized me to things I would have, prior to my trip, considered major inconveniences, disgusting,  or unacceptable.

When I finally arose from my peaceful slumber, I started my touring of Pushkar.  Before my trip, tourists and locals in Calcutta would consistently mention the burning heat in Rajasthan. Despite their warnings, I never bothered to look at the weather report. My first moment under the mid-afternoon Rajasthan sun felt like being too close to a bonfire for too long. My whole body burned.  Unlike Calcutta, which has a tropical like humidity, Rajasthan, being in the desert, is completely dry. Later in the afternoon, I checked the temperature at an internet cafe. The high that afternoon was 110 degrees and the weather report predicted that the high temperature was to remain near 110 during my 11 days in Rajasthan. Why didn’t I plan a trip to the mountains or somewhere cooler? I don’t know. I probably should have. Anyways, it was too late to change my plans.

In Pushkar, and in most of Rajasthan, society has been slow to evolve in to the modern age. For instance,  most men and women dress in traditional garb. Camels are still used as work animals, and the laws reflect traditional Hinduism. At my hotel, there was a poster of laws that tourists should be aware of produced by the Pushkar police. One law stated that men and women are not allowed to embrace in public. Another noted that drugs, alcohol, and non-vegetarian food are forbidden in Pushkar. That’s right, there is no Five Guys or Ruth’s Chris. The ironic thing is that it seemed the town took the laws forbidding meat and alcohol very seriously but paid no heed to the ban on drugs. I couldn’t turn a corner without someone trying to sell me hash or marijuana. In nearly every cafe and restaurant, you could order a special lassi. A lassi is a yogurt smoothie (very popular throughout India) . What makes it special is adding marijuana as an ingredient.

To be honest, in spite of some positive things, I was not all that impressed by Pushkar. This is partially explained by the fact that Pushkar is centered around a lake, which, unfortunately, is almost completely dried up (due to lack of rain), depleting it of much of its natural beauty.  Moreover, the obsession with drugs was a major turn-off. Pushkar is a pilgrimage city with many Hindu temples and I found it depressing to see it’s spiritual aspect marred by pervasive drug use among locals and visitors. Since I was already bored of Pushkar, I decided to leave the evening of the 15th (only a day and a half after arriving) and take an overnight bus to Udaipur, a city in southern Rajasthan.

Udaipur was a much different experience than Pushkar. First of all, I stayed in the nicest hotel I have stayed in India thus far. More importantly, the city itself was charming. It’s nickname is the “Venice of the East”. Like Pushkar, it is centered around a lake. Unlike Pushlar, the lake is still mostly in tact. In the middle of the lake is a fairy-tale like lake palace built in 1746 as a summer house for the king of the ancient Mewar kingdom. Today, the lake palace is a 5 star hotel.  A noteworthy fact about the lake palace is that it was featured in the 1983 James Bond movie Octopussy (Roger Moore as 007). Something Udaipur appears to be very proud of.

My hotel had a beautiful rooftop with a solid view of the city and a good restaurant. Honestly, it was more than tempting to sit on the rooftop with a book all day and order food and Turkish coffee from the restaurant. Although I didn’t spend all my time on the rooftop,  I spent enough time up there to read almost the entire second half of Lord of the Rings.

When I had enough courage to leave the comforts of my hotel’s rooftop, I explored Udaipur’s winding hilly streets. My favorite attraction of Udaipur is it’s City Palace.  The palace is a beautiful blend of Medieval, European and Chinese Architecture. When walking through it, taking in its majesty and mystery, it’s hard not to feel like you’ve taken a trip back in to time.  To add to the experience, a monkey decided to urinate on me as I rested on a bench in one of the palace’s courtyard (again, living in Calcutta helped me get through this one). I’m pretty sure the monkey’s name was Abu; the monkey from Disney’s Alladin. I swear, inside the palace, I thought was on the set of Alladin. At every moment, I was afraid that stupid pet tiger of Jasmine’s was going to pop out and bite me.

After 3 relaxing days in Udaipur, I headed northwest for a one-day stop in Jodhpur. Jodhpur is known as the blue city because most of the houses in its old town are painted blue. During my brief stay in Jodhpur, I toured their massive fort, went on a street food binge in the clock tower market, and drank beer on my hotel’s peaceful rooftop. While I was walking through the market, a man approached me and asked me if I wanted to see his shop. Normally, I ignore the million attempts a day by Indians to get me to look at their shops, but this guy said that Richard Gere had shopped at his and he had photo proof. This was enough to arouse my curiosity so I followed him. The man was telling the truth. Indeed, Richard Gere had been in his shop and more than that; he bought 108 Kashmir scarves from it (he not only had photo proof, but several local newspaper articles detailing this “big event” in Jodhpur). Richard Gere is not the only celebrity client that he has ever had. There were also pictures of Bill Murray shopping there as well as the American ambassador to India.

For my next destination, Jaisalmer, I continued to travel northwest. Jaisalmer is an ancient town located in the Great Thar Desert about 60 miles from Pakistan.  In Jaisalmer, I met up with three fellow volunteers/friends from Calcutta, named Pauline, Lavina, and Sophie (French, Italian and American respectively). At this point I had been traveling alone for over a week, so it was a pleasant change to end my solitude. Our first couple days together I will probably never forget. We decided to do the touristy desert thing and go on a camel safari (we decided this before we left Calcutta).

Prior to departure,  I was petrified by the prospect of a two day camel trek. Remember that the high temperature was around 110 degrees. All sorts of questions were rolling through my mind. Are the guides going to bring enough water? What happens to the human body in that sort of heat for two days straight? As it turned out, the guides brought plenty of water (hot, but still good) and although the heat was trying at times, it was never enough for me to regret my decision to go on the safari.

Close to noon, our guides prepared us a meal from scratch over a fire. After a long rest under a tree, we continued our trek. As the day started to dwindle away and the sun began to set, I felt like I had drifted in to a Loreena Mckennit song. There were sand dunes in the horizon, the temperature cooled off, and a pleasant breeze was blowing. Incredible really! We ended on sand dunes 35 miles from the Pakistani border and watched the remainder of the sunset before dinner.  The moon was a quarter moon, which allowed for a star-filled sky. Being in the desert, it became quite cool at night, much cooler than I expected. I had only one blanket, so I slept directly on the sand with my blanket on top of me. The next day we trekked until about 4, when jeeps came to take us back to Jaisalmer.

This post is starting to get long, so I’ll just write a few words about Delhi. The thing that struck me the most was the level of development. Unlike anything I have seen in Calcutta, there are sections of the city that have a “first world” feel to them. Calcutta has a sizable upper-class and consequently affluent neighborhoods, but even in the nicer parts of town, there are potent reminders that you are in a third world country. I was not appalled or disgusted to walk through Delhi’s finer parts of town. Rather, to be honest, it was nice to walk into a coffee shop and see groups of friends of both genders enjoying each others’ company. Who am I to judge? In the States, it’s one of my favorite things to grab a cup of coffee or a drink with good friends in a nice place. I just pray that India works harder for economic solutions that allow more of its populace to share in their current economic boom (nearly 10% GDP growth rates).

I have to apologize for the amount of time between blog posts. In Calcutta, I don’t have a computer, so the only time I can draft a post is when I am in an internet cafe. There is SO much I could write about, but I am going to stop here but not without a promise. I promise to write a blog post within the next couple of weeks which focuses primarily on Calcutta. Calcutta is where I spend 4/5 of my time and it is the place that has had the biggest impact on my life. The last two blog posts have been mostly concerned with trips I have taken outside of Calcutta, so its only appropriate that my next post have Calcutta as its topic.

Thanks a million for reading!

Cheers,

Joe

Cool mountain air, intense city heat, and another four weeks in India

Me with a Tibetan refugee. He is making infant's shoes.

Celebrating St. Paddy's day at Joey's Pub

View from the rooftop of my hotel in Darjeeling

Sipping tea with locals in Darjeeling

Almost 4 weeks have gone by since my last posting. These last few weeks have had plenty of challenges and rewards. I can now say I have seen the Himalayas, but I can also say that I have lived in 100 degree heat without air conditioning or relief. 4 more weeks in India, 4 more weeks of exceptional experiences.

The heat in Calcutta is incredible. It’s only March and the daily high temperature is usually near 100 degrees. Moreover, aside from a very few exceptions, none of the volunteers have air conditioning in their rooms. Therefore, for most, it is a constant psychological battle to cope with the intense heat. As for me, I prefer warm weather, so I was more or less enjoying the balmy conditions until about the beginning of March. The difficulty was that I had a room on the rooftop of my hotel which shared none of its walls with an adjacent room. It was more like a little cottage on a rooftop, thus no matter where in the sky the sun was it was shining on one of the outside walls of my hotel room. By the time the evening arrived, the inside of my room was more like a sauna, making nearly impossible to sleep unless you were completely exhausted (which, to my fortune, was the case quite often). In fact, it’s often the case in Calcutta that the inside of buildings are hotter than the temperature outside (which, of course isn’t too pleasant). As the months pass and summer draws closer, more and more Calcuttan men elect to sleep on the street instead of their poorly ventilated shelters.

The one consolation of Calcutta heat is that there is always an escape (aside from paying 3 times as much for an air conditioned hotel room), which comes in the form of the Himalayas. On Friday June 12, I left for a week excursion to the Darjeeling, a town in the Himalayas with a British friend and  Danish Friend named Poppy and Marie respectively.

To get to Darjeeling, we took a 10 hour overnight train followed by a 4 hour ride in a jeep ascending to Darjeeling. I had never ridden in an Indian Train before which is an experience in itself. The cost of my round-trip train ticket in the lowest sleeper class was $10. Once we boarded the train, the usher informed us that they had double-booked our beds, we asked for an explanation and the only one we got was, “it’s our system”. This was only a pesky inconvenience for the girls, because they were double-booked with each other in the same bed. However for me this had the potential of being a dramatizing experience as I had to share a bed with a random Indian man. By share a bed, I mean share a bed smaller than a single bed. Of course, we slept head-to-toe, but still. By the Grace of God (and I mean that), a few hours after our departure the usher informed us that were some free beds and I was no longer obliged to remain in one of the most awkward positions of my life. I woke up from my slumber to an orange sky and a monotony of rice fields. Since this was the first time I had left the smog and chaos of Calcutta, seeing a sunrise over countryside was like a mini-liberation of my soul.

It’s no secret that poverty is pervasive in India, but you would think you could maybe forget about, if only for a moment, on the sleeper class of a train. During the morning, at every train stop, beggars would board the train and walk up and down its halls asking for Indian Rupees. There were also vendors trying to sell food and other assorted merchandise.

We got off the train and on to a jeep. After the 4 hour jeep climb, we finally arrived in Darjeeling at about 1 P.M on Saturday. Darjeeling’s average elevation is 6,710 feet. On a clear day, you have a great view of some of the tallest mountains in the world,  including a phenomenal view of the third tallest mountain in the  world, Mt. Kanchenjunga. Despite amazing views and beautiful scenery, Darjeeling garners its world recognition from its tea production. India produces massive amounts of tea and Darjeeling is responsible for 25% of it. Moreover, Darjeeling tea is considered by some (including all Darjeelings) to be the best tea in the world. During my time in Darjeeling, I drank countless cups of Darjeeling’s most precious resource. I am not a tea connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination but this stuff was tasty.  Some of my best moments on this trip thus far have been reading a book while sipping world-class tea and staring out into mountains.

Darjeeling is in intense contrast with Calcutta. In Calcutta, the roads are swarming with people and traffic and some form of noise is always present.  Darjeeling is a quite and sleepy town that operates at a laid back pace. Calcutta has very little natural scenery while in Darjeeling a breathtaking view could be around any corner. Of course,the temperature in Darjeeling is substantially cooler than in Calcutta. While in Darjeeling, the average high temperature was around 60 and the average low temperature was about 32. Although these are big differences, the biggest difference was the people.

The people in Darjeeling are comprised mostly of Gorkhas, an ethnic group from Nepal. Their look is more oriental than Anglo-Indian. Since the 1980′s,  Darjeeling along with other neighboring villages and town have been intensely demanding a separate state of Gorkhaland (they want to be a separate Indian state, not an independent nation). At the moment, they are part of the state of West Bengal which Calcutta is the capital of.  In Darjeeling, it is hardly possible to walk 5 seconds without seeing a sign or painting pushing for the proposed state of Gorkhaland. The signs read things like, “We will fight for India, but we will die for Gorkhaland” and “We want Gorkhaland now!”. One day, during a walk, I even stumbled upon a massive protest march full of flags and shouts.  I don’t know the details of the dispute between the Gorkhas and India, however, I am surprised that the Gorkhas are not fighting for a separate nation. To me, traveling to Darjeeling felt like leaving India.

Most of our week in Darjeeling was spent relaxing, reading, eating, and drinking tea, but there were some highlights worth writing about.  On Monday (March 15), we visited a Tibetan Refugee Center. India has been friendly towards Tibet. The Dalia Lama currently lives in India as well as many Tibetans refugees. India’s assistance to Tibet is partially responsible for the tense relations between India and China which has caused China to close the India-China border. The Tibetan Refugee Center in Darjeeling is currently home to 750 refugees and from 1910-1912 was the home of the thirteenth Dalia Lama (the previous Dalia Lama). The refugees live on donations as well as the profit they garner from making and selling hand-made handicrafts (scarves, blankets, rugs, jewelery etc.). They allow visitors to walk among their workshops and watch them at work meticulously creating some handicraft. What impressed me was how friendly and peaceful they were. Instead of seeming annoyed at some tourist (namely me) entering their workshop and staring at them as they worked, they were all smiles and even welcomed pictures (as long as I showed it to them afterward).

On St. Patrick’s Day, I took a tour at the Happy Valley Tea Estate in order to build a better understanding of the process of producing tea. Without going into much detail, the process is like this.  The picking of the tea is done almost exclusively by women. At Happy Valley, they group the women according to age with the younger women going further out in the fields during the harvest and the older women remaining closer to the estate. After the leaves are picked, they are brought into a withering room where they are placed in enormous “withering troughs” with high-speed fans that reduce their moisture content. The next step is to remove the remaining water with heavy-duty rollers. Following the rollers, the tea is fermented in a high-humidity room to produce its flavors. Lastly, they cut the tea leaves and separate the tea according to grades. Happy Valley exports all their grade 1-3 tea to England (Damn Brits getting all the good stuff), while grades 4-7 are exported to Japan.

After the tea tour and a nap, we met up with an American volunteer named Andrew who was at Daya Dan with me but recently finished his work in Calcutta and now is volunteering for a different organization two hours north of Calcutta by train.  He had just arrived in Darjeeling along with 2 other American guys who work at his new location and a cousin of one of the guys (Their whole group was from Seattle including Andrew). It was St. Patrick’s Day so naturally we headed straight to a bar. We all had a good time and I’m proud to  report that we finished the night at a place named…..wait for it…..”Joey’s Pub”! (Don’t worry, I got plenty of pictures under the sign.)

The trip back to Calcutta was more or less (everything is relative here) painless. I returned to the same hotel but chose a different room. My new room has limited exposure to the sun and manages to stay quite cool. Living in a cool room has fundamentally altered my Calcutta experience. Now, I sleep wonderfully through the night and have the mental energy to deal with the heat during the day.

In my last post, I mentioned that I started an afternoon shift tutoring two brothers aged 13 and 10 (Clive and Joy).  I really can’t put into words how wonderful this has been. As you recall, Clive failed a sufficient amount of final exams to require him to repeat a grade. Both boys weakest subject is math, so we devote almost all of our time covering their math studies. Originally, I was only tutoring 3 times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but now, pursuant to Clive’s adamant requests, we have added a Saturday shift. In fact, Clive is constantly begging me to add another day and to add more hours to the days that I come. Obviously, it’s really easy to teach such a willing student.

As a perk to the tutoring, I get to go into an Indian home 4 times a week, a privilege few Calcutta volunteers experience. Clive and Joy’s house is only two rooms. The first room is a small kitchen and the other is room is the bedroom.  It turns out that Clive, Joy, and their parents all share the same double bed. The double bed also serves as the table, desk, and couch. After seeing the way they live, I will never take for granted “personal space”. Every time I come for tutoring, Sabrina, Clive’s and Joy’s mom, makes me a different Indian dish. Sabrina says that since they have no money to give me she pays in food (I’m okay with this). I would have to say that eating an authentic Indian meal on their bed while drinking tea is when I feel the least like a tourist in Calcutta.

In other news…..

- Last week, the kids at Daya Dan (the orphanage) went on their annual trip to Nicco Park, Calcutta’s finest amusement park (not quite American standards, although the water park section is pretty close). At Daya Dan, there is a swimming pool which is about the size of a ping-pong table. Every Saturday we feel that thing up and about 15 kids pile into it. I really can’t explain the joy and euphoria these kids experience  when they are in this basic swimming pool. At Nicco Park, they have a massive wave pool as well as a pool with water slides and other amusements for the kids. Needless to say, the kids almost died of happiness.

- The biggest news is that my sister, Marie, bought a ticket to Calcutta. She will visit me from April 27 – May 11. Her visit is highly anticipated.

- Speaking of plane tickets, I bought a plane ticket home for June 10. I fly out of Delhi, India. My plan is to finish up my work in Calcutta shortly after my sister leaves in May and then travel for a month around India.

- This week is holy week, which means there has been an increase in prayer and spiritual opportunities. It is really has been an honor to spend holy week with an order that has the most sincere respect for Christ’s death and resurrection.

Happy Easter!!!

Cheers,

Joe

The sun sets in Calcutta but then rises again the next morning

So where do begin…. In life, you make a lot of plans. Sometimes you follow through with your plans, sometimes new circumstances incite you to alter or abandon your plans. I planned on teaching English in China this spring. My decision to come to Calcutta for volunteer work came after I firmly decided in my mind to teach English in China. I reasoned that since I was traveling to Asia anyways, I might as well stop off in India for a month beforehand.

Last Sunday (February 21), as my flight to China was growing near, I began flirting with the idea of staying in Calcutta and foregoing teaching English in China. I was thinking about how much I like it in Calcutta, much more than I expected to. The volunteer work is good for me and hopefully I am doing something to help the lives of the orphans I am working with. By Tuesday morning I was weighing the idea of staying so heavily that in my mind I knew there was a 50/50 chance I would not leave for the airport that night (My flight to China was 1:30 AM on Wednesday morning, so I had to leave for the airport on Tuesday night). Tuesday morning rolled by and the afternoon arrived. Sometime in the afternoon I finally made my decision which was to carry through with my original plans and go to China. I attended a special adoration that evening held in Mother Teresa’s tomb. During adoration, I prayed that if I was making the wrong decision and I was suppose to stay in Calcutta that I be given some last minute sign.  After a going-away dinner and a couple last drinks on the rooftop of my hotel, I got in my cab and headed to the airport. At the check in counter, the airlines (China Eastern Airlines) was having trouble locating my ticket in their system. Eventually, they asked me to wait in their office so they could sort out the problem.  Following a long wait, they came and told me that my ticket had been canceled. I had no idea what that meant and even after their long explanation, I still am not completely sure, but I’ll do my best to explain it. Apparently, the agency that I purchased the ticket through (expedia.com) failed to confirm my flight. The flight was originally scheduled for February 25, however, the airlines canceled my February 25 flight back in January and, without my consent, put me on a February 24 flight. From what I understand, expedia was required to confirm the new travel date for me, but never did and ergo China Eastern Airlines canceled my ticket. What’s mind-boggling is that China Eastern Airlines had the nerve to try to sell me a fresh ticket to China (for the flight that I already bought a ticket for) after they informed me that they were not going to do anything to help me  and that the problem lied with my agency. Needless to say I left the airport at 1:00 A.M furious. Honestly, I have never in my life experienced such wanton disregard for the concern of a customer. It was more or less fraud. The airlines sold me a $400 dollar ticket, changed the date of my flight without my consent, and then used some B.S. term to render my ticket completely worthless.

As soon as an internet cafe opened on Wednesday morning, I got on Skype and called expedia. I  explained my situation to them and, at first, they told me that they could not help me and that I would have to call the airlines. Finally, I got a manager on the phone and, after about an hour or so, we solved nothing.  She claimed that she was powerless unless she talked to the airlines, however, the airlines wasn’t answering their phones. She asked me to call back in the evening so she could try to call the airlines’ New York office during their normal business hours. When I called in the evening, expedia still could not get a hold of the  airlines. Finally, after all of this, expedia offered to refund my ticket. I took their offer, reflected on all that had happened in the last 24 hours and deciphered that this was the sign I prayed for. I was suppose to stay in Calcutta. The next day I emailed the company in China that I was to teach English through and told them, despite my deepest regrets, I would not be coming to China.

The next day was Thursday, our day off. I wasn’t feeling too good, but brushed it off as a result of all the commotion over the last couple days. I stayed in my room all day to read and rest. On Friday, I woke up still feeling a little sick, but I decided to go to work. By Friday night, it was clear that I had picked up a legitimate sickness. I had a fever, sore throat, plenty of stomach issues, and a head ache. I was so sick on Sunday that I couldn’t even read. The thing that made this sickness so painful was the weather. It was in the 90′s last week in Calcutta. Add that kind of heat to a fever and you feel like your body is on fire. Monday was no better, so I had my British friend Poppy, pick up some antibiotics for me (you can get them over the counter in India). In this case, drugs were the answer. I felt markedly better on Tuesday and by Wednesday I was almost at full health. It honestly felt like I had risen from the dead. Almost nothing compares to the feeling of that first day you wake up feeling better after a long sickness. I could finally get back into my Calcutta routine.

Speaking of my routine, now that I am staying, I’ve picked up an afternoon shift. I am tutoring 2 brothers of ages 13 and 10, respectively named Clyde and Joy (same name as the Autistic boy I am working with). Their family is struggling financially. Their father is unemployed and the mother works all day as a teacher. Clyde, the 13 year old, failed his final exams for the last school year (the school year in India begins in February and ends in December), and now is required to repeat the same grade. It’s really incredible actually. In Clyde’s class last year, 24 out of 60-something students failed enough final exams to require them to repeat a grade. The system is way less forgiving in India and the standards are way higher than the United States. It is the furthest thing from “leave no child behind”. Personally, I think it’s absurd to have fail rates that high for 13 year olds. They’re only kids and shouldn’t be put under that kind of pressure.

Last Friday, I went to an Indian classical musical concert with a Swiss guy named Elle and some other friends. Elle comes to Calcutta every year for a month or two to study the tabla, an Indian percussion instrument. He is one of the most-traveled people I have ever met. Just to give you a taste

Purbayan Chatterjee performing with Pt. Anindo Chatterjee

,  he has ridden the trans-Siberian railway 5 times and before he arrived in Calcutta this year, he and friend were traveling around Iran. Anyways, the concert was incredible. It featured some of the best Indian classical musicians in the world performing on an ornately decorated stage.  Also,  the concert hall was air-conditioned (a luxury of all luxuries). Although I enjoyed all of the acts, the one that really moved me  featured a sitarist named Purbayan Chatterjee and a tabla player named Pt. Anindo Chatterjee. Instead of trying to describe the music to you, here is a web address to a sample of Purbayan Chatterjee’s music: http://www.purbayan.com/audio.html

Feel that twang and rhythm and you’ll be transported to India!

Since I am going to be in Calcutta more long term, I’ve decided to do some trips to other parts of India. This Friday I am traveling to a town in the Himalayas called Darjeeling. On a clear day, you can see Mt. Everest from certain parts of Darjeeling.

Well that’s it for now.

Cheers,

Joe

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

- Fellowship of the Ring

Give me more of that Calcutta water

Night on the rooftop

Me at the Victoria Memorial

Well 2 more weeks have gone by since my last post.  It’s incredible how fast the time has flown by.  On Wednesday morning I leave for China,  leaving this part of the adventure behind to begin the next part. Honestly, I wish I had at least another month in Calcutta. Despite the poverty, noise and chaos, I feel peace here and this has unquestionably been a life-altering experience.

Before I start babbling on about the events of the last couple weeks, I need to do a little housework. The Chinese Government has blocked Facebook (for fear that their citizens will use it as a tool to organize Anti-Communist rallies),  so if you were relying on my status updates each time I had a new post, please send me an email address at millerjoseph44@yahoo.com and I’ll notify you each time there is a new post via email.

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My volunteer work has been really great. I’ve made some tangible progress with Joy (the Autistic and hyperactive boy I’ve been working with).  He has added a few words to his vocabulary; mostly names of animals and fruits and vegetables. Also,  on a few occasions, he was able to sit through our entire class session (one-on-one instruction). Every day he seems to feel a little more comfortable around me. It’s a shame that I have to leave so soon, because I would like to see how far I can take him along the learning trajectory.  I know that he will never be a fully-functioning adult or a university graduate, but anything that can be done to make his life a little better is worth it.

It’s amazing to think about these kids lives. Not only are they spending their childhood in an orphanage,  but all of them have mental disabilities and many of them also have physical disabilities .  However, these kids don’t seem depressed or unhappy. Rather, at Daya Dan (the orphanage), the kids seem to be enjoying life and each other and The Sisters do a laudable job of providing the love that Children don’t have from growing up in a loving family.

One noteworthy aspect of the volunteer work, which I mentioned in my last post, is the bonding among the volunteers. In fact, the bonding is so great that many romantic relationships are formed here (more than I would have guessed), even marriages in some cases. In case you were wondering, I am still single.

After the Chileans left, I ended up hanging out quite a bit with two medical students from Germany named Arlette and Anna (also volunteers at Daya Dan)  as well as a British girl named Poppy. We all have/had rooms on the rooftop of my hotel. The Germans left on Tuesday, but Poppy is still here.

It’s  been really nice is spending time with the other longer-term volunteers at Daya Dan. It’s quite an eclectic group. There are a few kids in college or entering college in the fall, a couple of guys like me who are done with college and have worked a couple years (including a guy from Australia who grew up on a 54,000 (not a typo) acre family farm) – There is also a retired couple from Michigan.

I’ve been spending most of my evenings with travelers and volunteers on the rooftop terrace at my hotel. At night, the weather is perfect (sorry DC, no snow on the ground here).  We all sit around these rickety old tables and chairs usually with beer and talk about anything and everything. Often, some super-controversial topic arises (e.g. abortion, mixing religion with politics, religion in general) and subsequently a debate, however, I can’t recall a debate in which the participants were not respectful of  one another or anybody walked away angry or bitter. I’ve been gaining a wider perspective of India through some of the guests of my hotel, as many of them have traveled extensively throughout India. It is interesting to compare their accounts of different cities in India with my experience of Calcutta.

A defining feature of Calcutta is the prevalent spirituality. Although most people are Hindu,  everybody seems to be faithfully practicing some type of religion. In this city, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians all live side-by-side in relative peace and harmony (at least from what I can tell). God is alive here! It really had an effect on me when I saw schoolboys all bowing and paying respect to a shrine of a Hindu God at the front of a park before heading off to their cricket game.  As a Catholic volunteer, there are great opportunities to grow in your spiritual life. Aside from the spiritual aspect of the volunteer work, mass is offered every morning and adoration every evening (in the same chapel that Mother Teresa attended mass and adoration). Most of the volunteers attend mass and about a third of them go to the adoration.

While we’re on the subject of spirituality, I must mention the food, because there have been several meals where, if I didn’t know better, I would have thought I died and went to heaven. I’ve always loved Indian food, but (obviously) it has  never been so accessible and cheap. When I say cheap I mean cheap.  The most I’ve spent for a meal in Calcutta was  $7 and that was because I had lobster as one of the courses.  On average, I spend about a dollar. The first week I was a little hesitant to venture away from the “safe” tourist spots. By the third week, I was eating little more street food. Now that I only have a couple days left in Calcutta and I, amazingly, haven’t gotten sick, I’ve more or less become cocky and am eating street/more risky food whenever it looks or smells good. They have these things on the street called egg rolls. To make them they take a flat bread (similar to a Mexican tortilla) and fry an egg or two over the bread so that the egg and the bread become one cohesive item. They throw some grilled vegetables and maybe some chicken on top as well as some sauce, wrap it up and viola, you have an egg roll. They cost between 20-60 cents. Another Indian gastronomic delight is the Thali. A Thali is basically a sampling of what the chef has ready. It is served on a large plate with little tin bowls of food around the edges and nan and rotti bread in the middle for your dipping delight. Once you finish one of the food items in the bowl, in a good restaurant, they immediately replace the bowl with a new bowl of the same food item.  Thalis vary in price depending on the quality of the food, but you can spend as little as 40 cents for one.

As a mentioned in my last post, Thursday is our day off from volunteer work. The first Thursday after my last post (Feb 11), I woke up early to travel to a leprosy community just north of Calcutta run by the Missionaries of Charity Brothers. To be honest, I was a little hesitant to sign up for the trip, since the purpose of the trip was to tour the community and not to do any work. I didn’t want treat these peoples’ home like it was a zoo. However, in the end, my curiosity got the best of me and and  I decided to go. The leper community is self-sustaining. They make all the habits for the MCs worldwide as well as all their sheets and some other items. We were able to walk through the building where it all happens. The building is about 150 yards long and only about 8 yards wide. It’s full of different machines for each stage of the manufacturing process, which the residents operate, depending on their ability to use their hands and feet. In addition to making sheets and such, the community also grows its own fruit and vegetables as well as raises livestock. There are a few hospital like bulidings for the members of the community that need more intensive medical treatment. We walked through the hospital rooms and, to my surprise, we’re greeted with all smiles and hellos. The people were clearly happy to see us, quelling my fears of “disrespecting” their home. I think it’s safe to say that each one of us on the tour were inspired by the lepers cheerfulness despite their heavy suffering.  Many of the lepers have children (without leprosy) who also live in the community with their parents, keeping the familes together. We walked into the children’s classroom during the middle of one of their lessons. They sang us a song welcoming us in many languages.

Last Thursday, I walked around Calcutta all day, exploring different parts/sights of the city. Among the highlights was the Victorian Memorial, which is a massive building built for Queen Victoria between 1906-1921 (Calcutta was the capital of British India during most of their occupation). The building is best described by the “Lonely Planet” as “the Taj Mahal meets the US Capital”. The building was impressive, but I really enjoyed the enclosed park surrounding it. Sitting on a bench in the park was the first time there was more than 20 feet between me and the next human being in Calcutta. However, I did feel a bit out of place because I was alone in the park. The park was full of Indian couples making out, which is something I hadn’t yet seen in Calcutta.

I realize that post is starting to get long so I’ll end now with some culture shocks:

- Heterosexual men hold hands on the streets. No seriously, you see this all the time.

- There are overwhelmingly more men than women walking the streets. I would estimate that the ratio is 5 to 1.

- Most Indians eat all their food with their hands. This includes rice.

Cheers,

Joe

First Week in India

Wow,  I’ve now been in Calcutta for a week! This place is incredible.  There are so many things that I could write about, but I’ll do my best to keep it to the highlights.

My flight on Thursday (Jan 28) left at 12:10 PM from Dulles with New York as our first destination and then onward, on the same plane, to Delhi, India, a 13 hour flight. Following a 4 hour layover in Delhi, I boarded a 2 hour flight to Calcutta. My total travel time was 24 hours, arriving in Calcutta at 10:00 Pm local time on Friday night.  The time went by faster than one would think. It helped that I sat next to a guy, about my age, named CJ who had family in Calcutta. CJ was born in New York but both his parents were from Calcutta and he lived in Calcutta for 14 years of his life.  Currently, he lives in the States working as a hotel a manager at the Hyatt in Virginia Beach, VA.  His reason for flying to Calcutta was that his father suddenly passed away (both his parents were living there). Although I assumed the conversation would be fairly awkward, considering I’m meeting this guy at a tragic point in his life. It really wasn’t.  He was clearly affected, but overall he was controlled and wanted to chat.  We talked a lot about Calcutta, including the food, culture,  and “do’s” and don’ts”. Also, he laid down what you can eat and what you cannot. This information is crucial, because almost every Westerner gets sick from food germs during his/her time in India. If you are careful, you may be able to reduce the severity and frequency of  sickness.  During our layover in Delhi, CJ took me to a bar at the airport and introduced me to their national beer, Kingfisher. It was good, however in India, they put glycerin in their beer to preserve it, leaving the average Western (including myself) with a painful headache, even if you drink only one.  Once we cleared customs in Calcutta, I tried to find an ATM machine to pull out some some Indian Rupees for a cab, but to no avail. What made matters worse was that I had no American dollars in my wallet to exchange at the exchange counter.  Luckily, I made a friend on the way over. CJ had his ride from the airport, his brother-in-law, drive me to a Hotel in the city.

My first move on Saturday morning was to try to find an ATM. It is really hard to fully explain the culture shock I experienced my first moments walking a Calcutta street. I was breathing in a terrible smog (the smog is partly due to the fact that they burn their trash on the streets), seeing masses of people, witnessing rickshaw drivers (I’ll explain later) for the first time in my life, and trying desperately to avoid being hit by a car. After about 15 minutes, I finally found an ATM. I hopped in a cab and asked him to take me to Sutter St., which is where most of the volunteers stay as well as many tourists. The cab driver dropped me off at a cafe, where I sat across from a guy from Texas named Jason, who had been volunteering with the Missionaries of Charity (“MCs)  for a month. Jason gave me a run down of the places volunteers stay at. I ended up choosing a place called the Modern Lodge.

The Modern Lodge is the furthest thing from modern. It is a bare bones budget hotel. However, I opted for one of the expensive rooms with a bathroom and on the roof (with a peaceful rooftop terrace). The cost per day: $5. That’s right not $50, but $5.  The ironic thing is that my room is a double,  so I could be paying a mere $2.50 if I found a roommate. At first, it was difficult to adjust to the low quality of the hotel, but after a couple days I grew to appreciate its simplicity and authenticity. Also, the guests are young and a they are a trustworthy group (many are fellow volunteers) from all over the world. I’ve really enjoyed some of the conversations I’ve had on the rooftop terrace at night.

My orientation for volunteering wasn’t until 3 PM on Monday afternoon, so I spent the weekend strolling around the streets of Calcutta and reading. Calcutta is a bustling city. On the streets, people are living out their daily lives. For instance, people bathing, women cooking, men peeing, and children playing are sights you can see around any corner.  For many Calcuttans, life is lived on the streets. The poverty is in your face, but the people are warm and friendly. One thing worth mentioning is the traffic. Most streets don’t have sidewalks, but are congested from car, motorcycle, bicycle, rickshaw, and pedestrian traffic. Furthermore, unless you are at a major intersection, streetlights are absent. The basic rule is every man for himself. Usually, I am worn out from dodging cars after a walk (It’s not relaxing). Also, cars and motorcycles are always honking their horns, creating a perpetual symphony (out-of-tune one mind you) of “honking horns”, even when I am trying to sleep.  Also present on the streets of Calcutta is the rickshaw. Now, there are 3  types of rickshaws:  the traditional rickshaw, they cycle rickshaw, and the auto-rickshaw. It just so happens that Calcutta is one of the last bastions for the traditional rickshaw. What it is is a carriage pulled not by horses, but by an Indian man (sadly, always impoverished and usually malnourished). The cycle rickshaw is the same thing except the driver pulls you with a bicycle instead of using solely brute force, while the auto-rickshaw is basically a motorcycle  enclosed by a carriage with benches.

On Monday, I had my orientation for volunteering.  The orientation consisted of an MC sister laying down the guidelines for volunteers and briefly describing each location we could volunteer at. I chose a place named Daya Dan, a home for about 40 mentally/physically handicapped orphans ranging from ages 4-16. They separate the boys from the girls with the boys on the ground level and the girls on the third floor. I work with the boys.

A typical day begins at 6 AM with mass at the Mother House (where Mother Teresa lived and where her grave is)  followed by a basic breakfast for all the volunteers. Around 7:45, the volunteers head to their respective volunteer locations. To get to Daya Dan, we take a bus north and then take an auto-rickshaw west.  We arrive at 8 AM when the boys are usually finishing up their baths and the first hour is spent dressing them (some can dress themselves), doing their laundry,  and putting clean sheets on their beds. At around 9, we have prayer, and a period for meditation. On weekdays, prayer and mediation are followed by class time and then at around 11 the boys have some play time. Lunch is at 11:30 and then naptime at 12.  The volunteers leave after the boys are put down for their naps. Although we are finished with our work around noon, I am usually fairly exhausted.

In addition to helping out with all the aforementioned tasks, the superior sister has asked me to give special attention to an autistic and hyperactive boy from Nepal named Joy. By special attention, I mean give him one-on-one instruction during class time and help him with his speech development among other things. He needs a lot of one-on-one time because of his inability to direct his attention towards anything for more than a few moments.

One of the best parts about volunteering in Calcutta is the bonding between the  volunteers. The volunteers come from all over the world, all walks of life, and all age groups (there are over a 100 volunteers). Most are Catholic, but many are not. I’ve been hanging out quite a bit with a couple of guys from Chile named Jorge and Donsalo. They are towards the beginning of a six month backpacking trip through Asia, with 2 weeks volunteering in Calcutta as one of the stops.

I’ll spend the rest of this blog post describing some of the more interesting things I’ve see/did last week outside of volunteer work.

On Wednesday, after volunteering, Donsalo and I took a cab to a very north part of the city where the Calcutta book fair was being held. The Calcutta book fair takes place for a couple weeks every year in January and is actually the largest book fair in Asia. It was really interesting to see a totally different side of Calcutta, as it was obvious that most of the book fair attendees were more educated and affluent than the Calcuttans we had been seeing. Also, the fair was just massive. I’d thought we never reach the end of it. As we were walking out, we were approached by a pretty news lady who wanted to interview us regarding our thoughts of the book fair (we were the only tourists in a sea of Indians, so we kind of stood out). Naturally, I obliged. After the book fair we met up with Jorge and a mother-daughter duo from Barcelona for beers. All the conversation was in Spanish, however, I was content with my ability to understand and speak.

Thursday is the day off for the volunteers, so the Chileans and I decided to go explore some of the Hindu temples. One of the temples we visted was the Kali Temple (considered the holiest spot in Calcutta). Kali is a Hindu Goddess of Power and swarms of Hindu pilgrims flock to her temple everyday to invoke her for the strength to perform their daily tasks. The central part of the temple is a statute of Kali which the Hindus adorn with flowers and pray to. What was most memorable to us was at a different part of the temple: the goat sacrifices.  We witnessed three goats brought into the sacrifice area and sprinkled with flowers. After being sprinkled with flowers, men whisper things into their ears, put their head under a bar (so they cant escape), and then chop their heads off. I was unware until that moment that animal sacrifice was still a facet of any major religion.

Today (Sunday), I took a cab back to my hotel from work, and passed by a large march of the Communist Party of India. I don’t now what that’s all about.  Lastly, I am little depressed I can’t watch the Super Bowl tomorrow. Oh well, it’s all part of the experience.

Cheers,

Joe

P.S. I attached a picture of a traditional rickshaw.

It’s about that time….

Plane tickets are bought, bags are packed, and good-byes have been said. This isn’t my first big international trip, but it’s my first time traveling outside of the Western world. My first destination is Calcutta, India, where I will volunteer with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity for a month. Following my month in Calcutta, I leave for Guilin, China to undergo training to teach ESL to Chinese kids (I will teach for 4 months).

 As this trip grew closer, lots of people asked me how I felt. If I were answering that question today, I would say I feel a little bit of everything. Obviously, I am excited, but I’m also a little nervous to be traveling alone and to places where I don’t know anybody. However, from my experience, it’s easier to meet people when you’re traveling alone and I can’t wait to meet and get to know people from India, China, and many other parts of the world. I am especially excited to become acquainted with some of the other volunteers in Calcutta. Here are people who have decided to travel from far distances to serve the poorest of the poor, despite living in a world which puts so much emphasis on the individual and wealth creation (at least in the developed world).

The poverty in Calcutta is said to be overwhelming. Lately, I’ve been living a fairly comfortable life, so I am sure it will be good for me to see and somewhat experience how much of the world lives. One-sixth of the world lives on less than $1 a day (considered “extreme poverty”) I spend $2 on my Starbucks coffee in the morning.

There are many reasons to travel to China. One reason is China’s relevance to the world stage. China is fast on the rise and an emerging super-power. They have a surging economy and population of 1.3 billion (about 20% of total world population). Moreover, business between the United States and China is increasing and if China continues to liberalize their markets, less of the US-China business relationship will be based on China exporting inexpensive manufactured goods and raw products to the United States or China buying our Treasury and private company bonds. Rather, the Chinese market will open up huge business opportunities to American companies. With a population of 1.3 billion, China has a lot of potential buyers of American goods and services. Not to mention, if China opens up its capital markets, there will be great opportunities for American investors. I will be pursuing a law degree in the fall (at Notre Dame). Because of China’s world relevance, the cultural knowledge of China that I will gain during my 4 months in China will be an immense career boost, especially because I hope to practice some type of international law. Even if I eventually walk away from law to pursue business, politics, or policy, knowledge of China will be advantageous.

Of course, China has a fascinating history. A history I look forward to learning about, because I have so little knowledge of it.

Okay, I’ll stop babbling on.

Cheers,

Joe

“I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness”

- Mother Teresa