Wide Open Spaces

We are back in the U.S. of A. and it feels so good. I can not explain how wonderful it felt when we were standing in the extremely orderly line at Customs in Dallas and no one was standing against my back. How wonderful it's been to not feel completely stressed while on the road, as no one is honking for what seems like no reason or cutting us off too closely for comfort. How wonderful it's been to eat anything on my plate and not worry about whether it was washed with tap water or whether the pasteurization might give me the trots.

Oh America...I sure do love you.

That being said, I loved our trip to India and am so excited I was able to experience the uniqueness of such a wonderful place. It's just really nice to be home.

Goa vs. Kolkata

Goa was wonderful. As I'd mentioned earlier, we spent most of our time relaxing at our beach resort, but we did experience some of the city on a day of site-seeing. There were a lot of similarities to Kolkata. The traffic, for example, still just logistically made no sense to me. Adam and I almost got run over twice walking through the small capitol city of Punjab. So silly of us. Of course traffic won't stop for us at the crosswalk. That wouldn't make sense, would it?

Goa was just a lot smaller in scale than Kolkata. Less people, smaller roads, smaller shopping areas, less cows. Still cows, just fewer of them.

The people of both Goa and Kolkata seemed simultaneously really proud of their colonial history and resentful of it. You could see Goa's Portugean past in the architecture of the homes along the beach colonies' small, winding roads. It seemed a lot more rural than Kolkata, but it was definitely not third-world "rural" India.

I Hate Politics...Even in India

Elections are intense in Goa. Adam and I had been informed that Goa is quite corrupt. We'd been told that foreigner's often get pulled over by the police who plant drugs in your car (or scooter - as that is a popular thing to rent in Goa), but they'll "let you off" if you pay the right price. So, when traffic slowed at one point in time, and we realized that it was because police officers with their massive guns were stopping cars, I have to admit I was a little nervous. Our driver just mentioned that he was taking us to see some temples though, and they waved us on. Apparently these traffic stops are common practice during elections. Adam thought it might be because they were trying to prevent loads of people coming in to illegally vote.

Another unusual aspect of elections in Goa is that they become a dry state for three days. This put a slight damper on our last dinner. The resort we were at made the best pina coladas, and I drank my fair share of them. (Though I did not have one hourly as Adam might have some believe.) Adam and I wondered if anyone booked trips there during the election and therefore wouldn't be able to partake in drinks at the swim-up bar. That would be sad. They were hardcore when it came to not serving, removing any alcohol from the mini-bar in the rooms and hiding any visible alcohol in the restaurants and bars.

And speaking of politics, one thing I hadn't had a chance to mention previously was the communist rally that took place while we were in Kolkata. We'd been told to not stray too far from our hotel the day it took place, as the rallies tended to have mob mentalities and it didn't take much for fights to break out. Plus, busloads of people came from outside the city to partake in these rallies. So, according to Wasi it was nearly impossible to get anywhere. We thought everyday traffic was rough, I can't even imagine how bad it must be if Wasi, a professional Kolkatan driver, thought it was bad. The picture of the rally that was in the newspaper the next day was crazy - such an absurd amount of people. I've searched high and low for that picture and can't find it. So, here's a different one to kind-of give the idea.

There is not a strong enough word to explain the difference between our experience in Goa so far versus Kolkata. Kolkata was busy, crowded, and somewhat chaotic. Goa is relaxing, slow-paced, and, since we're on a beach resort, fairly secluded.

We are planning on actually leaving the resort tomorrow. So, I imagine we'll run into quite a few more people then. But so far our Goa experience has been swimming in the Indian Ocean, relaxing on the beach, changing scenery by relaxing in and by the pool, drinking pina coladas at the swim up bar, and eating a lot of good food. It's been paradise.

There are some similarities to Kolkata. For instance, there are still plenty of cows to entertain me. I can't say I've seen a lot of cows at the beach before, but now I have.

There are also still a lot of stray dogs, that all look exactly the same. Some kind of mutt breed. I want to adopt them all, they make me so sad. Here they hang out on the beach just begging for attention. In Kolkata, they would hang out next to the food stands begging for food.

The beach is perfect. White sand, shallow and warm water. Although, I did get hit up by a woman peddling jewelry, and I just couldn't say no. Can't say that happened in California or Hawaii. Such is the life in India.

Today is our last full day in Kolkata, and I feel like I still have so much I need to share! So, here are some quick tidbits.

Food, Glorious Food

I was so nervous about the food before I came here. I like to think of myself as a somewhat adventurous eater, so it wasn't that I was worried about the food being "weird." There were just a couple things on my mind. A) There are a lot of precautions westerners have to take into consideration. Don't drink the water, don't eat raw fruit that you can't peel, raw veggies especially lettuce are a big no, milk products are touchy for lots of people because of the differences in pasteurization. Basically avoid things that aren't cooked. B) Indian food is pretty spicy. At least, the Indian food I've had before had all been pretty darn spicy. So, I was just worried that the spices wouldn't be friendly to my somewhat sensitive tummy, and I'd be running to uncomfortable toilets while we were trying to see the sites.

Now, I can safely say I am going to miss the food here. It is sooo yummy. Spicy at times, but mostly just super flavorful. I keep telling Adam that we are going to have to find a good Indian restaurant at home, because I am going to be craving this stuff. I'm having it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner right now, and I am not tired of it. (At first, I was a little. Now I just want it.) I find myself excited when meal times come.

I've been able to join Adam and a couple of the teams he works with here for lunches. One group was funny, because they wanted us to get what we wanted, but we kind-of just wanted them to order stuff. That way we might find new things we like. They kept mentioning that we could get continental food if we wanted. Continental food? No way, Jose! Give us the good stuff.

I Want to Bring Our Driver Back to the States

Our driver, Wasi, has become one of my favorite people ever. He is just so sweet! As we drive around he likes to point things out to us, which I appreciate so much. He speaks English but doesn't have a very expansive vocabulary. So it's not necessarily easy for him to converse with us, but that doesn't keep him from trying. He's even started pointing out cows for me, because the cows just perusing the streets still make me giggle. He took Jackie to the airport at midnight the other night, and was ready to pick us up at 8:00 the next morning to take us site-seeing. Oh, and later that day he asked if Jackie had made it home safe. Isn't that sweet? Granted Jackie was probably still in an airplane at that point. So, then we had to explain to him how long it takes to get back home for us. "Jackie live in America? It take that long?" Aw! I just adore him. I'm going to miss him when we're in Goa.

Feeling Like Celebrities

Everyone is very interested in us. Multiple people have asked to take pictures of us. It probably doesn't help that we stick out like sore thumbs. Adam is easily a head taller than everyone here, and generally I am as tall as most the men here. We are giants! Big, pale giants.

But it's not just the fact that we are whities that people are interested in. They want to know what life back in the States is like. Adam's co-workers and even our tour guide last week-end ask us tons of questions about...well, just us. One thing that seems to entertain them is our interest in basketball and American football, because here everyone likes cricket and some people like soccer. (Wasi likes soccer; he told us.) We try to tell everyone they should watch college basketball and cheer for the Jayhawks. I think we might have gotten a couple guys to at least look into it. Dipta, our tour guide, mentioned that he didn't think it was fair that USA soccer is as good as it is, mentioning that we sort-of came into the field of play late, but our teams are so good anyway. He then said, "Though you are good at all athletic things. Indians are good at nothing...except cricket."

The other thing that seems to entertain them the most is Kansas weather. They always ask us how we feel about the heat here. So, we, of course, talk about how our summers are actually really hot which is really suprising to them. Then we talk about how we have "real" winters, too. That I actually have a heavy winter coat packed with me, because it was so cold when we left. Snow is baffling; and the idea of having to drive in snow scares them. They were highly entertained by the good old saying, "If you don't like the weather in Kansas, wait a minute."

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle People...Seriously!

The abundance of trash and lack of a good sanitation system here remind you how important it is to do everything in your power to reduce your carbon footprint. There is trash pretty much EVERYWHERE, especially around the river. It's sort-of frustrating. You really don't think it would be that difficult to grab a shovel, scoop up some trash and take it to a dump. Here are a couple of my favorite examples of this so far:

Some lovely trash adding to the essence of the gorgeous Dakshineswar Kali Temple.

And one of my cows just chilling in a rather large pile of trash.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Goa. I'm excited to experience more of India. Goa is supposed to be very different than Kolkata, as it was a Portuguese colony rather than British. They also say the food is a lot different, that most things are made with coconut oil, which is not the case here. Most of the people here say their food is better. So, it will be interesting to see if we feel the same way.

One of the things Ryan had mentioned before he went back to the States was that he had noticed Indians apparently do not have a term for "you all" or "guys" or even "anyone." They address everyone as ma'am or sir, and when you're in a group they will either throw out a ma'am just to everyone and see who responds, or (more often) they will address everyone individually. In other words, when you go out to eat, no one comes up and says, "Can I get anyone anything else?" or, "How y'all doing?" They go around the table and ask everyone individually.

I've noticed most people in Kolkata seem to address the women first. Jackie did mention that in Agra everyone addressed Ryan only and really didn't attempt to talk to her or Nicole at all, which is a pretty good testament to Kolkata having more modern ideals than some of the other Indian cities.

I've also noticed that they definitely serve women first. Which is all fine and dandy, though it creates some confusion during family style dinners (which is every dinner) when our waiters attempt to serve seconds. Jackie and I almost never want seconds; Adam almost always does. So, when they start with me (as they almost always do), and I try to say, "Actually, he (Adam) would like the last prawn," that just does not fly for them. We still have to wait for our servers to ask Jackie if she would like it first. I suppose it's polite, and I do not mean to sound snobby when I talk about cultural differences. I just find it all fascinating.

What's funny is there's really no way to avoid this prolonged, individual service. If one of us tried to pick up the dish holding that last prawn and serve it to Adam, the waiter would come and take it out of our hands...because that is his job. Once Jackie tried to push in her seat as we were all leaving a restaurant and one of the servers ran over saying, "No, ma'am, please, that's my job." Even refilling our own water is really not allowed. They always leave a bottle of water on the table for us (probably so we know that they are serving us bottled water), but if you pick it up to refill your glass ninety-nine percent of the time they'll run right over to take it out of your hands. It's very unusaul and kind-of hard to grasp being waited on hand-and-foot for us self-sufficient Americans.

The service is definitely applicable to our hotel, too. When I'm working in the hotel room, I answer the door at least seven times. "Ma'am, do you need laundry service?" "Ma'am, does the mini-bar need anything refilled?" "Ma'am, do you want cleaning service?" "Ma'am, can I get you anything?" "Ma'am, I'm here to refill the mini-bar?" (Yes, that happens separately from checking if it needs to be refilled.) I think part of the reason for this is that everyone who can do a job is given a job. So, instead of having one person clean our room, get our laundry, check the mini-bar, and restock the mini-bar all in one swoop, they have a different person do each job.

It coorelates to the concept that if you can afford to hire help, you hire help. For instance, I read that most Indian women who are head of the household (under their husband, of course) don't do housework but oversee their hired help doing housework. Similarly, we have a hired driver while we are here, because since we can afford to do that, we are expected to.

It's the small things that amaze me.

This was, by far, my favorite thing we've seen yet. It was amazing. The temple was quite beautiful, but it wasn't just one building. There was the main temple dedicated to the goddess Kali (with an idol inside), smaller temples around dedicated to Shiva, and a covered area where you could actually sit and pray.

Thousands (and I mean thousands) of people came to the temple to offer and pray to the idol of the goddess Kali. I read somewhere that on average over 40,000 people visit Dakshineswar every day. But for so many people, it was the most organized I've ever seen an Indian group. They were actually lined up. (And I thought lines didn't exist in India.) We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the temple, so I found this one online to give an idea of what it was like inside. (Source)

The other draw of this temple for Hindus is that it sits next to the Hooghly river (an arm of the Ganges), so they can bathe in the holy water there. I thought it was funny because Dipta, our tour guide said, "Although, it's very dirty, we belive that the water of the river cleanses us." Ew. It was very interesting. The fun thing is that most people go right from the river to inside the temple, so the ground was wet. Did I forget to mention we had to take off our shoes and therefore walk on the dirty/holy river water?

We were able to take a peak at the idol of Kali without waiting in the massively long line because Dipta paid off one of the gaurds. I guess they knew we wouldn't be spending a lot of time up there. It was much smaller than we expected. This rather large temple houses just a small statue.

I asked Dipta how often people came to the temple, since it's a come anytime, worship on your own type of thing. He said that those who live close would probably try to come twice a month, but many people come from really far away and make a pilgramage out of it. It takes a lot of dedication. Standing in line FOREVER and possibly traveling really far to offer some flowers and bow to an idol. I have difficulty making myself go to a church and that takes a lot less effort.