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The End of the Affair

Monday, March 31st, 2008

I set here in the middle of a sudden and pretty scary thunderstorm in calcutta. Its my last night in india. Time to look back, time to sum the last 4 months up. They have been just simply incredible, a really wonderful experience. 4 months ago seems like such a long time ago, I was so nervous walking out of the departure gates of mumbai international airport in the wee hours of the 30th of november. I cursed myself for picking such a notorious place to start off the adventure but in hindsight I couldn’t have picked a better place. If you can survive mumbai you can survive absolutely everything else that I have seen in this country, to take it even further than that I actually enjoyed that sprawling mess of a place. You need to take your time and give yourself a chance to adjust.

Goa was a let down I have to admit and anyone that I have gotten on with that I have met her agrees wholeheartedly with that assessment. The beaches of Kerala are much better, much friendlier places. Hampi is an amazing place, the landscape there is awesome. It is also well set up for lazy buggers like myself 🙂 After there it was xmas by the beach for spending the guts of january hunting down the best temples that tamil nadu has to offer. From there it was a trip up the land of kings, Rajasthan is an amazing state. There is so much there for everyone. After a week in the capital and a trip to the taj with diarmo I headed north to the mighty himalayas before returning back to the capital where my journey has been cut short. A quick dash over to calcutta and I am now ready to leave india. It feels weird to type those words. I am going to miss so much of the place, the food, the chai, the silly chats with shop keepers, the train trips, the mountains, the forts this country has so much to offer. There are elements which I will not miss, in my opinion the country needs to clean up its act on a lot of things that we take for granted in the west. The caste system needs to go, its fcked up. They need to install a proper system to ensure that every kid has a access to an education, its the only way out of poverty. Begging needs to be made illegal, it fosters a horrible element in society. Giving to these people very often that not only serves to perpetrate the situation. They need to introduce a waste management system, you can walk for days without seeing a bin. You can arrive at the most beautiful waterfall only to see that its base is destroyed by peoples careless littering. In the cities it only serves to feed the horrible sanitary conditions where vermin and disease amongst the poor is rampant. Its these fundamental things that stop alot of people coming here and it is a pity because as I have mentioned before it is a wonderful place.

Right I am going to sign off this now, this is the last of the wobble. I am off to thailand tomorrow – I don’t really have a clue what I am going to do there because it has come on alot quicker than I anticipated. Having survived 4 months here I reckon I should be okay…

Over and out,

Phil

Calcutta

Monday, March 31st, 2008

I stood there in disbelief, the words coming out of her mouth.

‘Its over, you have to leave….’.

So after 4 months a divorce is on the cards, the lady at the desk in the FRRO office in dehli informed me that the only visa they could issue me was an exit visa which is valid for 14 days from the day you apply for it. I applied for it 9 days previously so that gave me 5 days to legally reside within the sovereign borders of Hindustan on this visa. I had other options though I could apply to get my old visa re-issued but that would take the guts of 5 days queuing, hanging around a sweltering dehli metropolis, dealing with pedantic senseless government officials. I didn’t come traveling to spend weeks in queues. There was also the option of going to nepal for 10 days and applying for a brand new visa over there. Sounds good in theory but if you are keeping an eye on politcal events in this part of the world you would be aware that they are having presidential elections in nepal for the first time ever on the 10th of april, already there have been trouble from the maoist insurgents. Last week they blocked the road from dehli to kathmandu hoping to intercept a convoy of trucks carrying what they described as weapons and arms to find the expected troubles. The nepalese government denied this, stating that the trucks were merely carrying riot gear ahead of the elections. Add to this election situation the trouble that exists across the border in lhasa has made its way across the border to kathmandu with the chinese embassey being attacked and infiltrated by irate buddhist monks. All in all it makes nepal an unappealling place at this point in time. Going there would be foolhardy.

So the third and last option was to leave the country permanently – my flight from calcutta to bangkok was originally set for the 18th of may. I needed to move this forward to the first of april as the visa expired on the second. So exit plan needed, and needed quickly. First port of call was the Jet Airways office in connaught place in dehli to change the flight. I grabbed a rickshaw from the frro into town, normally it costs about 80 ruppees but the driver only asked for 40. I was flabberghasted, he must be the only taxi driver in the the whole of india that undercuts tourists. alighting in connaught place I threw a 100 ruppee note on top of the requested 40 – he was a happy man!! Changing the flight was no hassle at all, it cost nothing so I was set for the 1st.

It was 6 o’clock on the 27th of april 2008, I was starving and thirsty. I felt like spoiling myself so I dragged my sweaty ass into the Zen restaurant in the middle of connaught place where they had to my delight cans of draft guinness. 1 can cost twice as much as my entire meal but it was worth it. With that good grub inside me I set about finding accommodation for the night, found a place that was both pricey and not very nice but for 1 night it would do. Threw down the bags and went off to the railway station to book myself a ticket on the first available train to calcutta.

The train left dehli at 7.10 friday morning and arrived in calcutta (almost 1500 miles away) at 8.30, sounds quick? I’m afraid it was anything but, for it was saturday morning when I got off the train. I traveled in the 2ac section of the train which keeps the train carriage at a nice temperature for the duration of the journey – it was boring as hell. You cannot look out the windows because they are so thick and dirty, you cannot sit out on the step because it messes with the AC, its not exactly too safe either. The only entertainment I had took place between the two pains of glass that made up the double glazed window as every couple of minutes two tiny mice would jump up and fight over what food they could find in that tiny gap. A much bigger mouse lurked underneath my seat which drove me into keeping my feet up on the seat at all times, all in all it wasn’t the most comfortable of journeys.Calcutta:

When you hear the word calcutta you almost automatically associate it with poverty, filth, disease, death – all the darkest elements of human existance. It used to be the capital of india before the country got independence. Since then though things have gone mostly downhill, the indian government in an attempt to shed any britishness virtually built itself a new capital in dehli and left calcutta short on public funding. The partition of the country into India, east pakistan (later bangladesh) and west pakistan. In creating east pakistan they split the state of Bengal into two which resulted in the largest ever migration of human beings, its estimated 10 million people moved into calcutta. No city could cope with that, famine and all its trappings was inevitable. The situation became dire and attracted the likes of mother theresa to come and work amongst the poor, the sick and the dying right here.

The train pulled into Howrath station on the west bank of the river Hooghly. I had read on the train that traffic in the city was bad and getting from the station across the bridge to where most of calcutta lies is a total pain in the hole. A quicker alternative is to grab the ferry which zig zags its way up and down the river. Out of the station I followed the signs for Baba ghat. The smell of the river was intense, dried fish and emptying sewers make quite an aroma. Once you get used to the smell you can then enjoy the quick trip across. The boat also gives you a great view of the bridge which spans 450 metres, it is some structure, banned from taking any photos you just had to admire the workmanship – (some day dave, some day!!!), it is reputedly the busiest bridge in the world.

Once off the ferry it was off to find some accommodation, calcutta has tonnes of hotels so there is something here for every budget. I got one just off sudder street right in the middle of all the action. My first impressions of calcutta are very similar to the ones I had in mumbai. Its alot more crowded than dehli but people seem to be more laid back than in mumbai. The streets are dirty but there are sections of the town which are affluent and some others retain alot of the britishness of old. Over the first two days there I walked alot, the traffic was too bad to get public or private transport, it was waaay too hot to be packed into a sardine can with wheels besides!! I took a walk out to the maidan which is a massive park that runs close to the banks of the river, there were plenty of cricket matches going on. I sat and watched one for the guts of half an hour, it was bloody hot so I was happy enough to take my time. I took in a walk around the Victoria Memorial building which was in the same park, its a massive building – white marble. Standing up close you needed your sunglasses on, it was a bit like the taj in that respect. From here I walked up park street and across to the darker side of calcutta. Park street first of all is the main shopping and eating out place in calcutta, it is lined up with coffee shops, bars, restaurants, shops etc etc its a good place to hang out and read your book. The food is excellent here with all the restaurants I managed to fit in satisfying my massively high standards 🙂 Down at the end of Park street the affluence quickly comes to an end. I turned up left heading towards Mother theresas Motherhouse, her residence and now where her tomb is kept. I was running a little early so took my time to explore some of the neighbourhood. It was rotten, it stank and was filthy beyond belief. I walked past this rubbish skip where this young lad, reckon he was about 10 years of age was crouched over ontop of it – defaecating into it. He saw me, bent further down to pick up a rock. And this was a rock, he pegged it at me hitting me at the very base of my back. Little prick!!! He then had the cheek to ask for money – ‘chello baba!!’ I shouted at him, its a useful phrase, I advise anyone visiting here to learn it. He wasn’t long on his way…

I called into mother theresas shrine after this little incident, rubbing my back a little from my previous encounter I took a look around what is I suppose what you’d expect, a very modest building. Its mostly used as a residence for the sisters and very little of it is open for access to the general public. The shrine itself is a simple enough large white marbled tomb, I guess any embellishments wouldn’t fit in with the character of the woman. There is also a mini-museum there where they deal with her early life from Serbia to rathfarnham to bengal. All in all its a simple yet fitting tribute to a very admirable person.

From the motherhouse I went to my hotel and retired for the evening. Today was spent chasing my tail getting ready for my flight out of india tomorrow. It has gone so quick, quicker because of the dopes in the immigration office. But more on them later….

Ciao for now,

Phil

Rishikesh

Saturday, March 29th, 2008

After the stress and strain of having to deal with irish and indian bureaucracy (please note that very difficult word to spell) I took off for the yoga capital off the world, Rishikesh in the state of Uttaranchal. Rishikesh is ... [Continue reading this entry]

Manali – This post has got nothing to do with steven seagal!!

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
I woke up in Manikaran to some perfectly blue skies. All off a sudden I questioned my desire to leave the town, I felt myself wanting to know what was beyond where I turned back the previous day. But despite ... [Continue reading this entry]

Manikaran

Monday, March 17th, 2008
Before heading to the main tourist attraction in Himachel Pradesh I decided to take a little trip up the Parathi valley which is a tributary of sorts than runs off the main Kullu valley. The town that tweaked my interest ... [Continue reading this entry]

Mandi

Saturday, March 15th, 2008
Mandi lies at the mouth of the aforementioned Kullu valley. The valley is probably the most visited site in the state. Reckoned it was a good one to leave till last. More about Kullu later. I had to get up ... [Continue reading this entry]

Dalhousie

Friday, March 14th, 2008
And so to Dalhousie - about a week later than I had planned but surely once you get there thats all that really counts. A quite enthusiastic reception committee welcomed me off the bus - it probably ranks just behind ... [Continue reading this entry]

Just some Photos from Chamba

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
I have posted a selection of my photos of the Chamba valley up on Facebook. For those not on facebook you can access them here. Oh and I finally got my arse ... [Continue reading this entry]

The Chamba Valley

Friday, March 7th, 2008
And so to the chamba valley. Where? Exactly! I didn't have a scooby doo about the place more than 1 week ago. I needed to get out of mcleod ganj, its not that I didn't like the place. It ... [Continue reading this entry]

A footnote to Mcleod

Friday, March 7th, 2008
I ended up staying a little longer than I planned in mcleod - between one thing and another I think it was just my body telling me to take it easy for a while, recharge the batteries, eat lots of ... [Continue reading this entry]