Oh Calcutta!
Monday, March 5th, 2007When traveling to a city for the first time, everyone has a preconceived perception of what they expect to find. People expect Paris to be romantic and possess an almost pastel quality, New York you assume will be fast furious & fashionable, and Detroit…well, no comment. Before arriving in Calcutta, my only perceptions of the city were images of Mother Theresa helping the dying and destitute, the documentary Born into Brothels, and the population hovering around 17 million seemed unimaginably daunting.
The city we found completely blew us away. Tree lined boulevards dotted with busy cafes, marble shopping malls with state of the art theatres, and street food vendors shelling out hot plates of noodles and warm chappattis. Compared to other Indian cities that were a quarter of the size, it seemed like Calcutta’s volume was turned down a few notches. The pollution wasn’t noticable and navigating the city as a pedestrian much more forgiving. As soon as we arrived we knew that our three days would not be long enough. (especially when one of those days involved a visit to Pizza Hut and Babel on the big screen. Again, something I shouldn’t reveal) [read on]
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