Kolkata

My last day in India, but also one of my first days as a solo traveller. It's just me now.

I'm glad I left Kolkata to the end. The former great capital of the old East India Company has all the madness of a major Indian capital, all its buzz, yet at the same time all its poverty, it's depravation and it's despair.

I have tried to avoid being a poverty voyeur, but what is there is there, and poverty is there. In Galica we say 'Un home e un home e un gato en un gato' which means 'a man is a man and a cat is cat...or just 'dont sugarcoat'!

As a non tourist hub, such as Delhi or Mumbai, there is a different feeling to it. Nevertheless, and for the first time, I went looking for the backpackers, unsure of how long I could enjoy my own company. And they are easy to find, around Sudder Street, the plentiful cheap guest houses attracting them.

I spent my last day walking. I just walked and walked, and then i walked further.

I walked past the Justice Courts, and saw the escribes that type for those who can neither read nor write...


I walked past the Victoria Monumnent. A stunning reminder of a time long gone. Beautiful, grand...


Kolkata is the last town in India that still has man-pulled carts. I felt they were better placed in the days of the Opium Wars than the days of Tata...



And to end my time in India I met a group of Spanish girls, barking mad. Raquel was worried that her name meant prostitute in Hindi. I also had dinner with a Hungarian photographer that had all the time in the world to explain to me how to take pics but with none of the arrogance of an 'artiste'...


Now it's off to Bangkok, but just before I go, one last example of the love this country has for TAT.

That's tat with a capital T. A capital A. And then a capital T.

View across the main bridge...

Kolkata's tram...


Actually that was just for the government pics...this is the real Kolkata tram...