Story time: Jerks in India

Noted jerk: Django, my host's dog

Sometimes when I am traveling (or living in general) something very extraordinary or hilarious and awful happens to me and I have no one to tell, so I just mull over it for ages and stew it like so much fine chutney. I often think I can't blog about something because so much time has passed and a blog should be like a some kind of current events show. This is nonsense. Actually a blog is a highly self-indulgent piece of loveliness and I can do what the hell I want, so, without further ado - 

A TRUE STORY: I was boarding my plane in Kolkata, India and I couldn't help but notice three very loud, obnoxious other tourists. There were two guys and one girl. One guy was wearing ali baba pants (urgh), the girl was wearing an incredibly skimpy singlet top and a bandana combo (fine, but not fine in India) and the other guy was wearing A FEDORA. It was like the holy trinity.

Anyway, they had been yelling around and generally making a scene, as western tourists in developing countries are wont to do. I had been trying to avoid them, in the time honoured tradition of white people everywhere (avoiding other white people), but my plane was boarding right beside them so there I was. Pretty much everyone else on my flight was Indian, and noticeably uncomfortable in the presence of such openly hostile, badly dressed westerners. We were lining up and Fedora guy yells out : "HEY, nice shoes!" indicating a young Indian man in front of me in pointy, shiny business shoes. The Indian man smiled and shuffled awkwardly. As he turned away, Fedora guy mouthed the words "NOT!" to the group, and winked at me, and then the all three of them fell into loud, bullying laughter. The Indian guy shrank into the floor.

I gave them all my strongest, meanest look, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything because I wasn't 100% sure the young Indian man had noticed and I didn't want to draw the bullying to his attention if he hadn't. 

Gah! Anyway. FEDORAS!* 

* Some people who wear fedoras are nice. Sometimes they look good. However, 90% of the time it's this (and I challenge anyone to make the deadly combo of cargo shorts and a fedora work). 

Wasn't that story disgusting? Allow me to cleanse your palate with these pictures of a walk Django took me on through the betelnut orchard. He led me to a house where the people made me tea and we all sat around smiling at each other (since we did not have a shared language). 

Also, here are some supremely non-jerky people I hung out with in Gorubathan. I miss them. The first girl, pictured, is Puja and she was probably my favourite person in the whole village. She wasn't one of my students, but her family ran the only cyber cafe, so naturally they saw me pretty much everyday. I even had to sleep at their house one time due to storms. 

When I came to say good-bye she cried and, then, so did I. 

Puja with her siblings

Kolkata (part one)

Cookie Factory fire

Workers out the back of a temple

These are photos from about two months ago, but since the internet connectivity in my village was minimal I haven't done a thing with them. Here they are now. I say 'part one' in the title, 'cos I'm returning to that glorious city shortly. I get that people don't like Kolkata and more power to them, but I am in love (and not like how I'm 'in love with everywhere', but a very specific and fierce love which will last my lifetime).

The only Buddhist temple in Kolkata, under renovation

College Street - a street dominated by bookshops

The oldest bookshop in Kolkata

In the same building - The Indian Coffee House Kolkata - presided over by Tagore

Upstairs table

What would you have? I had eggs with tomato and coffee, of course

Tram

You better have some strong opinions at the NANDAN Film Centre!

KFC's vegetarian options

My Vege Zinger burger - second only to the Willowbank vege burger

NB: In Kolkata, the KFC I frequented was staffed entirely by hearing impaired people, who used a specially designed menu board to point and ask me which option I wanted. And the vegetarian food was incredible (trash, but just right trash, you know?) KFC = pinko heaven? Who'd guess?!

Here is a cheesy video showing how it's done.

The Indian Museum

Indians crowding around the 'snakes' display and discussing which they have seen

Aw

The fashions of India, done by state on Barbie-size models

My dream house

Or this! (Karo cutting a figure in her red sari in front of the Marble Palace)

On the train

From the land of tigers back up to the land of Rhinos

Ravangla: Sikkim

We managed to drag ourselves away from the calm oasis of Gangtok and endured a terrifying three hour jeep trip to the mountain village of Ravangla. Like many places in India (and, indeed, in Asia in general) Ravangla/ Rabongla has alternate English spellings and the local 'best' restaurant follows in this style by having it's name as 'Kookie' on the menu and 'Kookay' on the signs. I have to wonder if it's deliberate. 

Ravangla town  isn't what you'd call especially beautiful, but it's comparatively quiet and the views on a clear day are really nice. As for the cold, foggy evenings, it was just the kind of weirdo David Lynch aesthetic I enjoy. It was seriously cold though.

'Kookay' Restaurant and '10zing Hotel' (our home)

Back in daylight and Ravangla is a charming, bright little town. With a fantastic Rabbit rubbish bin I want in my future kitchen. 

Sikkim: India for your MOM*

* And for me. 

I can't really speak for 'India', as I have only bummed around in one adorable village and the surrounds in North West Bengal. I went to Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, and I guess it was kind of crowded and stuff, but not really. I found plenty of leafy avenues and the like. Anyway, my current travel pal Karo, a super tough, hilarious 19 year old Bavarian, has been all over this fair land and had her share of harassment, hassles, near misses with cars driving on the footpath, there not being a footpath, men grabbing her and touching her and all of those other more difficult experiences we associate with India. Especially as a woman. 

Sikkim isn't like that. Sikkim is India, lite. Or, as the people of Sikkim would have it, Sikkim isn't really India. The people are a bit shy, and super polite. If they want to take a photo they will say "if you wouldn't mind, I take photo?" or something equally unheard of in the rest of India, where I once woke up in general class on the train to find my new friend taking snaps of me asleep. The weather is cold. The main towns, such as Gangtok (pictured above), have pedestrian zones and in these zones people stroll leisurely around, there is no rubbish on the street, there are rubbish bins and benches and loads and loads of space. 

One small part of the reason for the difference of Sikkim is the fact that India invests so much in it - to court it and keep it from being drawn too close to China. Sikkim is semi-autonomous and actually voted to become part of India in the 1970s. So, they're in a strong relationship with India, but they're not beholden. 

Other reasons I've only read about very briefly, and which probably hold more weight, are to do with the huge cultural difference between, say, Bengalis, and the Nepali, Lepcha and Tibetan people who make up the Sikkim populace. You notice the different gender roles right away, with tough police women patrolling the streets. They march past in their very well tailored uniforms and never smile at me, and I'm glad they don't. 

In other news, as we were (sadly) leaving Gangtok, we happened to be crossing the footbridge when this happened: (Lord Rama's birthday)

NB: We also referred to Sikkim as the 'Bavaria of India', perhaps because of our Bavarian heritage, but perhaps because of the copious beer drinking (even by women), the mountains, the focus on tradition, the general 'quaintness' and the festivals. 

Gorubathan Monday Market

On Mondays we don't have school because it is the weekly Gorubathan market, where all the people from neighbouring, even smaller, villages come to sell their wares. If we did try to have school, absolutely no one would come - they're all busy shopping or working their family's shop. 

My Budi (aunty) bargaining 

Types of dahl (lentils): 20 rupees a packet

Some flowers for the kitchen table

And some minuscule potatoes!