Calcutta

I took an overnight train to Calcutta that was supposed to at 2100, and miracle of miracles, it actually did pull out exactly on time. Even more surprising, it actually arrived in Calcutta only 10 minutes behind schedule. That’s the first train I’ve taken in India that wasn’t at least 2 hours late. One of the things that I was going to visit was the famous “Black Hole of Calcutta”, but as soon as I arrived at the train station, I mentally checked that off my list. I figured, why bother, can’t be any better than this. The street my hotel was on is in a fairly nice part of town. The street outside the hotel wasn’t terribly grungy for at least a couple blocks. Then it becomes a junkyard, quite literally. Vendors have taken over about a quarter mile of the sidewalk to sell all kinds of used car parts. You can barely walk through the hub caps, radiators, suspension parts, transmissions and towers of used tires (spelt tyres here). Then as suddenly as it started, it switches into a few blocks of fancy little girls dresses, then a stretch of men’s underwear. Mixed in amongst all of this are dozens of little naked boys begging for coins. Then occasionally, in the midst of all the chaos, you come across some nice neat little shop selling something normal like birthday cakes.

Obviously no zoning problems with city officials. This sidewalk has literally been converted into a junkyard. on one side they are boilng out old radiators, on the other side boiling lunch:


Here you can buy used tires of all shapes and sizes and get a snack too:


I’m not touching the street food here. I don’t really even trust the restaurants:


Here’s a drive-in fruit stand Calcutta style:


In the category of “I can’t make up stuff this good”, this politician is suggesting that farmers should collect their urine to water their crops that are dying due to the current drought conditions. Well, I guess if everybody pitched in, instead of peeing in the streets, it might be a drop in the bucket. I’m sure the farmers, who are committing suicide in record numbers do to crop failures, really appreciate a rich politician in Delhi telling them to just piss on it: