i am now in kolcata and trying to decide how i feel about this chaotic, polluted but historical city. the hindu myths state something like the god shiva found his wife's charred corpse, got really pissed off and decided to destroy the world. another god, vishnu, tried to stop him but, in doing so, wound up chopping her cadaver into 51 pieces. These pieces fell across india with a toe falling at kalikata, now a section of kolcata. sooo many great myths in the hindu religion which i find absolutely fascinating!

the day i arrived i spent wandering around getting myself very lost which is what i like to do upon arrival of most cities... not heading to any tourist destination in particular, just trying to get a sense of life here. i witnessed a lot of poverty with everything happening on the streets: families living in tiny lean-to's, chopping potatoes and what not - cooking family meals right on the sidewalk, bathing from hydrants or water spouts on the street, naked babies running around everywhere, men just laying on the streets looking dead and i wonder if any of them actually are. i've been told many people come here from other states and start out this way but are soon absorbed by the city, find jobs and more stable housing. i hope this is the case! as i walk down alleys and in some areas, i notice old ramshackle buildings in british style architecture... apparently landlords rent rather than own these properties and being a communist government, there are limits to what they can charge tenants and many of the rents are ridiculously low giving landlords no incentive to keep up the properties. i learned some of this on a guided walk i took yesterday led by an australian guy who lives half the year in kolcata. he sped a bit too quickly thru the colorful and chaotic bazarre where you can buy anything from spices to electrical supplies and witness paneer being made with slopping buckets of the cheesy stuff wrapped in cloth being passed around and the smell of rotten dairy making your nose crinkle, men carrying huge loads of anything and everything on their heads or in pedicarts... it's mayhem and all very interesting but i don't have much time to take it all in. might try to head back there on my own. also visited the flower market which is quite a site with piles upon piles, sacks upon sacks: on the ground, carried on heads, dangling in strands on shoulders or arms of marigolds and many other flowers of which i don't know the names. again, we were rushed thru but it was quite a site and all this flower mania on the side of the hooghly river (joined by the ganges and therefore considered sacred). we also passed thru a section where clay statues of gods and goddesses are created. apparently there's a group in a certain caste that makes these statues which are very specific, detailed works of art depicting hindu gods to be used in festivals and what not. straw frames are piled up in stalls along the alleyways and outside men are slapping clay onto the frames creating these fascinating works of art. we pass thru alley after alley of these statues at every stage of completion before again hitting the main streets and grabbing the metro for "home". anyway, enuff of my kolcata lesson which i apologize if i have any of my "facts" wrong but i'm trying... this short-term memory thing sometimes gets me tho. anyway, off to a cooking class with a local bengali woman this afternoon and hoping i can convince a girl i met here to join me tho she's feeling ill so not sure. if not, it's me and some other guy so we'll see how it goes but should be interesting and it being sunday, not much is open here so i can't do business anyway...

o.k. off to try to book a train ticket to gaya! cheers!

11/4
so the cooking class was a good escape from the chaos and the woman was very sweet and chatty. it was me, julie from new zealand and a man, christian, from france. we cooked a fabulous bengali chicken dish, a mixed veg dish with coconut milk, curry, fresh ginger, etc.. YUM!
last night julie and i went for dinner and then a drink at a place with a band. our autorickshaw driver ripped us off and dumped us away from the restaurant so we were lead there by some street kids out selling gum. we bought them pizza for their effort and had a great bengali meal. we then ventured off for live music. we were expecting indian stuff and wound up with la bamba, la isla bonita, etc... i suddenly felt like i had been zipped out of india and thrown onto a cruiseboat! too funny!
anyway, off to bodhgaya for some much needed peace and tranquility :) tomorrow a.m. i will be searching for a tv in hopes of seeing the end of the election! i'm sooooo scared!!!