DAYS 4 & 5, MARCH 25 & 26

KOLKATA

To Kolkata first we went --
The seat of a commie government.
Though she has no coliseum,
She boasts the Indian Museum
And the Victoria Monument.

'Twas for the poor of this city
That Mother Teresa showed her pity.
An auction house for teas
And three universities
Has India's former capital city.

On the banks of the Hooghly River,
She grew in three centuries of endeavor.
Though short must be our look,
According to my book,
Kolkata has much to deliver.


From my DK Eyewitness Travel Guide book “India”:

“Today this vibrant city with its distinct imperial flavour, is the capital of West Bengal, the only Indian state with a Communist-led government.”

“In 1690, an English merchant, Job Charnock, established a trading post in the riverside village of Sutanuti which, together with neighbouring Govindapur and Kolikata, grew into the city of Calcutta.”

The higher learning schools on the map and in the text of the book are Calcutta University, Presidency College, and Sanskrit College.

I note on the map in the book that there is a Lenin Sarani (Street) and a Ho Chi Minh Sarani.

The capital was shifted to New Delhi in 1911.

On our bus ride from the airport to our hotel, our guide remarked that Kolkata is considered the cultural capital of India.

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Wednesday, March 25, another sunny day in the city, we did no touristing in New York. We packed up, and I did my e-mails at Starbucks. We got on the 3 PM shuttle to go to JFK airport. It was a ride of an hour and 45 minutes.

While waiting for our plane, we were joined by nine of our OAT group. The flight to London left about 8 PM and took about 6 hours. It's normally a five-hour time change, but with USA's daylight savings time, four hours. The British Airlines personnel took very good care of us (enough good food, etc). We arrived in London about 6 AM London time. The wide-body plane was full. It was a comfortable fight for me and apparently for Helen, as we snoozed a lot in our chairs.

There's a lot of bus-riding and a lot of walking to be done in Heathrow airport. We rode the bus at least half a mile from the plane to the terminal. I guess I activated the buzzer; I have never been checked so thoroughly by security as I was that time – had to completely empty all my pockets and remove my belt for a thorough pat-down. It was cloudy when we arrived and then it rained but, of course, we could not go outside. We all sat together in a restaurant in the airport for quite a while, then went to our boarding area for our flight to Kolkata. In the boarding area we were joined by the 12th member of our group. There will be two more, but they join us after we visit Bhutan.

The wide-body British Airlines plane was very lightly loaded. Helen and I each moved to a three-empty-side-by-side seat accommodation. Helen stretche out and slept. I sat in a chair in the middle of three chairs and snoozed part of the time that way. When I wasn't snoozing, I was reading and rereading the section about Kolkata in my book. And I wrote the above poem based on what I read. It was a comfortable flight, and once again the British Airline crew took very good care of us. It was approximately a ten-hour flight. We boarded about 9:30 AM London time and landed about 7:45 PM London time, which was about 1:15 AM Kolkata time. I was amazed that there is a time difference of 5-1/2 hours between London and Kolkata. And, yes, it does involve a half hour in the change – something I've never experienced before – because, I was told – India does that to keep all of India in the same time zone --- though I question India's being narrow enough to fit in two time zones.

And now we are settled in our hotel in Kolkata, and it's early in the morning of Day 6, Friday, March 27. With help, I was able to adapt to their power outlet. Free wireless Internet is available in the rooms, but I'll need to see the desk first to get a PIN number.

Bernie :-)