Kolkata

I have been in Kolkata/Calcutta for about 2 and a half days. Almost everywhere I walk there are enormous British style builings left over from colonization. Most of them are used by different parts of India’s government so they are probably mostly full of worthless paperwork. Today I walked by the Bureau of something on my way to get a visa for Nepal. I poked my head in a little and saw more paper than I have ever seen in my life. The entrance looked like a gigantic warehouse and inside there were these shelves about 30 feet tall that were  full of packages of forms and who knows what else. It blew me away but I guess that is one of the things India is known for.

Another interesting aspect of Kolkata and West Bengal (the state it is in) is that it has been continously controlled by the Communist Party of India since the late 70′s. I have been trying to find people to talk to about all that but no success unfortunately. Yesterday I got lost and ended up near what I think was one of their party offices. They had all kinds of pamphlets, signs, posters, hammers, sickles etc.

I leave tonight to head up toward a city called Darjeeling and Nepal so I am pumped about that. The tentative plan is to hang out up there for maybe 4 days and then start going through Nepal. I was going to hit up some Bangladesh action but I decided to spend more time in Nepal slash the Dharmasala area in Northern India. Kolkata is interesting but the main draw is the incredible number of toursity british related activities. Long story short I like most of the other places in India a lot more. Plus I got sick yesterday. . . no more street food i guess. I feel better now and I am excited to be in the Himalayas soon.

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