Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Tour of Kolkata


Thursday morning most of our group went on an incredible tour of Kolkata. The tour was a photography tour that is led by a man who owns the company Calcuttaphototours, and he has been doing this job for over 10 years now. He lives and has grown up in Kolkata and could never imagine living in another place. Also, he is a National Geographic photographer and started this business because he was upset with the name Missionaries of Charity has deemed Kolkata as the city of the “death, dying and decayed”. He wants to recognize the fact that these negative aspects do exist, however, he wants to show the beauty of Kolkata and its people. He built a relationship with all the people of the places that we walk through so that they understand why this tour is happening. He tells them that the tour is to show people coming in the beauty of the city. He does not want to put the local people on display for tourists—they are humans and have their own private stories.
                We started off learning some history of Kolkata and India in general and how this special place came to be. I strongly believe that when you are working or visiting an area it is important to know the history, qualities and beauty of the place you are in to form your opinion afterward and respect the space you are an outsider to.
                India was colonized by the British in 1612. The British had been trading with the country since before that, particularly for their spices. Other countries had trading relationships with India but the British actually took land ownership and the country over politically. They then held power in India (and what would later have been Pakistan) until 1947. This is why the city used to be Calcutta. That was the British name for the city while the Indian name is Kolkata. Also, Calcutta was the British capitol of India until the early 1900’s when they moved it to Deli. This explains why Kolkata is full of British architecture like the Victoria Memorial; it was built to honor the Queen after she has passed away in the early 1900’s. The Indian fight for independence from Britain led by Gandhi and his nonviolence strategy. He used boycotts, marches and food strikes to pressure the British government for independence. They received it in 1947, and then a few years later Pakistan broke off into its own country. The Portuguese were here in the beginning to use this area as a trading ground but would burn down each market after they were finished each time so no other people could discover this place to trade. The Portuguese presence when they came over was one of the beginning times that people started converting over to Christianity.
                This walking tour took us through various neighborhoods and streets that are very different. One street in particular is an ethnic enclave of immigrant workers and this street is bustling from early in the morning onward as wages are earned per hour. The food here is made cheap and can be eaten quickly so that men working can get back to their jobs. While here we are freshly made naan. The over was a hole on the top and they stick naan in the side to cook while sitting on top of the oven. The second food we has was Doll Porra which is a fried dough ball from a lentil paste, hallowed with herbs inside, which was also made in front of us. We had Chai (tea) and this was given to us in small clay cups. These are used to reduce the use of plastic and trash on the streets as once the chai is drank the cups can lay on the streets and dissolve away as water comes into contact. Neighborhoods have different tones, colors and foods depending on the area you are entering.
                We learned about and visited many different temples and all the different religious practices that encompasses Kolkata’s unique essence. The first was the Buddhist Association of Kolkata where we learned that Buddhism was the most popular and practiced religion in India until Hinduism came, and now it is the minority religion. Hinduism religion has many different practices people can choose to follow. For example; there is a section of Hinduism that practices cannibalism. When bodies are cremated sometimes there is flesh left over and people who follow this practice eat the remains. There are also Hindus who do not eat potatoes or anything that has roots in the soil because if you eat the root then it is killing everything. Secondly, we visited a Zoroastrianism Temple. In this religion you used to have to be born into it with both parents being in the religion but now only one parent has to be because people sometimes marry outside their faith now. In this temple they believe fire is the most sacred thing and that when you die you cannot be cremated, have a ground burial or water burial. This is because as stated fire is the most sacred force and if you use it for cremation they consider the human impure and fire is pure. Instead they practice a sky burial which is where bodies are put into open structures where birds can eat their flesh and once the body has decayed bones drop down into lower areas where the soil can be replenished. This is then completing the full circle of life. In this area there are only around 600 practicing, so they do a lot of activities together, such as education teachings. After this we entered 1 of 2 Chinatowns in Kolkata and went to a Daoist Temple. Lastly on our 4 hour tour we visited the fanciest synagogue in all of Asia. There are only 20 Jews left in Kolkata when they started with a population of over 4,000. This is because they all left India when there was a new Indian Government and they were worried and at the same time Israel was created that year and they wanted to go back to their homeland. Because of the few numbers in the area currently, the synagogue is maintained by Muslims who light a candle every Friday and take care of the beautiful structure.
                In a paradox worded beautifully by our tour guide, “Kolkata is the second chapter of the book that has been ripped out and chucked at you. As Kolkata remains the same, people will come and go. People will either love it or hate it and it by no means is here to try and impress you”. This tour was an incredible experience that speaking for the group who attended this tour, has impacted and further grown our appreciation and beauty of this place.
                Apologizing for the delay in post this blog was on track to be posted Friday but since then there was some medical complications and I was unable to post. But I am recovering now and still taking in the last days we have in this special place it has been a privilege to work in.

Sincerely,
Micalea Leaska ‘18

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