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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