This is my second trip to Kolkata and through this experience I have had a chance to grasp it, hold onto it for dear life, and wring every bit of experience I can from it before it passes by. These experiences will replay in my mind day after day, hour after hour as I remember glances of children begging on the streets or walking through someone's home on the sidewalk as they take a shower or brush their teeth using the public pipes, or a smile from an elder sitting in the shade trying to stay out of the sun in the 100 degree weather. Those moments I will cherish forever. They are not only shocking and eye opening, but they allow me to be grateful for the things I have and the importance of family. Yet, recently I met a girl named Puja whom allowed me to question every complaint I have ever given within my entire life.
Puja, is an 18 year old woman. She is a student who lives on her own, attends college, hangs out with friends and works to pay for her college and food. You must be thinking this sounds like your average college student who is paying their way through school trying to recieve an education without the funding from family. What I didn't include is Puja's home is in a large slum. She lives on a very busy street that is full of noise and culture. Her home consists of one room, that is made from ply wood and her own walls are the base of another home. She cooks her meals in the door way of her home in a make shift stove. In order to get into Puja's home you must walk in this narrow hall that has no roof and climb up this little ladder and once you reach the top you must hop down to the ground. There are no doors and if anyone wanted they could walk right into her home. Her home, which was once her family's home, has been knocked down five times since December by the Kolkata Government because it is on government property. When monsoon season arrives, her home is flooded with inches of water that can add up to feet in many cases. Yet, she has no other outlet so she must live in her flooded home as she tries to live a normal life. The most shocking thing for me is that this 18 year old lives on her own. She sleeps alone, with no doors, and no protection from the unsafe and corrupt forces that arise in the nightfall of Kolkata.
When talking to Puja I began to recognize what an inspiration she was. She was all alone inspired to go to college and provide for herself in order to succeed in her life. She has a smile of an angel and doesn't even realize that female empowerment she has on others. Puja has two younger sisters who attend the Loreto school as rainbows and that is how we were introduced. Puja's two sisters, Lolita and Kanchan, are given a free education because of the incredible opportuinty the Loreto school provides for them. The rainbow girls, are girls from the streets and slums of Kolkata. They are provided with meals, a place to sleep, securtity, love and an education, which is often not the case in government schools, where teachers often don't show up and the ratio is one teacher to 120 children.
This family, whose mother and other siblings live in a village outside of the city, has resided a place in my heart for the rest of my life. They have experienced hardships that I can not even imagine. I hope each of these stong and independent females succeed in all of their lifes' ventures. They allowed me to place the frequent story of poverty to a name and face. To hear the struggles one must face when 13, 15 or 18 years old, that no one should have to deal with ever in their life, is astonishing. Puja, Lolita, and Kanchan are three women who will defeat all obstacles in order to succeed in life, not only because they are strong but because they have one another and are able to rely on one another for support.
In our westernized culture I find that most people rely on their parents, siblings, aunts, friends, professors, and many others to do the work for them rather than do it themselves. When graduating from college most students don't get their jobs from their major or their gpa, rather through connections who they have met along their way or who their parents know. As a recent graduate, you continue to hear the question "what are you doing with the rest of your life?" by family members, friends, or professors. I am lucky enough to know, I am moving to England to coach lacrosse and work alongside the PE department in a coed private school for an entire year. But for friends who are just going with the flow and haven't quite figured it out, I want to shout at those who are asking the question that we are 21 or 22 years old and recent graduates need soul searching and life experiences in order to grasp a better understanding of the world rather than just knowing the small bubble we were stuck in for the four years of college.
Kolkata has imprinted a place on my heart. It's stories and beauty will be an everlasting memory that will stay with me forever.
-NB
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