Leaving Calcutta

It was 3 a.m. when we left Calcutta, and the air was still warm and humid. At the corner a block away from where we stayed there were four people sleeping on mats on the sidewalk, and at the other end of the block there were five more people sprawled out. I had come to Calcutta with images of poverty that were pretty dreadful. For the past twenty years I have been hearing about how there are people living on the streets in this city, and often there are reports that one will be walking past people dying there. In the week that I was in Calcutta I encountered two people begging. That was actually less than what I would find in Chicago, but these were a little boy and a mother with two kids in hand. It does appear that these people on the street are making some kind of a living selling things at the markets that they have there. They get their water from a pipe at the corner, and they do their washing at that corner. Cooking is often done on the street with a little stove. I am told that everyday 1.5 million people make their way into Calcutta to sell things so the question is: are these people on the street permanently living there or are they just there for a short period. I cannot ask them because they speak Bengali. In Delhi it was Hindi, and in Trivandrum it will be Malayalam. Some people speak English, but many do not, and I doubt that these street people do. And how would I ask them anyway? It is clear that many parts of India are booming, but the streets where I spent my time were very crowded. filled with exhaust from vehicles and the constant noise of cars honking. I wish I could find out the life story of some of these people. I do not see people dying on the streets, but I do not see evidence that the children living on the streets will be able to compete with children who have a more permanent place to stay.

By the time we get to Bangalore on the way to Trivandrum we see an airport that looks like it could have been built yesterday. It has the modern look of an airport that could be anywhere. This was "shockingly modern relatibvely speaking" according to Dominique.

I must go...