Oh the Humanity!

I step outside my hotel to make a quick run to the ATM.  To my left is a near constant flow of traffic.  To my right are the various shops and food stalls.  And I’m left with a small 2-foot wide piece of sidewalk to work with as I attempt to make my way to the ATM, dodging the ubiquitous puddles of water, dogs, sleeping people, and potholes along the way.  As soon as the food stall and shop owners sense the foreigner in their midst they immediately begin calling out and beckoning me towards their wares.  Trying to maintain my cool, I make a break for the other side of the street – Frogger style.  I attempt to dodge taxis, buses, rickshaws, bikes, and any other moving object that happened to make it in the street.  Exasperated, I finally push open the door to the ATM and breathe a sigh of relief.

And so happens my first experience of taking a nice leisurely 30-foot stroll to the ATM after my friend Bria and I arrived in Kolkata last Friday.

Sensory overload is the only way to describe being in that city, and although very stressful at first, you learn to admire the seamlessness of it all after a while.

Anyway, here’s a very brief recap of the weekend:

After the initial shock of Kolkata started to fade we headed into the city for some sight-seeing.  Since Kolkata was the capital of India when it was under British rule, there’s a very interesting mix of European and Indian architecture all throughout the city.  We also rode the metro (India’s first!) and experienced the crushing weight of too many people in too small of a space.

That night we went out to a bar in Park Street, which is one of Kolkata’s main tourist beats.  Following that we stepped outside to walk around the neighborhood and proceeded to get a little lost, but it was incredible!  We wandered through winding narrow streets full of life and everyday Indians going about their business.

Saturday was spent at Nicco Park, which is an outdoor waterpark, and after over two months in 80+ weather it felt wunderschön to finally go swimming.  But of course as luck would have it, we picked the day when a rainstorm blew through the city.  Between that and the waterpark I estimate we spent at least 8-hours straight that day soaking wet.

On Sunday we went to Science City, which is kind of like a C.O.S.I./hands on museum if you’ve ever been to those.  We watched a movie in the space theatre and rode on a roller coaster that probably should have been shut down years ago.

The whole weekend was very exhilarating to say the least.  As an American, I like to compare and contrast Kolkata with U.S. big cities.  And while U.S. big cities are very impressive architecturally, they seem to be lacking something that made Kolkata so special. 

Walking around Kolkata I couldn’t help but notice the constant interaction of everyone and everything.  People were drinking tea together, conversing (or arguing).  Merchants were shouting about their products to anyone who would listen.  The various drivers on the road took turns honking their horns and shouting at each other as they jockeyed for the best position on the cramped road.  Men, women, and children were sleeping on the street.  The smells of the city ranged from absolutely splendid to just putrid and everything in between.  It’s as if the whole city is a living, breathing organism.

I contrast that with a walk down the street in Chicago, where everyone is either listening to music or absorbed in their phones.  The colossal buildings surrounding everything give off a very stoic and sterile presence, belying the fact that people actually live inside them.

The difference between these two cities is the human element.  Where it is sometimes impossible to find in U.S. cities, it is unavoidable in Kolkata.  In cities like Chicago it’s hiding behind the all the great architectural wonders (or swept somewhere out of sight).  In Kolkata humanity just kinda smacks you on the face in all its beautiful, funny, strange, ugly, and sometimes heartbreaking ways.