oh, sister.

Hello today.

I hope you are well as you read this, I feel quite healthy this week. This past week Kolkata really felt like a home and like I have some sort of a routine. I have been going to Kalighat house either once or twice a day and I also started going to an Adoration service with all the sisters at the main Mother Theresa house. I really look forward to the service because it consists mostly of sitting in silence. Silence is something that does not come easy in the bustle of Kolkata.

Kalighat can be a very heavy place to be. Walking there we go down a street filled Hindu dedications and idols for the Kali temple. It feels like I am walking through a tight weaving; Kali is often understood as the Hindu goddess of death, and between all the road side sellers and the beggars, the sick people and the flashy colors, Mother's house sometimes feels like a crawl. I think of that most days as I walk into the home that Mother Theresa started as a sanctuary for people who are in their last days of life. I hear stories about the tribulation she faced as a foreigner trying to start the home back in the 1950's.

Usually I do massaging and exercises with ladies in the mornings at Kalighat and then medications and quality time in the afternoons. This is always interjected with trips to the bathroom, cleaning, and some small medical attention. I mentioned to someone that I am lucky there is laundry and dishes to do at Kalighat because if I every feel overloaded or really overwhelmed and I sit and soak my hands or saunter up to the roof to hang some clothes. Also these past couple of weeks every time I am at Kalighat I seem to be rehearsing ancient poetry about certain feelings in my head. It seems soothing to me.

I have a few more pictures to share.

This is Karissa and I with our Bengali Ma. She prepares for us the greatest food and we are always laughing with her as we struggle with our Bengali and she talks slowly for us. She knows now that I love shosha (cucumber), bhat (rice), and aloo (potato) with any meal. She stresses out if I talk to strangers, and she is always willing to attack any bugs that are in our room.


This is Karissa and I with our new lovely friend/sister Gita. We live with her, and apparently we sit in strange positions on her veranda.


And these are a couple more shots from the train. Something I have picked up about India is that there are people everywhere. Even when we were on the train passing by what seemed like untouched countryside I could spot one person squatting or picking a plant.






and This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with a whimper.
-says T.S. Eliot

on your side

Good day,

I am back in Kolkata now.

Bangalore was a really great place to be. We went to visit a children's home that seems like it is the model of changed lives and leaders of tomorrow. It is a big family of 45 kids who have been taken off the streets and out of dumpsters and put into schools and covered with love. The kids are unbelievable. Bangalore is such a different city than Kolkata; the skies are blue and the traffic is bearable. It is meant to be a place to retreat or take a breath from the bustle of Kolkata. A breath it was, however I secretly missed being back here. I think that means the attachment and slow growing fondness of this place has really begun.

The train back and forth was really fun. Between sleeping, eating a million Samosas and drinking endless cups of chai, reading piles of books, pooping down a chute that goes right onto the railroad tracks, and sitting at the edge of the door hanging my feet over in the wind, it was a really cool experience. Highlights included being accosted by a monkey with the face of an old man, and having one of the usually relentless beggar kids sit and my leg just to rest for while.

I have a couple of photos here.

This a view from the train of the beautiful South Indian countryside.


This would be a token white lady hanging her head out the train...


Oh yeah... and this is what happened to my face during holi.



This week I switched Mother Houses. I am starting my volunteering at one called "Kalighat" and I will be there for the rest of my time here. Kalighat would be the house that Mother Theresa first started; it's the home for dying. I am still spending time with lots or great ladies who are in the business of freedom, I am loving life in the village with our family, and I am getting closer to being able to communicate to people in Bengali.


Its been a good week or so. We had one day while we were away when we were reflecting as a team about our first month or so in Kolkata.
I think Nic gave the secret for the week. He said faintly "Kolkata is the real deal". I think we all agreed. Kolkata seems capable of holding ever depth of both joy and wretchedness.
Conclusion being... I would rather be here in this city of burden, beauty and revival then in some of the finest places of the world.

thanks so much for reading.
love and love,

Hello just quickly,

I just received this picture from someone. If you could focus on the great view of Kolkata city and not on my strange face. I think I was saying "Egads!". Perhaps in reaction to the gaggle of people horking their morning loogies on the sidewalk...



thats all for today. I am going to go pack for my time in Bangalore and try to get some more studying done.

loves.
Nitu.

ki kobe

Hello!

I hope that as you are reading this you are well. I have heard about crazy weather in Calgary. When I was home in Calgary freezing my butt off I was craving the Kolkata steam, but some days here all I want is to jump into a pile of snow. It's ok though, nobody looks at you funny if you are sweating buckets.
I have been sick most of this week. I guess I am still adjusting to all the new flavors and textures here. Since moving into the village our schedule has changed. It takes longer to get anywhere, and we eat dinner at the traditional Indian time of 10pm. That can make digestion a bit tough, but it is the Indian life.

I have the day off from Mama T's today but Karissa and I are heading to a really neat place for the day. It's a business that we will be spending a lot of time with. They employ Indian and Nepali women who want to be free from the sex trade. Turns out that Kolkata is basically a hub for the entire Indian trade. A lot of women come to Kolkata for some sort of "training" and then they go to different Indian cities to work. I have been told that there are about 10,000 women in Kolkata working in the trade, and about 64,000 customers that go through everyday.
Anyways, this business. The women come in to hand sew blankets out of old Saris. Their blankets are then sold throughout the US and Britain to give the women a solid income. They also get English classes and a lot of fun events. This weekend we are going to some crazy theme park/disco place called Wonder World with them. Last week we had the big picnic with them.

Mama T's was great this week. I am meeting so many international volunteers. I think that some of the Indian women that work at Primdan (the house I work at) are starting to recognize me and so they call on me for lots of jobs. We did so much laundry this week, we gave foot massages, and Karissa and I had to deal with quite the poop catastrophe. The women there love to sing and dance and have their nails painted. I often bring my Bengali notes there to practice with them. I think they enjoy that too. However I seem to only know the most open ended questions like: "tell me how you are feeling today", or "what did you do today".

Us girls still seem to be the talk of the village. Apparently we are so gutsy for taking the early train from the village because it is so packed. The woman that we live with said that she heard some ladies talking about "those Bedeshis (foreign girls) who are always on the 7:20 train". Apparently a lot of the local ladies wish they could talk to us but they don't know any English. Hopefully soon we can say a few words to them, I am learning lots in our language classes.

I have a photo here. Not sure if you can tell, but im on the crazy train. (its empty).


This coming Tuesday we are all heading to Bangalore and Chennai for a week. We are taking a 30 hour train ride (think Slumdog or the Darjeeling Unlimited) to get there. In Bangalore we will be visiting with a young lady named Tammy who has started a home to raise kids with no homes. I have been told all about her life, and apparently her and I are going to bond. ha ha. Also, we will be in Bangalore for Holi. All I know is that people throw colored powder everywhere. It was on the Amazing Race once.

I suppose that is all for now. I am going to embark on a mad search for some diet Pepsi.

A secret this week? Hmm I would say Fish are friends... not food. In fact. If you can consider all living things that are killed then eaten friends, meat is easily avoided. There are bikes with screaming chickens dangling from them, goat heads for sale, flapping fish at the market, and hanging carcasses for sale. I would say stick to the aloo (potato) bhat (rice) roti (bread) and phulcopi (cauliflower).

wish me luck on my train extravaganza!
a whole rickshaw full of love,
Nitu. (oh yeah, that's my Bengali name).