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).