Hotel Victerrace Kolkata (Calcutta)

... new bites on my ankles I noticed my arm bite had already disappeared. <br> <br> <br><br>It was possibly the most interesting 10 days of my life, with some of the best nights sleep. If I told you the memories I had, or the conversations that went on in my head you'd be checking if my travel insurance covers insanity. However....it was great vegetarian food, the best accommodation I've had in India, and....dare I admit...the world feels 'balanced ...

... a bad taste in the mouth of senior political extremists. The<br>Irony is that governments have to deploy Indian Army to shoot guns to<br>protect their border infiltrations on the one hand and give artists an<br>opportunity to interact with the same hostile neighbor after an<br>intermission. It is the &#8220;Way of the World&#8221;, and does that bring back<br>the misconduct of the superfluous Congreve, of the Restoration Age,<br ...

... hotel tonight, I watched the guards shoo away beggars while the gates opened for our vehicle&#8217;s entrance- we receive royal treatment constantly. I don&#8217;t know where to begin to start reconciling my beliefs with what I&#8217;m seeing on the streets here and how I&#8217;m living day to day - our luxurious hotels, the heaping servings of delicious food I can&#8217;t finish, the life of opportunity and good fortune I&#8217;ll return to in August. Totally overwhelming&#8230;

... from Rotterdam to Kyrgikistan! Also met this odd dude from Perth who is making his way to Iran - Anvar, we must do it! Raffaella, Ankit and I capped off this wonderful day (and our last night in Kolkata) with a fantastic North Indian meal on Park St (with WWE playing on the TV in the background) discussing Italian politics and Berkeley life. During the half day or so before we made our way to our overnight train up to Darjeeling , Ankit and I took ...

... landscaping, great meeting halls and classrooms and ability to attend three great seminars from outstanding guest lectures. While here at the guest house I have studied Gandhi (I have watched the three hour video of his life for the second time and have read small booklets on his life), Sri Ramakrishna for whom this magnificent facility is named and Swami Vivekananda who was Ramakrishna's disciple, carried on his work and became very famous for his lectures and ...

... It's quite strange, it has more British buildings than most of the cities in Britain, certainly Sunderland! Most of them are in rack and ruin, but some of them have been restored and there are so many to see, including the Writers Building, the High Court and Victoria Memorial. Oh and we visited the 'Black Hole of Calcutta' site where lots of Brits were imprisoned in a small cell and suffocated to death ...

... see a number of mothers, many wearing beautiful traditional saris of all colors. D) Poverty. All though, not nearly to the extent that I had imagined. People warned me and gave me a look of puzzlement when I told them I was flying first into Kolkutta, one of the largest and poorest cities in India. There were people sleeping on almost every street, or sitting and begging, or little children coming up and asking for money or food. But it thankfully wasn't as mad as I had ...