The Floatel Hotel Kolkata (Calcutta)

... way to 'kill' 10 days?!

As the bus hurtled through the chaotic Kolkata streets with horns, screams and shouts I questioned whether India could be silent. Not me...I'm stubborn I'll prove to them I am as mad as I think and can do it. I can be silent..cant I?

No I can't! As soon as you physically stop speaking your mind goes into overdrive and 'meditating' for about 100 hours I have possibly written this blog a thousand time in ...

... her private room where she has been living for so many years, an impressive site.The small museum shows the humble life of her, starting withher youth in Albania, her departure from the Balkans to Ireland, and consequently her
assignment to India were she has been spending the rest of her life to help the poorest
of the poor.
The Teej restaurant at Russel street offers great Rajasthani food with a Haveli feeling,
it became quickly our favourite spot..

Yo Sisters! (or something) Here are some things I've noticed as a female pottering about India. 1. You are peculiar Indian men will stare at you. Sadly, this is not a compliment but is because you look so outlandish, bimbling around in drab-coloured Western clothes and towering over everyone. Wearing loose fitting, long-sleeved clothes helps very slightly with this but men will still stare. Most days I wear the baggy stuff but sometimes I just think ...

... look and make personal contact, including attempts to pranam. This is wild, really wild. Walking is nearly impossible, having 2 people on opposite sides walking at slightly different paces, neither of which would be my pace, makes it triple the effort that walking by myself would be. But letting go of them would be disaster. By the grace of God, I am managing to keep moving forward. Sometimes I wonder if I can make it, but know I must. This is an opportunity, I tell ...

... Kolkata, never mind the rest of the state / country (it's biggest here, however). On the last day, they truck in the thousands and thousands of pandles to the river to put them in. Everybody dances and celebrates and it's great fun! I jumped in and danced, of course. They go crazy when a white person comes! They invite me to dance and all want to shake my hand. I don't really like behind the center of attention so if they all start standing around watching me then I don ...

I had the great privilege of attending mass and taking communion at the Mother Teresa Hospice in Calcutta. It was very poignant to be in the same room with probably 120 men, all dressed in comfortable and matching bed cloths, lying in various stages of dying as the mass and communion went on. After the service I had a brief tour and saw the ...

Many days would be spent wandering through the parks of Kolkatta. We took lots of pictures. The Indian Museum was a joke - it looked like it haden't received any funding ...

... splashed the driver, me, and sprinkled some on herself for good measure. We were all very blessed. "I'm writing a book about Ganga and her healing properties. "Really?" "Throughout history there were references to Ganga from many different foreigners who'd come to India. Long before there was mass communication." "So several different groups of explorers had similar experiences without knowing about the others?" "Yeah, exactly. They had no way of hearing about Ganga from ...

... br>observing the gait, and physical attributes. So you see, I was truly
into it.
However, with time, all those incongruent and silly forecasts that
budding astrologers give in newspaper columns do take your mind off the
sincerity of the concept. That’s how now I never bother to read what my
stars have to say.
It adds a meaning into your colloquial perception of otherwise dull
activities. How? Well, now I can ...