Tollygunge Club Kolkata (Calcutta)

... but all had no happy ending like Gagan’s.

For the night, we anchored at Dobanki. The village had no mineral water available. So we bought 30 green coconuts. Green coconuts give clean and tasty water. Here we saw young boys, girls and some ladies standing in knee-deep water and catching shrimps. Muktar told us that poverty had driven them for such risky job. Risky as every creek and river is the habitat of estuarine crocodiles and these giant reptiles ...

... you to the Zanskar Valley. Zanskar region is a

small and isolated region. It comprises two narrow valleys.

The Stod Valley in the north-west and the Tsarap Valley in the southeast,

which converge at Padum, the administrative center of the

region and leads you to the Himalayan ranges of Kashmir, from the

rugged ranges to the beautiful green mountains.

Tibetan Buddhist lamas, cliff-side monasteries, grazing yaks and

Calcutta, West Bengal, India partha.desarkar

... the world. Unfortunately, since we weren’t registered, we couldn’t volunteer, but they let us join mass and prayer walk the vicinity. We also met some fellow YWAMers doing a DTS out of Cape Town, South Africa, and we were able to encourage one another.

... yelled at the man. Wiz tried to be slightly more reasonable, but Jeremy yelled again (we had been in transit for about 30 hours by now). Finally, he relented and drove us the 32 metres to the hotel we had asked, which turned out to be a 5 minute walk from the original hotel. Tired and cranky, we went to bed, having to get up at 5.30 am, and were kept up for most of the night by people running up and down the stairs. We couldn't wait to leave India.

... telling, illustrating the difference the SHGs are making at a human level, how the SHGs are benefiting the whole community, why the SHG women are becoming such forceful and well respected leaders in their villages, as well as the depth of their concern for their neighbors, and the sense of family they are creating in their villages. (Rs, 30,000 is probably the equivalent to many families entire yearly income. Whom among us westerners has that deep a connection to our ...

... that we try his aloo paratha and chai? I don't know, but I just love that he tried. We're swamped by little children who all want to kiss and hug Catriona's 18 month old daughter Evie on the way out, and have to literally run to the car and lock the doors to prevent them carrying her away. Children are revered here in India, and a gorgeous little blue-eyed blonde-haired girl is no exception. Everywhere we go Evie creates havoc, and we are ...

... I noticed that most of the Indians didn't have to squeeze through the crowded gate and climb the dumb thing we had to. They all lined up for hours and the line seemed to enter the shrine through a proper doorway - no packed crowd and strange climb. The guide led us to the gate so maybe the gate was a short-cut esp for Westerners? The Mother Teresa hospital was very moving. Old, hurting Indians lay in cots. A smiley, glowing man was directing things and we tracked down a ...

... in the village. The population of India is growing rapidly and the infrastructure just really isn't there or is not sufficient to support the current and future populations. In Darjeeling, apparently the waste treatment facilities, originally constructed by the British for a city of roughly 30,000 people, are not even being used...the waste from the current city population of around 150,000 most likely seeping out of disintegrating pipes or not even making ...

... in the lovely air-con at the hotel.. I met the group at 3pm and we caught some cabs to go and see Mother Theresa's home. The cab driver dropped 4 of us off at the wrong spot -- it did say Mother Theresas home but it was something different.. I got a call from our leader and he directed us a short walk down the street to the actual place... We were at number 78 and we should have been at 54. Inside we ...

... Sudder Street and the adjacent roads are wider and lined with trees. It's something of an avenue. People don't walk in the middle of the street and the traffic isn't mostly auto-rickshaws and bicycles. There are no cows. Kolkata is puzzlingly devoid of cows. Finding a thali spot was much more difficult in Kolkata as well. Continuing along Sudder the sidewalks varied in width and level of decay. Shops butted against the walk on most of the roadway though an occasional ...