Kolkata Skies and City Buses!

I thank God that I'm feeling 100% better! After laying for three days in my dark, intensely hot, and painfully humid room, I was ready for a change of pace! Needless to say, I havn't spent much time in my room lately and have been eating with a voracious appetite....trying to gain back the weight I lost while being sick! My first day better, I journeyed down Park St to the Park Street Cemetery which offers a brief glimpse into India's colonial past. It's a beautiful place with giant shade trees and a tranquility that is often lost in this city of 15 million people. The tombs are marked not with mere gravestones, but rather structures that are more like towers with elaborate epitaphs. It is a British cemetary that dates back to the 1800's and one will see many references to the British East India Company. A lot of the tombs were dedicated to young women who I assume by the heartfelt poems enscripted on the front died in childbirth. Some were older, though, and causes of death ranged from illness to a ship that sunk in the Ganges river. It was definately worth the visit if only for the moment of solitude!
Later that evening, I perched in the hammock on the roof of my hotel and watched the clouds race accross the sky. So, I have to say that I've never seen a sky more full of life than in Kolkata. At twilight, one can watch the thick but whispy white clouds engulfing the empty sky which is fading from blue to grey to black. At twilight, there is a golden glow that illuminates the city and the crows and sparrows take turns completing their circuits accross the sky...or so it seems. Also, just after it gets dark, you will hear an almost operetic voice coming from the street. The first few nights, I assumed it was a recording, but one night I peaked out onto the street out of curiousity and realized that this beautiful enchanting sound was coming from a slight Indian man led by his wife. The man is blind and his wife leads him around every evening while he sings for money.
A note about city buses. So, the strike I mentioned previously ended after 12 hours and the city is back to normal at the moment. So, my commute to Shanti Dan consists of buses, auto rickshaws, and taxis. The bus is absolutely crazy. You wait at an unmarked bus-stop...looking for the bus that bears the number you're looking for. Then, you leep on hoping that there's room for you...there usually is...just barely. You cling on to any part of the bus you can get your hands on and you literally can't move because there are bodies all around you! There are no marked bus-stops...the toll-collector just beats on the bus and yells when there are people who want to get off. I've learned to take note of landmarks so I know where to get off! You then have to leap off the bus before it starts moving again..they don't always wait ...so you have to be on your toes!Once we get to our "stop", we have to take an auto rickshaw...a covered moterized scooter thing that seats 6 people. The trick, however, is that the driver won't move until there are 6 passengers! So, luckily I travel with the other volunteers! Otherwise, I may be sitting there for awhile!
Alright, I've run out of time for the moment....I'm off to plan my trip to Nepal at the end of this month!