Adventures in India - Part Three

After the flower market we head to the Kalighat area, also known as the red light district of Calcutta. It is one block away from the Kali Temple and Mother Teresa's home for the dying.

Krishna and Sanjeev meet us after we park the van and we wind our way through the alleys until we arrive at New Light India, a shelter that is above a set of brothels. The ladies all wait at the front of the lane looking for customers. They are in their finest saris. Some are so young, some are from Nepal. They are the same ladies from last year and we smile and say hello as I pass by.

As we make our way down the smoky, muddy, trash strewn walkway, we pass by many brothel doors and get a slice of life in the lane. We go up the stairs to the shelter that New Light runs for the children of the prostitutes. They provide a safe place for the kids, help with homework, medical care and hot meals. There is a big sign welcoming us and the children are all lined up, some blowing on conch shells to herald our arrival. Dick and Ann have not been here before, but it is a place that I spent a lot of time at last year. I am very excited to see the children and the staff again.

Urmi Basu is a beautiful woman of 49 years and puts all of her energy and her life into her New Light project. She is known in this community as a savior and a woman who does not ever take "no" for an answer. She is warm and loving and is a huge inspiration to me.

We have a wonderful visit with the kids and staff and join them in having lunch. It was so nice for Dick and Ann to spend more time with this woman who I adore and they were very impressed with her and her work. After about an hour, we walked down the New Light II, a second shelter located inside the crematorium, where bodies are burned and placed in the river. The children who attend this shelter are children of the lowest cast people, the ones who take care of the dead. They mean nothing to the rest of society in India. I have never understood this because cremation is such an important part of the culture and is necessary. I would think that these people would be much more respected, but it is not so. We spend time with the kids, Dick does he magic show and we are soon boarding our van to go to the Soma Home for Girls, another of Urmi's projects.

Soma Home houses 36 girls, all of whom are daughters of the women working in Kalighat. They attend public school, have a safe place to live, medical care and are shown another way of life. If it weren't for Soma Home every one of these girls would probably be in the prostitute business. An idea I cannot even let myself think about for too long because I know each of these girls well and it turns my stomach to think of what their life would be like.

I lived at Soma Home with the girls for a month last year and I am so excited to see them, I'm almost peeing in my pants. It is a joyful reunion indeed. The girls have grown, their hair is longer and they look great. We are so happy to see each other and when it is time to leave I promise that I will be back in a week after my tour with Dick and Ann. My heart is overflowing with love. Dick and Ann were very impressed with Urmi's work and wanted to have her meet us for dinner so they could talk more and talk about how they could support her further. It was a wonderful first day of our time in India.

Early the next morning after filling our bellies with fabulous food at the Oberoi, we board our van to take us to The Southern Health Improvement Samity, which is located about an hour outside of Calcutta.  Wohab and Sabitri run this amazing organization which has a hospital, dental care, a focus on deaf children, schools for boys and girls, organic gardening and also runs medical boats into the remote Sunderban Islands in the Bay of Bengal.

We have a great visit with the team, take a quick tour of the hospital which includes the maternity ward where 3 babies have just been born. I visit with a woman who is holding her new born baby, and the woman's mother who seems very happy to be a new grandma. I tell her that I am a grandma too and tell her about my little Julian. The doctor explains in Hindi what I am saying to the woman and we smile and hug each other.

Soon, we load up in the car and head for the Sunderbans, where we board a medical boat. As we are getting settled, I see a holy man who walks around with his blessed oil and red paint and gives people blessings. I ask him to come onto the boat and do his thing. He blesses us all with prayers, places a red dot on our forehead and we zoom off down the river. We arrive at a remote island in about an hour and soon everyone is gathered around to see what we are about. They are dressed in very worn clothing, look extremely poor but seem to be happy. Dick does his usual magic show and we take many poloroid photos to leave with them. A woman takes us to her home, a small hut perched on a mud bank of the river. I am surprised by how clean it is. It is spotless, really. We sit on the only piece of furniture in the room, a bed and talk for a while. They don't speak english at all, but we have a good conversation and we understood each other.

We go back outside and talk with the rest of the people. One of whom stands out as a grandfather type guy who looks to be nearly blind and walks with a stick for support. He was surrounded by children and seemed to be an important elder in the community. These islands were hit very hard by a cyclone that blew through a year ago and are still devastated. The sea water that covered the land has made it hard to grow any crops. I can't imagine what life must be like out there. So remote, surrounded by water and a long way from any sort of help or supplies. And this is just one of several hundred islands.

This area is also the largest Bengal Tiger preserve in the world. The tigers roam around and sometimes will attack a villager who has gone to too remote of an area to gather honey, which the islands are also famous for.

On the way back to the little village where we boarded the boat, we have a lovely Indian lunch and visit and take photos. It was a wonderful day that opened up all of our worlds in many ways.

Adventures in India - Part Deux

My friends arrive in Calcutta about 11 pm and I am there to greet them. Dick and Ann Grace from the Napa Valley and Gloria from Tennessee. We will spend the next 10 days traveling together and it turns out to be a magical wonderful time. Not that I ever had any doubt....

The next morning we meet bright and early for breakfast. It is a grand and glorious buffet of everything imaginable. Fresh fruit, yogurt, pastries, eggs, cereal, juice, salad, curry, fish and the list goes on. This is a fairytale land with hard cold reality waiting just outside the beautiful doors that are always being polished and opened for us.

 We get in the mini van with our guide Ashok and head for the Calcutta flower market. On the way, we see a festival happening along the banks of the Hoogley river and are told that wandering Sadus (holy men who give up everything and wander around in nothing but a loin cloth) and others come from all over India to do puja and pray. Dick asks Ashok to stop the car so we can get out and explore.

It is the first of many wonderful scenes that go like this:

Dick has a small flesh colored rubber thumb that fits over his own and has a red light in the tip. He walks up to a holy man who has probably walked for miles on this day, probably not had anything to eat or drink for days and doesn't know much about modern life. He says "hey, what's that in your ear?" and he reaches for the ear and pulls what looks like a red light out of it. As they look on in shock and wonder, he gently blows on the light and is disappears. Soon there is a huge crowd around, everyone smiling and laughing and yelling "Jadu! Jadu!" which means "magic" in Hindi.

Dick has a pocketful of magic (he doesn't like it to be called "trick". It's just magic) and he knows when and for how long to show them before moving on and leaving a happy crowd in his wake. It is a beautiful thing indeed.

At this point I should explain a little bit about Dick Grace. He is a winemaker from the Napa Valley and has long been a supporter of under-served people around the world. He makes yearly trips to Tibet, China, Nepal and India to look in on his projects. He is a hard core ex marine and runs a very tight ship. He can be very strict and while at the same time being one of the most kind human beings on the face of the planet. I met him in 2005 when I worked on his project in San Francisco, "Unsung Heroes of Compassion", like all others in Dick's orbit, my life has not been the same since. When he invited me to come to India with he and his wife, I did not hesitate before saying yes. I would go anywhere and do just about anything for this man. I learn so much from him and want to do the same kind of work. When I traveled to India last year, I volunteered and looked in on many of his projects in Asia, so I knew the people we would be meeting this time around.

Ann Grace is one of the most beautiful Graceful women I have ever met. Inside and out. She is kind and loving as she smiles as Dick takes center stage. She is Dean Martin to his Jerry Lewis. She is active and young for her 72 years. She laughs a lot and likes to be silly. She is as at home in a Tibetan monastery with no heat or plumbing as she is at a multi millionaire's home for dinner. They are as in love now as they were when they married 52 years ago. When they are not traveling somewhere, the two of them are out mountain biking, hiking, sking or taking care of their lovely gardens and vineyards. I am completely inspired by them.

Gloria Ghegan is an openly gay woman from Tennessee. I had not met her before but we were to become roomates and fast friends as we traveled together. She is a very neat and tidy woman who unpacks and organizes as soon as we get into the room, while my suitcase lays open like an explosion went off inside. She's down to earth and funny and spends time going on medical missions to places like Bhutan and Nepal. She has been nominated to become one of the next Unsung Heroes of Compassion.

After our walk along the river, we go to the Calcutta flower market, no far away. It's a bustling, busy place bursting with the color of a zillion blossoms that are used all around the city each day in offerings, weddings, cremations and celebrations. It was amazing.

We wind our way through narrow alleys and stalls filled with men and piles of flowers. Everyone stops to look at us strangers in their midst. This is definitely not a stop on the usual tourist route. Dick sprinkles magic and Polaroid camera photos along the way, picks up some flowers for us and we are on our way again. He stops outside the market where a small child holds a tiny baby in one arm and holds her other hand out begging for some rupies. Dick stops to talk with her and show her some magic. He takes a photo of her and the baby and leaves it with them and they are as happy as can be. It's a wonderful thing to watch.

Children at the flower market

Flower market

Dick and a sadu

Adventures in India - Part One

After a 6 hour flight that took me through Kuala Lumpur, I arrive in Calcutta. It had been almost one year exactly since I left. After being in peaceful, serene Bali for 2 months, I was feeling nervous about the transition but also excited to be in this special place again, amongst friends.

I collect my bag and walk through the dirty double glass doors into the smog and smoke filled afternoon. Calcutta slaps me in the face and kisses me on the mouth. I immediately connect with the smell and the sounds and am glad I'm here.

I look through the throng of dark faces holding signs and looking anxiously for their clients. The others swarm around me; "taxi madam? taxi?". Then the beaming faces of Krishna and Sanjeev are there. We happily hug each other and they lead me to the waiting car. We talk excitedly as we drive through the city.

Hundreds of yellow Ambassador taxis speed around us, beeping and bleating their taxi language. Ancient buses with people spilling out of doors and windows lumber past. The small auto rickshaws zip and bob and weave through everyone, spewing their noxious gasses, and barefoot rickshaw pullers sit lazily drinking tea and praying for customers. People are camped along the sidewalks cooking some small bit of food over a few sticks of burning wood or some dried cow dung.

There are SO many people. So many faces. Each with a name and a history and a family. It's mind blowing.

I feel a huge excitement growing inside me and I smile and talk and laugh with my companions. They fill me in on all that's been happening at New Light India in the last year. How the babies, Coco and Gouri are doing along with the rest of the kids and the girls at Soma Home. I can't wait to see them all.

I ask if we can stop for a chai. We pull off to the side in front of a crumbling tea stall and order our drinks. The afterwork crowd is there having an evening brew. Everyone stares and is so curious about this white faced girl on the streets of Calcutta.

The small brown terra cotta cup is handed to me and I take a whiff and then a sip. Ahhh...that is the taste of India for me. It is the perfect temperature and the perfect balance of tea, milk and sugar. It tastes like heaven and is the most comforting thing in the world. Chai is a ritual and is part of everyday life in India. I have drank hundreds of cups of it by now. When I finish, I drop my cup on the ground to join the piles of shards of brown pottery that used to be chai cups in a previous life.

We pile back in the car and head towards the Oberoi Grand Hotel. It is the nicest most luxurious hotel in town and I feel shy and a little embarrassed about staying there. I feel the need to explain that I wouldn't be staying there if it weren't for the invitation of my friend and hosts, Dick and Ann Grace. They have invited me to join them in India to tour some of the many projects they support and I am honored to accept.

I say goodbye to Krishna and Sanjeev for now and will see them tomorrow. I have about 5 hours before the rest of my traveling companions arrive, and I spend it walking through the streets, drinking more chai and reacquainting myself with Ma Calcutta. I feel comfortable and confidant as I walk (which comes a surprise to me) and no one bothers me, save for a few beggar children and men calling me to "just have a look" inside their shop.

I feel like I am walking on air. Filthy dirty disgusting air, but happy about it and have a huge smile on my face. I know this neighborhood and remember the good and the bad times I had here before.

India

Hello friends
I have been having a lot of problems with my blog so we'll see if this one goes.
I have been in India since January 7th. Arrived in Calcutta my beloved second home and met up with dick and ann grace and their friend gloria who I would travel with for the next 10 days. I had no idea what amazing magical things we about to transpire...