From Amritsar to Sonagachi

By Lindsay

Hello blogosphere! 

I haven’t written a blog post of my own since September, so I thought it was about time I give you an update. Right now, life in India is great! There is so much I want to tell you I’m not sure where to start...

Since I last wrote we have seen and experienced many amazing things. Here are a few of them:

The Victoria Memorial

Durga Puja Festival

Our kitty

A Canadian style pancake breakfast with all the women from Destiny Reflection

Participating in the first ever Relief Society meeting in Kolkata

The Dakshineswar Kali Temple

Really really really good chocolate!

The overnight train

The view from our hotel in Varanasi

Rowing a boat down the Ganges River in Varanasi

Cows

 

Good food

The Taj Mahal

A snake charmer in Jaipur

The Golden Temple in Amritsar

The Sun Temple in Konark

The Bay of Bengal 

The village of Raghurajpur

The Jagannath Temple in Puri

And that only scratches the surface of the awesome things we have been so blessed to experience in India! 

I also had my first experience with food poisoning when we were in Jaipur. We ate at a really nice restaurant full of tourists located at the City Palace, but I still ended up almost vomiting on the platform at the train station in Jaipur. I did end up eventually getting sick, and I spent 14 hours on the train from Jaipur to Amritsar in the nasty train bathroom vomiting.  By the time we arrived in Amritsar I was feeling much better, so I decided to go to the border closing ceremony at the India/Pakistan border that evening. However, on the way there I got hungry and decided to eat a bag of chips. Let’s just say I am now regretting that decision. I ended up throwing up in a parking lot full of cars and people at the India/Pakistan border. Looking back, it’s actually quite an entertaining story, but at the time it was most unpleasant.

On Friday we went to visit Freeset, which is another organization like Destiny Reflection. It is located in Sonagachi – Kolkata’s largest red-light district – and employs 180 women who were previously sexually exploited. They specialize in making t-shirts and jute bags. It was incredible being there! They grew from an organization of 20 women to 180 women in just 10 years, and it really showed me the potential that Destiny Reflection has to grow! With approximately 9000 women working in Sonagachi, there is a lot of work still to be done!

Disasters in the Hotels

By Martyna 

In India there are places where you can stay for 50 Rs/- which is roughly 1 Canadian dollar. On our trip we decided to go a little upper class and paid between 200- 500 Rs/- each per night, which amounts to 4- 10 Canadian dollars. Overall our hotel rooms were awesome, but there were slight mishaps that when we look back at the experience we find comical, and so we would like to share these with all of you.

Varanasi – Puja Guest House

-          When Lindsay opened the bathroom door the toilet literally fell of the wall. 

Agra- Jouti Continental

-           In order to get hot water you had to turn on the water heater. The electrical system was not wired properly, so when you turned on the water heater you could not touch the shower knobs, the faucet and the marble countertop or you would get electrocuted. We all learned the hard way. Lindsay didn’t realize she was getting electrocuted and could not figure out why her hand kept falling asleep.

Jaipur – Satcar Hotel

-          Surprisingly this was the only hotel where we didn’t have any problem; however Jaipur was another story.

Amritsar – Sita Niwas

-          We had a massive ant problem in our room. The beds, couch and the dresser were invested with these little creatures. We sprayed insect replant all over our belongings. This tactic may have been bad for our health, but it did the trick. Well mostly. The next morning while taking a shower there were lots of ant going down the drain. We also had cockroaches that lived in the pipe of the sink. The pervert only came out when we were showering.

You Can’t Escape the Sick Bug

By Martyna

As many of you are aware we just recently returned from a 10 day trip around North West India. We all agree that it was a remarkable trip as we saw things that we never imagined until retirement; being broke students and all. The unfortunate aspect of our trip was that we all got quite ill. Before I left on this India adventure, my best friend Piper recommended that I bring Pepto-Bismol. Best idea ever!!! Christine was the first victim to experience digestive problems in Varanasi. We have not yet figured out what meal contributed to this discomfort. In Agra I got mild diarrhea after eat at the Taj guesthouse. I was actually quite upset considering that I played it safe and ate rice that day. I really never thought that anyone could screw up rice, but I guess it happens. The worst bug got contracted in Jaipur.  After shopping for a few hours, which entails a lot of haggling, yelling, sometimes throwing, and then eventually a compromise, we decided to seek refuge in a quite bistro outdoor restaurant. Let’s just say that it was second nicest place where we ate. All of us got really excited about the chicken burgers. We don’t usually eat meat, but we were craving western food and the place seemed legitimately sanitary. We were wrong. Lindsay started feeling ill almost right away but did not have any digestive problems quite yet.

Getting onto the platform of the train station after an hour plus rickshaw ride through unpaved roads Lindsay is on her knees ready to vomit in the garbage, rat invested tracks while our train is pulling up to the station. We quickly took her to our compartment. The unfortunate aspect of this train ride was that this was the only time that we were in 3A tier, rather than our regular 2A. This meant that we were all together but we had two potential strangers which where joining us and had reserved the bottom bunks. Oh ya, the train ride from Jaipur to Amritsar is 14 hours. We managed to communicate with the guy to switch bunks with us. Poor Lindsay was up most of the night with vomiting and diarrhea.  Around 4 am the bug finally hit me as well. To our surprise Silvia never got ill although she at the burger as well. I am attributing this to her stomach of steal and her Colombian genes.

I think after a while the people on the train figured out what was going on as Lindsay and I raced to the bathroom every 15 minutes. We both agreed that this was the worst case of digestive problems we ever had; the state of the washrooms (one western toilet, the other squatting where the waste is deposited on the tracks) did not help.  Finally arriving at our hotel room in Amritsar we passed out until 3PM. We decided that if we were feeling better than we would go see the border ceremony at the Pakistan- India border. It was a really interesting experience therefore we were happy we went. Half way through the ceremony Lindsay started feeling nauseous. On our way back to the car, in the middle of the parking lot surrounded by hundreds of people Lindsay vomits on the pavement, which is when we decided that she baptized India. She felt better afterwards, but the other family in the car did not seem keen on driving back with us.  

On our way back from the border ceremony Lindsay developed a fever, so we decided that it was time she be put on antibiotics. It helped and we all were able to enjoy the golden temple the next day. Back in Kolkata Lindsay went to the doctor. The doctor has his practice around the corner of our house; it is on our running route. Recognizing the only white people that live in the neighborhood he commented on how he uses us as an example to all his patients about getting more exercise. We tend to be a spectacle when we exercise. People come out of their houses to watch us run and some people even yell at us to figure out what we are doing.  

Overall we are all doing a-lot better now, thanks to modern medicine and the Sunday that we had to recuperate and watch a season of ER!