The Magic of Kolkata

You need to look for the magic of Kolkata because it's easy to be overwhelmed with first impressions of poor people, crumbling buildings, beat up yellow taxis, smoke spewing buses, and the haze of pollution. This Christmas we decided to stay in Kolkata and explore our adopted city. We planned various walking tours in addition to attending various Christmas celebrations including our MCC Christmas party, eating Christmas dinner at the Oberoi Grand Hotel, celebrating New Year's evening at an event featuring Filipino singers, and visiting a famous temple.

Our collage of photos actually begins with some taken during the Diwali celebrations. Even the stature of Gandhi was given a huge garland for the festivities. I included a photo of Ruth with Vernon Jantzi at the Victoria Memorial taken when Vernon was here to lead a workshop on development and peacebuilding.




































The first photo in the following set is of a landmark Kolkata tram in front of the government building known as "Writer's Building." I couldn't resist adding one of me getting a haircut from a barber on the street in front of our MCC office. Yes we actually found some beautiful roses on one of our excursions. We were prepared to be disappointed because we thought roses couldn't possibly thrive in the hot,humid Kolkata climate. We were obviously wrong and so delighted to find these beauties.































It is followed by some taken at various Christmas parties. It includes photos of the crowd under the canopy on the roof of the MCC building during our office party. Others are of Ruth and Indian friends taken at the various celebrations. People in this town know how to have great parties.






































Another set of photos starts with Ruth in our apartment holding the beautiful Indian wall hanging that our children gave us for Christmas. Sara bought it when she was here. The other photos are of Ruth and I at the New Year celebration, of me in the lobby of the Oberoi Grand Hotel, and one of our daughter Sara at one of our favorite restaurants when she was here last fall. Kolkata has some wonderful restaurants that serve delicious Indian food. It's one of the luxuries that we indulged in this Christmas instead of spending our vacation allowance to travel somewhere else. It was a great decision.































The final set of photos is of the famous Dakshineshwar Temple north of Kolkata that we visited on New Year's day. We went there with Beth Payne, a friend who works at the American consulate. We were not aware that this was the most important day in the calendar of the temple. We were told that 100,000 people were there. We had a wonderful time taking it all in. The photos include pilgrims coming by boat on the Hooghly River and of stalls were people were buying flowers and sweets for offerings. One is of Ruth and Beth checking out the stalls selling souvenirs.