During this Diwali, in october 2014, I got
the chance to visit the last large Indian city on my wish list, Kolkata in West
Bengal. I stayed in a lovely small hotel in New Allipore in the south of the
city, a fairly quiet area, where I could join a good bunch of people for the
morning walk. I could already get an idea of the city’s traffic, when I arrived
at the airport in the evening, it took a good hour to get to the hotel. The purpose
of my visit was twofold, to visit my former colleague from Paris, Bidisha, who
has her group at IISER Kolkata (Indian Institute for Science Education and
Research), and spend Diwali together with my partner Sunaina and her family.
here the link to the photo album.
The IISER visit including a presentation of
my research was at the beginning of my stay. The driver picked me up in the
early morning (6.20am), and I soon understood why we had to start so early:
despite its name IISER Kolkata, it lies 60km outside the city (I learned later
that it is better called IISER Mohalli/Kolkatta)! The institute is situated in
a beautiful landscape on the area of an agricultural university. Even though I
met many enthusiastic and interesting scientists there, I was a bit
disappointed that these brilliant minds still have to work in worn down or
makeshift labs. A new building is under construction, but will still take some
while. Let’s see how it will be in one, two years. We headed back at 5.30pm,
but when I reached my hotel, it was already after eight! Now I knew what people
told me about the traffic here.
The following day was the day of Diwali,
and I joined Sunaina and her family around noon. It was nice to witness the
preparations for the festival. The house was decorated, everything was cleaned,
and most important, putting many candles in windows and outside doors. In
between, we went to a market to get some more candles, vegetable and fruits.
Most touching was to see some fish seller, who decorated his cutting table for
the festival by placing small candles on it. Back at home, all gathered to fill
the candle holders and to light them. The festival of light made its name all
honors, and the streets and houses in the whole city were decorated with all
sorts of light. In addition to that, it was also the day of Kali-puja, who is
the goddess of death. She is depicted as a black, angry looking woman holding a
cut head and knives in her hand, and is worshipped with fiercely drumming. So
the festival of light was mingled with a lot of sound.
Around midnight, the time of immersion
started, during which the goddess statues are brought to the Ganges (or one of
its side rivers) and immersed in the waters. Many pick-ups and trucks with
groups of (mostly drunk) men were on the go and let their surroundings know
about it with a lot of yelling and cheering.
The next morning, I was running, which was
not a good idea. In addition to the generally high pollution came the remains
of many crackers that were fired in the previous night, which made the air
super polluted. Later on was the time to visit the city. We went to the
Victoria memorial, a building erected from 1906-1921 to honor the visit of
Queen Victoria. The building with its vast gardens is in stark contrast to the
rest of the city and hosts an exhibition of Kolkata’s rich history. Towards the
end of the day, couples gathered around trees and benches in the garden, and I
was told that it is a classical meeting point for lovers.
Another day, we went to St. Pauls
cathedral. On the way there, we got a glimpse from the rich art culture in
Kolkata with the Nandan film centre, the academy of fine arts and the park
displaying wonderful modern art sculptures. The cathedral was also very nice, all in white
with elegant ornaments and an impressive hall. The only thing which was a bit
strange to me, was the fact that the cathedral was inside a walled area and
that one had to enter a gate to get in. After that, we visited Park Street,
which is a classical shopping road with old prestigious houses and hosts since
1927 the wonderful tea house Flurys. It was a pleasure to try the Darjeeling tea there accompanied by a nice pastry.
To the end of the Kolkata visit, the Surana
family took me for dinner to a UP restaurant called Awadh which was remarkably nice
decorated. The whole building was decorated inside and outside with wooden
carvings in the style of a noble house from the high time of the Mughal empire, and the food was delicious.
It was a joyful end of a very joyful trip.
