Calcutta

Cheap, good food.  Busy streets.  Lots of beggars.  Closed zoos on Thursdays.  Big library.  Decent tailors.  "They really fixed my bag, dude.  Like, it's workin'." -Josh.  note: this is quite a statement.  Josh's bag was amazingly bad.  The zipper-- no, the failure-to-be-a-zipper-- well-- you get the idea.  But they fixed it.  He did.  Thanks, Mr. Tailor.  Bag man.  Good work.  You did the impossible. 

The 30 hour train ride wasn't too bad...  I am not sure if I can use that statement anymore.  I am not sure what 'too bad' is...  I keep having to reevaluate my standards on that issue.  Anyway-- train ride: survivable.  We did have nine people in our six person compartment.  One was blind, and one liked to rest his feet in between my legs, in my crotch, while I read.  One guy stole a good portion of Josh's bed space, but made up for it by giving us some food.  Our bread somehow got infested by little ants, but they were tasteless, so all was fine.  To save a few dollars, we spent 3-4 hours sitting in the train station at the end of the run, so that we could check into a guest house late enough to avoid paying for that night.  We made it.  I am pretty sure I have been train-lagged for the last few days.  This morning is the first time I have felt fully awake-- and we are leaving this city at 7pm.  Ah, Calcutta.  Your egg rolls-- which bear no resemblance to any other egg roll I have ever eaten-- were quite tasty, despite the oil.  I will miss the cheap, tastiness of your food most of all.  That street thali, for roughly 25 cents, was superb.  Keep scraping things out of gutters, frying it up, and serving it to the populace.

We go to Varanasi.  This is a place where people bathe in the river Ganga for religious reasons, it is the music capital of the country, it is an intellectual center, it used to be called Benares, ...  Yes.  That is where we are going.  And when I say people bathe in the river Ganga, I don't mean people clean themselves in it-- if anything, the river comes out on the better side of the deal, having been able to lose some sludge onto the bodies of the holy penitents, or whoever is crazy enough to take a dip in that swill.  The Ganga is essentially sewer water-- Josh looked it up.  I think I am dwelling too much on this river.  I hope it is as exciting as everyone says it will be.

Yar, we go.  Later, folks.  See you all so soon!