Oh! Calcutta!

The broadway play has really nothing to do with this city–the play was named for a nude French painting. That doesn’t make it any less fascinating.

The city had a name change in 2001and today is known as Kolkata. The city population is 4.5 million growing to 14 million if the surrounding areas are included.

The British had their capital in this city until 1911 when they moved the government’s administration to Delhi. Kolkata is charming with tree lined streets and a lot of Ambassador (yellow fat) taxi cabs. There are manual rickshaws available but not my choice of transportation–taxis and Ubers are scary enough for me. Parking spots are hard to find:

We went to visit Mother Theresa’s nunnery and home. Her tomb is in a small chapel:

We were in Kolkata for the start of a two week festival to celebrate the goddess Durga. She has ten arms and killed the buffalo devil to insure good over evil. Her followers build temples and on the last day of the festival the statutes of Durga and her four children (who are also gods) are transported to the Ganges River for a swim:

Not everyone has the luxury of running water at home so having a shave and bath becomes a “street” event:

Street food is everywhere and the sidewalks are filled with stalls and little cook stoves:

I am not brave enough to venture there but I enjoyed plenty of restaurants that serve mutton, thali, Marsala curry and cooked bread:

I visited the India Museum. It was housed in a lovely colonial building. There was a 4000 BC mummy that was in excellent condition. I wasn’t permitted to take a pic but I got some selfies with a “nymph like” Queen Victoria and some good looking pre historic elephant tusks:

We took a walk through the flower market which is particularly busy because of the festival:

We couldn’t leave without a walk along and ferry ride on The Ganges. I had no urge to go in and bathe–pretty muddy:

Kolkata has a beautiful monument and museum dedicated to Queen Victoria. This is surrounded by a lovely park–don’t you think about “messing” with the flowers: