Oh Calcutta

Sometimes things just seem to work out. I intended to explore the city today by myself. When I told my guide contact of my plans and asked him to cancel my guide for today, he urged me to use the guide who he said was the best and most experienced guide in Calcutta and not to be missed. I said OK but only on the condition that it was made clear to the guide that I was uninterested in monuments, government buildings, museums and other inanimate objects.

Santi is somewhere in his sixties, a native of Calcutta living in the same house that was built by his great great grandfather, a former member of the West Bengal legislature, a professor of history and a Brahmin (of India's highest priest caste). I learned more from about India from Santi during our four hours together than I learned since arriving in India. Here are some items of interest.

Hindus are not a militant people. That is amply evident by merely looking at their typical male, thin limbed and devoid of even a hint of muscle. Despite their huge numerical superiority to the Moguls, the Moguls dominated the land for five centuries. When the British, as part of the East India Trading Company, first started arriving at and developing the Calcutta area at the end of the 16th century and into the 17th, they were welcomed by the Hindus, being seen as the Hindu's salvation from Mogul rule. They were right. It took several decades but in the end, through military pressure and political maneuvering, the Muslims were out and the British were in. The British were smarter that the Moguls who pressured all of the Hindu infidels to convert to Islam. The British brought missionaries who preached the gospel, provided education and offered medical assistance but never forced conversion of the population. As a matter of fact the British crown specifically prohibited any religious pressure whatsoever on the population. But even the British made mistakes. Sometime around 1800 the British, who then ruled the waves and the world, redrew the map of India, eliminating Burma, Sri Lanka and (I think) Nepal from the land they called India. That made the Indians mad and planted the first seeds of nationalism. Those seeds grew into an active, native opposition over the next hundred years and resulted, in 1947, in independence and partition. (British mapmakers are more careful these days.)

The black hole of Calcutta, I always believed, was an area of Calcutta where languished the poorest, most wretched and forlorn examples of humanity. Not so.
The black hole of Calcutta refers to the 20 by 20 foot structure in Calcutta in which the Bengali maharaja, in 1756, imprisoned 146 British troops. Without ventilation or light, except for a small opening in one of the walls, 123 of the prisoners died within 48 hours; 23 survived. A monument stands not far from the placed where stood the structure.



India is composed of 26 states. Calcutta is the capital of the State of West Bengal. East Bengal is now part of Bangladesh. West Bengal is, and for the past 18 years has been, ruled by a Communist political party as is the State of Kerala. The communists have never The Communists have never polled more than 30% in an election but as West Bengal has 23 separate political parties who refuse to in any way bond, the Communists continue to govern. Santi is a fervrent anti communist who opposes the corruption that runs rampant throughout West Bengal (and India as a whole)and lays the blame squarely at the feet of the Communists who, parasitically live like kings. Mohatma candies son-in-law, presumably a Communist, is governor of West Bengal and lives in a 123 room home complete with a 9 hole golf course. His Grand-father was an ascetic.

I could have written another five pages on Santi teachings, but I had made plans to play tennis again with Chetel (it's not Chetek I was told). He must have been practicing because at the end of 5 games, he was ahead 3 to 2. He offered (I did not ask) to play two more games. That, coupled with a weak backhand, was a mistake. The U.S. retained the title, but just by a hair. I asked Chetel if he was married. No, he said, he's only 26 years old and will not marry till he is 28. Who will he marry I asked. He does not know as his parents have not yet picked out a wife for him, but will within the next year or so. He asked if I had plans to return to Calcutta. I told him I would return if I were invited to his wedding.


Tomorrow, going to go to Goa via the friendly skies.