Its proving quite difficult to choose a subject for my first blog from India. Its such a bombardment on the senses that I could write an essay...and its only day 2.
We are in Kolkata, which is not the most beautiful of cities and its just as dusty and dirty as you'd imagine but unexpectedly full of nature.
The first thing we did when we arrived was to take a taxi from the airport. Incidentally, this is quite the cliche. There are no rules on the road. Indian taxi drivers are probably the best drivers in the world...just heedless of danger. We drove though gaps in traffic that i'd be afraid to walk through in a traffic jam. Anyway, as we sped through the city we passed packs of street dogs, herds of goats, baskets and baskets of live chickens, those same chickens tied to bicycle handlebars, still alive and squawking, and in bundles of 50. There is always the sound of unknown and unseen birds joined with the sound of a thousand horns, and most magical, butterflies everywhere. Big blue ones that visit while you drink coffee.
Curiously, the most exotic animals in Kolkata seem to be us. Yesterday, sitting in the park we had three separate groups come to us to ask for photos. I hardly think its for our beauty. We'd been awake for 24 hours by this point, were dusty and sweaty and (in my case) sunburnt (already? Unfair!!). Maybe then its because we are world famous dancers/blogger/animator. Maybe we were mistaken for someone else....hmm. Possibly its because I am a transparent freak. One of these new friends said she's afraid to see me in the sun. Jeez, thanks. She was 10 by the way and clearly had a lot of tact. Its ok, we had an exchange of skills while her mum acted like paparazzi. We taught her some ballet and in return learn a little classical Indian dancing. And then we did a little demonstration of contemporary. Much like the performing monkeys that we passed on the way home.
No comments:
Post a Comment