What a week

What a rollercoaster of a first week in India. I simply cannot believe that a week ago I stepped out of the airport with no idea what lay ahead of me. My first impressions of Calcutta were – there are so many people! It’s hard to describe a city where there are over 20 million people (around the same population of Australia) all packed into one place.

And they really pack everything in, which extends to the cars where in a normal situation there would be room for two cars, in Calcutta they manage to fit around 10. In the ‘Culture Smart’ guide to India it aptly says that there are two driving rules in India

1. If there is a space fill it and

2. The biggest vehicle has the right of way. I have added my own number three, which is:

3. If there is no noise you should be tooting your horn.

Calcutta is really a full sensual experience. Your ears are greeted with the sounds of the call to prayer, animals and car horns for 24 hours, your nose is filled with smells of spices and thick pollution, your skin feels the heat of the day and everywhere you look there is a different sight to be seen. You could never get bored in Calcutta – there is simply too much happening!

There was a lot of ‘new’ to get used to this week including the Tzedek intern Hadassah, the volunteers and Calcutta itself. During orientation we have had a chance to see some of the tourist’s sites of Calcutta including the beautiful flower market and Jain temples. Calcutta has so much culture and lots of sites to see but I have found some of the best moments so far being sat on the road having a drink, meeting the locals and watching the world go by or meeting other volunteers and hearing their stories.