Outing

Have been apparently sitting at the office for half day, the boredom devoured entire me.

It's time again to go out! OUT! One more outing...

Enthralled by the old buildings (according to localists, this kind of buildings is at least 200 years old!)


Enjoying the famous local tea. I have no idea what spices have been added inside the brewed tea, it tastes just so different from our teh tarik in Malaysia! Perhaps I should consult our dear spices expert - ah-guan. Sighing, I do really miss you guys.




Entering the market. All the fruits and vegetables were arranged nicely, some even decorated with the tree leaves! Colourful!


On the road...this is how they carry the goods.



Without having an exact destination to go, we just passed the rail...cool!



Wow, we reached Millenium Park! This was one of the tourist attraction we viewed from the website.




Had some food in the park which was full of dating couples.


We made it! We saw the Howrah Bridge!!! This beautiful bridge connects Kolkata and Howrah. We spent about 2 hours in the park just to wait the bridge to be illuminated.

Nice. The waiting was worth it!


On the way back, I saw this beautiful church.



Here we back. Home sweet home, Santoshpur!

Reading Traveller

Travelling alone always makes me savour my time with better, the taste is always sweet, mishti.
Today, I decided to take my own trip to Salt Lake to attend my dancing class. It is located at the centre of the city, totally different from where I stay and work.

On the way to Salt Lake, in the bus, I met a lady. It is true that Indians are collective. In the bus, even there are plenty of seats, people tend to sit beside you, do not be surprised of that. It happened. The wise lady, Mdm Chotika, after few random conversations, we talked about reading habit after I asked for places selling good books. She agreed that reading habit has been faded as time passes. Reading used to be the activity for leisure, sadly to say that today the tv and computer have been substituting the role of books.

She mentioned about parents used to give their children books as birthday gifts in those years. I agreed. I thought of dad at that moment. I appreciate it. Without reading, I won't have come so far. Without reading, I won't have the courage to pursue my pathway. Without reading, I am simply nothing.

Yet, I am still so small, so ignorant in the ocean of knowledge. The wise lady spoke wisdoms. She even read the translation of Lu Xun's literature! Amazing. Her passion of reading makes me ashamed. I told her honestly, I do still have many more to learn. She answered, everybody does! Life is just a learning process.

Reading the past makes you understand the future. The present is shaped by past, while shaping the future. That's what she told me. Inspired.

In this very short half day trip, I met few people. Had some chatting session with them. A traveller shall never get alone.

On my mystical pathway...cheers!

Public Speaking

First time out for our OWN assignment - giving talk on HIV issue!

It was at a software company. Though our participants were only comprised of 5 persons, it was a good start for us as it was our FIRST time.

It was encouraging as the participants were willing to share and interect with us. There was some language problem as they used to converse in Bengali. Fortunately our dear colleague, Miss Aru was knowlegable and always be there to do the translation. Besides, she was an expertise in the awareness campaign. She knew the techniques to keep the audience intrigued.

In school, I am always looking forward to presentation as it is the 2-way communication between students and lecturer. We are given a platform to present ourselves. Yet, the thought of speaking in front of the audience raises my fear. It is common that most people have this kind of fear, I realized. Talking to a group of people draws us from the security that we tend to live in and forces us to confront an entirely foreign experience.

Anyway, after all, if the audiences are benefited from what you have presented, the joy is there! Sharing knowledge is a great joy in life! Presentation, as I mentioned, is a 2-way communication, the knowledge is not really imparted through the presenter. It is like a spark of knowledge, where by the audiences, most of the time may give unexpected surprise to the presenter himself/herself!

Public speaking, undeniably, boosts our confidence. It forces us to do more and more preparation and practice.

I deeply appreciate I am given this kind of platform to train myself. Everyday is just so different for me here! Each moment of live is a miracle! I was so tired of the routine daily lives, this trip is my gateway, my exile in searching deeper of myself. Living in the confines of comfort zone, as if you die at twenty but being buried at eighty!

Take the road less travelled...

Purpose of Life

The purpose of life is to have a life of purpose (according to the Law of Dharma).

Today, another visit to the slum - Motijheel. This is a bigger and better equipment resident area if compared to the other slum we went yesterday, Trijana.

If choosing one word to describe the area, I would say: crowdy. Imagine, 1 family normally has 6-8 children, living in a space not much bigger than our bathroom. Squeeze inside a bed, some even sleep on the floor under the bed. Kids go to school because the school provides free lunch. So some parents just make sure their kids go to school during lunch time. Scolding and fighting, as some scenes I have witnessed. Healthy men linger around the place. To make ends meet, some work for factory (even children), some sell fruits in the road side, some open small stores...

A question turns up: What is their purpose of life? Do they even think of it before? Answer given: They do not mind. They grow from young until reaching the puberty, they marry. Their mission: producing more offsprings. Then, trying not to starve themselves, until the day of life ends. Simple but sad.

But as the communication tools improving, many of them are exposing to the world outside. Some are educated and knowing the importance of knowledge. Furthermore, many organizations and government sectors have trying various methods to reach this grassroot society.
I deeply wish, one day, poverty would vanish. The world is enough to feed all the people's need, not people's greed. Leading a moderate life but ceaselessly richer the mind. This is my purpose - learning more about the others by witnessing and thinking...
Children are dovelike, innocent...

Dance

I decided to follow my heart, since I always want to learn something about dancing. Thus, this trip must not be excluded from dancing as well. Has been signing up for a dancing class, instructed by an experienced and wise guru.

While dancing, it as if tunnelling me to another world, another dimension, where I enjoy so much. I feel I am closer to my soul. Everytime I dance, the objects surrounded me transform, they are all beautiful.

Instead of hanging around with friends and chatting at the cafe and shopping at the malls, I prefer to be mesmerized into the music and movements.

Being objective. Set your goal and focus on your goal. Others which would distract you from the goal, reject it gracefully...Well, this is only a statement. How to honestly tell the others: Sorry I do not enjoy that, sorry I do not like it...? We are taught all the way long to appreciate everything, to be polite. Until, most of the time, we are just too polite to say NO. We are into the business we do not really like or enjoy. And then, a person full of regeret and remorse and depress and indigence in mind causing hatred and low in productivity. Everyday passing by, sun rise and set, what we have done in the midst of it?

Anyway, we need certain social life...picture with aiesecers...

Development Traineeship

weeks passed...Basically I feel I am doing nothing in the office.

One of the purpose I come for this internship is to seek meaning. In our lives, we keep looking for acceptance, self-actualization, and discover more about the question: WHO AM I?

In the office for the past 2 weeks, I was exposed to the project the organization has been done. I must say those are really meaningful project, helping the unables and poor, they are really good at approaching those grassroots...Yet, I feel worthless of being here, I cannot see what can I do. So a question arised: What do you expect from us (the interns)? The answer given was they are not expecting any great contribution from us, for we only stay here 2 months. Nothing much we can do. But they expect us to grow, to see this city more, to learn something from them!

So this is the purpose. It's not what we give, but what we gain. 

What have I learnt in the past 14days? From workplace, after exposing to those videos and reports, I have gained a wider perspective of this kind of organizations. Process is something more important than the result. When the product goes wrong, always check the process (according to our Banlanatak.com founder). He speaks wisdom, so do the other staffs! I find Indians are wise. They read. They think. 

So after reading 2 books - The Alchemist and Who will cry when you die?, I'm really inspired to a certain extent. Do not try to be others, just be myself. 

The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside us while we live. So, keep seeking the meaning and looking for the real me, developing...   

Chinese Dining Out

Saturday, we were staying at home, not going anywhere...spending the day with reading - Who will cry when you die? Great book, to kill time and to change your life (according to my dear roommate, Elaine). Shall post a blog about the book...be anticipated...

In the lovely evening, after the rain and the marching of with winning party of recent election, 3 of us could actually hear the drum sounding from our stomach. We were hungry! We were so eager to some food, I mean FOOD, stuffing food, not that kind of banana, snacks or maggi...
So we decided to find places like restaurant to pamper our appetite. We turned to a chinese restaurant (of course run by Indians).

Ordered noodles in gravy (Rs 35), lemon chicken (Rs 60) and Chinese fried rice (Rs 30). Well, not as cheap as we expected. More disappoiting was the taste of the food...Maybe it is a bad idea to have chinese food in india... Well a nice experience though..
Cheers!

The Cradle of Culture

Kolkata is the born place of Great Mother Teresa.

This place is also famous with the Nobel winner, Tagore, who had left a great impact in the art of theatre.

This is an ancient city with lots of authentic bengali heritage. Besides, the buildings are a mixture of Western Architecture - English, Italian Renaissance, Doric style etc.

There are much happenings in the city. Especially nowadays, in celebrating the 150th year of Tagore's Nobel Prize winning, the city has so much theatre shows. This is something impressing me! I always like to see a city with rich arts! This is how the city grow. People here are raised in the harmony of arts, embrace the joy of music and drama. As if they are borned as the happy folks. Dancing and singing is part and parcel of the life! Besides, the citra (paintings) has been adding the hues in the city as well. The ancient people used to draw in a long fabric, citing a story. The long fabric as if the great story book, telling the indelible history. To diversify this industry, the paintings have been printed on the shirts, bags, faience (earthenware) and some other souvenirs. Talking about the souvenirs, there are jukes. The weaving arts have made it into various workmanlike souvenirs. The tradition + creativity have been transformed this culture into industry. To preserve certain tradition, we mustadd the value in it. Modern promotion is needed in the industry, i believe.

Be proud of the traditional cultures as it is the heritage from our wise and erudite ancestors...

Santoshpur Lake

Santoshpur, the place I am staying.
There is a landmark - Santoshpur Lake. The lake is a wonderful place, a recreational park for the residence here!
In the morning (5-6am), people walk (but no jog, perhaps I can be the first jogger here since I always wake up so early, as usual) around the lake. Some even jump into the lake and have a swim in the hot afternoons. The water is being taken care, filtered and not that bad.
Talking about water, the water here is not really what we used to have in Malaysia. Perhaps there are still plenty of rooms for improvement in the efforts of water treatment. See, even after taking bath, after the water vaporizing from skin, the stickiness comes. Besides, when brushing teeth, I could even taste the saltiness in the water. Some people said there are much mineral ions left in the pipe water here. At first, I was really cannot bear with it. Now, it is irritating still, yet acceptable. Whatsoever, I miss Malaysia water.
I'm not really complaining, you guys should know getting water supply in the house is already something very fortunate in places like this!
Picture of beautiful Samtoshpur Lake...sharing...

Lovely weekend

It was a wonderful weekend. We spent time in shopping. You bet, girls are just getting excited whenever time arrived for shopping!

Finally I have bought those Khurti which i wanted to buy so much before coming to India. While shopping around the shoes stalls / shops, some indian ladies even watched my shoes in awe and wondered where did I buy them! (Perhaps I should be considering to start up some wholesaler business here!) lol!

Some souvenirs caught my attention - ANG PAU! haha! Well, the shopkeeper told me that was the paper packets. These are made up of hand-made paper. There were various kind of them - crushed paper, weaving paper, and leaf paper. The leaf paper is something the images of leaves are stamped on the papers they are dried up.

Indian is really famous for its spices. As food service student (again..!), interest in spices and some authentic foods is something deep rooted inside me. There are a lot of digestive stuffs (sort of dried plums) available here! You guys must be interested! I am so addicted to one kind of them - called AJWAIN. I bought some to bring back..

Then we followed Aiesecer Raj back her home. It was a nice windy place! Perhaps it is located in the 7th floor, so the room is just sooo ventilated and COOL! Her parents were very wise and warm persons! We had our dinner at about 10.30pm (sounds like my supper!) We were served authentic Southern Indian food in the northen India! How cool it sounds! See, we were trying to make the rice noodle! This is 100% home-made rice noodles: from boiling the rice into paste, adding salt and moulding it like kind of kuih, then stuffing the kuih inside the equipment to push the noodles out! Guess what, the rice noodles (or can I call it bihun, sounds more familiar to you guys) are being fried and accompanied with lemon dhal. Imagine the flavor...come on, use your imagination!

Besides bihun, we have something called dosa (which is what we called thosai in our country). The dosa is stuffed with onion potato. Really nice it was, I tell you!

Spending night sitting by the windows, listening to the wind.

The breakfast was cool! Cheese and butter toast! Raj is really a great host!

Sunday, this was the day our another Malaysia intern joining us. His name is Arun. Well, now the house is getting more lively, I guess.
Still hot...people are just wanting to lock themselves under the roof in the afternoon. You know, to prevent sun burn...

Election

Election! Election!

The election is coming in India. In Kolkata, the voting day is 13th May. Everyday the people are talking about it. Various campaigns have been held all over the city. Every night, there are talks given by the party leaders in various parts of the city. Posters are flying everywhere. 

India is a democratic country. People here are given utmost freedom politically. People here have high interest in political issue. They talk about the parties, schemes, and even make jokes of them! About 75% of the adults (above 21 y/o) are coming out to vote, including those ladies who always stay at home. 

Politic is something which can excite people here (like the cricket match, songs and food!) Multiple colors of flyers and posters and even wall paintings of the party logo have added the conviviality of Kolkata. 

P/S: I heard there are some funny things happened again in Malaysian politic again, aren't them?

Listen to Your Heart

Today, talking to my mum, as wishing her Happy Mother's Day.

I am glad she has finally joined her old friends in climbing the mountain yesterday and reached the peak in little effort (according to my aunt) . Well, I am really proud of you, mum! This again, proved that Dr King was right. She said my mum's body is even healthier than mine! Seems I still have a long way to catch up...sigh...

Look, I feel peaceful when I am here, Kolkata. There is no any hectic deadline or assignments. I believe few more days later I would be able to enter the field which I always want to be involved - social / community service. Perhaps there will be more contentment and satisfaction once I really start my job. So far, there was only one training session on HIV/AIDS and the other time, we used to online and reading the previous reports of the organization, kinda bored, I should say.

Whenever I am free at home, I would take up the book - The Alchemist and flip on it. This is a really nice book. To follow your destiny and pursue you dream. Listen to your heart and the whole universe would just conspire to help the dream pursuer. One part really touched my heart : once you get older and leaving your dream far behind, your heart tend to get silent and would not speak again, to prevent any sensation of regret and depression. This is just how our society look! See, people have dreams, wild dreams. But most of them never try to realize them, just following the track people tend to think it is NORMAL and PROMISING.

Today mum told me, Uncle Luobiao have been trying to reach me in the few past days but failed. Of course, my hotlink sim card is totally abandoned when i am here. She told him i am in India and doing what i really want to do. In fact, what i really want to do in my life is to get to see all around the world and experiencing the different living cultures of different people. I am always happy when i get to see new things and meeting with new people who used to be so strange for us. Uncle Luobiao confessed that he was always wanting to do something but now there are just too much burdens which he cannot put behind in order to realize his dreams.

This is what I am afraid of. I was wondering whether I would end up like everybody else, graduating from the universtiy, getting into a job, repeating the routine everyday. Even worse, locking up in the house once married and taking care of the children and always in the hoping that the children would grown up faster. This is basically the route a woman will take. Yes, this is the route ROUGHLY! There are still plenty of things can happen!

My dream keeps me going. I am not going to abandon it. Listen to my hearth truthfully as it always tell who and what I am!

The City of Joy

This is the 10th Anniversary of the establishment of Banglanatak.com (the organization I work for) Founder of Banglanatak.com, Mr Amitava. A nice person and extremely knowledgable!

Ms Gorgeous of the night, Ms Sayantani. Very enthusiast, smart and kind person!

After the working hour, all staffs were invited to the party! wow!
The whole party was entertained by the folk songs (Baul Fakiri) singers. They played the tradisional instruments and sang. This is a heritage culture of Bengal. Firstly, like normal performance we have watched, they played in the centre on the ground, audiences are listening.

With folk song singers.

Then the atmosphere heated up! People were getting high. Starting, few staffs were joining the playing and dancing. While talking to Sueren, i mentioned i was feeling want to join the joy! He was the one encouraging me to join! So, that's it - i was dancing on the floor!
Seriously, it was fantastic! Everybody was singing and dancing. A scene emerged in my mind: the hobbits in the Shire are dancing innocently and gaily!

Kolkata, as people say, a city of joy, I would say: nothing more true!

Jaiguru! (cheers)

Slum

First visit to slums. Finally the day has come. Heard of the word - slums for thousand times but never really took a look on it with my own eyes! This was a nutritional campaign to increase the awareness of the slum residence to take care of their diet, especially to the children.
The program is called GALLI GALLI SIM SIM, it is a tv show by sesame street characters. The children there were gathered and the field co-ordinator will explained the messages behind. Activities were done by our great field co-ordinator, Nando to reinforce the message to the children.

The children were listening to the explaination by our colleague, Nando.
However, instead of paying the attention to the tv, the children and residence here looked like more interested in Elaine and me. They offered us chairs to sit (this is very rare as chair is sth very seldom-seen furniture there!) I felt awkward. Supposingly we should let people like woman carrying the baby to sit, not us, people who are young and healthy! I do not wish to be served like this in fact. Well, deep in my heart, i am still appreciating their kindness and warmness anyhow.
Some pictures of slums. Guess you guys must be interested.

This is the food stall in the slums. The residences tend to buy the food and eat at the road side, standing.

There are still many pictures...once you are here, you will definitely be glad of where you are and who you are. So guys out there, don't take everything for granted...even a drop of clean water is just so PRECIOUS!

First Eating Out

As a food study student, how can i forget to post anything about the food?!

Last sunday, dear aiesecer Raj brought Elaine and me to an air-conditioned food court to have our lunch. I ordered Indian Thali where as Elaine ordered Masala Dosa.

The staple food in the Indian Thali is the Rumali (similar to naan, yet thinner than naan), with some accompanion dishes. This is authentic North Indian food. 66Rps (RM 5.20)

The Masala Dosa is what we called Thosai in Malaysia. But take a look, there is nice potato stuffing in the Dosa! 50Rps (RM4) (so sorry didnt have the picture of stuffing with me now...will take from Elaine later...)

Language Barrier

Language is something essential in commucation.
Here, the language conversed in daily activities is Bengali, as Kolkata is located in the state of West Bengal (India has 35 states)

In the workplace, English is not a problem as people there are well educated. However, back at home, it's really a challenge to talk to the caretaker, cook, maid etc. We used to communicate in body language + pieces of English (like talking to a baby!) Imagine the situation: it is funny! haha!

Our driver, Prevez-da (dada means abang in bengali) is a friendly person and he knows quite a lot of Bengali-English. He used to taught me simple Bengali. On the way to workplace, in the never-on-aircon little car, my learning materials is the scene outside. Everything i am interested with, i will ask him in Bengali translation. Since i am a slow learner, cannot really pick up of what he is saying in such a short time, yet i believe i will catch up few simple phrases to use whenever converse with people here. I do really wish to understand more about their lives, especially the grassroots.

Traffic in Kolkata

The road is never quiet...HONK! HONK!
The are quite a variety of transportation in the road : rickshaw, auto-rickshaw, bus, taxi, cars and trams. In the morning, the road is flooded by all kinds of this wheels. Then people tend to honk, the frequency is just so high until we Malaysians could hardly imagine.

Honking, to notify the passers-by, get a way out for the car. Often, honking is like shouting: I am coming, give me a way! Is it a way in showing the status? As owning a car is something which can be shouted around?

Anyway, honking, perhaps, is a way to prevent road accident over here. lol.

Living like a VIP

First time in my life, i have been serviced like this:

In the plane, the stewardess served us as the most prestigious guests, with nice arranged and designed food. The entertainment in the plane just never get me bored (perhaps i am still new to being a flyer) haha!
I was telling myself, this kind of enjoyment would be ended soon as i was reaching my destination, I am going to WORK!

Upon arriving Chennai, the crowd and mess just made me feel uneasy! The airport gave me a feeling of Pudu Bus Station! There is as if heaven and earth between airports of Changi and Chennai.The city of Chennai.The Chennai Airport.

The weather is so...HOT! We still need to take the mini bus because there is quite a distance from the plane to the gate of airport.
Arriving Kolkata, there was a different feeling from Chennai. The weather turned better. The land is spotted by cows and there is a beautiful sight around Kolkata.

Aiesecer Ritwick has been there to pick us up for quite some time. He warmly took us to his place. Then glamourous Raj was coming to bring us to the working place and where we stay.

We have been explained briefly of what we are going to do in the coming 7 weeks. Basically it is about HIV issue. India has put such a huge effort in running this kind of campaign and movement. Elaine and I are working for an NGO which is Bangalnatak Dot Com. This organization has done a great job in spreading the awareness to the grass roots. Besides, they create linkages between the community and other organizations.

Back home, Elaine and I, and one more Malaysian who is coming in the coming week, stay together in a flat unit. We have our cook, driver, maid, caretaker...I feel quite uneasy in asking them to do some favours for me! This is totally different from what i thought! In Malaysia, nobody can be ordered around like THIS! We are just being served as VIP.

Then i realized, there is distinct status difference among people here. There are groups of people who are still doing jobs in providing service to higher status nobility. These groups of people are willing to be the ones who are always bending their bodies, nodding yes sir/mdm...

We may feel there must be an equality created. Somehow, this is the way of their living. Yet, we can make a difference. Towards equality...achieving human respect in all levels.