Color Me Bengali Baby

On the 11 hour sleeper bus, TG tells me a story. " There was once a girl. She was in love. She followed her lover deep into a crazy world. Everyday she fought past the tangled overgrown web of dangers. The barbs of life pricked at her skin, and though it stung, she plucked the painful poisonous spears from her body, and continued on. She emerged somehow, stronger than before." Oh. So much for ghost stories.

We have arrived in the New York of India, the cultural capital of the country, Kolkata. Banyan trees stretch over the wide sidewalks. The cabs are large, yellow, and furious. Modern colored lights and office buildings couple with tiled mosques and faded time washed walls to makeup the cityscape. The city looks as if it has been burnished; antiqued for our pleasure. We arrive the day before Holi, the colorful Hindu festival of Spring.

We spend the majority of the day searching for internet, but to no avail. Then, happily drench ourselves in the bright customary powders of Holi. Bengalis walk about their skin stained red, green, and purple, for days after the holiday. TG is apple green, and I am cherry red. In our colors, we drink, and are merry.

Until now, we have been living on $15 a day each, including housing, food, and transportation. Talk about budget travel. We live on the locals budget, doing what the locals would never do, and going where the tourists would never want to. The dirtiest hotels, the cheapest buses, the longest commutes, and I am realizing what I have survived, and what I have grown to love.

I seem to have grown quite fond of cold showers, flat shoes, and Mcdonalds. Not all changes are good of course. I have learned I can not go without toilet paper, raw leafy vegetables, or internet. Oh India. Three months ago, I would not have imagined that this would be the impact the country would have on my life. I'm also more grateful than I have ever been. We lead such a privileged existence, and as a woman, with education, choice, and freedom, I have so much, I don't think I ever realized how much, until now.

We are staying at a 600 rupee night hotel, approx $13 a night for two people. They are modest accommodations, but surprisingly clean, homey, and with the best view I have seen in all of India. TG has a few weeks off. We bask in the warmth of the locals, the endless winding neighborhoods, and the emptiness of the day.  The sky turns purple when the sun sets. It is my final week in India.