I Drank The Water... Whoops!

Outside of Kaligad Temple

What. A. Day. First off, Kalighat, a Hindu temple that I'm pretty sure is a big deal in the Hindu religion. I say this because it's in all the guidebooks and was recommended to me by several people. Having done very minimal research and not having someone to show me the ropes, the significance of my experience was definitely lost on me. Shoes aren't allowed inside and I was warned that if I left my footwear out it would get stolen, so I tucked my flip flops under my shirt. Smooth move.

Mother Teresa's home

I saw a line of people waiting for something, wasn't sure what, but I figured hey, I'm here, I'll wait in line for that thing too. Eventually I made my way inside of a temple where there was some form of Hindu ceremony taking place. I'm sure my Hindu friends are cringing at my ignorance right now. I made my way to the front of the line and a saw people in front of me with money so I got out a Rs. 10 bill and handed it to the man standing in front of a huge statue of the goddess Kali. He started speaking to me in Hindi, like most people here have. When he found out I only speak English and that I had no idea what I was doing, he explained to me that this is the goddess Kali. Then he rubbed an orange paste on my forehead and strung a string of red flowers on my shoulder. He then put some red flower petals in my hand and poured some water into my hands and told me to drink. In the moment, I probably would have stood on my head and quacked like a duck if he told me to, so I drank the water and immediately regretted it. I just drank the water! Everyone, EVERYONE told me not to drink the water and here I was drinking the water. Oh well. He instructed me to give a dude standing next to him Rs. 100 (who was I to argue at this point so I did). I was then directed to donate even more money in a donation box on my way out. I had to force my way through a crowd of people to get out of the temple. Here I was, walking around barefoot inside of a Hindu temple with an orange paste on my forehead, a string of flowers on my shoulder, and flip flops not-so-subtly hidden under my shirt. Welcome to India.

I got yelled at for trying to take a picture inside the temple, which apparently is a no-no I didn't understand until a woman started screaming at me. Outside of the temple no one was willing to take my photo, not because it's taboo, they just didn't want to help a brotha out. So I did was any self-respecting teenage girl would do and got my selfie on.

Victoria Memorial

After Kaligad, I walked around the shops and stumbled upon Mother Teresa's home where she did her work for the poor. Then I took a cab to Victoria Memorial, a huge building that kind of looks like the Capitol in D.C. and has a huge outdoor garden. No one warned me about this, but this is apparently where you go when you want to canoodle with your sweetie in a public-but-let's-pretend-it's-private place. Couples everywhere. So much canoodling. The inside of the building is a huge museum dedicated to Indian history. Did you know that... turns out I remember absolutely zero facts I may have learned inside of the museum. It was hot and I had to pee the whole time.  I finally found a bathroom outside. This was my first experience paying to use a toilet in India. Rs. 2 (or roughly $0.03).

As I left Victoria Memorial, it started pouring rain. Not your pansy San Francisco "fog so thick it feels like rain" rain but "yea, you'll FEEL this rain" rain. I was woefully unprepared, no umbrella, no jacket, and I loved it. I love walking in the rain. It's one of my favorite activities. Freshman year in college I went for a really long walk in the rain with my friend KJ and it's one of the most memorable experiences I have from Stanford.

I walked for a really long time while it was pouring, at least a few miles. I eventually happened upon this village. Or slum? It's really hard for me to tell. But I felt like I was finally for the first time seeing real poverty up close. I had spent all of Bangladesh inside of a car, or a hotel, or a destination, but never got to walk anywhere (don't get me wring, BD was great, but I missed out on that side of BD). This was my first time really being among the people.

Random village

This was definitely one of the most unique experiences of my trip so far. There were cows and other livestock just walking around the streets. Men were bathing in communal public showers. There were a ton of street vendors. Lots of people. Lots. It was really dirty. There was trash everywhere. There didn't seem to be a lot of planning when these streets were built.

I also finally figured out my shaving problem: Instead of doing it myself I went to a barbershop and had my first shave. Side note: It's interesting to me that it's totally okay to allow a complete stranger to rub a sharp blade across your throat all in the name of transforming your look into something society has deemed acceptable. Total cost: $0.50.

It was getting dark so I figured I should head back to my hotel. The problem was no cab driver knew where my hotel was or spoke English for that matter. I finally found a cab driver who would take me and he actually took me to the wrong place at first because he misunderstood me. He then demanded even more money from me on top of what he was already overcharging.