Since I have not much to say about these two cities, I will start with some information about the food I have been eating so far (this is dedicated to Seb, who has been asking for this for a while). First of all, I do not really make any difference between what Indians eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It all looks (and tastes) the same: yellow (and sometimes a bit of green). Most of the food is either pan-fried, dip fried or floating in some oily sauce. That said, food is not bad here. Initially, I was being very conservative with food, sticking to the veggie stuff as I was worried about the hygiene standards with regards to meat. In addition, the few meat dishes that I got in restaurants (mainly trying to get my usual chicken tikka or lamb biriyani curries) were not great: the meat was mainly the bad part of the chicken or “mutton” (actually it is goat…) and I would end up having more bones to suck than actual meat.
The basis of Indian food is called thali. It is a plate with various small dishes, giving a good sample of local cuisine: some steamed rice, usually some dal (a soup of lentils, more or less thick depending on where you are in India), usually some paneer (local cheese) with a spinach or tomato sauce, some potatoes masala (masala meaning a mix of spices and being used almost for anything), and some chapatti (sort of pita bread). Some regions, such as Bengal, serve slightly different types of thalis (with a bit of meat or fish), but this is mainly what you find in them. In Darjeeling, being close to Nepal and Tibet, they also serve beef (yes, cows are sacred animals everywhere else and Indians do not eat them) and make all sorts of dumplings and noodles close to what you would find in a Chinese restaurant. In Kolkata, I also had a massive prawn with spicy sauce: it was so massive that it could probably speak lobster (I owe this joke to Lonely Planet). All this is often eaten with your hands (at least in normal Indian food places). The main drink here is tea. In Darjeeling, they drink black tea (to keep the actual flavour of tea), but in the rest of India, it is masala chai (a tea directly brewed in milk and water, and drank with a lot (a lot!) of sugar). As for the deserts, I am simply not a big fan of Indian sweets: they usually are too sweet and not to my taste, so I will simply not describe what these are. The only sweet I actually like is lassi: a kind of curd mixed with ice and fruits (banana, lemon…).
Obviously, due to the large number of western tourists coming to India, most places have adapted and serve various types of western food: veggie pizzas, pastas, sandwiches and burgers. Breakfasts are also westernised and it is easy to find pancakes, toasts and omelettes. I also had a McDonald's back in Varanasi. Interestingly enough, whilst there were no beef bugers (surprising...), the McMaharaja burger tasted exactly like a BigMac... despite the fact that it was chicken! I suppose you don't go McD's for the taste of the meat... Finally, with regards to booze, most places do not have the licence to serve beer or liquor. However, as for everything in India, the rules are not really followed and most places do serve beer (the local Kingfisher, at 4% or 8%).
All in all, I manage to find some good food and I have not been sick so far, but would be ready to pay a lot of money for a good baguette with Camembert and red wine (or a good hamburger with bacon and cheese, or a steak with fries, or… hum). I will probably be riced up by the end of this trip as well…
Done with the food, let’s talk about the latest places I have been to. I left Darjeeling and flew directly (well, after a 3-hour downhill ride in jeep to the airport…) to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta, but it seems India wanted to get rid of some of the English empire legacy by changing the names of the cities). Kolkata is what I expected Delhi to be. It is the former capital of the British Indian Empire and it certainly shows the remains of a former colonial city (old colonial buildings, wide avenues, large park…). As everything in India, it could be much better and more beautiful if they took care of their legacy, but as everything in India, people do not really seem to care… Anyway, some of the buildings would not be out of place in London or in the U.S. Finally, Kolkata has one of the most beautiful buildings in India: the Victoria Memorial (dedicated to queen Victoria of England, which is ironic!). This old colonial architecture contrasts with a lot of modern buildings everywhere throughout the city, and in particular the massive luxury shopping malls which would give Westfield a run for its money. Having been to one of these malls, it was funny to notice that the shop salespeople behaved the same way in a Levi’s or Samsonite store as they do in a street bazaar: they follow you everywhere in the shop and start pulling everything they have out to desperately try to sell you something!
My guest house was not in the backpackers’ area. I could not be asked to spend another night in one of those shit holes full of bedbugs so I opted for a place in a middle class Indian area. Not many tourists there, but still a lot of contrast with poor people and kids sleeping in the street next to the houses of (relatively) well-off ones.
After Kolkata, I decided to take another shortcut and fly to Chennai, in Tamil Nadu. Chennai is another of these former colonial places which have changed of name: it used to be called Madras. Nothing much else to say about that place. I stayed there less than 24 hours as it was not a very interesting place: only a typical big Indian city, except this time, there was not much sightseeing to be done. I took a bus heading South for what I thought would be Mamallapuram: in my book, when the sign on the bus says “Pondy via Mamallapuram”, it means that it goes to Pondy (Puducherry or formerly Pondicherry) but stops in Mamallapuram on the way. Well, in India, it just means that it goes through that place without stopping!And my next question is: who gives a shit, then?
Therefore, I ended up going straight to Pondy (which was on my list, fortunately enough!). I’ll see Mamallapuram another time… I will tell you about the French-Indian colonial empire capital’s splendours next time.
In the meantime, take care.
Some pictures:
Yellow cabs? Is this NY? No, this is Kolkata
Kolkata street view
Another example of the remains of the colonial architecture
This building seemed to be totally abandoned, which is a shame...
The Victoria Memorial
You cannot see it from here, but the statue of Queen Victoria is covered with bird shit... I suppose the Indians do not like cleaning this symbol of a monarchy they struggled against...
This is it (each time I see one of these golden statues, I cannot help but think of MJ ;-))
MJ IS NOT DEAD !!!
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