India: Day 3 – An excursion to Northern Kolkata

I had another early start today and spent much of the morning writing posts for this blog. Since Sparsh’s grandfather had me sit at a different end of the table this time, I did not see the shrine very well, but I noticed that unlike yesterday, Durga received her beloved hibiscus blossoms and half a coconut. I also saw that when the priest came, he not only dressed the idols but seemed to put something like hair on their heads as well.

A little after nine o’clock a small group of us (Victoria, Sophie, Sophie’s brother Julien, and I) set off for the north of Kolkata to see two important temples. The first, about an hour away by Uber, was the Belur Math complex. Associated with the nineteenth century spiritual leader Ramakrishna and his disciples, it is the centre of the worldwide Ramakrishna mission. A core tenet of this movement is that all religions are fundamentally the same, and this principle is underscored by the mixture of architectural styles used in the building of the main temple.

Right after passing through the gates of the complex, we left our shoes at the shoe depository and continued our excursion barefooted. The grounds were very well maintained. The hedges were trimmed, the grass was mown, and the trees were kept well within the bounds of where they were supposed to grow. For the first time since visiting the Victoria Memorial, I felt safe and relaxed; the grounds were staffed by many workers who kept the visitors from running amok.

We stopped by all four of the major temples in the complex, which all seemed to be built around relics associated with the major gurus of the Ramakrishna mission. Victoria and I also briefly toured the mission’s museum, which houses a bizarrely extensive collection of memorabilia associated with the movement’s luminaries. Besides the obligatory personal objects, we saw the red-ink footprints of holy people and miniatures of the houses where they stayed on their international tours.

As we could not find an Uber that would take us to our next destination, we flagged down a four-seater tuk-tuk. We thought we would have to barter on the price, but in fact, upon being asked whether he would want 200 rupees for the ride, the driver insisted we only give him one hundred. In the end, we gave him 200 anyway, as we were impressed by his honesty in heading away to get change for the 500 rupees we procured.

As tuk-tuks are not permitted to cross the Vivekananda bridge, the driver left us at the entrance and we continued on foot. It was a very rewarding walk. On our way to the Dakshineswar Kali Temple, we saw a range of scenes from daily life in the city, like people bathing and washing their clothes in the river and sacrificial goats waiting for their death in front of roadside shacks. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived at the temple, the complex began to close for the daily lunchtime siesta. Julien and Sophie managed to briefly get in while Victoria and I guarded their things, and they saw a woman be violently possessed by the spirit of the goddess.

I was chuffed to introduce my friends to the metro system, whose blue line actually begins at Dakshineswar. We rode it all the way to Park Street Station, near which we met the rest of the group for lunch at Flavours of China, a famous restaurant with a long history and an interesting Indian take on Chinese food.

We had some time to kill between lunch and our evening programme, so we broke into smaller groups again. Ludo, Sophie, Julien, and I took an Uber to the Jain temple of Parshwanath in city’s northeast. The interior was heavily decorated with ornate tiles, mirrors and silver ornaments, making it glisten like an ice cave struck by daylight. The grounds were also very striking: they contained numerous decorations, and especially silver Baroque-inspired statues of female divinities and mer-children.

Sparsh’s programme for the evening was to visit part of Kolkata’s old town at Kumartuli, an area famous for its manufacture of statues for the city’s festivals. During these festivals, the heavily painted and brightly dressed statues are carried around in processions before being thrown into the Hooghly River. The upcoming celebrations will honour Ganesh and Durga. Consequently, many of the statues we saw in the making depicted these two gods in recognisable poses: Ganesh sitting and giving benediction, usually in front of his vehicle animal, the rat, and Durga standing over her lion and a vanquished demon.

For dinner, Sparsh’s mother prepared a selection of Marwari foods from Rajasthan, which is the family’s ancestral home. The most interesting article were pickled tree twigs, which were given to us with the explanation that Rajasthan is a very arid place. It was an interesting change from yesterday, when we were given a selection of street food, none of which I can remember by name. It included a juice and cream filled bread ball, and white bread dipped in a tomato-based sauce.