Dec 13, 2012
8.32 AM, on board IndiGo (Chennai-Kolkata)
Mood: Quietly floaty
Keeping travel journals is an old habit, but so far, there's not oh so much to say. First time traveling by myself, but I think that the fact will sink in better once I reach.
So yeah...
Barely slept last night. The mosquitoes were having Mardi Gras. Bloody vampire insects...
Left home at 6.30ish AM. For some reason, bro had already gotten ready for school. Jumpy about chem exam, I guess. I don't blame the boy a whit.
Tu whit to whoo...
Bit tired. Slept badly and have a wee headache.
I waltzed through security and check-in. Knowing my talent for dancing, I had a few Matt Smith moments with my twiddle-toes, but I got through decently. If there were scares of looking the idiot, I think I covered it up well enough. Like I said, Matt Smith moments.
The stewardesses are taking the trolley down selling munchies, but I already had breakfast in the airport. Tasted terrible, but coffee is coffee.
Anyhoo, I read a few chapters of Chris Abel. I'm still valiantly trying to discover its relevance. I have to write up a proper checklist and spreadsheet the progress. Gods, I was just too bloody tired yesterday.
Me gonna catch a few snoozes. Maybe with the Smiths. Ta!
***
Dec 13, 2012
5.30 PM, Room 205, Hotel Narayani Enclave, Kasba, Kolkata
Mood: Really tired and really annoyed.
Twice in one day. TWICE IN ONE DAY. Oh wait, it was two plus a bungle. Seriously. This is just bloody insulting.
Bah.
I mean, it happens once and you're like, "Okay, fine, I'll deal, won't happen again", and then, you find out that it happened TWICE.
Karma karma karma!
Yeesh...
Anyway, I'm back in the room. No appetite; I'll probably skip dinner and get some sleep tonight. I'll get a proper tuck in at breakfast tomorrow. Speaking of which, I still have to call up reception and ask if it's a part of the package.
My feet hurt. I've been walking around all day. Chuck Taylors or no, they still hurt.
The case study is sort of taken care of, permission wise. I spoke to Pronob Guha, who connected me to Kallol Dutta who connected me to Arijit Dutte Chowdhury, whom I'm meeting tomorrow at eleven.
The hotel is decent, just in a wee bit seedy locality. After reaching here, freshening up and the whatnot, I had lunch at their adjoining restaurant next door. Restaurant plus bar. The fellows working there were all trussed up fancy in an 'I'm in a cool club'ish manner. White leather seats, white furniture and REALLY tacky purple spangly wallpaper.
Name?
'Cheeni Kum'.
Talk about an anticlimax. It was just so disjointed.
Disjointed and empty. It's rather uncomfortable to eat when you're by yourself in a wee restaurant with tacky purple walls and three males with nothing better to do than watch you eat.
Awkward.
Left as fast as possible.
The whole of today was kind of for my roaming, so I took a cab to Indian Museum. Saw a number of places en route: New Howrah Bridge, Eden Gardens, Victoria Memorial plus its Maidan, Netaji Circle, etc etc etc. The cabbie pointed the places out and I was watching avidly and asking questions.
Arse.
I should have shut up.
I was unsure when he named the charge and found out later just how badly the bum had frisked me. Two flippin' hundred, folks, two flippin' hundred.
Cue applause.
Stupid Soo.
Spent around three hours in Indian Museum. It's the oldest museum in India; the fact was evident. The way they exhibited would have put an insomniac to sleep.
Honestly, you have a gorgeous two-and-a-half foot high fossil of an ammonite on display and all you tack on it is its Latin name, what do you expect?
"Ooh, pretty swirly!"
Yeah.
Their Archeology exhibit was lovely and their Anthropology section wasn't bad either. The Vertebrae/Invertebrae areas were similar to the displays in the Naturalhistorische Museum in Viena, albeit not as nicely lit. This is a really old building. And as much as I know how useful it is to have the actual thing on display to have a better idea, taxidermal models have always freaked me out a bit.
Ick.
When I was at the Vertebrae exhibit looking at a real skeleton of an Irish stag, a fellow (curator or keeper or whatever) came up and started yelling at me in Bangla. When I made some reason out of it, I realized that he was pointing at my bag.
Looks like they weren't allowed.
Well, my bad. What was I gonna do, smash a glass and frisk a fossil of a Silurian mollusc?
Speaking of which, I had an internal laugh at the word 'Silurian'. Moffat took creative liberties with the word. Madame Vastra is a reptile from the dawn of time; the real guys were little squids in cone-y shells and twiggy eyes.
Anyway...
Yeah, I raised an eyebrow at the guy when he told me to "Get". He must have gotten a bit scared when I asked, "Out?" because he started apologizing and told me to deposit it at the counter downstairs.
That's all I needed to know, pal.
...
Someone's been buzzing my doorbell. Get lost, I'm not answering. I even put out a 'Do Not Disturb' sign.
Seriously...
I got followed around three different exhibit sections by a group of boys before I managed to lose them. Buggers....
Oh and interestingly enough, I bumped into two other architecture students who were there for case study: one from NID and another from Trichy. Well, hello hello. I was a walking neon sign with my Measi hoodie. I said hi and good luck to one and I pointed the other in the direction of the Anthropology section.
Was there till 3.30 PM and then, walked around New Market. It was a veritable zoo, but after braving Kolaba, this place was tame. I got a couple of colored shoelaces for the Vincent shoes.
Then, I took the Kolkata Metro from Esplanade to Kalighat.
Yeah, this is where my bungle occurred.
See, I should have remembered that I'm supposed to keep the little token with me after passing the gate and use it again after arriving and then, dump it in the wee slot.
What did I do?
Slipped it in the slot at Esplanade.
I thus had no token to get out at Kalighat.
Bah.
I suck.
There was a checker fellow who got me out of paying two fifty bucks as a fine, which would have been disastrous as I was running low on cash and needed money to get back to Kasba. He flashed his card on the sensor, blocked me from the view of three guys attired in uniform and holding rifles and told me to run. He took a hundred bucks as his payment.
Knowing my luck and knowledge and brilliant sense, he probably frisked me too.
Yeesh.
Gods, it's dark. It was dark even at 5 PM here.
Anyhoo...
I asked someone for directions to the Kali Mandir and took a hike there. When I reached there, I found myself being swept along by the fellow who gave me directions (let's call him Teeth; he smiled too much). Teeth told me where to leave my shoes, thrust a basket of offerings into my hands and pulled me along into the temple. I managed to stop him midway and tell him that I don't have money for whatever program he had in mind. He just smiled again (honestly, people who smile that much are creepy) and took me in a different route and told me some sloka to chant. I was too bewildered too argue. Two fellow pulled me up close to the Kali and asked for five hundred bucks for a special prayer.
I was getting pissed off.
Not only was it insanely crowded, but these guys were ticking me off and I didn't WANT a special prayer; all I wanted to do was see Kali Maiyya, havign come so far.
What did I do?
I pretended to cry.
And yes, it worked.
Muhaha.
At least I got to see Her.
I gave twenty bucks to Kali, forty to Teeth for his troubles and then vamoosed the hell out of there.
Hoo.
I got half a coconut out of it.
I took a cab back to the hotel after a long hike during which I nearly got run over by a pint-sized bus and a tram (yes, they still use the old tram lines around here). Nice cabbie. Fair fellow from Bihar. He broke the news to me of my 'twice-frisked'-hood.
Bah.
Long day.
I'll just check my mails, call reception about breakfast and then relax. Maybe watch some TV. I'll make and finalize my case study checklists tomorrow when I'm functioning on recharged batteries. For now, I'm goo with glasses.
Goo with Glasses signing out...
8.32 AM, on board IndiGo (Chennai-Kolkata)
Mood: Quietly floaty
Keeping travel journals is an old habit, but so far, there's not oh so much to say. First time traveling by myself, but I think that the fact will sink in better once I reach.
So yeah...
Barely slept last night. The mosquitoes were having Mardi Gras. Bloody vampire insects...
Left home at 6.30ish AM. For some reason, bro had already gotten ready for school. Jumpy about chem exam, I guess. I don't blame the boy a whit.
Tu whit to whoo...
Bit tired. Slept badly and have a wee headache.
I waltzed through security and check-in. Knowing my talent for dancing, I had a few Matt Smith moments with my twiddle-toes, but I got through decently. If there were scares of looking the idiot, I think I covered it up well enough. Like I said, Matt Smith moments.
The stewardesses are taking the trolley down selling munchies, but I already had breakfast in the airport. Tasted terrible, but coffee is coffee.
Anyhoo, I read a few chapters of Chris Abel. I'm still valiantly trying to discover its relevance. I have to write up a proper checklist and spreadsheet the progress. Gods, I was just too bloody tired yesterday.
Me gonna catch a few snoozes. Maybe with the Smiths. Ta!
***
Dec 13, 2012
5.30 PM, Room 205, Hotel Narayani Enclave, Kasba, Kolkata
Mood: Really tired and really annoyed.
Twice in one day. TWICE IN ONE DAY. Oh wait, it was two plus a bungle. Seriously. This is just bloody insulting.
Bah.
I mean, it happens once and you're like, "Okay, fine, I'll deal, won't happen again", and then, you find out that it happened TWICE.
Karma karma karma!
Yeesh...
Anyway, I'm back in the room. No appetite; I'll probably skip dinner and get some sleep tonight. I'll get a proper tuck in at breakfast tomorrow. Speaking of which, I still have to call up reception and ask if it's a part of the package.
My feet hurt. I've been walking around all day. Chuck Taylors or no, they still hurt.
The case study is sort of taken care of, permission wise. I spoke to Pronob Guha, who connected me to Kallol Dutta who connected me to Arijit Dutte Chowdhury, whom I'm meeting tomorrow at eleven.
The hotel is decent, just in a wee bit seedy locality. After reaching here, freshening up and the whatnot, I had lunch at their adjoining restaurant next door. Restaurant plus bar. The fellows working there were all trussed up fancy in an 'I'm in a cool club'ish manner. White leather seats, white furniture and REALLY tacky purple spangly wallpaper.
Name?
'Cheeni Kum'.
Talk about an anticlimax. It was just so disjointed.
Disjointed and empty. It's rather uncomfortable to eat when you're by yourself in a wee restaurant with tacky purple walls and three males with nothing better to do than watch you eat.
Awkward.
Left as fast as possible.
The whole of today was kind of for my roaming, so I took a cab to Indian Museum. Saw a number of places en route: New Howrah Bridge, Eden Gardens, Victoria Memorial plus its Maidan, Netaji Circle, etc etc etc. The cabbie pointed the places out and I was watching avidly and asking questions.
Arse.
I should have shut up.
I was unsure when he named the charge and found out later just how badly the bum had frisked me. Two flippin' hundred, folks, two flippin' hundred.
Cue applause.
Stupid Soo.
Spent around three hours in Indian Museum. It's the oldest museum in India; the fact was evident. The way they exhibited would have put an insomniac to sleep.
Honestly, you have a gorgeous two-and-a-half foot high fossil of an ammonite on display and all you tack on it is its Latin name, what do you expect?
"Ooh, pretty swirly!"
Yeah.
Their Archeology exhibit was lovely and their Anthropology section wasn't bad either. The Vertebrae/Invertebrae areas were similar to the displays in the Naturalhistorische Museum in Viena, albeit not as nicely lit. This is a really old building. And as much as I know how useful it is to have the actual thing on display to have a better idea, taxidermal models have always freaked me out a bit.
Ick.
When I was at the Vertebrae exhibit looking at a real skeleton of an Irish stag, a fellow (curator or keeper or whatever) came up and started yelling at me in Bangla. When I made some reason out of it, I realized that he was pointing at my bag.
Looks like they weren't allowed.
Well, my bad. What was I gonna do, smash a glass and frisk a fossil of a Silurian mollusc?
Speaking of which, I had an internal laugh at the word 'Silurian'. Moffat took creative liberties with the word. Madame Vastra is a reptile from the dawn of time; the real guys were little squids in cone-y shells and twiggy eyes.
Anyway...
Yeah, I raised an eyebrow at the guy when he told me to "Get". He must have gotten a bit scared when I asked, "Out?" because he started apologizing and told me to deposit it at the counter downstairs.
That's all I needed to know, pal.
...
Someone's been buzzing my doorbell. Get lost, I'm not answering. I even put out a 'Do Not Disturb' sign.
Seriously...
I got followed around three different exhibit sections by a group of boys before I managed to lose them. Buggers....
Oh and interestingly enough, I bumped into two other architecture students who were there for case study: one from NID and another from Trichy. Well, hello hello. I was a walking neon sign with my Measi hoodie. I said hi and good luck to one and I pointed the other in the direction of the Anthropology section.
Was there till 3.30 PM and then, walked around New Market. It was a veritable zoo, but after braving Kolaba, this place was tame. I got a couple of colored shoelaces for the Vincent shoes.
Then, I took the Kolkata Metro from Esplanade to Kalighat.
Yeah, this is where my bungle occurred.
See, I should have remembered that I'm supposed to keep the little token with me after passing the gate and use it again after arriving and then, dump it in the wee slot.
What did I do?
Slipped it in the slot at Esplanade.
I thus had no token to get out at Kalighat.
Bah.
I suck.
There was a checker fellow who got me out of paying two fifty bucks as a fine, which would have been disastrous as I was running low on cash and needed money to get back to Kasba. He flashed his card on the sensor, blocked me from the view of three guys attired in uniform and holding rifles and told me to run. He took a hundred bucks as his payment.
Knowing my luck and knowledge and brilliant sense, he probably frisked me too.
Yeesh.
Gods, it's dark. It was dark even at 5 PM here.
Anyhoo...
I asked someone for directions to the Kali Mandir and took a hike there. When I reached there, I found myself being swept along by the fellow who gave me directions (let's call him Teeth; he smiled too much). Teeth told me where to leave my shoes, thrust a basket of offerings into my hands and pulled me along into the temple. I managed to stop him midway and tell him that I don't have money for whatever program he had in mind. He just smiled again (honestly, people who smile that much are creepy) and took me in a different route and told me some sloka to chant. I was too bewildered too argue. Two fellow pulled me up close to the Kali and asked for five hundred bucks for a special prayer.
I was getting pissed off.
Not only was it insanely crowded, but these guys were ticking me off and I didn't WANT a special prayer; all I wanted to do was see Kali Maiyya, havign come so far.
What did I do?
I pretended to cry.
And yes, it worked.
Muhaha.
At least I got to see Her.
I gave twenty bucks to Kali, forty to Teeth for his troubles and then vamoosed the hell out of there.
Hoo.
I got half a coconut out of it.
I took a cab back to the hotel after a long hike during which I nearly got run over by a pint-sized bus and a tram (yes, they still use the old tram lines around here). Nice cabbie. Fair fellow from Bihar. He broke the news to me of my 'twice-frisked'-hood.
Bah.
Long day.
I'll just check my mails, call reception about breakfast and then relax. Maybe watch some TV. I'll make and finalize my case study checklists tomorrow when I'm functioning on recharged batteries. For now, I'm goo with glasses.
Goo with Glasses signing out...
