Kolcutta
We say:
We were pretty tired of temples, forts, and palaces at this point and couldn’t wait to get together with Rajiv (Gabloo, Babu), Priya, and Riona to find some Indian parties like the ones I remembered in Edmonton. The idea for this trip started when I started telling Lina about the great times I had at parties in Edmonton with Gabloo’s friends and family and how amazing these parties were because they typically had 4 generations of people in one room all having a great time. I had called Gabloo a year earlier looking for one of these parties to show Lina how great they were and he told me that if I wanted to go to a good Indian party, we should go to India with him and his family at Christmas because no-one celebrates like they do. We immediately scrapped our plans for Scotland and began making preparations for India.
Kolkata was a completely different experience compared to the rest of the trip. Everyone noticed us in Rajasthan and we stood out, but in Kolkata we were lost in the crowd. There was a new language barrier we hadn’t experienced elsewhere and Gabloo probably regretted us having him on speed dial just about every time we jumped in a cab. The parties were great and it was nice to relax for a change. We went to a couple of wedding receptions, a New Years party, and a few private parties with Gabloo and his friends and
family.
Chinese food is very common in India and we fell in love with the chili garlic noodles and had it nearly every day. Security was tight because of the recent terrorist attacks and most of the fancy malls and venues had metal detectors that were never turned on and purses were inspected and people were occasionally frisked.
We had an interesting time at our first hotel who went above and beyond the call of duty making sure we were happy and ended up driving us off with their enthusiasm. They would knock on our door promptly at 8:00 am to ask us if we wanted tea, then 8:30 am to ask is we wanted breakfast, then 9:00 am to clean the room (They refused to clean the room while we were away and I saw things I still don’t want to think about. The most notable was the one lonely rag that went into the bathroom and left after every surface
had been wiped down before he started cleaning the floor with it. Then they would knock at least a couple more times during the day to ask us if we wanted anything. The gate to the street was always locked and Lina took a spill when she scaled the gate at 2:00 am while a little tipsy.
Our return flight was delayed by 22 hours due to fog and I was shocked at the treatment we received from British Air and can’t say enough nice things about the experience. In the states, we would have been told to find our own way but BA arranged for transportation to the hotel (we got lucky and avoided the bus and went in a private car), set us up in one of the top two hotels in the city, fed us a couple of times, drove us back to the airport, and changed our US flight to make it more convenient for us. Couldn’t ask for a better experience and I highly recommend flying with them.
This was actually in Goa on our way to the beach. |
This was the view from our first hotel room |
Indian Scaffolding |
 
Lina’s pre-reception Henna |
Lina and Chris at a party |
Dancing again. The hostess for this party is in the background. |
Screw in that light bulb Chris!
Lina and Chris dancing at New Years Party |
Lina at the New Years Party |
Lina’s first taste of paan. A local Indian delicacy. |
Lina and Santa shopping |
 
Lina and Riona on the roof of Pria’s parents house. They bought the pigeons for Riona while she was visiting. |
We’re having breakfast and Pria’s parents house. This place is gorgeous and HUGE!!The family heard our favorite meal was aloo paratha and made it for us for breakfast! We also had chana masala (chickpea masala) one of my (Lina’s) personal faves. The family also went to the store and got us some local sweets. A milk sweet, very good and yummy. |
Posing at the 2nd reception |
That’s one badass Santa. Is that a bag of blood? He’s wearing camo! Remember this is right after the Mumbai attacks in December, I think Santa wants revenge. |
Typical Indian shop for textiles |
Chillin’ at the Spring Club. A local club for NRIs (Non Resident Indians) This was one of our favorite hangouts. |
