We are Here

I would've thought that after 15 months of preparation for a trip there would be very few surprises and I would have a fair idea of what to expect. But when a country introduces itself with a warning sign in the airport telling the public not to bribe the officers, it's a fair tell tail sign that maybe everything will not pan out as I expected. Then to follow this with a cab ride that involved 12143 near crashes, an impromptu staring contest instigated by a dude driving the car next to us, seeing 3 men in shirts and jeans constructing an overpass by themselves, a 5 person rickshaw fitting in over 8 decent sized adults and of course Fletcher Boswell sleeping in the back for over half the ride, the comedic values of the crazy city that is Kolkata was finally seen in reality. However this impression was quickly built upon as within 2 minutes of a walk around our hotel, the reality of the place was apparent when it slapped us all pretty hard in the face. From being beeped at by every single motor vehicle thats within a 100 meter radius, or being waved at for literally 5 minutes straight by the strong willed security guard as you try to write in your diary (His persistancy was rewarded with a wave back every 20 seconds), to being led to an internet cafe by a new best mate named Kahn we've only had the slightest taste of what's to come and how it will effect us. But that's the exciting part, we've got an interesting time ahead of us to say the least.

Tim Burns