Adventures In Kolkata

On Wednesday, October 12 we flew from Delhi to Kolkata on Air India, then we took a bus through the city to our lovely riverboat on the Ganges. The city used to be called Calcutta by the British, but in the local Bengal tongue it is Kolkata. It's the second largest city in the country, with 13 million inhabitants, and surrounding suburbs swelling to 18 million. Here, it is even more evident that life is completely different than in a large Western city. People are everywhere and they live in ramshackle buildings that are falling apart, yet life is vibrant. On the streets, decorative holiday lights and huge, colorful temporary display temples for the Hindu Durga Puja were everywhere. This was in celebration of the festival of the mother goddess Durga. On board the Ganges Voyager we enjoyed a buffet dinner followed by an Indian dancing performance before retiring for the evening. - Dan