First impressions

Yellow taxi in Kolkata

We left Sydney 2 weeks ago now and after a short transit through Singapore (where we managed to pick up our Changi Airport vouchers and spend them on an iPad cover) we boarded our flight to Kolkata. I think it was then that I realised that we would really be going to India as apart from us, everyone on the flight was Indian. Later when we arrived in Kolkata, we realised that this wasn't the case as we saw a group of students from an Auckland high school on an "India Immersion" trip.

Ferries transporting goods between Kolkata and Howrah

My first impression of Kolkata is that it reminds me of Vietnam or Cambodia - sort of developed, but really old skool at the same time. The yellow taxis, policemen at intersections directing traffic with led paddles that light up as red and green all seem like they are from another era. There is a real buzz and hive of activity as people rush around and a sense of organised chaos in everything from ordering food at a restaurant, purchasing something in a shopping centre, or hailing down a taxi. 

Metro linking Kolkata Airport with the city Metro system

There is construction happening everywhere you look - motorways, apartments, hotels, office towers and shopping centres. What surprises me is how manual everything is. The bamboo scaffolding is tied up by workers scaling heights. The building materials are piled into large metal basis balanced precariously on workers heads and transported from truck to site. Occupational Health and Safety standards seem lower here than in Australia. Construction workers seem fitter and stronger.

As we drive into our hotel, central Kolkata seems a world away. We walk into an air-conditioned lobby decorated with basins of fresh flowers, incense burning and women dressed in beautiful saris. I realise immediately what a privileged life I have compared to some others, and I am thankful.