It was our first day of teaching and despite the early hour in the morning we were very excited on our way to school. Boby divided the class into several groups according to their level. Puja taught class 6, while Derya and John each had a couple of class 4 students. In class 1, only one student showed up that morning and it was thus an easy and smooth start for me.
The school is at the top of this pink building
John's boys, Gourav and Kunal
Manish did not have his English textbook with him. Apparently he needed to work on his sums, so I prepared some exercises for him that we reviewed together in English (as doing it in Bengali was not possible for me). A couple of times he missed a few numbers while counting but he was a very motivated student and would listen carefully. An hour and a half later, the kids left to go to regular school. We were providing them with additional classes to help them progress.
We then came back to the flat where we had breakfast (toast with mango jam, plus some boiled eggs), gave the flat a clean, and went shopping for food for lunch. When we got back, we realised that there was a power cut and that we would thus not be able to cook. We had a few biscuits in the meantime and after a couple of hours the power came back. John came to fetch me, as I had taken this opportunity to have a little nap. We divided the tasks among ourselves in order to have enough time for lunch before the 3:30pm class with the women. I cooked while John went to an Internet cafe to prepare exercises for the afternoon class and print a few copies. The exercises involved filling in missing letters to the spelling of the months, writing a few words starting with a few chosen letters, and answering some questions relating to daily life. The women were very friendly and focused. We had a great time going through the exercise sheet.
Women's awareness class
As we were coming back from our class in the afternoon, a little visitor was waiting for us. We saw a small rodent in the room by the entrance, where the dog food is stored. Derya and I retreated while John shooed it out (and then moved the dog food, used to feed the stray dogs that live nearby, outside). Alarm over, we spent the afternoon washing a few clothes (it takes quite a lot of time doing it by hand) and chilling out in the flat.
In the evening, we prepared another exercise sheet for the women's English class the next day. We had signed up for a cooking class in Kolkata and thus would not have much time to prepare the exercise sheet before the following day's English class. For dinner, we treated ourselves to the best restaurant in Khardah: the Penguin Inn. We enjoyed a really tasty meal, which was a great and well-deserved treat after enduring a week of my trying to cook Indian food with our limited appliances.
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5th January
On Thursday morning I had four slightly sleepy pupils in front of me. We went through the same exercises as those we had prepared for the women's class, as again they did not have their English textbooks. They were reasonably focused. The tricky part was that they had different levels so two would always finish before the others and let me know about it: "Auntie, finish". I would have a look at what they had written and ask them to wait for the others. This was reasonably smooth, and they were lovely kids.
Teaching my four eager students
After the class, John and I took the train to Dum-Dum, and then the metro to Khalighat, at the south of Kolkata. The first train through Khardah was completely packed, as was the second, but we managed to squeeze our way onto the third. Because Dum Dum is the first stop for the metro we managed to secure seats, so were relatively protected from the overcrowding. We had about 10-15 stops to go to Kalighat, where we had arranged to meet a representative of the agency responsible for the cooking class.
A rather crowded train arriving at Khardah station. We decided to take the next one.
The almost-empty train that we did manage to board
Clem having fun on the train
A peaceful descent from the train.
As we arrived at the Kalighat metro station 30 minutes early, we decided to walk over to the Kali temple, about 5 minutes away. The route was not at all obvious. Even with someone showing us the way, the street leading to the temple was quite narrow and curvy and it was not abundantly clear whether we were going in the right direction until the very moment that we saw the top of the temple's spire.
Kolkata was governed by the Communist party for decades until its defeat in 2010 elections
The outside if Kali temple; no photos allowed inside
We were shown around by a Brahman priest but I stopped following him when I realised that he was taking us to the corner where the sacrificing of goats takes place. Instead we joined the long queue of devotees to enter the temple. Once inside, people were pushing and shoving to stay by the statue. It was not really a place for tourists to stick around so after catching a glimpse of the statue we collected our shoes and walked back to the station.
The representative of the agency was really friendly. He is Australian and spends 6 months a year in India and the rest back in his own country. He said that he enjoyed the openness of the people of Kolkata and had grown accustomed to the noise and the other delicacies the city has to offer. As we were walking towards the house where the class would take place, we noticed that the streets were getting cleaner and quieter. We had reached a middle-class neighbourhood. This would a great place for a hotel or a guest house we thought.
After the cooking class came the best part: degustation. We sat around the table and enjoyed the delicious dishes. Over lunch, we had a really interesting talk about Indian traditions. She explained to us that she and her husband were quite modern and would not mind their daughter marrying a non-Hindu, but that many more traditional families would not be so accepting. We all received a cookbook with the recipes for the dishes we had prepared that day (and others). I was very hopeful by then that I could cook what we had learnt that day.
The marvelous meal
Chatting with our host and teacher
We made it back to Khardah in time for the women's awareness class. We distributed the exercises, which turned out to be more difficult than the ones of the day before. Nevertheless, we spent most of the time on the questions relating to their daily life (e.g., favourite activity, colour, or animal) as it made the class much more lively. After the class, I went with Boby to visit a local seamstress for her to make a blouse for my sari, but it turned out that there was not enough material, so I ended up just buying a couple of blouses that matched.
Measuring the sari
John collects two fine cotton shirts from the tailor
We spent the rest of the day at the flat. We discussed the exercises we could prepare for the next day and the organisation of the party we planned to throw on Saturday to bid the kids farewell. We agreed to buy cakes from the excellent bakery (Mongini's) and fruit juice. Derya had brought some balloons and a colourful garland from Holland, which would decorate the class very nicely.
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