8th January: Farewell to Khardah and Crawl

This was our last visit to Sealdah and the rain was threatening. Thankfully the rain was not too heavy and we were not made to regret not having an umbrella. A few kids showed up but most of those that we had got to know were sadly not there that day. We managed to prepare some toast with jam before the rain grew heavier. That day the kids were also given an egg each, about which they are usually quite excited: "Deem, deem"! (egg in Bengali), one of them gasped.

Sitting on the platform before sunrise

Behind us a young man is sleeping on the bench, wrapped up in a thin blanket

Gita and I handing out the sandwiches

Derya and I giving biscuit crumbs to a tiny puppy near the station

We said goodbye to the Sealdah kids and took the train back to Khardah and started packing. Derya went to visit the Mother House. She came back around 12pm and helped me to put on the sari I had bought a few days before. I was very grateful for her help as I was feeling completely clueless in front of the 6-8 meters of cloth. I thought I would wear it until dinner but after 2 hours I had had enough and went back to the more comfortable kurti. 

In the afternoon, we went to the school and admired the drawing that the kids were working on under the supervision of Boby and her cousin, a very talented artist. He had propped up one of his drawings for each group of kids to reproduce and work on. He gave us a booklet compiling the great sketches of football players that he had prepared for the 2010 World Cup.  Later Boby invited us to her house for tea. I had a heavy heart saying goodbye to the kids and later to Boby, Puja, Gopa, and Gita.

A very impressive parrot

The budding artists with their masterpieces

We had invited Puja, Gopa, and Gita (Boby and Subhamita could not make it) for dinner at the Penguin Inn that evening. We met them by the school and walked together to the restaurant. Gita had put on a beautiful blue silk sari, and Puja and Gopa were also very well-dressed with beautiful earrings. Derya had also put on a sari, while I had stuck to the kurti. John was also (relatively) elegant in his tailor-made shirt. We spent a great evening and communicated very well despite the varying levels of English. The food was again very tasty, and we all enjoyed it. Gita lived quite far and we were really touched that she had made it for dinner.

Waiting for the train to pass at Khardah station

Farewell dinner

With the food...

Back at the flat, we finished packing and miraculously managed to fit everything in.

Last night under the mosquito nets