All These Colors Tour: India Part 10
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Kolkata, India
After several days spent in my room recuperating from a tropical heat-induced ailment, I ventured out this evening for a little dinner at the Blue Sky Cafe and to look for a new pair of shorts to sleep in. On the way, I spied a swell-looking vintage book / record shop whose wares spilled all the way from inside out onto the sidewalk. I would’ve liked to buy some vinyl if I saw anything interesting, but it would cost a fortune to ship it back home, so I didn’t even bother. The same goes for musical instruments. I always lust after them, but shipping them halfway around the Earth is too cost-prohibitive.
After a bowl of spaghetti at the cafe, I ventured out into the rainy night to Lindsay Street, where all of the designer label shops wanted $7.00 for one pair of boxers. I’ll bet you could buy a three-pack of ’em for that price at Target back in California. Still in effect were the incredibly thick, chaotic crowds out shopping for the Durga Puja festival coming up in October. Even that couldn’t stop me from squeezing up and down all of the street markets. After checking out some semi-sketchy-looking unpackaged pairs, I came up empty-handed. At one point, another smiling, friendly, clean-cut young man followed me and asked where I was from. After I said California, USA, he started going on about how he had a friend who lived there and how he wanted to visit.
I answered all of his questions, but unfortunately I was a bit standoffish, because sometimes it’s really hard to tell if guys like this are just being friendly, or if they’re somehow going to try to separate you from your money. A minute later, he disappeared into all of the bustle anyway. As time wore on, I had enough and rode a rickshaw back to the Sunflower, where I took an antibiotic for a new case of diarrhea that just developed last night. That sucks because I’ve been in Kolkata for nine days, and spent six of them in my room. And now I’m going to have to lay in there for at least a couple of more days. Urgh!
Roll over photos for captions.
Words and photos ©2012 Arcane Candy.
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