Wake up to the sound of honking horns and banging metal. Worked on the web interface a little and then had some breakfast. Our host departs for work, and we head out with Mr. David.
The first stop was at St. Paul's Cathedral, that might not be the correct name but it's unimportant, the place was pretty dull and we stayed there a total of 5 minutes, at least it was free. My advice, avoid it.
We stopped and saw Mother Teresa's grave. It's a big white marble box with flowers on top. They had some good quotes on the wall that I really should have written down. We walked next door to one of the orphanages her order runs. That was some pretty fucked up shit. There several hundred kids there ranging from babies up to five or six. From what they said most of them would end up on the street.
We went to the Asiatic Society's Library/Museum. Like many things in Calcutta it was pretty depressing, they have over 50,000 manuscripts dating back to the 7th century and the place seemed to be falling apart. The packrat in me is offended by the thought of all that material going to waste.
The Victoria Memorial was next. It too is a museum, the only thing of real interest there was exhibit on the history of India from the first European contact to present.
We stopped at the Oberoi Grand Hotel for tea, it was nice but super expensive. We got to talk to Mr. David a little. He makes 4700 rupees (a little more than $100) a month as a driver for the German Consul. There�s no public school in India, three of his five daughters are school aged, and it costs him ~1100 rupees a month for their school. I didn�t ask what he pays for his quarters or how big they are.
The highlight of the day was the Marble Palace. It's a mansion built some time back in the 1800s when Calcutta had serious money, they filled it some insane sculptures (Michelangelo) and paintings (they had a Rembrandt, and a couple of Raphaels). The house itself is pretty much a work of art, marble floors, intricately carved ceilings, it would be gorgeous if wasn't falling apart. The guide said that the seventh generation of the family that built it was still living in part of it. Apparently the house belonged to a trust so nothing could be sold. My dad kept getting all dramatic about how great it was, it was impressive but he was swooning like a school girl or something.
We went back to the Victoria Memorial for a sound and light show, 1980s would be the word for it. They had this annoying theme song "I am Calcutta" that kept getting played over and over, it really just a boring audio history of Calcutta.
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