Para, India 10/20/2011
Pure Fear
I arrived in Kolkata, India, an unfamiliar city, country, culture, people, food, and language. Within 1 day’s time, I was on the road to Para, a place that I could not even find on my atlas at home. I traveled there with 3 unfamiliar people as well. An amazingly brilliant, caring, selfless, dedicated woman and pediatrician, Nandita Chaterjee from the Nanritam organization and two of her medical students, Indrigit and Mousam. The drive there was terrifying beyond belief. Roads here in Kolkata are jammed packed with cars, trucks, people walking, people riding bikes, cows walking or lying down in the middle of the road. Horns galore! There are no lanes so cars just swerve in and out of obstacles as they see fit. It seemed similar to driving against oncoming traffic continuously. And, I was in the front seat !!! Thank goodness for a bit of jet lag, so I did sleep some of that fear away.
We arrived somewhere around 10pm. The trip taking about 6 hours overall. We were greeted by the Nanritam team. Everyone was smiling and welcoming upon our arrival. My fear was relieved by these welcoming smiles but only for a short time as it revisited me as soon as I closed the big metal door to my room. Imagine being dropped off in the middle of a strange open land with unfamiliar people, where you speak absolutely NONE of the language. …And then, power surges on and off; followed by a total power outage….okay, time to sleep off the fear again, so I thought. Then appeared clashing thunder, lightening, rain pours throughout the night. Deep breaths…..deep breaths…..I was having a hard time “embracing the moment” at that time. Part of me was terrified, part of me was excited with anticipation of what tomorrow would bring.
The photos are of the building I stayed in, my room, "the door" and the surroundings from outside my window upon waking in the morning! Woke to a calm, slightly overcast but warm morning without any evidence of the passing night time storm. Good morning Para, India !! Looking forward to opening the big metal door......
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