One

We returned last week from a ten day trip to Kolkata (Calcutta) and Bhubaneshwar with a few stories, some new insights, and lots of dirty laundry (or as much as you can have with only 5 outfits and 3 pairs of underwear).

I've had many friends who have come to Kolkata to work with the Missionaries of Charity and their experiences, as well as the work that Mother Teresa started here was my main motivation for coming to India. I was glad to finally be coming to Kolkata and spending a few days pretending to be a volunteer, staying on Sudder Street, and hanging out at the Motherhouse. Before we left we told Father Puthumai that we had friends in Kolkata, which isn't entirely untrue. We knew that there's about 10 students from Seattle University in Kolkata right now, one of whom we met on our flight from Seattle and have been emailing since we got here. We'd also told Father that our friends had arranged someplace for us to stay, which was also true - we were armed with a list of somewhat reputable hotels nearby. None of the other volunteers show up with hotel reservations, why should we? As soon as we arrived at Sudder Street (read: Foreigner Street) we beelined for Hotel Maria and when that was full we hopped over to Hotel Paragon where we dropped our luggage and promptly left for dinner with one of our Indian friends that had dropped us off (although he was not impressed with our choice of lodging). Sure enough, when we returned from dinner we bumped into (and met) our new friends from Seattle U who came and spent the rest of the evening in our room, which strangely enough had been their room a few weeks back. The next day was Monday, which conveniently is the day they hold volunteer training at the Motherhouse, so we were able to have breakfast with the volunteers in the morning, come back for a quick nap, explore New Market for a bit, and make our way to the Motherhouse for training, the English portion of which was unsurprisingly led by our friend John from the airport. Volunteer Training would be more aptly called "pick where you want to work and figure out which bus you need to take to get there" and it was a little surreal looking at all of the familiar house names: Daya Dan, Shanti Dan, Shishu Bhaven, Prem Dan, and trying to decide where to spend our one day of volunteering. After a long discussion with our new friend Jeremiah (who we were supposed to have met back in Seattle had we been able to coordinate our busy pre-India schedules) we decided to spend our morning in Kalighat. We made our way back to our hotel, making a quick detour to Shishu Bhaven to drop off some strollers that had been donated to the Motherhouse, because apparently if you stand around too long in the volunteer room Sr. Corina will find something for you to do.

We began our morning with Mass with the sisters at the Motherhouse, then breakfast with the volunteers. After breakfast all of the volunteers dispersed to the various houses where they work so we found some other volunteers and tagged along for the bus ride to Kalighat. Kalighat, home for the destitute and dying, was the first home that Mother Teresa opened in Kolkata and is often referred to as Mother's First Love. It's a former lodging house for pilgrims coming to the nearby temple of Kali, the Hindu goddess from whom Kolkata derives its name and has now become a home where the sisters bring those who are about to die, so that they can experience love and care in their last few days. We spent the day depending on long-term volunteers to show us what to do, starting with dishes and laundry, then medicines, sitting with the patients and helping to serve and feed lunch. The amazing thing was to watch the long-term volunteers, the people who committed to come every day and knew the patients so well...who needed their bedpan changed, who needed help eating lunch, who liked to be massaged, who just wanted their hand held. So many people have tried to describe Kalighat, but in the end the descriptions all seem to sound the same. In City of Joy, Dominique Lapierre describes it like this, "What struck (him) immediately was the serenity of the place. There was no horror here. No longer were the wretched people who had come together in this place tormented with anguish, solitude, destitution, or neglect. They had found love and peace."

After spending almost two months in India, it was interesting to see so many other volunteers, people who had come to India for similar reasons but were having such different experiences. We met so many people, some who had come to work with the sisters for a few days, a few weeks, a few months, or a few years. Many people had planned their trips expressly to work with the MCs in Kolkata, some were just passing through on their travels through the country. Volunteers are quite a diverse bunch: American and European college students taking a semester off, middle aged British ladies, a large young Japanese contingency, and who knows who else, all brought together by the desire to work in some of Mother's homes. Lots of them wear 'volunteer clothes', baggy pants and loose shirts, the type of clothing that was obviously purchased in India, but Indians themselves would never dream of wearing. We also visited some of the foreigner hangouts on Sudder St. like the Blue Sky Cafe, where the owner knows all of his patron's names and the menu has porridge, french fries, and pizza as well as paneer masala, dal, and butter naan. It's a little haven of comfort and familiarity for foreigners living in a crazy city. It was refreshing to talk to other foreigners, but also made us appreciate the experience that we've been having in Raiganj and the ridiculous life that we lead.

From Kolkata we took the train south to Buhbaneswar, capital of Orissa, where we met up with Father Puthumai, saw some temples, and went to the beach. Our last night there was Diwali, the festival of lights, so we went out to dinner and skirted around fireworks as we walked through town. Now we're back in Raiganj with only a few weeks left before we return home so we'll be finishing up the projects that we've been working on, tying up loose ends, visiting the missions that we've yet to see, and returning to places we've visited to say goodbye to new friends. The past few places we've visited have been much more fun; either the people are getting friendlier or we're getting less awkward. Probably the latter.