I flew to Kolkata (formerly spelled Calcutta) on Wednesday morning (9 Jan) to speak at a workshop on fuel cells. My cab driver's aggressiveness reminded me of my past trips to India. Until this experience, the drivers have been reasonably careful on this visit. During this one-hour drive from the airport to the workshop venue (Jadavpur University), we had three near misses with pedestrians in which the driver slammed the brakes and the tires squealed. Of course, we had countless other close calls that didn't require drastic evasive measures, but those are just a part of driving in India.
This is my first extended visit to Kolkata, and my first impressions are dominated by the sheer size of the city. It simply goes on and on, seemingly without end. The city also seems to be more polluted than Bangalore and Hyderabad. The exhaust fumes are inescapable and produce a constant, low-grade burning sensation in my eyes. I hope that my description doesn't put the region in a bad light. I've had several good friends and mentors from Bengal; in particular, my favorite teacher in college was Subrata Mukherjee (Cornell). Perhaps not coincidentally, the name Mukherjee means 'teacher.' The workshop has a small number of attendees (probably 30 or so), but I am enjoying spending time with friends Shripad Revankar (Nuclear Eng., Purdue) and Pradip Majumdar (Mech. Eng., Northern Illinois). My presentation on hydrogen storage is scheduled for this afternoon (10 Jan). Shripad and I toured part of the city yesterday and will see more tonight. I've included a picture (above) of the Birla temple near the city's center. The Birla family is very wealthy and has built a number of Hindu temples throughout India, typically in the major cities. Construction of this temple began in 1970 and ended in 1996. Cameras were not allowed inside the facility; I took this photo with my phone's camera outside the gate.
I'm not sure when this entry will post to the blog because I don't have an internet connection right now; I am writing the blog as an offline email message. It will be interesting to see the date that the blog gives for the entry, because I probably will not have an internet connection until tomorrow (11 Jan).
POSTSCRIPT: Shripad and I took another taxi tour of the city, and then we rented a boat and a captain, who paddled us around the Ganges River for an hour or so. The Ganges (or Ganga, as it is called here) is the most famous and sacred river in India. Unfortunately, the pictures are from my phone's camera (I know, I probably should invest in my own digital camera).
2 comments:
Tim:
Glad to see you are alive and well after the trip to Kolkata. That city used to be scary to step into. Your description aout the hazards seems tame. You took very good pictures from the boat even if they were from the cell phone camera. Of course, the Ganga is at its most polluted state (and that is saying something) as it enters the Bay of Bengal there.
Your apartment looks very comfortable too, and I am sure the kids will blow everyone away in every sport except cricket and may be table tennis.
You are tempting me to come and try this for a semester.
Thanks for the note, Srinivas. I should have added that I was impressed with some of the newer areas of Kolkata. IBM recently built a very large and nice-looking building complex there. The Ganga was indeed extremely dirty, but I learned that it has become somewhat cleaner in recent years due to a concerted effort to control dumping.
You should definitely take a sabbatical here. So far, I must say that the experience has exceeded my expectations in every way. FYI, I'm already in the market for a new belt...
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