Sangita and I got separated as she was a permanent resident of the US (Indian Passport) while I was a naturalized US citizen; we both had different queues to negotiate. Indian customs allow only 2 liquor bottles per incoming passenger, these limits our desire to quench the Indian thirst (craze) for foreign booze.

The airport was quiet; it was raining the tail-end Monsoon showers, and professional pan-handlers asking for the US green. They do not want the INR (Indian Rupee), as India has a black market for foreign currency, wherein they better the rates provided by the authorized currency exchange stops. Anyway we gave them our Thai currency but the guy got a glimpse of some USDs (US Dollars) in my wallet and just would not let go of me. I had to get philosophical with him and explain that we work very hard for every USD we earn and it does not grow in the trees of the US cities.


Blog Date (Oct 25, 2007)
We reached Calcutta at the tail-end of the monsoon season. We experienced showers in Bangkok and that kept things cool, same for Calcutta. Unfortunately prior to our arrival there had been lots of flooding in the eastern parts of India, thus the prices of veggies all shot right out of the roof.

Calcutta is known for its cheap food prices, but nothing this time around. Every time we went to the markets we would overhear people complaining about the prices to the vendors.

Thailand in general has moved more towards large grocery chains as we could not find a single roadside Vegetable vendor in Phuket. Calcutta is also trying the same thing but with mixed success.

It is still common to go to a local market and bargain and buy your kitchen supplies (Calcutta). The market is sometimes tough to handle if you are used to Nob Hill or Whole foods, but in Thailand they have TOPS and Carre Four, and in Calcutta they have Spencers and Charnock City.

I (Arijit) do not want to eat chicken now after the local market visit. Anyway we have both been busy buying kitchen utensils and stuff for the class. Among other things we got a stainless steel pressure cooker as we were asked by one of our students to avoid aluminum. We found most of what we wanted to buy.

Next on our list are the garments that some of you have asked us to get. Travelling in this city is quite an experience if you are not used to it, so we get a car and we have to specify that we want the air-conditioning turned on (temperature control), as this is not the norm here. Then a driver comes by our apartment and picks us up. We then spend like almost 8-9 hours navigating various tasks. All through the day we stop for food bites often, thus getting a chance to explore the various restaurants. Restroom scarcity makes us plan our trip in a very strategic manner; we always stop in the 5-star hotels.