Yesterday, my traveling companion went with his brother (cousin) in the morning to his uncle’s house. Later, a car was arranged to take me to the National Indian Museum where I would meet up with my friend.
From the monastery, the drive was about an hour and a half into Kolkata. The driver was told to let me off at the gate, but he did not know where the museum. He stopped at the planetarium and told me that was the museum. I told him that was not the museum, but after sitting in the vehicle for about fifteen minutes I got out. I walked around the planetarium on the left side but did not see the museum anywhere. Then I walked down the right side and only saw St. Paul’s Cathedral. After several phone calls to my friend who was on his way to the National Museum, I got back in the vehicle (luckily the driver had not left yet). Back in the vehicle, we drove around the corner and met my friend and his brother at the Children’s Museum. Going inside we asked for directions and got vague directions that the museum was down the street. By this time my driver had left to park the car, so more calls to him finally brought him back to the car. We drove down the street and several blocks later found the museum.
Similar to the Patna Museum that I had previously visited, we bought our tickets and checked our bags. Then we immediately went to the second floor (using another friend’s strategy of always going to the top floor of a museum and working your way down because by the end you are tired and this way you are close to the exit!). We saw many rooms with dusty artifacts in cases --fossils from millions of years ago. Another room was a game room with lots of taxidermied animals from the days when hunting animals was a sport. The animals were posed and I couldn’t help but think that this was how they died, clinging to branches or snarling at their predator.
The room that was fascinating to me and seemed to go on and on was entitled “Plants and their Service to Man.” Food, medicine, building materials, cloth/textiles, and dyes were the many uses we have found for different plants. Shelf after shelf held examples of different types of food from fruits and veggies to nuts and berries; to all sorts of medicinal herbs and teas and barks; to timber used for building boats and houses and making pencils; to cottons and silks and jutes; to powder and liquid forms of dyes from plants. This room, too, was very dusty and hot and so we just took a cursory look. I could imagine doing research and coming to this room to look for items that are mentioned in books about plants.
We visited a room dedicated to Ancient Egypt with a mummy; saw petrified wood and dinosaur bones; went into a room dedicated to paintings; and then found some Buddhist artifacts. We saw many examples of stupa from Bodh Gaya, Bihar. One large stupa found in the 1860s in a place called Bhahut was supposed to be the oldest stupa found. There were also ornately carved red stone pillars and temple entrance pillars from that same area. Another room contained many wonderful statues of Hindu Deities and Buddhas.
Upon leaving the museum, we decided to walk over to Queen Victoria’s Palace. We were told it was just on the other side of a building close by. Unfortunately, close by meant several, several blocks. We walked all the way back to the planetarium and then another good distance to the gate of the palace (maybe a mile in all?). I paid for our tickets (mine cost 150 INR and there’s were 10 INR each). Then we walked into the huge palace/museum. There was a wonderful exhibit of photographs of Shantinitken, the university created by Rabindrath Tagore. In the middle rotunda were several photographs highlighting the work of Mother Teresa. In another large room was all of the early history (British) of Kolkata. Upstairs were paintings of the great leaders of India.
Walking back to the gate, we all decided to take a taxi back to the museum because my driver said it would be too difficult to navigate the one-way streets. Back at the Indian Museum, we waited on the curb for my driver. While waiting, we bought three cucumbers with salt from a street vendor. They were very refreshing after all of that walking!
We then drove out of Kolkata toward Howrah to my friend’s brother’s house. There I was warmly greeted and given lots of delicious Indian food. They had invited me to stay the night and I was given the brother’s big bed to sleep in, while my friend and his brother shared another bed and his brother’s wife shared a bed with his sister. Except for the mosquitoes biting me during the night, I had a pleasant sleep. Part way through the night I remembered seeing people sleeping on the platforms at the rail stations. They would be covered up from head to toe. So even though it was hot, I did the same thing and covered myself with a thin blanket from head to toe. It worked! No more mosquitoes biting me and I fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning after a light thunder shower, another driver came to pick us up and take us back to the monastery.
Later that evening a fierce storm came with thunder and lightning and lots of rain. A Burmese woman began sweeping water away from her door in front of her room which was across the stairs from mine. I asked to borrow a broom and started to help her. The rain was coming down the stairs and heading for her room. After awhile, though, she brought out a bucket to catch the rain water. Every little bit she or I or another woman would empty the bucket and place it back under the dripping stairs. In this way, the water was kept from flooding her room. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes started to bite me once again, so I abandoned helping her and went into my room.
From the monastery, the drive was about an hour and a half into Kolkata. The driver was told to let me off at the gate, but he did not know where the museum. He stopped at the planetarium and told me that was the museum. I told him that was not the museum, but after sitting in the vehicle for about fifteen minutes I got out. I walked around the planetarium on the left side but did not see the museum anywhere. Then I walked down the right side and only saw St. Paul’s Cathedral. After several phone calls to my friend who was on his way to the National Museum, I got back in the vehicle (luckily the driver had not left yet). Back in the vehicle, we drove around the corner and met my friend and his brother at the Children’s Museum. Going inside we asked for directions and got vague directions that the museum was down the street. By this time my driver had left to park the car, so more calls to him finally brought him back to the car. We drove down the street and several blocks later found the museum.
Similar to the Patna Museum that I had previously visited, we bought our tickets and checked our bags. Then we immediately went to the second floor (using another friend’s strategy of always going to the top floor of a museum and working your way down because by the end you are tired and this way you are close to the exit!). We saw many rooms with dusty artifacts in cases --fossils from millions of years ago. Another room was a game room with lots of taxidermied animals from the days when hunting animals was a sport. The animals were posed and I couldn’t help but think that this was how they died, clinging to branches or snarling at their predator.
The room that was fascinating to me and seemed to go on and on was entitled “Plants and their Service to Man.” Food, medicine, building materials, cloth/textiles, and dyes were the many uses we have found for different plants. Shelf after shelf held examples of different types of food from fruits and veggies to nuts and berries; to all sorts of medicinal herbs and teas and barks; to timber used for building boats and houses and making pencils; to cottons and silks and jutes; to powder and liquid forms of dyes from plants. This room, too, was very dusty and hot and so we just took a cursory look. I could imagine doing research and coming to this room to look for items that are mentioned in books about plants.
We visited a room dedicated to Ancient Egypt with a mummy; saw petrified wood and dinosaur bones; went into a room dedicated to paintings; and then found some Buddhist artifacts. We saw many examples of stupa from Bodh Gaya, Bihar. One large stupa found in the 1860s in a place called Bhahut was supposed to be the oldest stupa found. There were also ornately carved red stone pillars and temple entrance pillars from that same area. Another room contained many wonderful statues of Hindu Deities and Buddhas.
Upon leaving the museum, we decided to walk over to Queen Victoria’s Palace. We were told it was just on the other side of a building close by. Unfortunately, close by meant several, several blocks. We walked all the way back to the planetarium and then another good distance to the gate of the palace (maybe a mile in all?). I paid for our tickets (mine cost 150 INR and there’s were 10 INR each). Then we walked into the huge palace/museum. There was a wonderful exhibit of photographs of Shantinitken, the university created by Rabindrath Tagore. In the middle rotunda were several photographs highlighting the work of Mother Teresa. In another large room was all of the early history (British) of Kolkata. Upstairs were paintings of the great leaders of India.
Walking back to the gate, we all decided to take a taxi back to the museum because my driver said it would be too difficult to navigate the one-way streets. Back at the Indian Museum, we waited on the curb for my driver. While waiting, we bought three cucumbers with salt from a street vendor. They were very refreshing after all of that walking!
We then drove out of Kolkata toward Howrah to my friend’s brother’s house. There I was warmly greeted and given lots of delicious Indian food. They had invited me to stay the night and I was given the brother’s big bed to sleep in, while my friend and his brother shared another bed and his brother’s wife shared a bed with his sister. Except for the mosquitoes biting me during the night, I had a pleasant sleep. Part way through the night I remembered seeing people sleeping on the platforms at the rail stations. They would be covered up from head to toe. So even though it was hot, I did the same thing and covered myself with a thin blanket from head to toe. It worked! No more mosquitoes biting me and I fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning after a light thunder shower, another driver came to pick us up and take us back to the monastery.
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| thin black snake to the right of the tree trunk-- I watched this slither up and to the left onto a branch before the rain storm hit |
Later that evening a fierce storm came with thunder and lightning and lots of rain. A Burmese woman began sweeping water away from her door in front of her room which was across the stairs from mine. I asked to borrow a broom and started to help her. The rain was coming down the stairs and heading for her room. After awhile, though, she brought out a bucket to catch the rain water. Every little bit she or I or another woman would empty the bucket and place it back under the dripping stairs. In this way, the water was kept from flooding her room. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes started to bite me once again, so I abandoned helping her and went into my room.
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