I went shopping with Azusa yesterday at South City Mall, Kolkata’s best shopping mall. It resembles Paragon in Singapore! It was a tai-tai lifestyle. Shopped, had lunch, watched The Incredible Hulk, shopped again. I spent around S$200 (Thanks mummy, haha) on formal attire, 2 tops, and a really pretty dress. I fell in love with it! When I return, I will keep it under lock and key, away from the 2 thieving sisters! Haha=)

We went to the bar at Park Hotel at night (SPE); it was Friday night! It was there that I learnt that Indian guys are really a perverted bunch! This guy from Punjab asked me to go to his room (rm 424), and when I said I wasn’t interested, offered me around S$300. At that time, I thought it was hilarious (maybe I was alittle high), so I was just laughing away, but come to think about it, it was really rude and disrespectful of him. Apparently, many Indian guys are like that. Very direct in wanting sexual favors and very persistent in their efforts (they keep calling and smsing). The last time we went there, this guy wanted Azusa to go to his room 505. haha…now these numbers are a joke among us interns.

The gender inequality in India is very apparent; it exists in the attitudes and behaviors of people. An example is how guys in the bar just expect you to have sex with them, and think that they can buy you for the night. No subtle hinting nor efforts to develop a relationship, just a simple “come to my room tonight, room 505”. If we decline, they ask the guy (Gary) that is with us to arrange, as if he were our pimp. What makes them think that Gary can ‘arrange’ us for him when we already said no? Is it a guy-to-guy thing?

Many of the women here just seem like mothers and wives. They follow their husbands around, carrying the food, looking after the children, as if they were mere housewives instead of an individual person. People who talk to us are almost always guys, and the crowds you see outside on the train, streets or shopping centers are predominantly males! Where have all the females gone to? Speaking on this topic, I remember the Sikh Indian wedding I attended with Zoe a few days ago. It was an interesting experience, and we found out that it was a love marriage, not an arranged one=) Here are some photos:

The ceremony

The happy couple

Zoe & Me with the family

The food was great! I had 4 different kinds of curry. The people were very friendly, and we learnt much about what goes on during an Indian wedding. Hmm…I seem to have veered off topic! Back to gender inequality, I felt a little sad for the bride because she was just 19 (going on 20), and had to drop out of her first year in college to leave Kolkata for Delhi, to her husband’s place. She was sadly happy (or happily sad), while he was full of smiles.

It just seemed to me that she was giving up everything to embark on her new life as a housewife. Her individual life no longer mattered anymore; she is someone’s wife now. Of course, I wouldn’t know if this was true, but this was what I felt from what I saw. The wedding ceremony’s rituals gave signals of this inequality; how the girl follows behind the guy in the ceremony, how she is to remain very quiet and serious, how she is ‘marked’ by marriage bangles and a red spot on the forehead. Below is the groom ‘marking’ his new wife. See how happy he looks!

They were, however, very much in love, something which is very sweet=) Lucky her! Sikhs do not believe in the caste system nor dowries, so the wedding was not the traditional Indian arranged marriages aka transactions that we often read about. An interesting nugget: Many from the lowest caste (like paravans) converted to Christianity/Sikh to escape the caste system. That’s why many of the rural villages have churches!

Anyways, I have started to cook in India! Surprisingly, I have some talent in it, or so my friends say. I feel like I’m starting to become housewifey!!!! Oh no! Sometimes I think of what to cook on the way home! I’m sort of the official cook at the trainee house now. Below are some of my creations:

The first attempt when Iris was still here; Chilled sweet corn & Tuna

Macaroni soup for lunch; my diners Gary & Zoe

My first attempt at a 3-course dinner: (1) Pasta with chicken, (2) Scrambled eggs with onions, (3) Soup with sweet corn, eggs, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes (without any seasoning!)

Of course, I had some behind the scenes help from Azusa (gotta say that because she has my blog address….hi Azusa!) haha…Anyone wants to try my cooking back in Singapore?

Anyways, here is a map of the metro (MRT) in Kolkata. (Yes, my random train of thoughts…)

Here are some landmark information nuggets:
I stay near Tollygunge metro, my office is near Mahatma Ghandi Road (around 30 minutes journey). The airport is nearest to Dumdum, while the Howrah train station (to get to other parts of India) is at Esplanade.

Further down, Park street is the tourist place, with KFC, bookstores, expensive coffee cafes, clubs and hotels. You can see many tourists at Sudder Street, which is on Park street. Tata Steel is at Maidan (Sharon, the other smu student interns there), while Gary works at Jatin Das park.

Anyways, the interesting thing is how I got the picture of this map, or the reason why I got it. Haha…

The story goes like this:

Azusa, Zoe and I were at the railway office at Esplanade to get out train tickets to Varanasi & Agra postponed. We were supposed to go down to the village that day, but were delayed for 2 hours at the office (so inefficient!). So the trip was cancelled, and we were left with nothing to do. People do weird things when they are bored out of their skins. There were this 3 jap guys at the office, and I was so bored that I decided to try and ask them to lunch with us girls. It was pretty hilarious, with the girls egging me on, and me feeling shy and enthusiastic at the same time. In the end, I used the excuse of borrowing their traveler’s guide (a Japanese one which I absolutely cannot read), and taking photos of the map of Kolkata to try and start a conversation with them. Haha…it is pretty hilarious, come to think of it=) I almost took up Zoe’s idea of using her cigarettes and pretending I did not have a lighter to approach one of the guys (and then telling him that I don’t smoke, and was using it as an excuse to speak to him). Alas, he went in before I summed up enough courage, haha. It was great fun, but I didn’t get to ask them for lunch, haha. I got the map though...hahahaha....

I realized that there are so little photos of me in this post! So I’ll end with one that I took at the Indian Museum (10 rupees for locals, 150 rupees for foreigners – blatant discrimination!). The place was pretty boring, but the building was great. I stood there staring at the huge columns and white colonial walls for a while, listening to my music and resting my mind.

Formal NGO event at Park Hotel tonight! I finally get to wear my formal attire and look intimidating! See you guys after I come back from Varanasi and Agra in one week’s time!