It appears yesterday (Sunday) was a good day for weddings and receptions as is evidenced by this building being decorated for some event? My quiet morning was rudely interrupted by the loudest music imaginable. This fellow with a traveling shrine to some guru decided to park his motorbike trailer/worship center right outside my windows and blast his devotional music as loud as possible.  It was fascinating for a few minutes but after a half-hour I had had enough. He finally moved on after 40 minutes.

 

I was invited to lunch at my friend Paula Sengupta’s home. The menu for Sunday afternoon Lunch at 8 Shot Street:

Fish baked in coconut milk

Dry spiced spinach

Potatoes and cabbage

A dal with coconut (a yellow split pea stew with spices)

Roti (a thin flat bread, similar to a flower tortilla, made fresh and served warm)

Rice

Dessert

Sweet yogurt served in a terra cotta pot.

Gulab jamun (deep-fried balls of dough soaked in rose flavored syrup)

A crepe stuff with sweeten cream

A delicious feast to say the least

 Kolkata does not have the old sites of other cities in India. Its past centers on the British Raj and the East India Trading Co. Its monuments and memorials are only two to three hundred years old. It is more the day-to-day life in this city that I find appealing. We did however visit the largest attraction in town the Victoria Memorial (1901-1920) a marble domed structure that has what looks like several small minarets surrounding the main dome. My guidebook aptly describes it as the U.S. capital meets the Taj Mahal. Our purpose for going was to view an exhibition of prints, watercolors and drawing of India by the British while they were here. This extensive collection of works was organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London but included many works that were part of Victoria Memorial’s permanent collection. The imagery had a rather romantic, picturesque feel to it you could see a Ruskin influence on many of the landscapes and drawings of ruins.