Day Three, Four & Five: Coping With The Heat & Beat of Kolkata

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In the last few days of Kolkata I have been visiting some old haunts. St Paul’s Cathedral that I visited as a child was first on my list and it was lovely to walk around again in the cool atmosphere of this Anglican church. It was built in 1847 but redesigned and re-built after the earthquake of 1897. There were only a few crowds of tourists there and a few locals; it felt good to visit a landmark in Kolkata that isn't over crowded. On the day of travel we knew that the weather was forecast for rain. Sure enough around 2pm after seeing a little more of Kolkata’s latest shopping malls (much to my dismay since I don’t even frequent many shopping malls in the UK) and as soon as we got into the car and headed home, first signs of a darker Kolkata hit my eyes over head and drops of rain became apparent followed quickly by plenty of sheet lightning and thunder. By the time we got home our car was drenched in rain and we ran inside quickly to avoid being hit though I must admit, I love the feeling of warm rain. My nephew remarked that he bet I had not seen rain like this in Scotland. Like many teenagers though, he seems to think I was not born before he came along, let alone endure long monsoons witnessing the season, power cut off for the whole day/power shedding, evening only Indian television, and water logged roads… On Tuesday and Wednesday I attended to a bit of business but most of it saw me staying at home and only visiting a few nearby offices. This isn’t just down to the heat but because I have been subjected to the ”mozzies,” or rather, “mosquitoes.” Even with popular insect repellents and even some purchased from Europe that I brought with me, the mozzies have made a meal of me, already. Thankfully I also brought “White Musk for Men” by The Body Shop which is a rather flowery aftershave composed of lavender, violets and musk. Lavender is of course a natural extract but it is also one that Indian mosquitoes don’t like. The aftershave also helped bites since there’s a little alcohol in it. My uncle gave me loads of calamine lotion, too even if the vanilla based "Odomos" (or "Eau de Mos" as @boingboing calls it!) cream provides some protection. The rain on Tuesday was so severe that the thunderstorm and rain went on for more than an hour and allowed a tenement flat in Dhakuria Panchanantala of Kolkata to collapse (see red arrow). Lack of maintenance was to blame as well as cracks in the cement in which rain had flowed through. The rising heat of Kolkata went from 34°C heat to 36°C but I was thankful that by Wednesday only a small rain shower visited compared to the 54m of rain that had fallen previously. Today I intend to stay in again as I have some work to do. Tomorrow we are hoping to visit Kalyani, which is a city near Kolkata, some 31km away and basically a 2 hour drive. I do hope that the car has air conditioning. I’d rather have air conditioning than an umbrella! ©Nar2/crystalvisions2016