OCT 1, 11 (1/2) .. For What It’s Worth ..

By Cap Chastain October 1, 2011 Bus / Buses, Calcutta

Yesterday afternoon.. I bathed from the top of my head to the soles of my feet.. the first total batheing (I like to spell it this way so humor me spell check) since I left the states in late August.. ALL  WITH BOTTLED WATER.. THEN I TOOK A  WONDERFUL NAP.. and I stayed in my room and did NOT go out.. which is to say.. I did NOT visit Mrs Kitty Brinnand yesterday.. I just needed a break from the rigors of the intense heat and humidity and from the bus ride out and back.. see the next paragraph..  WHEW! ..  IT FELT GOOD TO STAY IN.. HAVING BATHED AND SLEPT FOR 45 MINUTES..

I WAS SHOCKED TO SEE A LOT OF BRUISES ON MY BODY AS WELL AS CUTS (on my legs and I felt a ‘duzzy’ on my lower back over my spine) THAT WERE SCABBED OVER HEALING.. all from the ‘combat’ scene that riding the local buses can be..  I mean riding the local buses can truly be BRUTAL.. absolutely.. positively BRUTAL..

I ‘hedge’ by saying it ‘can’.. because it ‘can’ also be GREAT.. with even a few seats un-occupied..

AND WITH INCREASING FREQUENCY.. I am getting seating in the ‘reserved for senior citizens’ seats on the buses WHEN THERE ARE NO OTHER SENIORS SITTING IN THEM AND THERE OFTEN ARE.. sometimes.. more often than not.. when it is time to get off the bus.. I honestly wonder HOW ON EARTH AM I GOING TO GET TO THE DOOR AND GET OFF THE BUS.. solid.. an absolutely solid mass of human bodies between me and the door..

Luckily I am allowed.. ladies and senior citizens.. to board the buses at the front not the rear.. so I am (relatively speaking)  positioned fairly close to where I need to be to deboard the bus..

Gosh that fresh.. bottled water.. batheing was wonderful..

Then.. after my bath and my nap..  I ‘straightened up my room’ and took  photos (see above) to send the web site so you can see my really nice room here in Calcutta.. costing me a fortune at about Fifty Five ($55) U.S. Dollars a day.. about 2,400 Rupees a day.. this includes Breakfast.. two eggs and three pieces of toast  with butter and marmalade.. and chow mein for dinner..  dinner does not come with the room but I eat at the hotel and it costs me 125 Rupees.. about three ($3) U.S. Dollars.. and is added to my room bill so it is ‘as if’ dinner comes with my room..

As you can see from the above photos.. my AIR CONDITIONED  room has nice windows.. one window wall and one window that turns the corner.. I sit at the table (photo 7) and write and do all that I do at the table with the window wall to my right ( photo 7 above is my view sitting at my table) as I face the corner window.. I love to IDLY sit and look out on the traffic scene down below me.. it truly is relaxing and interesting..

I can.. and I often do.. stay in rooms costing as low as 200  (two hundred as in one.. TWO.. three.. and NO I did not miss a decimal point) Rupees a day.. ah.. they can be GRIM.. let me tell you..

Once the heat breaks.. late October.. I will then move into a less expensive  room BECAUSE I will NOT need air conditioning.. IF I am still in Calcutta ..

TRULY IT IS A VERY NICE ROOM..  WITH LOVE.. AND GRATITUDE.. I’LL SIGN OFF.. Cap..