Kolkata

Before we left home people told me coming to India would change my life. I am not sure whether it has changed me but visiting Kolkata is overwhelming, unsettling, impressive and thought provoking!Driving around the city for the last 3 days on our way to several points of Interest we have seen it all. Beautiful hotels, nice restaurants, botanical gardens, upscale communities to families living on the sidewalk outside our hotel. Mothers and their babies sleeping on a blanket or piece of cardboard on the sidewalk, with all their possessions in a small travel bag. Toddlers playing in the mud along the curb. Families showering and washing their hair in water pouring onto the street from a large pipe. Washing their dishes, clothes and filling their water bottles from the same waterpipe. Huts lining streets with no electricity, water or toilets. Men, women and children using the streets as their personal bathrooms. Privacy is Not a consideration. Professional beggers and the truly needy beggers. The professionals aren't bone thing and want you to go to a certain kiosk with them. The needy accepting and thankful for anything. Both carry small nearly naked babies. The young children begging for money who will follow you for blocks. They are very persistent. We think maybe they are told not to come back until they have received a handout?? So I feel very emotional during this part of our travels. First because I wonder what would have happened to me if I had been born in the slums of Kolkata rather than middle class Canada?I have terrible vision so without the ability to buy glasses I would be virtually blind.Having irritable bowel syndrome, my visits to the bathroom would be very uncomfortably and ackward.I can't handle spices, garlic or hot pepper otherwise I find myself in the washroom for hours. Over 60% of the citizens of India do not have access to private washrooms. I a already tired of chicken fried rice so what would I eat?What do you do when you are sick? Everyday is a fight for survival not a fight to climb the corporate ladder. Only 40% of Indians are literate. I know that you either adapt or you die. Would I have the strength to survive.Then there is all the crazy things we Canadians worry about: hair tye, a closet full of clothes for every different occasion, our own pillow and a decent mattress, toilet paper, TV and electronic games for entertainment. Light for reading after dark, sewing machines made this century, etc. While I don't profess to be a "Princess" I do like my private shower, reality TV shows, the ability to travel and a desire to make a difference in the lives of others.