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Breakfast was a thoroughly depressing affair, a few pieces of soggy warmed up bread and the remains of a pre-independence pot of jam (including its further evolution and micro-environment). The tea was Lipton made in China and the staff more preocuppied in the light fixtures of the restaurant. I hurried out to find the town in turmoil, it had struck me the day before that entire houses and streets were painted in red with the old communist symbols of the hammer and sickle. Every house in the suburbs had it somewhere with the text "press on the symbol for happiness". I tried it with apprehension, would the ghosts from the past resurface, would Lenin, Marx, Mao and Stalin suddenly appear and play in a brass band thus providing me with uncontrollable happiness? Sadly, no matter how hard I pressed on the symbol (and I tried a few) I derived little happiness from it, only a slight disappointment. I was latter told that due to the high level of illiteracy in the city the party's name where not written on the ballot but their symbol was represented and they had to punch through it to make their vote.
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Kolkata, Tuesday the 9th of August

Degrubenc
2005-12-09 17:45:05

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Breakfast was a thoroughly depressing affair, a few pieces of soggy warmed up bread and the remains of a pre-independence pot of jam (including its further evolution and micro-environment). The tea was Lipton made in China and the staff more preocuppied in the light fixtures of the restaurant. I hurried out to find the town in turmoil, it had struck me the day before that entire houses and streets were painted in red with the old communist symbols of the hammer and sickle. Every house in the suburbs had it somewhere with the text "press on the symbol for happiness". I tried it with apprehension, would the ghosts from the past resurface, would Lenin, Marx, Mao and Stalin suddenly appear and play in a brass band thus providing me with uncontrollable happiness? Sadly, no matter how hard I pressed on the symbol (and I tried a few) I derived little happiness from it, only a slight disappointment. I was latter told that due to the high level of illiteracy in the city the party's name where not written on the ballot but their symbol was represented and they had to punch through it to make their vote.

As I made my way to the Victoria Memorial Hall I felt a distinct unrest in the city, there were large groups of people loitering about or heading in the same direction all bearing red garments and large red socialist flags shouting about freedom of speech and democracy (according to the impromptu guide I had hired to keep all the others at bay) he confirmed to me that he represented the communists party and were fighting for their democratic right. I made a bad joke about the possibility of their success would only destroy what they are now trying to gain but he did not seem to understand sarcasm and launched himself into a forcefull explaining of the party manifesto, I ignored him politely.

The Victoria Memorial is interesting if a bit dusty. It is a large white colonial building resembling Capitol Hill in Washington the interior is ...