I’m making some big leaps with today’s vintage India post, in terms of both geography and ambience. I’m starting with Calcutta, now known as Kolkata, in the state of Bengal. I experienced it as a sprawling and chaotic city, and while I had a good experience, as witnessed by my smiling self in a rickshaw, above, I paused there only briefly.
Heavy rains during my visit caused widespread flooding in the streets, and it seemed unwise to hang around in the increasingly unsanitary conditions, so thanks to another rickshaw driver, seen above heroically pulling me to the train station, I proceeded on my peripatetic way.
Several weeks and many, many miles later, I found myself in the former Portuguese colony of Goa, on the opposite coast,by the Arabian Sea.
I was road-weary from my long meanderings, and found a beach cottage to sojourn in.
The beaches were lovely, the lifestyle was very laid-back, and the food was incredibly hot, even by Indian standards.
It was a popular spot for foreign tourist of all stripes, as well as Indians on holiday. My holiday was ending, I was running very low on money, and I had no wish to join the ranks of hippie burn-outs who seemed to have landed there and fallen prey to inertia, so I enjoyed a few sunsets and set my course homeward to University of Mysore to resume my studies.
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