Leaving Dhaka

This morning we had to be up, packed and ready to leave the hotel in Bogra by 7:30. This was a nice place and the people were so nice and attentive to us. We had another 4 hour "interesting" ride back to Dhaka where we were taken to the COTN ministry center to eat lunch and say our good-byes to our new ministry friends in Bangladesh. Ron, Nathan, Milon, and many others will remain in our prayers. They gave each of us gifts of hand-embroidered pictures of things we might see in the country. We were taken to the airport where after many security checks we boarded Jet Airways to Calcutta....just a 30 minute flight. This time we quickly made it through immigration to pick up our luggage. Waiting outside for us was Shamil (sp?), the field strategy director for India and Atul, the NCM coordinator. Yes, Jenni...I gave him his Hershey's chocolates (which have been all the way from Amarillo to Bogra and back again and will still need to go to the other side of India before they get to his kids). :-) Then we boarded a nice bus for our ride into Calcutta. Oh my..............what can I say. I always try to be very nice about the countries and cities we visit. And, I will now. But, I must talk a little about what we have seen. We saw much poverty in Bangladesh. We were told it was the 2nd or 3rd poorest country in the world. The capital city, Dhaka, is growing so fast they can't keep up with the construction. So you see so many partially built buildings everywhere. And, there are the obvious areas of need with homes that are not fit for residence. You just don't see many pretty areas with flowers or parks or anything like that. The shops are little shacks built alongside the roads or in front of other buildings. The community markets are huge outdoor flea markets where you can buy just about anything. There must be an area in the capital city where there are more european style stores but we never saw that. But, the countryside is absolutely beautiful with the green rice fields, palm and other trees, and little villages scattered about. The traffic is horrendous, in and out of the city. One thing I did notice is that I never saw a traffic light anywhere. Whomever is at the intersection first has right of way!! In Calcutta though, there are three different levels of economics that I could see just on the drive from the airport to the hotel. First we saw the worst living conditions I think I've ever seen as we passed by miles of areas where people had pieced together whatever they could find to make a home. Think of Mathare but on a lower scale. The smog in this area was overpowering. Then we reached an area that was in total contrast. Behind all these homes and on the other side of big, brick walls were modern skyscrapers and even a big upscale mall with a McDonalds. We then went up a bridge and over several railroad tracks and entered Calcutta proper. There is a definite colonial British feel to this area. Narrower streets, wrought iron fencing, policemen in the intersections wearing all white with white helmets on. And, although the traffic doesn't drive in any traffic lanes as such and horns are honking all the time there seems to be more order to it. There are actually traffic lights. And, many more cars. And people walk on the sidewalks instead of in the streets, and there aren't a million rickshaws everywhere.
In Bangladesh we never saw a woman wearing anything other than a sari. They were beautiful. The colors and patterns of the materials are outstanding. Men wore shirts and pants or shirts and a wrap-around type of floor-length skirt. In Calcutta I haven't seen a man in a skirt yet. I've seen women in saris and salwar kameez (loose pants with a long dress over them) and even a few in jeans and nice shirts.
Our bus reached our hotel where we pulled into a gated area and then up to the front door. The doorman was dressed in a colonial Indian outfit with a turban! This is an extremely nice hotel. The porters unloaded our luggage and took it to our rooms. We didn't even need to check in. It had already been arranged for us by the JF office and NCM in India. They even made three copies of each passport....one for the hotel, one for the local authorities, and one for who knows whom. Dinner this evening was in the hotel restaurant where we had our choice of ordering off the menu or partaking of the buffet, which was a very nice selection of Indian cuisine. We chose the buffet and enjoyed it. Now, time for sleep. Tomorrow we visit Mother Theresa's.