Huge rats, cats, dogs, birds & live sheep in the food market
09.01.2018 - 09.01.2018
New Market
Then after hearing about the history of this shopping mecca, officially built in the 1870s and once housed the most important retailers of the British era, it was free time for a short 2 hours so it was into the bowels of the extensive New Market.
New Market is a market in Kolkata situated on Lindsay Street at Free School Street (Mirza Ghalib Street). Although primarily "New Market" referred to the original enclosed market, today in local parlance, the entire shopping area is often known as "New Market".
Despite the appearance of new air-conditioned, American-style, shopping malls all over Kolkata, New Market, which has survived two devastating fires and regular flooding, remains at the core of the shopping experience in the city. Over 2,000 stalls under its roof sell everything from clothing to wheeled luggage to electronics to a special cheese found nowhere else. Under its apparent chaos lie extraordinary finds as well as remarkable bargains. Newmarket is a place to shop for garments & accessories, flowers, different food items including raw meat, fish, vegetables and fruits and even spices. There are crockeries and utensil stores. It also has a florist section dealing with exotic flowers. It is situated on Lindsay Street, Kolkata (Calcutta), just off Chowringhee Road, the market is open 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, until 7 p.m. on Saturdays, and closed on Sundays. Thanks Mr Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Market,_Kolkata
Marbles ... a universal kids game around the whole world
I don't think that this hand pulled rickshaw wallah or puller will be going anywhere fast. Just one of many that I saw around the market.
Kolkata is one of the last bastion of the hand pulled rickshaw. There are still about 18,000 rickshaw pullers and 6,000 rickshaws.
Most rickshaws serve people "just a notch above poor" who tend to travel short distances through the narrow & haphazard lanes that are sometimes inaccessible to even the most daring taxi driver.
Rickshaws transport middle-class residents who use their services out of convenience and for short distance trips to the local marketplace.
A woman with marketing to do can arrive in a rickshaw, have the rickshaw wallah wait until she comes back from various stalls to load her purchases, and then be taken home.
Proprietors of cafés or corner stores send rickshaws to collect their supplies.
They also provide an invaluable service for residents who could not be able to afford a taxi or auto rickshaw.
Some of the rickshaw pullers steadiest customers are middle-class families who will have a contract with a puller to take a child to and from school.
In the thick of monsoon rickshaws keep passengers above the water logged and swim through the flooded streets and lanes.
It is also used by the lane residents as a "24 hour" ambulance service.
Plus they are eco-friendly!
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2008/04/kolkata-india-rickshaw-driver-culture/
Here are some more images from Dr “Google”:
The New Market witnessed two major fires on 13 December 1985 and 20 July 2011, another massive fire on 18 May 2015 and again Nov 9, 2017.
It was out the back going through the fish, meat and chicken sections that really interested me as oppose to the usual clothing, material and household ware, craft stalls in the main part of the New Market where the stall keepers kept asking “What do you want to buy?” Ken had mentioned about this part of the market and the locals living at the back as well.
By the time I got there, all but 2 operators had finished for the day. It was like a movie set with the birds all over the chopping blocks and in the rafters. Then the cats and dogs roaming around. Next door in amongst the meat section it was the large rats, more cats, dogs, birds and even live sheep.
Look up into the rafters
Here are some more images from Dr “Google”:
Back to the hotel to give JD my visa and passport as he needed a copy for entry into Sikkim later in the trip.
Because of the winter fog, the train departure time was brought forward to 5.30pm / 17:30 with the need to leave the hotel at 3.30pm / 15:30 to allow for traffic.
In the evening boarded the overnight New Jalpaiguri Kamrup Express train to New Jalpaiguri.
Now is my bag there?
What did I expect? Probably a similar standard of 4 berth A/C cabins to that I had 12 months ago in Vietnam. Yes, it was 4 berths but a lower standard. Curtains replaced doors and there were 2 extra bunks out in the passageway that unfortunately Robyn and Toba got. We were given bunks randomly separated but allocated as males and females.
Yes, it was a basic overnight train with a pillow and blanket but I forgot to bring out of my backpack my sleeping sheet. By luck got what I had wanted … a bottom bunk.
Train slowly pulled out at 5.37pm / 17:37 before picking up speed and soon the rocking motion.
Experienced overnight travel like a local. One of my fellow passengers was a doctor with the Indian railway:
- 1.4 million - Work for the railways.
- 5.6 million - When extended to include the families.
- 3 million - Retired.
- 10 million = TOTAL.
- All receive free health care through hospitals and clinics.
- There are 2,500 doctors.
- Country divided into 16 zones broken into 54 divisions.
- Each division with its own hospital with a major zonal hospital with more specialised services.
Remember India has a population of 1.3+ billion.
With the gentle rocking motion sat back, got some well-earned and likely much-needed rest en route to our next stop.
Posted by bruceontour 22:37 Archived in India Tagged market train meat_market
