Calcutta, a graver's paradise

(Hi, there are pictures now, but they're completely unorganized. Some weird changes have been made to the way they allow them to be edited and placed, and I haven't mastered it yet, so it's a mess.)

Hello from Calcutta! (They call it Kolkata now, but I'm a traditionalist.)

I'm sitting in an internet cafe across the street from the Mother Teresa House.

I chose to come here because of all the historic cemeteries. I visited South Park Street Cemetery, the Scottish Cemetery, Lower Circular Road Cemetery, and Mother Teresa's tomb. There is much more to see.

A rickshaw. This is the product of Japanese engineering from the late 19th century, and its design endures.














I would like to take the opportunity now to sing the praises of South Park Street Cemetery. It's a truly amazing place. Gigantic monuments and pyramids. Thousands of graves. A true shelter from the chaos of the streets outside. It's like the Protestant Cemetery in Penang, but on steroids. If you're a graver, you have to see this place!

The Scottish Cemetery fell into complete disrepair after 50 yeas of neglect. But in 2008, and organizaton started clearing away the dense underbrush and is gradually working on restoring it. It's not in the best condition, but its future is bright.

Lower Circular Road Cemetery is sprawling, and contains many new graves. People are still being buried here.

And Mother Teresa's tomb is quite nondescript, and is wrapped in a tarp right now. Some construction is going on beside it.