Country Life

Carol has promised that she will be writing a piercing and incisive essay on rural life in West Bengal... just as soon as she comes back from shopping. In the meantime, I thought I would post some images from our two-day trip into the outlands. Most of these images were taken in or around some of the innumerable villages that dot the landscape. I am particularly fond of the picture of the children peering through the bars of the schoolhouse window. As you can see, children love me. I have also included a picture of a cow, simply because cows are everywhere. These cows are not like the big fat American cows but, rather, the size of very large goats. Speaking of goats, there are plenty of them as well. Tiny ones. In fact, there are cows, goats and dogs, everywhere. Ominously, there are no cats! I threw in a picture of a temple, as well. Lots of temples here. This one is made completely of terra cotta. Very high maintenance. There is an entire village dedicated to making replacement bricks for these temples as the old one deteriorate. They have been doing this for about 300 years.

Someone asked if it was really hot here. No doubt this question was prompted by blizzard-like weather that has passed through the Puget Sound recently. Well, the weather here is just about perfect: mid-eighties during the day, usually accompanied by a cool breeze, with slightly cooler nights. We haven't seen a cloud in the sky since we arrived. Come to think of it, we rarely see the sky due to the very high level of smog. Makes for nice sunsets.

Don't forget that you can click on the images above to see a larger version.