Mechua Market.

The men at Mechua market are in charge of oranges, bananas, pineapples, pomegranate and many other fruits of the season. Trucks arrive 24/7 and wait in the surrounding areas to get a parking lot to be unloaded. Most of the fruits are sold right on the spot. Men carrying trunks of bananas show up in front of an auctioneer and after a quick bidding session, the trunk is sold and the next man with another banana trunk takes place. With this system, an entire truckload of fruits is quickly sold to people who distribute them to different places all over West Bengal.

Hard working men at Mechua Market in Kolkata, India

Portrait of a hard working man at Mechua Market in Kolkata, India

Hard working men at Mechua Market in Kolkata, India.

Hard working man at Mechua Market in Kolkata, India.

Fresh pomegranate at Mechua Market in Kolkata, India.

Hard working men at Mechua Market in Kolkata, India.

Hard working men at Mechua Market in Kolkata, India.

Hard working men at Mechua Market in Kolkata, India.

Hard working men at Mechua Market in Kolkata, India

Unloading a truck at Mechua Market in Kolkata, India.

Kolay Market.

Pretty much the same goes for Kolay market just opposite Sealdah Train station. This is the place for cucumbers, onions, pumpkins, eggplant and any other vegetable of the season. Men, day labours – mostly from Bihar – work in long shifts to unload trucks that arrive from all over West Bengal. They earn about 500 Rupees (4-6 €) a day and travel home to their families only once a year. Needless to say, this work is taking it’s toll on their health… They sleep in dormitories in the first floors of the warehouses just above their workplace, so if a truck arrives, they are ready to unload immediately.

Hard working men at Kolay Market in Kolkata, India.

Hard working men at Kolay Market in Kolkata, India.

Hard working men at Kolay Market in Kolkata, India.

Selling fresh vegetables at Kolay Market in Kolkata, India.

Posta Burrabazar.

For garlic and ginger you have to travel to another area in the city. This market is close to Howrah bridge not too far away from the Mullik Ghat flower market on the way to Nimtala burning Ghat. You smell the loads of garlic that are repacked into smaller quantities immediately. This work is mostly done by women.

Street scene at Posta Burrabazar in Kolkata, India.

At Mullik Ghat flower market near Howrah bridge in Kolkata, India.

If you want to see what it’s like to walk through these markets, check out the videos in this post.

Luckily there were two University professors sitting in our neighbour compartment (first class) during the train ride and besides a few very interesting conversations, they also offered us a ride into the city. At Howra train station, private cars are allowed to drive up all the way to the platform. Therefore the University Professors driver already waited for our arrival and we didn’t have have to carry our luggage through masses of people. Friendly as Indians are, we were dropped off in front of our hotel (Bodhi Tree Hotel) – this was a great luxury to start with. It took the driver about 1.5 hours to find the hotel but time is not such a great matter in India and the University was obviously closed that day …

Immediately after checking in, we started walking towards downtown Kolkata. Somehow we underestimated the distance and after 2 hours we were only half way to the city but luckily Kolkata has a very efficient Metro system, connecting North to South – this eases things a lot. Warning: The Metro is always packed but yet easy and fast. We got out at Chandni Chowk – the closest station to Howrah Bridge, since we knew that there was a flower market below the bridge and this was our desired destination …

Anyway, we didn’t find the flower market but we ran right into the wholesale fruit market of Kolkata, where trucks from all over India, Pakistan and Bangladesh arrive with all kind of fruits that are auctioned off right on the spot. That day, it was banana and orange day. We had to maneuver through piles of banana stalks and oranges and every few meters was a selling area, where auctioneers auctioned off all the fruits with megaphones. All of this action happened in light rain which transformed the road to mud mixed with cow dung … Not the most pleasant walkway.

The working men who unload tons and tons of fruits and vegetables are all in perfect shape (even though they’ve for sure never ever seen a gym from the inside). If a bag of fruit is too heavy for one person, a few other men will kindly lend a hand. After all, they are all in the same boat…

At the end of the day, we were pretty exhausted and happy to land in bed at our lovely hotel.

Pure manpower at the wholesale fruit market in Kolkata.

The railway tracks lead right through the Slum area in Kolkata.

A typical market scene at the wholesale fruit market near the Howrah bridge in Kolkata.

Rickshaws can be seen all over the city of Kolkata.

Thousands of taxis and buses cross the Hoogly river on Howrah Bridge every day.

Men washing themselves in the streets of Kolkata – a typical street scene.

The hands of a Rickshaw driver in Kolkata.

The Victoria Memorial Hall was built between 1906 and 1921. It’s dedicated to the memory of Queen Victoria and is now a museum and tourist attraction in Kolkata.

Working men at the fruit wholesale market in Kolkata.

Crossing the Hoogly river on Howrah bridge in Kolkata, India.

Portrait of a nun’s in the streets of Kolkata.

Knife sharpeners can be found all around the city of Kolkata.

Working men at the orange section of the wholesale market in Kolkata.

If grinding poverty hurts your sensibilities, Kolkata is not the place to be in. If grinding poverty hurts your sensibilities, Kolkata is not the place to be in.

Getting ready to lift up a heavy pile of vegetables at the wholesale market in Kolkata.

General Insight Of Darjeeling:

For most travellers visiting this remote region, the stepping off point will be New Jalpaiguri/Siliguri (either arriving by train or air plane). We travelled from Kolkata by train overnight and arrived early in the morning, so there was no rush to get to “Dar”, as it is called by the locals. We negotiated with a few options how to get there because unfortunately the “Darjeeling Express” didn’t run then. The train tracks were a victim of a great landslide in 2010 and are not rebuilt until today. So we decided to go with a taxi driver who told us that he knows the road inside out. After packing everything into the cab, we realized at the first intersection that (again) a little Michael Schuhmacher was behind the wheel. He reassured us that nothing was wrong and speeding was fine. He was in charge and we had no choice but to trust him…

Some days before our arrival there, a leopard had striven into Siliguris urban areas and after getting nervous with the unfamiliar surroundings, killed and badly wounded some locals … We asked our driver about the incident and he told us that he had seen leopards many times while driving up to Darjeeling. He said that there are still many around but unfortunately we didn’t see one.

The road was winding its way uphill and during summer time the area can be covered in thick fog as soon you get to higher altitudes (which was the case when we arrived there). A few route diversion due to landslides are pretty common and these diversions are pretty challenging due to the steep tracks. Our driver couldn’t be bothered … he just used the gas pedal to get the maximum out of the engine to master very steep sections.

The few villages up the way to Darjeeling looked very beautiful. Pine trees are growing beside the road and the second half of the trip, you start sharing the way with the railway track which leads along the road up to Darjeeling. Traffic is pretty high and sometimes it’s a stop and go when big trucks want to pass and the train steams along. Sometimes the train crosses the street, so all cars have to wait; it’s pure action and very noisy with all the honking.

Arriving at the “Towns Square” at the end of the road, we quickly decided to check into the nearby hotel. We were totally exhausted from the trip and one could feel the height as well. We were lucky that our room (even though it very small) had a breathtaking view over Darjeeling. Lots of Hotel can be found in the area, some of them still looking very colonial. You can enjoy High Tea at the “Planters Club” terrace or many other places. The Planters Club has rooms with open fireplaces which is nice, even though everything is a bit aging, but nevertheless still got the colonial charm from the past. Opposite is “Pineridge Hotel”, an interesting example of a bygone era … checking out the rooms of the hotel was a bit spooky to be honest…

Anyway, setting out to check out the town immediately after arrival, we realized that walking around was really tiring. The altitude is about 2200 meters and the area is very steep, so you need good shoes (especially when it rains because then it gets really slippery).

A Toy Train.

On the next day we took the Toy train in the morning down to Kurseong. The train looks so cute with its little carriages and the station was still original as it was when the British built it around 1880. The steam engine has a very noisy horn, honking constantly to warn people and cars of its passing. Since 1999 the train is a “World heritage”; a real masterpiece of railway construction. When the train passes Batavia loop (and the weather permits), you have a fantastic view above the valley … Another option to see the area is on a horse. You can hire horses and go for day trips into the valleys. But don’t expect to gallop through the area. This is not possible since it’s too steep and the horses walk very slow.

Some Monasteries are along the way and houses are built like eagle nests along the steep roads and everybody is very friendly.
Arriving in Kurseong we got into a little place and ordered some “Momos” – the local speciality. It’s a vegetable mix wrapped in dough and then steamed. Yummy!!! After walking around a little bit, we started our way back to Darjeeling by foot and somewhere along the road we spotted this beautiful huge cannabis plant growing in a front yard … You could smell it immediately and we wondered that it grew just along the main road without anybody around … Finally we stopped a car and drove back up to Darjeeling because its too far to walk all the way back, especially since we planned more walks for the next days…

Tea pickers working under the sun of Darjeeling.

Typical trucks come all the way from Kolkata up to Darjeeling.

Tea fields cover the entire area and surround small villages of Darjeeling.

This woman greeted us at the train station in Darjeeling. By the look of her wrinkles, she must be about 100 years old.

The train ride up to Darjeeling mostly leads through thick fog right next to the street.

Even in villages along the way to Darjeeling, the train passes right through.

A local man selling his “fresh” fish at the market in Darjeeling.

The buildings of Darjeeling, India.

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, also known as the “Toy Train”, is a 60 cm narrow gauge railway that runs between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling.