Post #111 – January 30, 2013 – Kolkata, West Bengal, India

What we did: Motherhouse volunteer orientation and house placement, bonded with stray dogs and homeless outside motherhouse

Budget: 3500R/$70; Spent: 3210R/$64

This morning we ate breakfast at Raj’s Spanish Café near Sudder St. Sudder St. is the backpacker’s destination in Kolkata. The area around Sudder is made up of narrow streets with lots of vendors, internet cafes, hotels/guesthouses and restaurants. It would have been a convenient place to stay during our time in Kolkata, but I guess we know for next time. It was a nice easy-going morning. We had a good breakfast and just surfed the net, checking e-mails and blogging and researching some places to do meditation in Thailand.

We met three Americans from California while we were sitting in the café. Bryan, the guy we spoke with the most, told us the three of them had volunteered at a Foster Home for several weeks near Kolkata. It sounded like they thought it was a nice experience but he didn’t go into too much detail. He did say it was hard to leave the kids. We overheard several people saying they were volunteering at the Missionaries of Charity so it seems a lot of the travellers hanging out on Sudder St. are doing some kind of volunteering. This kind of put us at ease about it all.

We face timed with Frank and Dan for a bit.  We miss them. It’s hard to believe the next time we see them will be in a few months in Italy. After talking with Frank and Dan, I caught up with my mom and dad on Skype. My mom just got back from Mexico and we hadn’t spoken in a month so we had lots to talk about. Sounded like she had a good time and all our family in Mexico is doing well. All this travelling has given me the itch to explore Mexico the way we have India and China. I am excited to take Jeff to Guadalajara to meet my family and by grandparents.

When 2pm rolled around we paid our bill at the café and anxiously made our way to the Motherhouse for the volunteer orientation. Amazingly we arrived early! We had about 45 minutes to kill before it started.

It was there, standing outside the Motherhouse entrance that we met Tiny Tim.

The little puppy was just laying there on the street with his head down near a lamp post and some garbage. It’s uncommon to see such a small little thing by himself without his mother to protect him. We approached him curious as to why he was just sitting there seemingly lost. We thought perhaps his mother was nearby looking for food. We took a few pictures of him and remarked at how adorable he was.

We noticed what looked like a piece of poo stuck to him. It was about the size of a baby carrot and just sticking to his belly. When we got a closer look though, there seemed to be some blood on it. We weren’t sure what to do or whether he was okay or not. Five minutes went by and we just stood there observing him. Several people stopped and stood with us to see what we were looking at. We all continued to just stand there watching him. It became quite clear he was not well. When it got time for him to stand on his 4 legs, his back legs quivered until he finally picked himself up slowly. When he got up he was visibly straining to move. By this time people had come and gone and we were still standing there with him. We had no idea how to help him. I remembered we had peanut butter in my bag, and Pacolino loves peanut butter, so I opened the jar and placed it on the ground in front of him. He sniffed it a bit but didn’t seem interested. I stuck my finger in the jar to take some peanut butter out and I smeared it on the ground for him. He still wasn’t interested. We then poured some water into the jar lid and placed it in front of him. At last, he took a few sips. About half an hour had passed and the orientation was about to get going and many volunteers began arriving. We reluctantly left him and went inside the motherhouse.

Around 30 people showed up for the Orientation; people from all over the world. There were people from Asia, Europe, Australia, South America, and North America. We had a nice conversation with the German lady that sat next to us named Barbara. She had volunteered every year at the charity since 2008. At first she was a bit shy but then began opening up about her experience and giving us some thoughtful advice. She is a sweet lady.

We also met Cecille and Linda from Indonesia. Cecille is a successful entrepreneur and Linda manages a small import/export company. They gave us advice about what eat and where to go once we get to Indonesia. Turns out we’ll be working with all 3 of the ladies we met. Should be great.

Phillip, a long term volunteer from Australia conducted the orientation. He gave us all the info about each care home and the type of work involved. He has been working in­­­ Kalighat for the past 2 months. Kalighat is the most famous of the all the homes. It is there that the poorest of the poor, the dying and the destitute are cared for. Our first night in Kolkata we read about one volunteer’s experience in Kalighat and he basically said that someone died at that home almost every week. Phillip committed to 4 months of volunteering and told us he wanted to follow through on the remaining 2 months. His eyes were heavy. The guy looked visibly exhausted but managed to be very friendly and very positive. We told him how impressed we were with his commitment and he told us that it was nothing and that there is a woman who has committed to 3 years of volunteering there. She has just completed 1 full year so far.

Once all the info was provided we made the decision to volunteer at Prem Dan (translates to “gift of love”) in the mornings, a hospital for the very sick.

In the afternoon, we’ll be working at Daya Dan (translates to “gift of mercy”), which is a home for disabled children.

Our names got called and we walked up to a table where 2 sisters were seated. We told the sister which homes we would like to volunteer at. The sister we spoke to (Sister Mercy Maria) is from Texas and she speaks perfect English and Spanish. She told us her parents are Mexican and that she grew up speaking Spanish in her home. During our brief conversation with her, she made mention several times of god’s plans, like how god brought her to Kolkata and that she uses her Spanish every day at work because of the volunteers that come. When I asked the sister if she had worked with mother Theresa she said that Mother Theresa had moved on before she arrived,  but that Mother Theresa pulled some strings up there to get her to go to Kolkata … she didn’t elaborate anymore on that. She’s an interesting lady. She spoke in a very matter of fact way.

Throughout the day, there was lots of talk about things happening for reasons, that they weren’t coincidences and that they are a part of god’s plan. There’s definitely a spirituality about Kolkata that is unlike anywhere we have been so far. Being in Kolkata is like nowhere else. It’s the first time in all my life I have felt like there was nothing more important that I could be doing. I feel like I am in the right place, like I need to be here. We have an opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives. It’s not often I can say that.

After signing up, we walked outside and saw Tiny Tim still sitting by himself with his head down. He looked quite weak. We decided to get some food for him. We walked 2 blocks and stopped at a street food restaurant and bought 2 chicken cutlets for 70R. As we walked back we saw a man alone sitting in the dark. He wouldn’t look at me. I stood there looking at him and offered him some of the chicken, he then looked at me with such sad and lonely eyes, and then looked away. I offered again and he continued to look in the distance. I placed the chicken on his lap and walked away.

We then gave one full cutlet to a limping dog sitting near Tiny Tim. It seems he has seriously hurt one of his front paws and is only walking on 3 legs. He didn’t seem interested in the chicken cutlet… neither did Tiny Tim. We were dumbfounded that stray dogs would be so picky. Apparently most strays prefer masala chicken and roti…seriously!

Again people were stopping to see why we were standing there on the sidewalk. Many watched for a bit smiling and then continued off. One guy stopped and watched for a while and then told us to try giving them biscuits because they usually eat those. So we went to a nearby shop and bought a pack of digestive cookies for 10R.

We began tossing them to the limping dog. It was a success. He approved, and ate them all!

Tiny Tim on the other hand wasn’t feeling the biscuits. We broke up about 5 cookies around him and he didn’t take any interest in them.

A sweet man who seemed to know Tiny Tim came over and began talking with one of the strangers that had stopped to watch and he told to him that Tiny Tim only liked Chapati and rice. I wish we had brought a menu for him. The man then explained he was very sick. He gently grabbed Tiny Tim and placed him on his back to show the growth on his tummy. Tiny Tim’s eyes were half closed. He looked very weak by this time.  We had spent about an hour there trying to figure out how we could help him. After feeling like it was enough, we began walking home with heavy hearts. We walked about 5 blocks and came to a vendor selling small kitchen cloths. It’s rare seeing this type of thing sold on the street… at least from our experience we haven’t seen this before. But upon laying eyes on the cloth we knew it would make a perfect blanket for Tiny Tim. We contemplated just giving him the cloth tomorrow but decided that there was no better time than now. We walked the 5 blocks back and found Tiny Tim sitting and shivering under a piece of plywood resting on a street lamp with what looked like a potato sack as a roof. I have a feeling it was the sweet homeless man who set this up for Tiny Tim. We were scared to touch Tiny Tim so we rested the blanket on the plywood. This didn’t work. Tiny Tim got tangled in it and it was covering his face. Tiny Tim’s friend saw what we were trying to do and came over. I explained with my hands what the cloth was for. He smiled and wrapped Tiny Tim like a burrito and gently touched his head motioning him to lay down for the night. He looked so cozy and we found some measure of peace leaving him. All the way home we couldn’t stop talking about him. He had stolen our hearts. We wanted to come up with a name so that we’d never forget him. We came up with Tiny Tim.

When we got back to the hotel we talked for a while about all the possible ways we could help him: bringing him to a vet, finding him a home, keeping him. Anyone who knows me knows that at times I am all heart to the point of being totally impractical. Jeff helps balance me out. But, for a long time I’ve thought of this as a weakness, rather than something I can harness for good. I thought it made me a weak, naïve person. But Kolkata today, this place, has made me feel differently. I realized that it’s an important part of myself. I remember when I was a kid, I saw a lady at the grocery store shopping by herself. She was a middle aged woman, but she was weak, and struggling to the point of being unable to pick fruits and vegetables for herself. I didn't see anybody stop to offer help to her. When I got home, I cried my eyes out for her. I remember this part of me now so vividly. When you’re a kid, things are so simple, but somewhere along the way we lose ourselves a bit, and I think I lost a lot of my compassion, or at least the motivation to do something about the compassion I felt. I feel like Kolkata has awakened something inside of me… like this compassion that I had when I was a kid. And I am inspired and I know what I want to do with my life. I want to help in any way I can. No task is too small that it’s unimportant. We gave a little dog a blanket today… a small gesture and it cost us nothing but some time and 10R. I hope that maybe it helped improve his sweet little life slightly or that it encourages some of the people who walked by to think twice about helping someone they see in need. Maybe they went home in a better mood. I don’t know, but after talking for some time about it, Jeff and I came to an understanding that no gesture is too small.