VARANASI the religious capital of India

This city of a little less than 1 million people is right inbetween Delhi and Kolkata upon the banks of Ganges river and has BOTH the northern lack of interest to things physical AND the southern lack of interest to things intellectual.Only in this city did i see wild monkeys,freely running around in real closeness to humans.Not in the city itself,only upon the railway station.They are completely unafraid of humans there and my guess is Varanasi population is SO much less dangerous as the city is the centre of religious life in India,hinduism believing monkeys to be holy animals along with cows;as such they may NOT be hunted/wasted etc and are given full freedom of action.I never saw them in Kolkata,wher i lived for a long time though,where I guess they would become an easy prey of this free no expense meat source of local people.About food,and i had seen caffee repertoir there often on numerous occasions-all of publically available food is mostly vegetarian and is completely compliant with hindu requirements of no meat eaten;but in certain spots it IS possible to eat meat/fish etc;THAT food exists simply ONLY for meateaters.Once i decided to feed a fruit to a monkey upon the Varanasi city railway station so i threw it towards them,and 1 of the monkeys(sized like a 6 year old boy and behaving alike too,yet much more active,even as seemingly not at all interested in humans)immediately snatched the fruit and started eating it right upon that very spot,some 10 metres away from myself.This amazingly free wild animals' behaviour i witnessed only inside of Varanasi while i had been to many large India cities as well.1 more VERY extreme an experience in Varanasi was when we(me and my local friend i met in a Kolkata paying guest hotel)entered a small hindu temple of his own choice.The temple wasnt looking anything special to me as i entered it,from the outside i mean.I personally would never chose to enter it as the entrance to it looked like a very normal place with no original things around it;but my local friend knew what exactly was he doing.The main deity in it made upon me the MOST exquisite impression of ALL different countries' deities i ever saw,and there were many.Only my album ''Temples'' that holds photoes from ukrainian churches mostly,contains like 200 photoes from the insides of churches.I remember that Varanasi temple deity being of a small 5 years old child size,situated upon the level of one's eyes and covered in very nice clothes with its surroundings giving the largest spiritual experiences of ALL the temples i had ever been to,and those were many in different countries.All in all Varanasi is like a large 'natural reserve' or a National Park,a pure and unobstructed in any ways immense home for religious people,all behaving like a natural reserve animals would with weird changes to the very same principle of behaviour in those.I saw this same special feeling to hindu deities in some Puri religious families' homes i was passing by in the east coast holy city upon its main streets(had been to Puri at the very start of my India travels for an entire day in 2011),but there right before a home entrance a small palm sized deity always was installed while more official and grand looking Varanasi houses never had this feature to them,the city being grand and pretty strict in architectural detail with no weird looking details like small deities before a private home in sight,the way homes of Puri religious people always look.Puri is a much smaller than Varanasi town upon the north-eastern coast of India,also very much dominated by religious people.When off the temple deity observation(the most striking 1 of all I saw in different temples in India and I had been to many)i was immediately approached by the temple priest,a very thin,seemingly emotionally emaciated somewhat nervous and seemingly rich on internal intellectual expreriences nice gentleman,all clothed in weird local clothes,who was looking nothing like any always officially looking Ukraine priests do(i saw many of them there while making temples' photoes),but who reminded me a long time refraining from food university professor,who suddenly sank into childish activities with loss of ALL understanding of the world outside of this particular temple his eternal home.The priest,because he was acting like one would,suddenly and unexpectedly approached me with amazing quickness of step,asked me several weird questions after which he just AS quickly disappeared from view,questions that looked very strange considering that situation,obviously recognizing a foreighner,among which i recall the country i live in and the name of my mother.Temples in Varanasi are both grand looking and very numerous,much unlike Puri city ones,where they are much smaller with a micro deity a religious home entrance;the rest of Puri town purely dominated by normal indian locals.In Varanasi though the ENTIRE city is perfectly dominated by religion of hinduism and its intricacies to the point,where religious stop even considering the reality outside of temples/religious centres.1 more feature of city life i never witnessed in any of other cities of India or another country too,were public cremations,happening inside of a somewhat less sounding,yet a city suburb(not in its centre yet not upon its outskirts too),which can be freely watched by any passer by.Hinduism believes that the owner of the body had simply departed to live in another body,leaving this useless body behind into this new better life condition.I happened in that place completely unexpectedly while roaming the city streets freely,looking for new impressions.Recognizing this amazing situation immidiately,I myself could not leave untill watching it start and even then into unfolding of it at lenght,SO interesting was watching this cremation unfold before my own eyes-the very weird show one can never ever witness in any other world spot,including TV as well.Not simply a small place,but a comparatively active suburb of a large city to this,even as not its central part.This was not in any crematorium,one all closed from everyone able to see it at all as it is in most every cremation ground,but inside of the city and even not upon an isolated street,but a busy active one.The dead body is brought in to the cremation grounds upon a normal hospital stretcher the way ill people are transported,it is then fully clothed in exclusive local clothes and with fresh flowers around it,just as Indian tradition prescribes it.After this a priest spent around 15 minutes in a ceremony with pronouncing the guy's great qualities i'd guess(all in hindi and so completely not understandable to me),after which the same priest opens the fire with simple matches;they start a smaller shred of paper or a matter;the shred is put then to the stretcher with the body upon it;the fire quickly envelops the body as it had just been profusely covered with easily flammable liquids,those that smell like cerosene,but very profusely;all well seen to maybe 100 people,gathered at that spot for watching the CEREMONY unfold.To the description of the YES ceremony,even as a very standard ''joke like'' looking 1,you must add that NO nice looking paraphernalia or exquisite presents/things are ever in use in it and all is looking like JUST a simple life process going on(the way a kitchen cooking of a dish normally does).Seemingly much accustomed to similar shows watchers of that ceremony show no sign of ANY feelings like crying or sorrow and simply watch it all while standing at the place.As the strong fire immidiately envelops the body(previously richly covered with things flammable from a large canister with petroleum like smell),along with the heavy smell the vaporizing from the fire dead body was emitting,just AS disturbing for an outsider(locals around didnt seem to mind it in the least though)was the sight of a human body burning,to the brain this time,because the smoke wasnt THAT heavy as to block the vision off very effectively,even as dark fumes were vaporizing in quantities.Unlike upon other funeral ceremonies i was witnessing none around was showing ANY signs of displeasure/horror/any abnormal action from this show;all the watchers had been reacting to it as to any other not really important a public action.The hardest thing to come through during the cremation(the thing that also finally made me leave the otherwise exclusively interesting show i never even suspected was possible to ever see)during the happening is the heavily injuring you smell of the burning body,which is not resembling anything else i recall.Well,the most common idea of that smell is given by a burning plastic materials,as i recall that was also what burning of a corpse did to it,JUST what burning of plastics does to them;that same disgustingly nasty and eating you alive inside smell of burning plastics,just that the smell isnt chemical at all,as with plastics it is,but "natural",yet just AS disgusting or much more so nevertheless.It tends to kill off your nose and churn your brain inside too.Even as i myself,turned completely over with that smell after maybe 20 minutes of watching it all unfold,was finally leaving the show in progress as my nose was now refusing cooperation,ALL the other watchers remained visibly senseless,looking averagely and glued to the show with what i percieved as weird grim determination to be upon that very spot to the very end of the ceremony unfolding.Its also hard to shake that smell off yourself even once the cremation is over/you are off the watching of it-THAT nasty is the smell!I left the cremation finally exactly because the smell became too disturbing to hold through the ceremony for any longer.None else of the present was leaving this show though,obviously determined to watch it to the very end,and i guess also well used to cremations' smells.Here MOST of other places the public behaviour reminded me of that in the Riyadh the Saudi Arabia capital airport,where people acted like machines that had no live feelings(EXACTLY the same impression involved here)but only mechanical functions to perform-the very same mechanism-like complete support of the ruling the brain idea to bring the people into the spot.Cremations are held ever in the same city spot and multiple very similar small coal heaps were showing how often had the place been used for the purpose.Similar coals' heaps showed me that SO many similar cremations had been performed here previously.The results of previous cremations,they were a little paler by colour,thats all.After the cremations finish the resulting ashes are supposed to be thrown out into the holy to Hindu worshippers Ganges river;which i didnt witness personally.According to the normal hindu belief the soul then simply leaves this body and then becomes attached to a new 1;so why bother about the details of its next existance?What IS done in river Ganges(Varanasi has exclusively nicely architecturally managed ghats;saw those and even bathed in 1 of those ghats;other bathers all looked like religious people with enough physics to river bath and there are NOT many of such there;is bathing and i myself had even once bathed there.Surrounded by more businesslike people than upon numerous Kolkata ghats i also frequented as in that city.Ganges river in Varanasi is crossing the city into about two similar by size halves,and it is easy to cross it by swimming too for a good swimmer;not that i DID notice anyone doing this though;and i mean NOT for like an excellent swimmer was it simple to cross the river,unlike in Kolkata West Bengal,where it isnt EVER possible to cross the river aswim,both because of the great distance to the other shore(only houses visible there,no human siluetthes percievable at all,SUCH is the distance to that other Gabges shore there,and even more so because of a strong current that is quickly moving in the river' middle.Currents,seen well at their power as they pull some tree branches towards the sea,are THAT strong as to pretty easily divert even strong muscular swimmers off their determination to cross the river in Kolkata West Bengal.The other shore of Ganges river here in Varanasi is clearly visible and easy to reach,unlike it is in Kolkata.The strenght of the Kolkata Ganges was percievable when it moved along the river middle some tree branches.The speed of the middle of Ganges river in Kolkata is like a half of the speed of an average car that passes city streets.The current there would easily take a swimmer off the course and too far away too,so none ever attempted this feat of crossing it there.The quantity of people,taking a bath in the Varanasi ghat was considerably smaller than in the Kolkata ghat(river spot for bathing)i bathed twice during each day around Kolkata,but not seriously smaller while the Ganges river was much smaller in width,less dangerous for crossing it to the other river shore.The decorations of the Varanasi ghat were of great quality,all nicely managed architecturally and also scrupulously worked over,with numerous engraved signs in a local language,i guess the hindi one;Kolkata ghats never holding any of such details to them even as MUCH more populated by swimmers.The Varanasi ghat i was bathing at(only once as ALL the time i spent in Varanasi was from 1 morning to that very day's evening,my Ganges valley local friend circling the city around me;was not even close to the simple spot for just bathing I frequented when living near Kolkata,with signs for swimmers well visible.Ghats are always well and meticulously cleanly kept,in both cities,have no garbage or else such similar displeasing things around,are all in an amazingly clean condition,and only once I saw a disruption to this rule(had been bathing in Ganges twice each day when staying in a Kolkata paying guest in 2011)in the Bally town West Bengal ghat(a VERY much not a central spot and even more,a provincial NOT centre connected at all 1),when close to it a corpse of a brought by the river current cow was laying partly decomposing.This sight was both disturbing and very much uncommon-i used then to bath in many spots around Kolkata for the fun of it-youth takes its own,i was 39 in 2011 the year of my India travels and in an excellent physical condition to that,which was making me perfectly capable of walking around a city for 3 hours at least non stop and NOT needing any break to the foot travel to that,EXACTLY what i had been actively busy BOTH in India and in Haifa Israel too often as well.The decomposing cow corpse was seen during one day only and disappeared the very next day though and this case was the ONLY disruption to the otherwise clean and with a medicinal area induced worked over spot's conditon,THAT spotlessly clean and well kept had been the indian bathing river spots.It isnt that the shore wasnt dirty-it was BUT the ghat itself was spotlessly clean always.Varanasi city structure is very well managed,has no mismanaged areas at all,is with numerous very nice architecturally perfectly worked over buildings,the words to describe which shortly would be GRAND and MAGNIFICENT.Varanasi city structure being efficient so much more than the Bombay city one is,and Bombay is a MUCH more important to India city than Varanasi economically and has maybe a twenty times larger importance to the country economics and i guess is 10 times larger by population too.Speaking of Bombay,where i spent once close to a full day awaiting a train to elsewhere as i never liked that city(currently listed as Mumbai after a new religious dominated government decided to rename it though),it reminded me simply a lot of nighttime housing to comfort daytime workers of complicated industries' styles,something,completely abscent in the lazy sleepy style of Kolkata city.My OWN impression held that if you wished to work and earn real cash your city in India was definitely Mumbai;if you wanted to lead a completely religion dictated life your city was Varanasi,if you wanted a lazy sleepy no action at all life it was Kolkata etc.Hinduism itself(funnily still a MUCH stronger force around India than anything else is)lets everyone get overbusy with his OWN occupations,not interrupting into those AT ALL.This very similar attitude does also Israel hold to life,and both India and Israel in reality are the only mostly religious countries with secular influence over average life strictly avoided and showing itself as ''the real life fact''(it never is in realtiy of life nevertheless)only inside of TV and other public shows like the politics from the country capital etc.The thing is even ''as babies play on''(capital politics here),REAL men are much busy with REAL things to do;and those ''real things'' are EXACTLY the sort of a show i witnessed as a Varanasi religious cremation-those are amazingly banal yet taken crazily seriously SIMPLE DAILY LIFE events.I witnessed this myself on numerous occasions as i live in Israel.

SENSITIVITY

This very important for myself quality is definitely connected to vegan feeding.The capacities that it brings include very delicate operating with each of life things with much better solutions to each of the topics along the way,because only your sensitivity will tell you to stop once some bad level of an activity is finally reached.Those people that do not possess high sensitivity will miss the brink,after which a particular activity becomes poison and in this way all that activity will be less effective/more damaging the body as it then starts to produce side effects/complications none really wants inside.ALL the foods i consume are eaten here in an undercooked state,not even close to the boiling point,heated to a particular degree only,which increases the amount of live undestroyed by boiling vitamins and minerals very considerably,which,in turn,makes the condition of organs more alive/filled with very much live vitamins/minerals66 and,accordingly,more sensitive to different things.This in turn increases the speed of those organs being well tired of even simple activities,as the brain then needs to react to those things much more seriously.This situation reminds me the difference of sensitivity between my left well doing wrist(small 1)and my right one,which had recently come through a complicated break down as a result of a road accident in several places and now,post factum it all,is much more sensitive to my own fingers and so the rest of things too,than the left 1.This additional sensitivity means undoubtedly additional activity,which the brain then needs to conduct through the right wrist nerves,in this way increasing the work the brain does with the right wrist.One more interesting outcome of it all is that the later by time passing did any bodily parts come into existance the more sensitive are they.As the general rule as I notice complicated life experiences,bone breaks etc,lead to additional participation of the brain itself in the activity of the just injured body part.The exact point of the former trauma is always doing the worst interestingly while the bodily matter right after it and adjacent to it is increasing after that trauma several times more.Thats just how the organism had managed to start reacting to numerous traumatic experiences of its past-by surrounding the just severely damaged body part with numerous other ones of that same sort that DO keep working well,adding to those neighbours of theirs what the damaged parts themselves fail to get into their orbits.Again,this effect of replacing what had just been damaged with newer boosting up with life members of the 'bodily trade' is a proof of the necessity sensitivity holds inside of us.hich is the least sensitive to things are thighs and if you noticed which body part is always in the worst condition(in most cases the problem with them is under the skin,which shows bad condition of the matter below),in most humans that lead no sporting connected life,it is also thighs.Bodily matter right under the thihgs' skin is the most unhealthy one,showing not smooth 1(fingers' type 1)but curd like uneven formation of the matter.This unhealthy thighs' condition is a sad norm among most of people over the age of 40.On the other hand,experience shows us that the most sensitive bodily part are the hands and the fingers especially.No bad condition is ever noticed for fingers,no curd like formations but muscular ones only.The point of this excursion into human anatomy is that the less sensitive you are the more damaged your health will be with time.Human body is built so as to send additional 'reinforcements/improvements/changes of sorts' into the body parts that DO request or demand those and NOT into the body parts that fail to register existance of complications inside of them.And this is why the least sensitive and so requesting improvements thighs are minimally worked over by the ever existing/active inside of us police like forces that attempt to always coordinate things and fix complications,arising with the body.The more sensitive will you be the less problematic the condition of your physical body is destined to be as well.Lately all my food is cooked only till it reaches a much smaller degree of heating up than the boiling point. SEASHORE CHANGES Whenever do i either leave or approach the sea for whichever reason,but from 200 metres to the shore itself,i need to frequently stop for a break as i easily develop heavy breathing and i have this rule,which demands from me to stop in whatever am i busy with till the very moment heavy breathing is finally off.The reason for this phenomena is the sizeable changes of enviroment,surrounding anyone that is closing on/leaving the sea.The area,which is directly over and closest to the seawater itself unlike areas that are relatively afar/away from it holds completely different circumstances and these can influence any human in ways he might only feel once his sensitivity levels are pretty high/developed.Seawater undoubtedly is different from the pure air that surrounds us averagely.It tends to evaporate into the air sizeable quantities of vapour that contains sea water in quantities,and the further are you from the seashore itself the less is this sea vapour influencing you.Vapour quantity(it contains smaller and smaller quantities of seawater the furthern from the sea are you)though is easily/quickly retreating into nothing as you are leaving the sea outwards;taking off into nothing also the sea quality;and this very sudden yet sizeable by the seashore fall of seawater qualities is exactly what produces the above mentioned heavy breathing.Even as the brain itself(i am simply speaking this very brain)is never touched by similar changes for its own(and as the result also the good of the entire organism)good,my lower parts the lower bodily functions/organs notice these minor changes very efficiently and react upon them accordingly;the entire system of my organs changing its sizes/qualities/capacities the more the further from the seashore had i just gotten.I simply have the levels of my sensitivity AS developed as to yes show me the resulting changes;still,every human being passes similar changes of his internal organs whenever does he leave or approach the sea,this gigantic specialized bio/purely organic mass that is SO much a larger system than a particular human being ever is.Such sensitivity,along with its worse life pieces like needing to stop amazingly frequently as leaving the sea,also has its better sides.For instance,i never need to consider when to yes stop doing any thing in life for a break as this very heavy breathing tells me when EXACTLY am i to stop for a break;people that do NOT have/never listen to such body precautious warnings are able,let us say,to get their brains wasted in ultra complicated highly detailed brain activities everyone nowadays is easily exposed to;without any idea that this effect actually IS happening to them;any highly sensitive human being though does get such a very clear warning;and this exact gift of ''warning from my subjects below''(if you care and try to manage them correctly and always,you will ever have it on)is a very efficient way to avoid greatest life complications,and exhaustion and resulting dying off of never recreating themselves neuro brain cells is exactly the prize you will be enjoying with sensitivity.As whichever is the prize you are seeking out in your normal life activities(we all work over certain life fields wee seek perfection in),never is this prize allowed to destroy/diminish in size the very motor of what is it you are doing in life,and that is the brain itself the main manager of the organism.Whenever do you encounter heavy breathing and other significant homeostasis complications though you must stop right away what is it that causes these;those that do not follow similar ''safety regulations'' will suffer health complications;and people that DO try to enhance sensitivity/efficiency of life/best actions' results must be prepared to act accordingly;in the above mentioned case of approaching/leaving the seashore that is stopping for a break AS soon as heavy breathing is on;and i stop in my ways always even as none else is acting that weird from the outside way. IN PRANAYAMA High levels of sensitivity are 1 of more interesting and less mentioned results of constant doing pranayama exercises.This indeed must take a considerable time to appear,but the levels,in which your own system then participates in making day-to-day decisions of smaller character are pretty high and you never have to worry about just when to stop in a particular activity type as your body then suggests it IS time to stop;in this case when i develop heavy breathing(a regular spot in time,where i must stop doing pranayama).I sometimes read in works of other yoga specialists that this or thhat a number of rounds/cycles of pranayama or number of exercises is exactly what IS recommended;however,i myself never need such denominations as my own very body suggests the exact moment i must stop by signs like heavy breathing;definite and undisputed spots in time,where i just have to stop;i personally find such results as this body limitations as the best ever way to accertain the exact moments,in which i must stop doing yoga/pranayama exercises.Others may tell you what works for them;but in your OWN case(each case has to be somewhat different just as each human's weight just HAS somehow to differ from that of another human being)you need to accertain the very exact time moments,where you need to stop just to avoid overheating of the system,and yoga CAN even dangerously overheat your body machine/system of your different body parts.Sometimes i read about people that produced for themselves bad internal injuries while doing yoga exercises for TOO long;this will never happen if you AS simply as just allow your own system to warn you beforehands about the dangerous overheated levels of exercising it is approacing;and ''heavy breathing pretty easily achieved'' IS 1 thing that will be around you if you simply do pranayama for a very long time;never seriously dangerous to your health,pranayama though can bring you such wonderful presents you will never regret with time.

KOCHI,Kerala,southern India

I was to Kochi town in Kerala state India in 2011 for a full month somewhat after in general i concluded my aquaintance with the West Bengal area up the Ganges valley;and just to take a look at southern India and how does it look/feel,i went there as well.My idea at that time was that south India holds circumstances,better than those of the Ganges valley(this was not correct at all as i found out).I rented there a small apartment on the 2nd and last floor of a 2 story separately owned private house,which was situated upon its continent part.Now,Kochi is divided into 2,separated by a bay,parts-the penninsula 1 and then the "continental " 1,the central 1 being the penninsula 1(with both nice old architecture and complicated technology,a port etc)while the continental 1 holds mostly living quarters of local people.A long penninsula exists by the shore in that area,and thats probably how people started to inhabit the area once.As the habitation started,it was localized to the penninsula itself,but with time going and the settlement growing up in size the continent by gthe penninsula's line got inhabited as well.All of Kochi continental part is comparatively newly built,while the penninsula itself part holds older times' structures.Transportation between these 2 city parts is made by small speedy ships,which go each approximately with a 50 minutes break between each other and constantly move around.Thats just the time and no more,required to have the small boat,of like 50 people having on board when filled completely(and some went with even less than 50 people on board),and having like 30 averagely,to get collected anew.The amount of sunlight in the southern India there is amazing,i never saw this in any place i had been to unless when in Sri Lanka.Vegetation in south India is something extraordinary by height and size,something i didnt see even more south,in Sri Lanka,fauna also being in a higher condition,what to speak about the famous Ganges valley,where grocery is much smaller by its height,yet much more numerous upon the grand sized local bengalese markets,probably because the population wants to deal with grocery so much more up north in the valley than south upon the always hilly/and up the continent becoming even mountainous in the south of India)no valley in sight small hills all of Kerala state is upon.The numbers of fruits and vegetables,amount of kilograms of them upon markets too in Kochi are nevertheless seriously smaller than upon the markets in the Ganges valley,fruits themselves being more original and pŕicy and definitely less numerous.My own impression about this situation is that Ganges valley has people,mostly addicted to outdoors activities in sizeable quantities,while south Indian cities hold people,much more interested in home or office things to do and so the market is correspondingly abandoned in comparison,just as beaches are.Even as I did not discuss this topic with my home owners(unlike in my Kolkata guest house facility,where the owner was always friendly and could easily participate in socializing with his tennants),I could easily guess and seen that most of the family that allowed me to rent a room there was constantly occupied at home in small house chores,only the head of the family or maybe another person of the household being well busy elsewhere,most likely in weird complicated matters orientated offices in the small Kochi city of I would roughly guess no more than a 100 000 population.Some half an hour noth from the city of Kolkata, where I lived for approximately 1 full year with breaks inbetween,there was a constantly used ghat(an interestingly active for a 10 000 people i would say a town of Bally).Inside Kolkata itself the largest city of eastern India,about as short time upon your legs as 5 minutes walk from its main railway station Howrah,there also was a ghat a bathing spot,while the Kochi beach,even as yes existing,is situated a long way from the city,in a place to which only a separate train line is leading.I had the impression that locals are never upon that sea beach while foreighners sometimes DO go there.Yet it is mostly NOT used by people.To that Beach you must first take a specific bus root,an uncommon in Kochi one,through which buses pass pretty rarely,and get there after like an hour of a bus drive,all buses being old,made in 1970-es I would guess yet very well maintained by the technical part of the local garage of cars.All the local indian transportation buses,both in Kolkata and Kochi,were acquired from Soviet Union as are exactly the models,used there once,and are in a great active condition up untill this very day.One gets to the sea beach after maybe an hour in a bus and the roads there(remarkably NOT the way it is around Kolkata)are allowing the driver to have you very sufficiently thrashed around the moving bus to never ever wanna do the trip again.This Beach exists for mostly tourists that indeed ARE inflating Kochi in significant numbers,most of them europeans interestingly,unlike it is in Kolkata,where for all the very numerous months of living(close to one full year with breaks)I met no more than 10 foreighners and none comes there for tourism.In Kochi tourists spoke english AS much as some european languages and looked like constant around-the-world travellers would.While in Kolkata I only met proficient users of the American slank users(and very rarely to that)and Kochi mostly had european looking tourists instead.People simply normally prefer famous destinations like an excellent Beach of a very specific fruit and instead avoid very simply occupied folks of Bengal the area around Kolkata because sources of information about the places are mostly based upon specific destinations and not upon the main boons of Ganges valley natural richness I personally had been seeking in India.Going southwards from the Ganges valley by train(i circled upon those the entire Indian penninsula in 2011)i noticed this extreme height of vegetation southern India holds and also its suddenly dominant role in the area,in which the vegetation took over not AS many human interests as there are in both Bengal and especially the middle part of the Ganges valley.What IS interesting about Kochi is amazing lack of desire among locals to appear by the sea or lay upon beaches,which,by the way,are pretty remote from the town and mostly deserted too.Most likely because the local authorities despise or underestimate sea bathing,not giving it any attention to be developed and no serious size rivers are even existing in the south,the terrain being hilly,covered with wild looking and extremely prosperous grocery,very weakly and slowly transformed by humans into friendly terrain,and fully "controlled" by vegetation,which IS the master of that mostly uninhabited hilly area.Instead south India people are either busy at work in complicated activities or else lavishly spend their time inside of their homes in intellectual and other private life things like chatting around and home appliances management,at least this was my impression as I lived among locals myself for a complete month and could observe them a little.Outdoor life just isn't a thing to do for Kochi town inhabitants,i observed this during my numerous walkabouts around Kochi,most all of those upon my own feet,while in Kolkata it is the undisputed life topic number one to travel around the area for some time per day,people often intentionally finding the time for this.I noticed this upon my own numerous trips around the local Kolkata trains' system.I rented a small room upon the second roof floor in a private house there,owned by a well to do local family.They rarely left home,at least several family members always were inside their place.The family itself was numerous,keeping to its own self inside either the house the family nest or the work places they had.That goes along with Ganges valley people,actively and easily using both city ghats(bathing spots)on Ganges river,where whichever hour did i come-always several people were bathing,and of numerous local trains too, that allow passage among the Bengal province towns.Kerala(the south-western coast state of India)state(India is divided into like 20 territorial states-provinces by difference of populating them folks),where Kochi is situated,is very different from the Ganges valley in such respects and south India is much not like the Ganges valley area,which is densely populated and active in outdoor activities,home ones scarse.The percentage of south India inside of the common economics output of India must be very low.Markets of the small Kochi city are comparatively rare and small,their grounds not easy to cover upon own feet and flocked with badly managed vegetation bundles-out of curiocity i had been around NOT only the selling grounds,but the close-by areas of the market too.Some pieces of the Kochi market are not managed correctly and are nothing but put away and awaiting the attention of people flocks of grocery,just left to lay around by people.Unlike around Kolkata,where the amount of middle size dealers in small sales of things,needed at home daily,their number around Kochi is very small and grocery is more expencive in south Indian states even as more rare fruits are available in the south.I recall that Kochi had considerable sales of mangoe fruits,a fruit,I saw in Kolkata very rarely.Yet Kolkata fruits were cheaper in comparison.Mangoes were the local Kerala state grown,and had the price of magnificent altitude in comparison to Kolkata fruits' prices.The difference in prices between the valley and the slopy south shows that ALL is much cheaper in the valley,especially closer to the bay of Bengal and lower by Ganges river.Mangoes themselves were rare upon Kolkata markets,taking a small side of the entire selling and put much aside by very numerous fruits of sugarcane,bananas,coconuts(exclusively common and cheap in Kolkata)and different vegetables i never saw in Israel,but that were present in Kolkata in significant quantities.When i browsed variations of bananas for instance,i had the choise among like 50 different sellers of that fruit(upon one main city market only),all crowding a specific spot upon the main city market,and would bargain with them about the price for a while at first.Bargaining over the price of grocery is AS much a part of sales as coming to the market itself,finding a place for sales etc.Not so in Kochi,where the market is considerably smaller,holding maybe around 10 sellers of bananas for the entire town,sales going much weaker wwithout the constant huggling over the price this bizarre feature of immense Kolkata markets but with slow determination to simply do the job of selling foods off instead.The Kolkata markets are well kept and are very clean while the Kochi one isnt organized too well,is flocked with stored foods,much less clean and sanitary rules following,passage of foods around the market often blocking the sales themselves,while all seems so much more organized up north upon immense Kolkata markets.Also southern India fauna is much more notable,and exactly the way it is with flora,the fauna is much more in control of life around,people being only a part of the entire picture.The price of fruits and vegetables in south India is somewhat higher(no larger than twice the valley price)because the amounts of people that wanna grow this commodity is comparatively small,not because the food is harder to grow at all.Once as living in Kochi(south India,unlike the Ganges valley area,isnt interesting at all for browsing it by transpotation means)for a change i even used a local train to browse the life of a close by inland city without sea close to it,situated maybe an hour off the coast inland.Their life wasnt AS interesting as Kochi one was and the terrain was even more hilly and less valleylike,people visibly more active in stringent tasks that never do remind the slow lazy lifestyle Kolkata area possesses.The further are you inland(was there upon local trains too)and away from the coast in the indian south the more hilly/slopy and less valley like the terrain becomes,grocery of the land visibly taking over the entire life of the area and pressing humans out into the outskirts of the area, while in the Ganges valley the nature is under complete control and even some useful protection from the undisputed masters of affairs the humans.And as you pass those southern India high slopes(not the excessively high mountains as Himalayas certainly are as i was close to them too)you keep wondering just how much less human influence did touch southern India;as northern India and especially the Ganges valley is that much deeply developed while the train to take you south by the seashore is inbetween open sea and completely not worked over and wild forest.Once(funnily in India too this was rare and in Kolkata nonexistent at all)i saw an elefant upon town streets;the animal though wasnt at all a large 1,but rather a small 1 with all the markings of well nourished and cared about home animal;i impression was that the duo was very naturally looking and more like a part of the same family than master vs servant;homelike animals are seen from far away as either lazy or sleepy and such;this was exactly how did that elefant look-more of a home held dog than any other elefant i ever saw.And it was much smaller too;its owner looked like he was THAT comfortable around his animal as to work with it in 1 unbriken ansamble;fit physically to a weird extent,the elefant owner looked like a very flexible/capable physically and monkeylike person.Kochi in general is much a scene for weird actors like elefants,complicated schemes upon based intelligent companies including their workers etc;In Kolkata weird/looking unnaturally things are obviously frowned upon and things are generally simple and lazy;all anuimals(weird actions workers included actually)are kept away from the general populace,which hates their sight.Not so in Kochi,where weird acting entities ARE inpublic favour.Funny thing that such different by behaviour areas as Kochi and Kolkata are at all in 1 common country even.

KOLKATA West Bengal India

In 2011-12 i had spent there many months but around 1 full year in general,living almost all of that time in a Paying Guest facility,because this is how a small privately owned home for guests/temporary visitors who mpay rent is called there.Paying Guest facilities are most times separate houses,most times completely privately owned.I lived in such a facility too,a small cheap local hotel,situated half an hour off Kolkata northwards by local railway in Bally town upon the banks of Ganges river.Bally being 1 of many west Bengal numerous towns,it had its own river bathing spot,or how indians call it GHAT.Paying guest facilities are small hotels,inhabited mostly by students that live far off Kolkata permanently,but need to get to the city for study and you can easily find them around Kolkata in advertisement,most of such though are in the local bengali language,only bits translated into English too,but the later english language ones are pretty hard to find,advertisement for them is only in small paper pieces around the city,most of such done in locally widely used bengali language.Hindi this main indian language is almost never in use in Kolkata.Bengali language is the tongue of the entire Bengal area,the West Bengal part of it simply being a part of India,while well over 95 % of Bengal is making a separate contry that we know as Bangladesh.''Bangladesh'' means ''The Bengali Land''.This way do also live students in Ukraine by the way,saw it myself as i was studying in Lwow city in Ukraine,just that no such entity as a Paying Guest small hotel does exist in Ukraine and the students that come to study from village areas need to rent a room from a private owner instead,but this principle of life of students off their homes in a completely different city is very much active in many countries.Ukraine students simply do never encounter this socialized version of a place with TOO many students living in 1 same place;they only have small rooms they PERSONALLY managed to rent and the country does NOT get involved with ''paying guest'' facilities springing around as a result.English IS widely spoken in Kolkata(the current name of what in their days here english knew is Calcutta)and most every public servant in Kolkata is able to use english to a normal for understanding degree,i witnessed this very good form of english speaking among state employees myself,ordinary people mostly without capacities of using it though.It is very simply explained by the fact that right untill 1948 english was the MAIn language in use.Also,in almost each spot with local authorities present,be it train tickets' buro,a large store etc,i was always able to find understanding among the workers,THIS high was the level of understanding of the language in Kolkata offices/stores/public spots.Prices in India are the lowest among prices in many countries i had been to and are amazingly low for most everything,but specifically low are prices in Kolkata,because the price for a life good in different India cities varies very considerably,just as most other life necessities do differ too.Prices differ very considerably city to city around India as i witnessed myself travelling through it in 2011.As an example,in Delhi(the capital city)its real different from the Kolkata one:a bus ticket is 7(Kolkata)and 50(Delhi)rupees correspondingly,showing a very serious difference in prices(and much more different things as well)among different regions in India,a presumably well united but TOO large for this possibility a country.Not that i noticed any regional authonomy organizations propagating around the country,one thing i was surprised to see that way-in what was once known as Soviet Union(i was born and lived in it till i was 19)tendencies towards autonomy and independance are MUCH stronger.In Kolkata each price is always mentioned in the original bengalese coin Taka,which is still in use under that exact name in Bangladesh the closely neighbouring to Kolkata country.According to the maps(I never attempted to enter Bangladesh even as prices there are considerably smaller than even very low Kolkata ones)the distance from Kolkata to the bangladeshi border is minimal.Whichever good of life do you try to buy in Kolkata,its price is always announced in takas,not in rupees the currency of upper Ganges valley historically and India as a whole.The state of India does exist for kolkatans,but only inside offices and none mostly happens there.Kolkatans live in Bengal and never mind the differences in borders etc.During the held by the departing english elections of 1948 the areas that voted for a state that was based upon hinduism made one country and those that voted for a muslim islam based country made the Pakistan nation,out of which shortly appeared Bangladesh as a result of misunderstanding between western Pakistan and what now is Bangladesh with India violently interrupting the war between the two on the bangladeshi side.This area of the west Bengal simply chose a hinduist state over a muslim 1 predominantly,even being like Bangladesh the neighbouring country in most EVERY respect possible,and SO becoming a part of India during the referendum that England administered to establish the borders between hindu and muslim countries of the region they were leaving in 1948.The only difference english were able to notice was this division by religion,indeed a very basic one,yet not the only one as the events of the war among India,Pakistan and what is currently Bangladesh showed very clearly.The funny thing that some later led to the war in the entire 3 countries' region was the difference in class of living english never took to consideration,between the western Pakistan and its eastern part nowadays Bangladesh called part.This difference in the way of living(sandy dry desert like life in the western Pakistan along with rich soil,humid swamps like and rich on perfectly growing vegetation life in the eastern one,the division that showed itself to be the MOST important one as the later wars DID erupt shortly,yet english failed to notice it anyway)resulted later in additional wars among Bengal,India and Pakistan,proving that the difference in social classification and the area's climate not only DOES exist,but is even having a more serious importance and stronger anyway,just the way communism the presumably bankrupt ideology attempted to persuade us while UK its former manager refuses to acknowledge it even nowadays.The wars themselves showed that the religion upon itself is NO main factor in life and decisions taken,but the conditions,in which the life itself proceeds on a daily basis IS.Like english were only busy with things higher by perception,failing to notice lower truths,that in reality ARE the most important ones among the inhabitants of the main Indian subcontinent part the rich Ganges river valley.The south of India is yet another world by their habits and lifestyle and the impression after visiting the both(i spent like a full month in the southern India(Kerala state)town of Kochi)is that ALL that unites them is the common currency and government only,most of smaller life details being ALL very different,along with large difference in prices among India regions.What to speak about the amounts and the names of foods 1 can find upon a market,these all were very different,and such things are very decisive.The immense state of India's government YES attempts its best to hold pleased SUCH a different by lifestyles country,all consisting of very different regions and people that do prefer speaking a separate language each,showing us the difference DOES exist;the main factual characteristic the way of preferred life different very considerably.A Kolkata bus ticket was costing me around 15 US cents,or only 7 rupees(1 $ was=42 rupees),this was happening along with a Delhi bus ticket costing me 50 rupees of this very same country India,food was costing even less in Kolkata,being of excellent quality I never found even in Israel and its levels of food quality are very high,what to speak of countries,situated further north,and i had seen life in several of them too.About each day's morning saw me using a local train to either see the city or visit the great by size city markets,and the largest of those is very close to the main Kolkata railway station Howrah,a very sizeable junction of railroads indeed with numbers of people using it amazingly high and not reminding ANY other railway station i ever saw,including much higher populated countries' ones of Ukraine and Russia.A monthly pass through local trains(allowing free no charge passing by local near Kolkata driving trains costed me around 1.5 US $$ or like 70 rupees,a very cheap price for a foreighner,and ALL i saw of those foreighners inside of the western Bengal area for i'd say like 12 months i spent in Kolkata itself(-the holy cultural spots sure)was no more than 10 people,most of them speaking the UK variation of english language and looking accordingly.While Varanasi the famous religious centre of India held maybe 3 %% of folks around the city that were foreighners i would roughly estimate(saw them there pretty often),those foreighners in Kolkata were almost completely absent.The thing with tourists is that they only visit spots that hold nicer architectural structures or such,ignoring natural interests of local populations completely instead,and the main such interest of the West Bengal area is much simpler and runs around things very basic like food,moving through railroads and upon buses etc.My OWN impression was that local trains' system is used too often among Indians,the most loved transportation method around(the second one being motorbikes,used by numerous indian folks a lot),people using trains in quantities i never witnessed in ANY other country i had been to.Trains are next followed(by popularity)by motorbikes,easier used throughout India than they are in other countries i had been to.To be able to drive around the area a motorbike is a highly prestigious thing among average indians,popular and easily used even among deep villagers(seen this in indian villages too),what to speak of larger cities' inhabitants.Motorbike is the most used kind of transportation methods for locals around small villages(all of real India the Ganges Valley villages inhabitants are well in love with motorbiking around.The amount of passengers,using local trains,is amazingly high for a country in general in Kolkata,but is quickly reducing as 1 exits the closest city suburbs and even becomes about nonexistant(i drove far north off Kolkata sometimes too,interested to watch local village life)well north of the city,1 of largest ones in India and the largest in its eastern half,home to several millions of people.Normal life well off Kolkata city northwards is even less crazy/dependant on a large city than it is in,say,Varanasi,yet more peaceful and ''crazy'' for a stable soil picking and small life occupations one might find around his home and the small piece of land.A large city like Kolkata may be the "presiding deity" around the area,but I would say much more than 99 % of the population of that area the lower Ganges valley Bengal still lives in this rural area,through which I often was passing upon local trains,where harvests are very good simply because of all the water,passing through the Ganges river and adding new soil to it along its way.As i was to a Ganges valley village even myself(once to the family of my local friend),i may say that the people there never care about any thing they might obtain in a large city,completely engrossed into their peaceful lives right upon that very village spot,and i recall even myself after several days spent in it becoming indifferent to pleasures of a large city and interestingly well satisfied with the simple life of the large village communion that inhabited that village just like a large widespread family normally does.Crazes of a large city then just tend to gradually evaporate into nothing,leaving you busy with small life details instead.Speaking of deities,ALL of the Kolkata temples have only those of Durga,a very low situated in Hinduism deity of a female goddess that kills male nastily looking demons and holds numerous sabres and spears in her several hands.Interesting that no temple room even,and i was to many while in Kolkata,holds ANY other deities,VERY rarely only those of Hanuman the closest ally of Lord Rama too,but these also are very small in number among Kolkata temples.But as i was to the middle of Ganges valley area along with my friend,whose home base is there,they hold many different deities in there,and Durga is not among those at all.Hanuman,according to the legends,was the super strong leader of the army of monkeys the serious attachement to Rama's army(the story of Ramayana poem that appeared much before christianity did)that followed Lord Rama into his conquest trips,most notably into his victorious island Lanka conquest,showing itself the worthiest of his many warriors.Another let us say "deity",easily and often seen inside the city,is the communist symbolism items like red flags,red 5 angle stars etc showing the continuing interest in the socialist ideology among the inhabitants of particularly the lowest part of the Ganges river valley its delta as i never witnessed this interest to the communism ideology anywhere else around India,and i had been to many spots around it,even as for a short time each.No complicated religion items like Vishnu deities(normal and prevailing even in upper Ganges valley religious spots),complicated temple paraphernalia,are ever foundable around Kolkata,the area that borders a predominantly muslim country of Bangladesh,and that country holds the lion and largest part of the bengalese population that simply prefers islam more than hinduism,and the very populous Kolkata city is some i would estimate rougly 50 kilometres away from the border with Bangladesh.The population of this lowest Ganges delta area(this is exactly the simple denomination of the Bengal region)is remarkably indifferent to any religions,if not counting as such land cultivation and small cash earning activities,which ARE the religion of well-to-do people of Bengal.In numerous Kolkata city spots I was able to buy a glass of on the spot juiced sugarcane juice,its price always ten rupees a glass(i often used this freshly juiced drink there)no matter what the spot on the map was,be it even small towns around Kolkata as i had been through a series of trips around those too;the price of a glass of sugarcane juice was always announced as "dos taga" or ten takas(10 indian rupees in the wallet understanding of it),which is ten takas in bangladeshi both language and currency.No matter what exactly Delhi politicians believe(things are never close to the reality of life in any country capital),the populace keeps using the historical bengalese(used in Bangladesh even now)currency name,the common to all of Bengal bengalese language AND the most important of all those,the very same lifestyle,which WAS the real reason of events around the wars of 1970-es among Bangladesh,India and Pakistan,and i use this enumeration from lower areas to higher ones exactly,the division by religion proven NOT the most basic of the ones around.And even in case it IS a far less an important factor for english people,the lower reality of life things DO have the profound influence in Bengal even now,making up for the MOST important life factor that circumvents ideology etc upon its way to the real power over events there.This mistake of UK in reality was THE starting point to wars among the 3 countries around 1970 or so.1 thing UK leaders DID fail to observe and introduce as the law in India before leaving it.The area north of Kolkata is both completely plain rich by nutrition elements black soil with no even a hint of not only mountains,but even smaller hills,intertwined by numerous small rivers and lakes,evidently full of soil moisture and densely well inhabited by people with no spare spaces,where a wild forested area would ONLY appear in case it could not be used agriculturally(never seen an unused soil patch there,ALL of that land is actively agriculturally developed),and I often was throughout the bengalese provincial areas by local trains),but almost all of it is under crops and other vegetation people normally use into food,the land is well worked over with no spots,not managed correctly,with small villages very common but well spread around this very well agriculturally used and rich in perfect black soil land.Villagers that live far away from Kolkata city give the impression that they keep to their villages almost all of the time or never leave the localities they inhabit, the rich cozy village type with vegetation and each foodie they ever need in nice abundance.The type of an Indian village dweller is only interested in visiting a larger city once he needs an industrially produced complicated equipment and such needs are very rarely appearing.Once I even was participating in the life of a Ganges village dweller myself,when going with my friend from a Kolkata high school to his parents that were living in 1 of those villages in the middle of the Ganges valley,the spot was situated not far from the border of Nepal.The impression from the area is that peasants are well satisfied with their village life and never care about any cities at all.The largest impression was that those people were never interested in any of a large city crazes,having all they might need either right on the spot(and local traders are very good at fulfilling their needs all along their ways)or after visiting a small areal centre a 20 000 people populated town.Once we left the house of parents of my Kolkata friend to come to the local area centre a town of maybe 15 000 population judging by its interior ,using their motorbike as the transportation means.The town reminded me Dalit Ha Carmel,the Arab centre for villagers upon Carmel mountain in Haifa,that completely non centralized,lacking any serious architecture and reminding a very large village the town was.Long wide streets with many small shops upon them and large masses of peasants,passing those streets,trying to reach their small mostly agricultural destinations,houses small and too practical for any city,physical activities too evident and intellectual ones about abscent.The village we lived in was a very small one in the middle of the valley,but closely situated to Nepal the neighbouring to the place country.Once we with both my Kolkata student friend and his close relative of our age even went to the nepalese border upon their motorcycle and were bathing in that river named Dandak the border itself.Right behind it were pretty high mountains,which as I was explained were already the territory of Nepal.Dandak is a very small river with pretty harshly moving across it water,not a stably moving one at all,the definite sign of a mountainous terrain.All the travel to Dandak took from us maybe 3 to 4 hours in one direction,the passage there was through very simple scarsely inhabited terrain that lacked the general for Ganges Valley dense population and well worked over agriculturally land.Motorbikes are transportation means number one among Ganges valley villages' population,and even this sort of transportation is mostly not used among village dwellers,visibly not interested in any moving off from their rich in agriculrural events small provincial life.Its like a city doesnt exist for them-no interest to central country matters ever visible around the village we lived in.Interestingly,they had no centralized electricity power at home at all,using kerosene lamps I saw in movies about the end of 1800-es and went to bed as early as 2 hours after the sunlight faded away.Most of contemporary equipment was around the house minus things too modern,but no TV watching or radio listening was prominent and even was used just a little if at all.When in Kolkata city i needed to live like half an hour north from Kolkata itself by local train in Bally town(maybe 10 000 people populated)as exactly this position of home was the most benefitting me financially,situated upon a Ganges river bank,where real life looked like a small village 1-the way bengalese locals actually prefer to live averagely and Kolkata itself is AS reminding West Bengal in general as Tallinn reminds Estonia(lived there once too)-very remotely indeed and being much of a foreign higher developed country piece with both all the weird for locally living bengalese things in it and higher prices for goods.Unlike in other countries though,Kolkata city witnesses no serious additions in the form of new clusters of homes,constantly built up by industry to house people that work in the large city and almost all of them simply prefer(and are not forced to,as in other countries it generally is)to live constantly in smaller village like towns outside the Kolkata city,which is also not actively added with new houses,generally built up elsewhere.My impression was that even as announced otherwise,a small indian village is THE real personage of the indian life,not caring about cities in the least,and cities themselves only hold weird exclusions of this main rule of life in India,the rule of well pleased in ways provincial or village life.Towns of the sort Bally is,that small town i lived inside when residing in West Bengal around 2011,where life is very peaceful and each good is easily obtainable from lots of local small stores,just at a somewhat higher price.The less comfortable and cheaper lower class houses(the preferred household there)as I noticed,were all built still during the British rule times,at least that was my own impression of those houses.No large multilevel block houses are visible built anew,which leaves the impression that the area is either extremely conservative by habits or(my own impression)is not experiencing the large need of modern built high leveled houses,most likely being fully sufficient with both the current housing and the slow speed of village type life.It certainly looked like an average bengalese was in love with the village style life,''no noise/many folks around-fully large village style'',and coming to Kolkata strictly on business sometimes.Small villages around the province all hold very numerous peasants' houses that are not many levels holding at all but rather smaller 1 to 3 levels structures,evenly distributed through their immensely rich soil,which has no mistakes at all in the form of mountains,hills,or even larger lakes or forests-all of it seems very much put into nice use by humans,no patches of territory arent looked over or more wild than averagely the land is,such is the level of elaborate work over the land there is-the amazingly contrast picture from other lands I visited.But while Kolkata amazingly contains minimum of newly built up modern multifloor houses and mostly holds badly maintained houses of local poor people that somehow escaped the village life but did not manage to find a useful way of life on their own and so now need to live in communally used very old housing structures as other ways of life arent fitting them well.These people are most noticed as bathing upon the central city streets under the water from public sources(no economizing of it is ever visible among them only)and i did not percieve them doing any serious city activity,and i had a chanse of watching them for a very long time as i was throughout Kolkata city on numerous occasions.This said,the phenomena of this communal housing is ONLY recognizable inside of Kolkata itself,every of smaller towns around it(had been to many,walking freely upon my own feet researching their habits then)never holding any of the ways to live,reminding those actual COMMUNES i just mentioned.My own guess is that the principle of communism that WAS a principal invention of the XX-eth century even as rejected officially around the world,is YES well in use even now throughout India even as not announced at all.Even as never announced publically(India shuns and avoids this traditionally),such commune living together with all common to it IS a reality of life there but ONLY for those particular individuals that somehow DID manage to fail to join the mainstream organization of the indian society.These FACTS of life in India are simply never announced publically,yet they DO exist,and even myself,a complete foreighner to India,easily noticing these life realitites.This life of a COMMUNE of socially injured people in a commune with ALL common to it-money,living quarters,managers,water etc only exists for large cities like Kolkata,because i never saw this thing a commune around any small villages,and i yes had been to many,strolling around those upon my own feet as my age DID allow me such physically demanding feats then.This principal invokes common living in a single funds/resources/whatever else based communion of individuals that ALL profit from one single source of income,occupations and whatever else people do need from life.I personally suspect that the main and the lion part of the expenses such communes NEED to be having is covered from the funds of the country in general,somewhere from funds of the government and its branches.The style they live by must be reminding a large communal society with common food/occupations/whatever else,including most likely the income sources as well.Knowing the traditions of the government of India i percieved around media sources,it must channel into such communal households very sizeable amounts of money from the country resources.Not to mention that the very centre of Kolkata is very old,all seemingly built up at the end of the XIXth century(that age DID witness a boost of living quarters appearing,judging by the look of those),and houses inside of it at this time arent well fit for contemporary life needs and so are best used as such a refuge for such locals that arent doing too well externally anyway.The city centre holds an amazing quantity of beggars/people that look completely broke yet enjoying the role of dirty holders of nothing anyway,or else people with no visible source of income,which can be easily seen by their street behaviour and dirty never exchanged clothes.More,to be a dirty,lazy and cashless man is a sort of a pleasant tradition inside of Kolkata city,1 seemingly entertained by a considerable Kolkata inhabitants group.Some people(they DO look that way too unlike the israeli ones,who DO get every cash they might need from the government just AS well)of Kolkata(and my own guess is that Delhi or other cities' ones are even more numerous and taken care of)are obvious professional doers-of-nothing type,this interesting principle i noticed NEVER spreading into smaller towns around Kolkata themselves,where everyone seems(been throughout such towns often during my on foot trips around those)very well occupied,even as with smaller life tasks of visiting markets,doing this and that too,only main family members busy upon more complicated economy objects throughout a day.Here in the city centre operate actively only either small organizations offices like accountants etc or complete strangers to the city local province peasants that enter the city to proceed with their own agricultural occupations like selling vegetation upon immence city markets.My own impression of the region held that every wise or well situated local was living constantly outside of Kolkata itself on a small distance from it,easily reachable by local trains that operate there very actively indeed and lots of people use them every day.Thats by the way exactly the way both Estonia and Israel life is built as well.In India(in Estonia my birth country funnily too)the large city the centre of the region is like another planet for the rest of the province,holding things,too amazing and complicated for an average province dweller,that is MUCH more developed in many ways than average villages of the country in general as i was riding through too many local train stations sometimes for simple fun then,walking around sometimes inside the towns too.Bally town,where I lived most of my West Bengal tourism time(close to one full year if accounting each and every day of it),is covered within 20 minutes of brisk walk from side to side of it,and much reminds a very large village but with very nicely and comfortably made and peaceful contemporary housing of up to 5 levels,no more and mostly less(in most cases 3 or 4 only)and generally less(this is the way locals love to live around Bengalese provincial areas)and narrow long streets,frequently interrupted by small stores,but it has a railway station,its own ghat(an organized spot for Ganges river bathing that is daily used by many people,always very neatly maintained as I saw ghats in many towns,attracted by a chanse to bath in the Ganges river),many small stores,where most locals buy every type of food and another home necessity they need at home and more(as in most railway station towns).My feeling held that village locals prefer to and almost never do leave the province for the city.A near Kolkata situated bengalese town is only like 5000 people populated averagely,it looks like a complete village with all peaceful,and contains every sort of necessity one needs at home,which is performed by an amazing quantity of small stores that sell them,the largest percentage of stores in a town of all the countries I ever visited.Bengase locals(all of them peaceful homelike types)just hate to cover large distances in search of small life necessities and easily lose additional money by making almost all of their needed things' purchases inside of their own small town,enjoying the life there.Best quality life for a foreighner/local dwellers too in Bengal is only achieved living in such a smaller town just outside of the Kolkata megapolis.There ARE hotels inside Kolkata city itself sure,but the price i'd pay there was much higher than in provincial "paying guest" places anyway with living conditions very much reminding them and mostly even less comfortable anyway.More,the price,requested by a Kolkata hotel would be like twice costlier than that of a very similar(even more so by life quality)a small town situated hotel would hold.More(i never used it as advertisement almost always goes in the local bengali language),there ARE options for richer folks with more cash upon their hands,to rent privately a room from an owner of a local house.THIS sort of housing i attempted as i lived in Sri Lanka,renting the entire upper floor of their small house from a well-to-do local family.The cost of such a place indeed though was a much higher 1 than what i paid while in the ''paying guest'' Kolkata facility.In short,real Bengal is its either village or small town and its peaceful life(my impression about every country i ever visited by the way)and its capital Kolkata is a quickly getting old and overused museum of old badly maintained and gradually failing buildings.Also the old structures of hotels are less comfortable in many contemporary ways,offering sky rocket prices anyways.In West Bengal to live in its capital Kolkata is a serious mistake and bengalese inhabitants are well aquainted with this rule,almost everyone preferring life outside of this "area capital" in smaller Bengal towns.After living in Kolkata for 3 full months(its what Israel allows to be out of its borders without dire consequences i would definitely regret later)i each time returned to my home city of Haifa not only with any lack of funds,but with a considerable financial GAIN instead because prices in India(and in yet poorer Kolkata in particular)are amazingly low in comparison.And this all was after i paid for a "to and back" ticket from Israel to India by plane,which itself is a very serious cash expence,SUCH is the difference in prices between the 2 areas,Israel and West Bengal(again,New Delhi prices are several times higher than Kolkata ones,difference among different areas of immense India in prices and most everything else amazing).The Bally town market is on,very well managed and organized,but it exists for lazy locals only(I noticed that most westerners i saw throughout India in my travels there preferred the completely non bengaleze life method of constant movement by transportation means),but it is nothing useful in comparison to the immence Kolkata markets-both prices and quality of foodies upon those grand ones are very low and good in quality,but then i often went to immense Kolkata markets and SO had all the food i needed for miserable costs.Both largest Kolkata grocery market and the most populous ghat(indian for "bathing spot")on the Ganges river were very closely situated to the main Kolkata railway station Howrah-a very large railway station in comparison to any railway transit station that I EVER saw in my life-that many people are actively using it upon a daily basis.The amounts of passengers i saw using Howrah station(the main railway 1 in the entire eastern India)are larger than those in both Ukraine and Russia,and these latter ARE considerable ones too.Both quality of food and the price of it improved very seriously this way of coming to the central city market,just as did the amount of time i spent to find it though-i liked to browse every grocery stand before buying,and this took from me about 1 full hour on itself.Both the taste of fruits like papaya,cocos nuts and more thingies i never ever saw inside western countries' cities + more increases for AS much as you are willing to spend upon going to larger city markets and the price of the food you buy there decreases very considerably too.Papayas,sold here,are something special by taste,a much better one than the Israeli ones have,and is also sold by many sellers,coming from many private farms around Kolkata.The choice that i had(like 40 different private sellers of papaya at a time i recall)made for a very nice characteristics to this central city market and the quality of that particular food i was searching for.Cocos nuts are real fresh,just off the cocos tree and are simply trashed over a stone floor(learned this art from using it local inhabitants)or any other hard surface instead and in this way are deprived of their hard casings(a hard dark brown 5 mlmtr or so hard to crack thing;sweet inner juice drank out and white nuts part is easily chewed by one's own teeth even if these are well injured(mine were).This is because the sold cocos nuts are AS fresh as just taken off a palm.When finally out of visiting India Kolkata,my favourite homebase in the land,i was still holding for a considerable while to 2 things,well abscent in other countries while perfectly on and vividly flourishing as amazing characteristics to bengalese life,that got attached to me during that long Kolkata city stay and that was:1))love to extremely spiced foods that simply burn inside of your mouth even as not dangerously overheating your mouth passages all along interestingly,THAT good locals are at making them up,that completely occupy Kolkata public eating spots,which ALL serve foods well spiced,and it is most times a plate of rice and some protein vegetables,sauced with spiced mixtures too,and 2))attachment to pulling my luggage,even if heavy 1,upon my own head,the favourite way of transporting weights among Kolkata inhabitants.These 2 particularies i almost completely lost about AS soon as returning to Israel for good(around 2012).Funny thing is that the thingies funnily are ONLY in play as THE rules to follow in India itself somehow.This latter tradition of behaviour by local bengalese,also got attached to me while in that city.I still remember with a feeling the amazing way i felt as i was crossing upon my own feet 1 of only 2 bridges over Ganges river with a pretty heavy bag with groceries upon my own head-this way of behaviour i never enjoyed that much throughout any of my passages through countries.To avoid its misuse and then comfort the head during carrying heavy weights upon the head the locals use a strip of material(always a brightly multicoloured and never a dark one with the well required lots of smaller alongated lines upon them),easily bought around Kolkata for a small indeed price.I had bought myself there both the material(very easily purchaseable in the city)and another complete need for a household inhabitant thing-a large bag,completely made up of super strong threads of chemical origin just to hold through large weights pulled around in them,the bag i continuously used inside of Israel long after returning to it till the moment i just lost it off-THAT impossible to tear it up was the bag!A small piece of such cloth is placed directly between the head and the weight to comfort the head.They just love to pull visibly heavy weights around the streets upon their own heads,everyone visibly pleased and taking it as a must for a city/town street alike.For that end kolkatans have a very interesting need to have between the head and the weight a several times folded brightly coloured cloth that completely takes off any aches one might otherwise feel.Up to this day 1 of the strongest appetitic moments of Kolkata i did percieve as a nice comfort for a local is vividly rememberred by me as walking along one the two great bridges over the Ganges river in Kolkata with my head holding a considerably overweighted bag with something heavy inside of it.Another one of exquisite Kolkata features is a lot of communist agitation and symbolism,noticeably present upon its walls,many communist symbols often publically displayed unlike in the birth country of communism Russia,where it never is a welcome guest in public spots,everyone visibly pleased and never disagreeing with it-it is never a subject of interest there.Another funny thing about Kolkata is its amazing love to dirt and wastes laying openly around;my impression had been that the sight is something of a need for locals,only after seeing which they keep feeling at home.Another example of this ''nice art of living miserably'' as i would name it,is when many railway stations for instance have small dirty lakes,situated real close to the platforms,where people are entering/exiting local trains.Such lakes often sported home held excusively dirty pigs,plowing around in hope of a foodie to be found,everyone seemingly fond of this situation with pleasure among the people noticeable.The impression is that the people have this need in such shows upon a daily basis there.These dirty ponds happen also inside towns like Bally where i lived and they coexist very piecefully with nice well kept houses along its shores.Speaking of home animals,i only missed many cats,often sporting western cities' streets there.Interestingly,homeless cats arent common throughout Kolkata at all,dogs more numerous and sometimes openly wild and homeless,even behaving in a wilder fashion there.Another i would call it ''home animal'' of India,and only seen inside western villages one,cows are only abscent inside Kolkata city itself,most likely kept out of the way for their own safety by people,while inside smaller local railway towns(i had been to many just to spend some time out of my Bally town home)they are often freely engaged in their normal ritual of walking around the town and collecting its grass,not in any way making contact with people.People always pass by them and notice them not.Cows in small habitation spots are something like cats in western cities-they walk around freely and none cares about them.Once i decided though to do a rougher move to a cow just to check its reaction for this very rare aggressive action towards it(seen the local attitude well by then to cows).So to check this idea of a somewhat rougher cow treatment I pushed a cow intentionally rough by my hand from behind and in return got the very sudden and completely unexpected for me completely aggressive move by that passing around cow to push MYSELF off the way with its own lower corpus.After this sudden move against me the cow stopped(it had been moving in the direction i was following),turned to me and started to agressively watch me up.This amazing feat by a cow that I never ever witnessed around the countries I had been to was a complete novelty to me,and those were several,not numerous ones.In ALL the countries of the west cows are well confined to animal breeding spots,never leaving those or intertwining with humans around.Of which i made the amazing conclusion that cows are REALLY unaccustomed to ANY rough treatment from humans in India,taking them just as other street objects around them,cows always have their complete respect and tolerance instead.Inside the Kolkata suburban area towns i often saw cows,pasturing around a wild or grassy spot,which hints that their owners simply fear not about their possible disappearance or stealth.Up to this day i have a photoe i made by a chewing grass upon a town street cow with locals passing us and openly smiling.Wild monkeys,freely running around,I had only seen upon the Varanasi the religious capital of India railway station,not even in its own centre at all.In other cities/towns they are completely out of the human life picture,most likely because religious simply are not the type to attack those,while regular inhabitants might be dangerous to monkeys themselves.And it isn't only the holy status that Hinduism gives cows the account to this,but also naturally visible acceptance of this condition by locals,which all take a cow as just another domesticated animal,the way cats and dogs are in the west.In temples of India I saw diffreret deities,but inside West Bengal and Kolkata itself only the deities of Durga were present,the deity that isnt considered any height but a much lower one in traditional hinduism.The amount of Muslim mosques was amazingly high in Kolkata too,both the religions visibly going very well along each other.The neighbouring to the India part West Bengal region is a completely Muslim dominated country Bangladesh,which exists since the departing India English masters made a referendum among locals,asking them whether they wanna live in India or in an independent Islam based state and the results of that referendum made the borders between what was then Pakistan(the current 1 plus its former province Bangladesh,which is in its own borders now after some bloody civil unrests shortly after its creation started)and Hinduism based India.What is called now West Bengal India simply voted predominantly over a Hindu state while Pakistan and Bangladesh all voted for an Islamic state.It all exists during the reality,in which kolkatans are AS much believing to be bengalese as bangladeshees do and all market(and so real life)prices are up to this day announced in the historically accepted bengalese money coin Taka,not in any rupees as the official Delhi government wants us to believe it all is counted in,coins and banknotes Rupees printed in Delhi anyway.And unlike in many places I visited in West Bengal the national and state feelings and controversy are very much limited and have no large importance in public life,most of such agitaton coming in the form of communist symbols and propaganda,which up to this day is well percieved upon the city streets.Politically the locals of are pretty much passive,engrossed instead into the products of their extremely rich river delta soil products exchange.Politics isnt the thing for a good bengalese inhabitant to pursue,none showing any interest in it visibly.