LETTERS FROM INDIA

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 102, 16 April 1907, Page 6

LETTERS FROM INDI A

A NEW ZEALAND LADY'S

IMPRESSIONS,

CALCUTTA, January 2. My first impressions of Calcutta are anything but pleasant ones. Dirt m every shape reigns supreme. We had come from Madras, where everybody, for the most part, is spotless, and where the very coolies are more than moderately clean — where« coolies and gariwallahs alike understand English nretty well, even if they do not speak it — to the city about which so many rave, to Calcutta the Magaiificent, and we oould not find anybody on the great station that could understand an English question! Then we drove through dirty streets being cleaned by dirty men, and through dirty, broken-down bazaars. We naturally were not overwhelmed with delight, and our stay did not improve matters, for the further one went m and around' the best part of the city the more dirt one saw. Taking the peoples as a whole whom we saw about the streets, m clothing and person they were inexpressibly dirty. Calcutta lends itself to that, for the earth is a dirty grey ash color; factories abound, belching out clouds of coal smoke, and the water everywhere is turgid and dirty-looking. The climate is cool and comfortable at this time of the year for nearly six I months, but we experienced on Sunday night one of the fogs which are a drawback to Calcutta — an acrid, smoky, evilsmelling fog that irritates the throat and nostrils, and renders speaking a difficulty. We have trammed it everywhere we had time to go, but three days are not enough dn which to do the whole of Calcutta, and I we will spend a day or so here going I back. We visited an exhibition organised by the Indian Congress for the purpose of displaying Indian manufactures, a most (interesting collection, which gave us an opportunity of observaton that we might not have enjoyed m any other way. We were especially pleased with the agricultural section, m which every economio plant grown m India was shown. Although Calcutta has many fine blocks of warehouses and other buildings, it hae no architectural beaut y such as we saw m Madras. The big buildings m the south are few, but every one of them has a beauty of its own. BENARES, January 4. Leaving Calcutta by the East Indian railway train, we travelled on through rather uninteresting country, with mile after mile of the same kind of crops, and not an acre of waste land. The villages for the most part were away from tho [ railway, and the ground was cultivated up |to the very edge of the line. Railway stations are as thick as peas m a pod, and very big, giving evidence of a dense population. Everyone seemed to feel the cold greatly, amd men were wrapped m wadded quilts. Some of these quilts were filthy dirty. During the night we passed through a rich, coal district. On every side banks of coal blazed merrily m the process of being burned into coke, while the station ait Asinol which served the coal district was brilliantly lighted by electricity. From Asinol to Moghal Serai, where wo changed trains for Benares, the country was dreary, the soil a6hy-grey m color, the few villages and 'small towns we saw squalid and dirty, and the people more dirty, if that were possible. No food was to be had unless ordered by telegraph, so we would have been badly off indeed had we not taken the precaution to bring a tiffin basket with a good supply of provisions m it. Birds were very scarce. In one place we saw a dozen pretty green parrots perched on th© telegraph wires, and m another half a dozen vultures prowling round a field — evil-looking things they are too. There were some of the commoner sorts) of birds as well, but very few. Probably it was because there was no jungle, and m many parts no trees at all, that birds were so few. At Moghal Serai there was a large

number of pilgrims waiting for trains to take them back to their several homos. Among them there Avas a number of Grigerati women, laden with ornaments. I counted ten bangles, eacli half an inch wide, on one woman's arm below tho elbow, and she had three above as well, while her ankles were adorned with several rings of various sizes and shapes made of silver. Later, when passing along^ a road m Benares, Aye saw a woman who had so many that no trace of her arm could be seen between the wrist and elbow.

We crossed the Ganges just below the city, and got our first view of the famous river front — one mass of temples, mosques, and monasteries on the top of the bank, with huge flights of steps, called ghats or ghauts, leading down into the water for the convenience of worshippers bathing. Tomorrow morning we are to take a boat and go down the river and up again, bo as to see the bathers worshipping the Ganges. I was rather disappointed with my first sight of Benares. One sees such beautiful photographs of it, and, consequently, comes with wrong ideas of things. No doubt when we get out on the river itself, we shall see that it is quite as beautiful as it is said to be. We have just returned from a tour round tlie city. First, we visited a famous old observatory, which has existed 6ince the days of Queen Elizabeth. All the instruments ane made of stone and are m a good state of preservation. From there we descended a great flightof stone stairs to the ghat, and took a boat, m which we were slowly rowed up and down the river front, so that we could see everything. Certainly it was most interesting. It is said that there are more idols m Benares than inhabitants, and one can easily credit it, for there are gods m bunches and gods m rows and gods on shelves, gods on trees, and gods on stones, m temples, m houses, on roadsides and on river-bank — gods everywhere, small and great, wood and stone, silver and gold, iron and lead. The people worship tho Ganges and make offerings of marigolds (African marigolds) of every possible shade of orange and yellow. Baskets of them exposed for sale everywhere made glorious spots of color, and we noticed that when a man had finished bathing and prayers he cast a small wreath of them on the surface of the river before going away. We saw the Brass- Bazaar, m which brass wares, one of the specialties of Benares, were exposed for sale, arid I was tempted to buy one lovely pot. We are going to see some more sights this afternoon, and to-morrow morning start off for Agra. We are having plenty of travelling. From Calcutta to Delhi alone is 950 miles, and we shall have travelled another 300 or so on branch lines, making about 1,200 miles- at this end. To Madras and back is 2,052 miles, making a total of 3,252 miles of railway travelling on this one trip.