Local life

The places where we will be staying are just a 10 minute walk from Asha Niketan Kolkata. The house where Gandhi stayed in 1947 is also in the vicinity and we hope to visit this. The Hindu community surrounding the second house of our community hopes to welcome us in some way for the celebration of Durga and there is a possibility of praying at the nearby Ramakrishna Monastery where members of Asha Niketan go.

All this means we are being welcomed into the life of our local community there. It is an area of slums, of great poverty, of much dirt. This can be shocking, challenging, upsetting. However it will be an insight as to how millions of people in our world have to live on a daily basis – and in contrast, an insight into just how privileged we are in L’Arche.

It is important for people coming that they realise no city is representative of a country, and no corner of a city is typical of the whole. India is a country which is leading the world in industrial technology, its shopping malls are far superior to those I know in England, there are hospitals like 5 star hotels, skyscrapers line the city skies – but we are choosing to visit only a tiny part of India, a place close to our community there, a place of poverty. Those who wish to see more must stay longer.

Accommodation
We will be hosted by the Loreto School where Mother Theresa taught before she left to found her own congregation. They are very happy to welcome us and will charge us nothing for the use of the premises. The grounds are spacious and beautiful: a large lawn and pond, a basket ball court where we will set up a pandal (a tent-like structure). There is a chapel, the school itself, a dining hall (with fixed benches and long tables), an upstairs conference hall, wide verandas where small groups or workshops could be held, and an area where we will set up our own kitchen. We will be staying in dormitories for up to 50 persons consisting of rows of wooden beds and little else.

In an adjacent compound there is the Seva Kendra Centre, a Catholic Social Services Centre. It has a breakfast room, a courtyard, a small chapel and bedrooms. These consist of smaller dormitories, some rooms of 3 or 2 beds and a few single rooms en suite.

Adjacent again is the Don Bosco Centre where again there are smaller dormitories and twin rooms, a breakfast room and a chapel.

A participant taking part in the Experience Formation programme in India said, ‘Tell people to think of their time in Kolkata as camping, or like being on the pilgrimage to Santiago in Spain.’ It will certainly not be a time of personal space and comfort! Very few people will be able to have single rooms. By far the majority will be sharing a dormitory with up to 35 other people. We will separate men and women at least!

In choosing who should come, it would be good to send people who can put up with crowds, noise, poverty and new experiences. Kolkata is an assault on all the senses – exciting, rich, vibrant, lively, colourful, shocking, and beautiful – it can be overwhelming and exhausting at first.

It may be helpful to come as a group from your region and to spend a week in a hotel somewhere getting over jetlag and sightseeing, becoming used to the culture before arriving for the General Assembly. Planes and trains MUST be booked well in advance though or there will be no seats left because of the millions who flood Kolkata for the Durga celebrations.