[PRCo] Calcutta

[Schneider Fred]

This is an even better film of Calcutta ... shows Indian streets they  
way the are ... rickshaws, trucks, trolleys, cars and people.  A few  
things are missing however.   This image shows neither cows sleeping  
in the street nor elephants carrying burdens.   If you go there, you  
will see that too.  The one thing you will not see that is common in  
the USA  is road rage.  Indian drivers are very calm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLJmbqjdjlY&NR=1

General urban streets.   Probably in the south
because of the very dark skins.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbhVmjNrwYQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqJ0bQ3FCbc&NR=1

Motorized rickshaws and elephant on streets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbeBhExFPyw&feature=related

Cows on the street in Varanasi in northeastern India.   When the
beast no longer gives milk, it is turned loose and the town takes
care of it.   It's sacred by Hindu tradition.   We don't eat it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gl3qFbUsns

And if you wonder about all the English language advertising,
India has 17 national languages.   When the government issues
a law, it is published in 17 languages.   Hindi is by far the most
common.  English is probably, because of the British presence
until 1948, the unifying language.   Fifty percent of the Indians
speak some English and thirty percent are fluent in English.

If you go on a guided tour, most go to the triangle in the north
that includes Jaipur, Delhi and Agra and maybe Varanasi.  That's
what I did plus a detour up to Katmandu in Nepal and a short
flight to look at Mount Everest.   But they never take you to
Mumbai, Bangalore or Kolkata ... too noisy, too dirty, nothing
of tourist interest.   But you go on the guided tour and you find
out just how easy it is to get around on your own (subject to the
governmental rules that they restrict trains tickets to a limited
number of foreign visitors per day because they don't have the
capacity).   You don't just go there and wing it.   You need
reservations up front.