Kolkata

A quick note about the spellings of Kolkata: technically it's correct to spell/ pronounce the name of India's previous capital city as either Calcutta (cal as in California) and Kolkata (kol as in coal). The difference between the two names is that Calcutta is a British bastardization of the word Kolkata, which is what the natives referred to the area as. Likewise, the British renamed Mumbai 'Bombay,' and  Chennapattanam 'Chennai.'

 Queen Victoria's Memorial. For more information, look here, because I am too lazy to type out a whole paragraph about it.

And if you look directly above, ladies, gentlemen, and non-binaries, you will see a fine example of my 'WOULD YOU PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP TAKING PICTURES OF ME' face.

 

About dias (seen below): long before paper/ plastic was A Thing, Indians had a whole economy for 'use once only' tea cups. Made of mud in local villages, dias are used wherever instant tea is sold (so pretty much every public place). They completely biodegradable, so no body usually bothers with actually throwing them in trashcans (not that Indians usually bother with that ANYWAY). They give tea a more earthy taste that when it's drunk out plastic or glass cups, and are extremely fun to launch out of train windows.

According to Hindu mythology, the god Vishu (the preserver) was so moved by a melody that he began to melt. Lord Brahma caught him into a pot and poured him down onto earth, and it took the form of the river Ganges.

 

I was told this story right before I saw the below picture.

 

 

New Market!

 

Mother Theresa's tomb.