So it wasn’t love at first sight – Calcutta that is – my night time arrival and the worst hotel ever put a stop to that, but the coming days in the old capital city of India proved there’s more to this place than first meets the eye. The warm and friendly people, the yummy street food and melting pot of cultures has made for an interesting time roaming the streets. I should say Kolkata not Calcutta – in an attempt to reclaim their Begali heritage and forget about the nasty British they have renamed the city and many of the roads too – Elgin Road and Dalhousie Square are no more… except no one uses the Indian names and it makes a for a very confusing time. Hey, it’s India, always best to keep things as complicated as possible.

It appears the average traveller is yet to discover Calcutta which makes for a far less stressful experience when dandering around touristy areas – fewer people trying to herd you into “government” emporiums, and fewer people asking the most common question to a foreigner in India – “your country?”. That’s not to say my time here has been without annoyances… professional beggars are rampant and I did, for a day, appear to turn into a money tree until I realised the futility of this. I also for the first time ever, had two children clinging onto my legs wailing and crying in a rather theatrical style, as an elder one begged me for money. I was more scared by my reaction of kicking them off and saying “No!” to them as if they were dogs, than the fact that they may actually have planned to steal from me (unlikely). Not proud. But what can you do?

One minute you’re walking along the pavement then the next you’re walking through someone’s home… there’s tarpaulin over your head, a makeshift bed to your left and pots, pans and the tell tale washing line to your right. I find it disconcerting, I have never witnessed this scale of poverty before.

This morning however it was back to the task in hand… where on earth to run? The pavements are people’s homes and the parks are full of yet more street dwellers, kids playing cricket and a plethora of goats. I found a small field though and ran round it 9 times. It was perfect aside from the fact that I got attacked by a crow at one point which was pretty unexpected. I was for once though making an effort to pick up the pace and was particularly pleased on my warmdown lap as I stopped to take some pics of the kids playing cricket (no school?), when two men stopped and one said “really I have to say you have good stamina. We are really admiring you. Never in my life I have seen a lady running like this”. It’s debateable what he meant by this. I’ll take it as a compliment and proof that the people here really are pretty blooming friendly.