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We had fun celebrating the Diwali weekend which in Kolkata (Bengal) coincides with the Kali puja festival (festival celebrating the Hindu goddess Kali). On the Saturday evening we walked around the local streets to see the different stands and Kali statues. Each community gives a donation towards their display so there is some competition between them as to who has the best Kali – there are 108 different forms of Kali, most communities opting for the blue Kali (more forgiving and easier to worship apparently) but there was definitely a recurring theme of severed heads and gore. Walking around peacefully was not an option with children and adults letting off fireworks on the streets from fountains and rockets to very loud bangers. There was a ban on very loud crackers/bangers in Kolkata (not above 60dB) but unfortunately this proved slightly useless as the noise limit is higher in the rest of India so illegal, loud, bangers were easily smuggled in from neighbouring states to the embarrassment of the police.

We went out for an amazing feast at a restaurant specialising in Rajashtani thalis – this was a delicious assortment of lots of different curries, generally very rich and creamy with endless rice and breads. This left us slightly incapacitated for a while and took us some time to digest but thankfully the next stage of the celebrations didn't start until after midnight. Having recovered, we got a taxi down to some friends and on to Kalighat where the main Kali puja takes place. There were thousands of people come to worship and give offerings to the massive Kali statue. There was incense all around and people praying, splashing themselves with holy water from the river, playing music and sacrificing animals. We watched nervously as a line of goats were lead up on the stage for blessing, with little children holding them in some cases, but thankfully left before they met their end.

After the puja, the communities have around 2 days to take the statue statues to the Ganga river and immerse them releasing the spirits. The statues are loaded up onto the back of trucks and everyone from the community piles in with singing, drumming and dancing all the way. We weren't sure of the way but thankfully the continuous lines of the trucks were not hard to follow. Down at the river, there is much celebration and the men carry their Kali down to the river, turn around a few times and then release them in the water. It is very auspicious to immerse yourself in the holy (rather dirty brown) water and collect some for the family. The statues then float down the river – they generally sink pretty fast and will degrade easily as they are made from bamboo frames coated in clay from the river and covered with newspaper;the colourful paints however are a toxic, environmental nightmare. Needing a break from the hectic celebrations and having watched many of the statues disappear into the murky waters, we went for a pint on a floating hotel to relax and enjoy the celebrations from a distance.

On the Sunday, in amongst all the Diwali celebrations, we went for a walk in the Park Street cemetery – this is a beautiful, calm oasis off one of the main commercial streets filled with old Raj-era graves. It was a very interesting place to walk around, with graves for many East India trading company and the military from the 1700's and stories of battles, marine disasters and fevers. It was quite sobering to realise that in this environment, the chances of reaching our age were very slim indeed. It was a lovely place to wander around and escape the city and we would have stayed longer had the mosquitoes and ants not come out to attack us in force.

After the long weekend, we had a busy week (Tues - Sat)– Drew battling with the computers and Heather teaching. There is a fun group of people and a good atmosphere so we have made some good friends who we tend to spend the evenings with. The polluted, noisy streets and heat make working quite tiring but we managed to make good headway into what we had planned to do. However, towards the end of the week it was clear that we were both enjoying the work and there was plenty more to do. With only a few days before our flight to Bangkok, we phoned the airline to find out what it would cost to change our flights and were amazed to be told that it would be totally free to delay it by 2 weeks. So we are very pleased to have another fortnight to finish off some work and enjoy Kolkata life.

On Saturday afternoon, we joined in a climate change march organised to highlight the need to demand a global emissions target of below 350ppm for the Copenhagen climate talks in December. We joined the Greenpeace group and it was very interesting to talk to them and hear about their experiences and the main environmental concerns in India. The march was attended by about 500 people and we walked for about an hour – enjoying being able to cross the roads without alarm as the traffic was stopped ahead of us!

Saturday evening was not spent in the most enjoyable fashion. Having had itchy heads for a few days, a close inspection of our hair confirmed our worst suspicions... we were infested with head lice! We spent a couple of hours on a search and destroy mission, searching through each others hair in an ape-like fashion – in some ways a very satisfying and therapeutic past time but we were obviously fighting a losing battle so we went out and bought some de-lousing shampoo. Hopefully, this seems to have worked so far but the lice here are apparently notoriously resistant to treatments so we are continuing regular checks and keeping our fingers crossed.

On Sunday morning, we were picked up in a jeep and taken to some friends' house in the south of the city – this took over an hour to get through the traffic and to the southern limits of the city; but we arrived at a beautiful house set in green, leafy gardens, bordering on jungle. The person who owned the house is a musician and so people arrived armed with guitars (including Drew), drums and bells. We spent a very relaxing day enjoying the music, Drew joining in the jams, and drinking beer. Not entirely sure what genre of music it was but certainly the closest to Indian classical music that Drew has ever jammed to. After this, we were treated to a delicious lunch of rice, dhal and fish curry. On the way back, we stopped at another friend's house, went to the colourful market to pick up some more food and were given another amazing meal of curried rice and veg. It was a great day, and nice to get away from the noise and pollution of the city centre.

Back at work now, but it is nice to know that we have the extra time so don't need to panic quite so much – can relax and enjoy what comes our way. Turns out that it is a bank holiday weekend this weekend so we have just booked some tickets to head back up to the hills around Darjeeling for a long weekend with a couple of friends. It will be nice to get away from the city, relax and hopefully catch a last glimpse of the Himalayas before we leave.

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