Rainbow Kids at Loreto Bowbazar
May Day is a holiday in India, the streets were somewhat quieter and schools were not in session. The exception is the Rainbow kids. These students stay at Loreto schools all the time because they have few other options. When we arrived at Loreto School - Bowbazar, Sr. Flora greeted us and led us upstairs to be introduced to the kids. As we passed into their school room/home/playground we were greeted with a roar of welcome. We felt like rock stars. After a futile attempt to calm them down, we were invited (more like dragged) into groups to be with them.
Communicating was challenging because English was their second language and we knew little Bengali and Hindi. Nevertheless, we introduced ourselves to them played various hand games, sang, told stories, danced, played cards, took photographs and generally laughed with them for well over an hour. The energy level and the heat were exhausting.
After a brief break, we were taken on a tour of some of the places where the rainbow kids come from. We saw people living in makeshift huts, about ten square metres. Families would live in these shacks made from various scrap materials found in the area. Many of the people come here from farms in Bihar looking for a better life in the city. Many find destitution. There is chronic underemployment. We saw men and women digging ditches in the midday heat.
The sisters prepared an excellent meal for Lunch of Naan, Chipati, and Tandoori Chicken.
In the afternoon we returned to the Baptist Mission via Eden Garden Cricket ground and the Victoria Monument. After a rest, we were taken by Sr. Flora on another driving tour of Kolkata. We stopped at the Victoria Monument for a few minutes, and then went over the Hooghly River (offshoot of the Ganges) on the New Bridge. We saw lines of trucks parked by the side of the road. They aren’t allowed on the streets between 8am and 8pm to minimize congestion (and I suspect pollution). The Howrah Railway station looked vast and impressive. We drove back across the Howrah Bridge and then through the administrative centre to a riverfront park. We walked along the river and back, had an ice-cream and returned to the Baptist Mission. Some of us went to Pun-Jaab Five Rivers for a small but excellent meal.
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