the fuzziest sweater vest

It's been awhile, so I'm just gonna ramble along. In Kolkata after finally escaping Varkala after five weeks. When you build a nest for yourself someplace, padding it with comfortable friends, food and locale, and settle in for some serious downtime, it becomes quite hard to remotivate yourself to get a move on. Caught up in indolence; my sad life. Kolkata, on the other hand, is a complete 180 from Varkala. Scads of people everywhere, human traffic jams on use-every-inch-of-space back alleyways. Shops selling all the shit you could ever want and never need. Street food! My god, the street food here is amazing. Need a meal? Buy a Bengali curry and rice plate for 30 rupees. Snacktime? Peruse the samosa, momo and sweet carts, or buy a hot kati roll, stuffed with paneer, chicken, egg or mutton. The options are endless, and its hard to go wrong with anything (unless you contract an intestinal parasite...) A study in difference, Kolkata is not the 'Black Hole' of yesteryear. Like the rest of India, a strong 70s theme of mustaches and bellbottoms runs through the populace like a current. Thought you saw a mullet? You did. Sweater vests in a range of colors, men wearing fuzzy pink that would look appropriate on a seven year old girl. People pissing next to the sidewalk, people living next to the Hooghly, take no prisoners traffic ceaselessly honking, swerving at the last second to avoid hitting the peds. All around, this city is awesome. Mind you, I haven't been here during the monsoon, the worst season for Kolkata (although the hot season is a muggy second-best) as streets flood and the city, rich already in decay, creeps a little further into ruin.

An Indian anecdote: Seller A, who runs a small factory for incense and oil production, tells you that Seller B's product is substandard and watered down, available to you at a cheaper price because it is cheaper and of less quality. Seller B, who plies his wares in the central market, assures you that Seller A is full of shit, and his product is of the highest quality, but he chooses to sell to people at a more equitable price. Truly a man for the people. Seller C, a seemingly wealthier merchant, serves you chai and offers you the same goods as Sellers A & B for even more money than Seller A, while telling you the facts of life (in relation to oil sellers). This same process occurs in the trading of all merchandise (maybe not food, generally cheap across the board); silks, cottons, drugs, trinkets and jewelry. Who can you trust in this maelstrom?