Kolkata is.....

a giant mess of rickshaws, honking, garbage, buses, cows, billboards, vendors, stray dogs, cars, cabs, oh yea and..... PEOPLE!






















I had no idea how huge and modern it was....
Its a mixture of poverty and wealth.
You have your fancy car dealerships (even by American standards) and marble palace like stores with security guards everywhere... and then you have your vast amount of beggers and dying on the road. All on the same street. Its really heartbreaking- and I haven't taken any pictures of the people that are sprawled all over the streets- laying in the gutters-the homeless, skeletal, drugged up, wonderful people that are struggling.... it would be a most accurate picture- but not one I wish to take and be able to recollect forever... just know that it's here and it's very real.
How can people (natives especially) walk past people like this??
I know it can be overwhelming, but please, people, do something.
some of the answers have made a little sense-
Such as the fact they are Muslim and believe in reincarnation sooo they see these people on the roads and think "what does it matter, the sooner they die the better- so they can get on to the next life (which presumably will be more pleasant)."
Interesting.
Certainly I cannot speak for all natives... this is just what I've been told by people who live here that I have met.
There is no infrastructure here... no garbage cans-even in a big city like this! soo garbage is everywhere- NYC times ten. It's a chaotic mess- the driving- just trying to cross the street is a threat of your life! NO one obeys the traffic signs (are there any come to think of it?? =) ) so you have a city that is so overpopulated (15 million people) that everyone is walking in the middle of the roads WHILE cars are trying to drive in them- not to mention motorcycles, rickshaws, and bikes.
I swear, everytime we are crossing a busy road- weaving inbetween cars just to get across, I find myself screaming "ahhhh!!" in my head because I am literally this close to loosing my life!
The natives are so non chalant about it- even mothers with babies in their hands- will walk without hardly looking.
They honk a TON. At first I found this very rude and annoying and obnoxious and unnecessary. But then I learned to appreciate it b/c it's their way of saying "excuse me, car behind you, just so you know(and so I don't kill you)"
It's a way of life, a way of survival out here.
Peace love and grilled cheese- christie