Travel Day 882 – Kolkata and Berhampore, INDIA
While the concert yesterday was an amazing experience, the entire organization and planning was something else…
Tablaphilia Posting at the Concert Venue
We had left Kolkata at 6.30am in the morning and considering loading the bus and reaching the departure point, people must have left their houses as early as 5am to be there on time. The drive to the concert site would be at least 8 hours I was told when I inquired about the reason for the departure in darkness and freezing temperature of the early morning hour. In the end the drive was less than 5 hours, even considering multiple tea and pee breaks…
Once we unloaded the bus at the concert venue in Berhampore, we then drove a few blocks and checked into a guest-house. A guest-house? I was wondering and telling someone that I didn’t bring anything to spend the night. Don’t worry, I was told, the guest-house is not for sleeping. No? Then what else was a guest-house for?
As I soon found out, we were just supposed to have lunch in the guest-house, freshen up and rest. Rest? Because of the crazy early departure? Why didn’t we just leave later and rest in our own beds until it was a decent hour to get up and have breakfast before we left the house? Nobody seemed to have a good answer for me…
Well, I thought at least I could make good use of the time when everybody is resting or freshening up and explore Berhampore in the nice sunny weather. So I asked the leader of the gang if I could go for a 30 minute walk around town, but the answer was: Not now! We will have lunch now. After lunch there will be time… I personally had the feeling that after lunch we would be rushing around again and now was the best time to take off but I thought it would be disrespectful not to listen to the man in charge…
Berhampore Walk while Lunch was Served
After a while we were ordered into the dining room, but only tea was served, no lunch. When everyone went back to the room, I approached our fearless leader again asked him if I could go for a walk and be back in 30 minutes. The answer was exactly the same: Not now! We will have lunch now. After lunch there will be time… He was saying this while stripping down to his underwear and getting ready for a bath. Something was telling me that lunch was not being served right now, but again, I didn’t want to be disrespectful and decided to stay…
After sitting around for another 45 minutes, I had it with my patience and I approached our man charge one last time as he was just coming out of the bath. This time I didn’t ask him, but I was telling him that I was going for a walk around town and I would be back in a little while. He once more told me the exact same thing: Not now! We will have lunch now. After lunch there will be time…
Upset about the fact that I could have walked for an hour already without anyone even noticing; now I finally disregarded his order and left for my exploration walk. As it was to be expected, lunch was finally served while I was gone… : )
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