Jorge Sanchez         on West Bengal
 

I arrived early in the morning to Kolkata Howrah station, by train from Assam, after a 28 hours journey, made my way among the hundreds of homeless people and beggars sleeping on the floor, crossed the famous bridge and walked until the backpacker Sudder Street, with hundreds of cheap hotels where for just 1 euro you can find a bed in a dormitory. I saw many Spaniards, and in many restaurants some waiters spoke pretty good Spanish language. It was due to the hordes of volunteers from every corner of Spain, Sevilla, Madrid, Barcelona, Hospitalet, etc., that nobly sacrificed their summer holidays to work, for free, in Mother House, near Sudder street, with the sisters of Madre Teresa, helping handicapped children or dying people to leave this world with love. They were virtuous travellers and soon I made friends with them in Jo-Jo restaurant or in the hotel Maria, where I rented a single room for just 200 rupees.
I hired a rickshaw and visited Mother Teresa House, not far from Sudder street, where I saw her tomb revered in one of the rooms of the ground floor. Some sisters told me that they have just saved that day the life of a little girl. Her father wanted to cut her throat with a machete for having been born female. One of the sisters arrived in time to convince the father not to do so, and took his daughter to Mother Teresa House. I was welcomed and we celebrated together the new life of the little girl.
My last day in Kolkata I bought for my daughters beautiful silk embroideries, eye-catching jewellery items and delicate perfumes, distributed my remaining rupees among the most desperate beggars of Sudder street and headed to the airport to fly to my dear Spain.