We ran by a track and saw several people doing their morning job. I think it was the soccer team. The site that surprised me most was that of three Indian guys riding their bicycles. They were actually riding nice bikes and had helmets. These guys were riding for exercise and not transportation.

The rest of the day consisted of meetings. I met with the Instructional Design leads, then VSNL and Mantra, the two telecommunications companies in India. Halfway through the afternoon, I was told me my luggage had arrived at the airport. When we drop off Adam and Dan at the airport, I will pick up my bag. I am very happy.

This afternoon, Adam, Ovick, Anjan and I went into downtown Calcutta. Calcutta is an amazing city. I don't really know what I expected of Calcutta, but it definitely wasn't what I saw. The architecture and details the buildings really surprised me. Since my only other experience with third world countries was Jordan, Israel and Egypt, I guess I was expecting really old stone buildings. While the buildings were old, none of these countries had much in the way of architectural detail.

The first stop on our journey was the Victoria Memorial Museum. It looked as if the entire grounds were dropped in from London. There were beautiful parks and gardens (although, definitely not as lush as western gardens) and the building itself was a grand structure in the same vein as the great cathedrals and monuments of the west. The main difference was the apparent disrepair. I have not seen one new building in Calcutta that seems new. There is so much dirt and dust, that nothing seems clean. I guess you get used to it and it actually helps create Calcutta's beauty, but I keep asking myself, "wow, wouldn't this be absolutely spectacular if it were clean?"

The main reason we went to the Victoria was for Adam to see a paining from Emily Eden. One of his friends really wanted him to get some information. When we got to the museum, the painting was not on display. Ovick and Adam hunted down the curator to see if the painting was in the back. After about 20 minutes the curator gave Adam a little brochure and sent him on his way. Unfortunately, it was now 4:40 and the museum closed at 5:00, so we quickly had to run through as much as we could. I wish we had more time to spend there since there were so many incredible artifacts.

After the museum, we drove to the Central Cottage Industries Emporium. This is where we did all of our souvenir shopping. I didn't know who to buy for, so I just bought a lot of things. I figured its better to over buy than to under buy, especially since everything was so cheap. I'll sort it out when I get home.

The CCIE was right in the heart of Calcutta. Every evening and weekend, the city becomes a market. Indians go to Bangkok, buy all sorts of goods and bring them back to Calcutta to sell at the markets. When I was waiting for my luggage, I saw huge packages being brought off the plane. It was all of the merchandise bought in Bangkok that would be sold in India. Nobody shipped anything through DHL or FedEx, because then you have to pay import fees. I asked R.S. if this was legal and he laughed. I guess the importers bribe the Customs officials to bring the goods across the borders. Anjan and R.S. told of how everything in India is based on bribery. All government officials accept bribes. There are even agencies that are set up to broker bribes, especially in the world of traffic violations.

Anyway, the markets in Calcutta made everything I've seen in Europe seem minor league and downtown Calcutta made Manhattan seem orderly. It was fantastic. After the CCIE, we got onto the Metro and went to a jewelry store. Adam bought a ring for his wife. The jewelry store was supposedly the best in Calcutta and was guarded by five armed soldiers.

After the jewelry store, we got back on the Metro and went to a fancy restaurant. There we waited for Dan and Kakoli to join us. This was one of the finest restaurants in the city and I wouldn't disagree. The food was excellent.