Out on the Town

From earlier today before I went to evening prayer...

a few of my friends playing music in the streets with a local. After I took some pictures the local wanted money... which I'm coming to learn is one of the worst things you could ever do in Calcutta... give someone money. There's a difference from Business beggars and the truly poor. The business beggars make more money that most of the honest working Indians, the truly poor almost never beg (AND ARE NOT ON SUDDER STREET[where most foreigners stay] OR OUTSIDE THE MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY HOUSES). Those beggars at those locations are the business beggars and on Sudder street run the business of begging like a Mafia, only a few families control the whole street and they "deal" with any intruders. (They have a system where they ask you to buy them something like cereal for their child, and then they resell it back to the shopkeeper unopened for a large cut of the money). Pretty sick.

Giving money to beggars just promotes an industry that doesn't get poor people out of poverty but instead makes the "Mafia" and the rest of the Business beggars richer. If you want to ever give money in calcutta, give it to a NGO or the Missionaries of Charity... it will go to helping those in real need.

So I'm pretty sure I'll be sick tomorrow...
There's this restaurant that I love to go to because the people there get more and more excited each time I come... it's an Urdu restaurant. that serves some really good tasting Kabobs, meat with spicy sauce drink and bread for really cheap (26.50 or I think you can say chay(pronounced Shay)-bees ruppees pajas paces; paces are the cents in India).

The problem however, is that the kabob wasn't cooked all the way through this time... though I think it's precooked a bit...

so I'm going to take some of the Norflox as a preventive measure tonight and tomorrow.

Also, at the sweets shop that I stop by, the owner was telling me that I said their greeting (a salaam val le kum; may God's peace be upon you, I think is the rough translation) very impressively (Bahut acha; very good). Which is probably why I get so many joyously shocked faces when I say it. (By the way when I spell Urdu or Hindi it's probably wrong, the words I write are phonetic devices more than written language.)

I think I have almost all the numbers down... enough that someone can understand me at least. (they have a new name for EVERY number from 1-100)
1. Ek
2. Do
3.Teen [Theen (pronounced with a short h)]
4. Char
5. Panch
6. Chay
7. Saat
8. Aat
9. Nao
10. Das
11. Ekaro
12. Barra
13. Theeda
14. Chowda
15. Pandera
16. Solah
17. Sattraah
18. attraah
19. Uniees
20. Bees
30. Thees
40. Chalees
50. Pajas (25 is Pajees)
60. Saat (look at 7... its spelled the exact same but pronounced slightly differently... Sa-athr (with a very very short hr)
70. Satar
80. Aees (or Ashi, in bangla I think)
90. Nobee (or Noboy, in bangla I think)
100. Ek(one) Soh (hundred)
1000. Ek Hazaar