After lunch we piled back into the taxis for a very short ride. We pulled up outside a red and green building which one of the students said reminded her of Christmas. It was in fact a museum devoted to Rabindranath Tagore. He was a member of one of the wealthy families in India, making their money through his grandfathers shrewd business sense during the height of the the East India Trading Companies. His father was a man who had a fascination of other cultures and religions and in particular china. These broad opportunities and influences gave Rabindranath Tagore a unique foundation upon which to grow. He was a poet, author, artist, musician and spiritual man ahead of his time in many fields and a deep thinker. He was the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. He was also made a knight of the realm in 1915 but returned it in 1919 as a protest against the Amritsar Massacre. I loved the museum and found his writing and art extremely inspiring. Sadly I had never heard of him (mum if you are reading this I am sure I can hear your “OH DIANA” tone of voice that says I should have done) but my lack of knowledge is something I intend to remedy when I get home by seeking out books of his poetry and writings. Some call him the Bard of Bengal, but he was so much more than that, his art appears to be inspired by the surreal styles of the likes of Picasso and Dali. His poetry is deeply spiritual and I think inspirational. I can now understand why Dan has been telling us all year about the man who is like the Shakespeare of India - I will be joining his one man crusade to educate people about Rabindranath Tagore!

After some group shots outside the Christmas house we resumed our seats in the taxis and headed to the next destination. Rush hour in Kolkata is beyond crazy, because of the heat we had our windows down (they don’t use the AC as it makes people ill) and whilst stopped at one set of traffic lights a lady with a child came up and was grasping Izzy through the window seemingly trying to persuade her that she couldn’t afford to feed her child (who was in her arms). It did seem that we were at the traffic lights for an inordinately long time in the end we had to put the window up just to get her to step away, from what I understand she then tried the same with Katie in the car behind us. Our next stop on the tour was a Jain Temple called th Parshwanarth Temple. Jainism is a religion independent of either Hinduism or Buddhism however there are overlaps with both. The park, which almost looked like a little theme park where all it needed was a crazy golf course, was an oasis of calm not far from the station in the busy heart of Kolkata. We were not allowed to take photos inside the temple but if felt oddly familiar. Candles to light, small shrine areas to pay homage and a large central altar area, the only difference was that the focus on the central altar was a giant statue to honour the founder of Jainism.

As the sunset over the Jain Temple the Mosquito’s came out to play so we piled back into the taxi’s for one last time to make the 1 1/2 hour trek back across the city to the school. Well except that after about 20 minutes the taxis pulled in behind the most modern looking building we had been to. We got out of the taxis and were ushered into the most awesome shop - Indian sweetie central. Haldiram the Mecca for all things sweet and tasty. Talk about children in a sweet shop! Their eyes (oh and I’ll ‘fess up mine too) nearly popped out of their heads. Just at the point that we were going to work out how to make purchases we were whisked off upstairs in the same building to what can only be described as the Indian equivelant to McDonalds. With instructions that this was our snack time we set off to buy food. For the ones who were looking for some home comforts there was pizza, sandwiches, burgers and strawberry milkshakes - oh and there were samosa’s until Dan and I got to the counter to discover that they had all been eaten by our students. Feeling brave I ordered something I have never heard of called Kachori. Small deep fried pastry balls filled with some sort of spicy lentil paste - delicious I’m glad there were no more samosas available. Most of us also went downstairs for dessert and I came away with a huge box of sweets (hidden away from our student with the nut allergy) not that I need to eat anything more as we are being incredibly well fed.

Back in the taxis and back to the school, as we pulled up through the gates the children were all there cheering us home. A very late dinner and some playing with the children then we all tumbled, exhausted into bed after a truly grand day out.