Nirmal Hriday Khaligat

We arrived at khaligat at 2.35pm by cab from the Tourist Railway Office in town.
Practically walked all the way from Sudder street to Fairlie place.
Am not sure how far is that but it seems quite long.
Maybe i am just too busy savoring the many different sights of Calcutta.
So many things to see.. i wish i could stay there for an afternoon and just simply digest every single thing.
My lack of vocabulary just makes it difficult to describe it.

Spent 2hours inquiring about our onwards train tickets, we skipped lunch.
So we went for food searching given that we still have tiny lil' bit of time.
We got lots of touts from locals trying to guide us to the famous Kali Temple next to Nirmal Hriday Khaligat.
This place is like a slum.. there doesn't seem to be any proper restaurant around.
Lucky i got some arrowroot biscuits last night. And so we snacked by the road waiting for time to report in.

As we went in to the building, silence befall the hall.
The facade look so classic. Yet, the smell of antiseptic greets me well.
I guess its a must yeah? 
On the left hall is for Male and right hall for Female.
We first have to wash our hands and put on an apron.
The guys that been volunteering for a few days went to work straight.
Being the new arrivals, we were clueless on what to do and sitting idly just kills our senses.
So, we went to the female hall and talked to people.
Its weird at first because its chicken and duck talk.
That was really awkward.

As time goes by, that seems to be a good thing to do. Regardless... its about being there.
I often smile and shake my head a bit when i seriously don't have a clue of what they are saying. That seems to be working fine.
Subsequently, the sister came down and sort of brief us on what to do and all went fine.
The centre seems to be a little bit overwhelmed with volunteers but we somehow manage to find 'something' to do.

Its not easy. Seriously. Its not.
Trying to communicate with them more effectively, i tried the many different hindi/tamil that i know.
The best was when i told Sangeeta: "Kuch kuch Hota hai" - Sharukh Khan..
AND WOW! she start singing the song and i hummed along..
It was really great..

There's medication and dinner to be served in the afternoon and also helping some of them to do some exercise.
Its hard to describe. At some point while massaging Asha's arm, i started to hum the songs that i know.
Somehow, i don't know why my eyes welled up with tears.
But its not good to be so. So forced my tears back and continue humming Asha to sleep.

If only time permits for me to volunteer at other centres..

Have yet to visit Mother's House, tomb and room...