Super Nerd City

I've just discovered how nerdy this city really is. I mean no disrespect of course. Calcutta has a cultural reputation for being very intellectual. Today, among other things of course, we took an adventure down to "College Street." Sounds like a party right? I pictured lewd women, frisbees on the quad, and a party ever block, with enough cake, Hi-C, and gift bags for everyone. However, college street is this: 

Except way way dirtier and crowded. I didn't bring my camera, so I took this from "West Bengal Tourism." This must be THE nicest spot on the street, after a thorough sweeping.

Point of the matter is that the street is a series of adjacent book shops. More like book shacks actually. Small places with thousands of books in disorganized stacks. The street goes on like that for as far as you can see. The boothes are numbered, and in the small section we searched, I found numbers going above 200. That means millions upon millions of books on this street alone. I've never considered being a teacher so seriously: I saw maybe 25 different arrangements of the guide to the teacher's entry exam. With all of that competition, I could have gotten the book for nothing. (that's not true. Bargaining is difficult when the salesmen are so much better at it than you). 

In a clearing, we found a public pool. Its used by the YMCA swimming club (spelled out on the sign, it was the first time I've ever seen or known what YMCA stands for), and a bunch of different clubs. It has a 20-30 foot high dive, painted starting blocks, and its much bigger than an olympic size pool. However, its outdoor, in the middle of the city, and right now the water is really low because its the dry season. When the monsoons come, the pool will fill up and people will be able to use it. Its full of garbage, stray dogs, stray people, probably some cows. Point of the matter: water in the city is obviously gross, and they are waiting on the rain to make their fantastic swimming pool operational. I thought it was kind of funny. 

There's a million stories like that everyday, but I forget them all. Everything here is just....wacky. I'll take more pictures.