“As a mixed-race American with international roots, my travels have often been about reconnecting with my heritage and exploring my intertwined cultural identities. Traveling to India, and especially Kolkata, has helped me understand so many things about my relationships, quirks, anxieties, styles, and propensities. It has also been the source of inspiration for most of my creative projects…
In India, my senses are overwhelmed by highly saturated colors, smells, and sounds. When I stay at my family’s house in northern Kolkata, I wake up every morning to the sounds of water being pumped up to the roof of the house; birds cawing salutations to one another; unidentifiable bells; street vendors selling sugar cane juice, sweets, and plastic buckets; Bengali bickering; various conch shells calling the Gods into the houses; my aunties gossiping with each other through the windows; the extremely loud and incredibly close neighbors; the donkey-like screech of rickshaw horns; the barking of territorial street dogs; and the call of the garbage man going around on his bike-pulled carriage screaming, in a somewhat melodic way, “MoiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiLaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”. As you can imagine, I do not need to set an alarm…
One of my favorite things to do in Kolkata is to go to the food market with my uncle. For me the market is a way to learn about the local food system, understand the foundational elements of Bengali cuisine, and immerse myself in the local color palette and smells of northern Kolkata. The fresh and vibrant produce is mostly outside, and piled into beautiful displays that create patterns and designs up and down the crowded street. The fish section is indoors and shocking. The intense stench hits you immediately, and there are giant machetes everywhere that the vendors use to clean and cut the fish. The floor is covered with a carpet of interwoven metallic fish scales and blood. Though the smell can be thick and the scene can be gory, experiencing the market feels like a special opportunity to get to know my uncle and his ritual and experience this place that is a part of me…”
067/100 of #100DaysofConfessions Instagram Project