Day 47 Calcutta

Day 47                        Tuesday 11 October 2011                   Calcutta

We walked around to the British High Commission to see whether we could get a letter to allow us to do some research at the State Archives. We were told they couldn’t give us a letter but were willing to ring the Australian High Commission in Delhi. We spoke to them, advised what we required & in a short time letters were faxed through.  Great efficiency and co operation

We then went to another Library Reading Room at Esplanade East where all the early newspapers were kept.

All the papers were bound in string & decaying badly & infested with bookworms. They were in an open area, not air-conditioned & protected from the elements only by curtains. We spent several hours here & didn’t find anything that we hadn’t seen previously. The electricity went off for a while & the curtains were raised to allow us to read by daylight.

Having been told the Minister at St Andrew’s would be there today, we took the Metro across to BBD Bagh. Arriving at St Andrew’s we were told the Minister was on leave. Frustrating!

Next was a beer in the garden of the Fairlawn hotel, we are told that Vi Smith is still running it.

About 5pm we met up with the remaining rally people at the Oberoi. Chris & Liz had taken an early flight this morning after their hellish trip to Calcutta in the early hours with a broken clutch cable.

After farewells we went to Mocambo for dinner.