Dum Dum near Kolkata airport, West Bengal 18th December 2016

I checked out of the Oberoi Grand Hotel this morning after another failed attempt to find something to worth buying in the street markets. Boris Becker, tennis star of a long time ago, was stood next to me in the lobby. I was much too cool to ask for a selfie but a few Indian girls took the opportunity.

I’ve got a cheap hotel near the airport for tonight as I booked an early flight to Mumbai and didn’t want to get stuck in Kolkata traffic. It wasn’t something I needed to have worried about as I just had an email from Air India saying I could sleep in a bit later if I wanted.

There’s a very loud concert of Indian music going on just a little way down the road. I went to have a look earlier and found an 20-odd piece band and singers, with an audience of about 50, on some wasteland. It might be something political or religious as there are speeches between songs but I couldn’t make sense of it. I left but I can hear that it’s still in full swing.

I might be going hungry this evening as the hotel restaurant looks closed and there is nothing to be had outside except cigarettes and dusty bags of chips from roadside stalls. One stall had some live chickens on sale earlier and I could regret not buying one.

M