Kolkata Diaries - Day 1 (Guest Blog)

Over the next few days, Steve Denyer one of our Volunteers in India,will be recording his time in India, and giving you an insight on what to expect on our volunteer trips.

'Today I arrived in India! Before we even met the Animal People Alliance team I discovered something pretty essential about Indian life: bibbing your horn is an essential part of Indian life. You do it so people don’t crash into you! It’s chaos out here on the roads! Every person for themselves.

My first image that things could be better in the animal kingdom when we arrived outside Queen Victoria’s House - the horses used to give tourists trips looked sad, impoverished and in some cases emaciated. It was shocking to see. I also came across my first street dog - from afar I thought it was a skinny goat! However he seemed happy and very pleased to meet me and the other wonderful volunteers on this trip.

Paul & Mark from animal people alliance were great hosts. They walked us around Queen Victoria’s house, we had high tea at Flurrys (nice to know the British tradition of a good cuppa has lived on here) and then we visited Kolkata oldest market.

To say it was busy would be the understatement of the millennium - thousands of people coming to you in every direction with no where to hide!! I will never ever moan about the Christmas queues at Westfield ever again.... I promise!!!'