The Hospital for the Dying, in the Kalighat area of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India, is where I spent three memorable mornings as a volunteer. The hospital, established by Mother Teresa in 1950, is run by the Missionaries of Charity with the help of volunteers.
I stood on a hill overlooking a wintry landscape of dry fields stretching as far as the eye could see. All around me were stone jars. Enormous stone jars. Some stood six feet high. Some were no longer upright but tilted precariously. Others lay flat on the ground.
We wish to commend Margo Wilson on an excellent report, “The South of India — a Good Choice for the First-time Visitor?” (June ’07, pg. 44). Also for the first-time traveler, our comments apply mainly to northern India.
We took a cruise-tour in Russia, the 18-day “Tatars, Cossacks and the Golden Ring,” April 28-May 15, 2007, with Grand Circle Travel (Boston, MA; 800/221-2610, www.gct.com).
