Poverty and Charity in Calcutta

We arrived in Calcutta three days ago during a rain storm, which was a nice change from the fierce sun. On first impressions Calcutta seems like any other Indian city - filthy and falling down. Many high rise buildings are completely black with pollution and seem to be held together only by the trees and plants which grown between the bricks. Of course the poverty here is legendary and it is there on the streets for all to see. Here is the only city in which we have seen rickshaws which are not bicycles, but which are pulled by a man on foot - frequently extremely old and skinny wearing a simple dhoti (sarong) and no shoes. Andy and I can't imagine a situation where we would feel comfortable having one of these men pull us around the streets. At the end of our road is a daily soup kitchen, and hundreds of men women and children queue for a small plastic bag of rice and dhal (lentils).
Many Westerners come here to volunteer with the various charities which do work in Calcutta, many for the various Mother Theresa Sisters of Mercy hospices and childrens homes which are dotted around the city.
Whilst having breakfast two days ago we met one of these volunteers, an American girl called Sarah. She offered to take us to Kalighat, which is the Sisters of Mercy hospice for the dying and destitute. Charity workers tour the railways stations and underpasses of the city and bring back the worst cases they can find, who are then cared for in the hospice until death. Yesterday afternoon we took the metro with Sarah and an English couple called Jonny and Lucy and spent the afternoon helping the patients at Kalighat. They are split into two large rooms of men and women, and the boys help the men and the girls the women. We wore aprons and surgical masks, as many patients have tuberculosis, and were thrown in at the deep end. When we arrived the women were receiving their medication. I took the tablets for each patient with a cup of water and helped the patient to sit up and take the medication. Some women seemed fairly with it whilst others seemed mere minutes from death, lying huddled onto their low bed with just a small pillow and a sheet for comfort, their limbs thin and horribly twisted. Some were obviously mentally disabled, in varying degrees, with the more physically able allowed to roam around the room and help those less able than themselves. One woman in particular was shockingly skeletal - so much so that it would have been difficult to tell if she was a woman or a man. Despite this, she was able to sit up and eat her food with only a little help. We spent most of the afternoon simply talking to the women, holding them and comforting them. I helped one very weak old lady to eat her food - a simple and cheap meal of rice and dhal - and helped her to drink a little water. When I had finished she suddenly became lucid and started to kiss my hand.
It was a very intense afternoon and after we had finished the volunteers all went up to the roof to dissect the afternoon over chay and biscuits. Sarah is helping there until Christmas, and Jonny and Lucy have been working at another charity for the past three weeks. A volunteer can come for any length of time, and there are also Indian women who help there and one tiny old Sister in the Mother Theresa style sari. We enjoyed our afternoon and it was extremely interesting, but I don't think either of us fancies the idea of doing it for weeks at a time....
Later in the evening we met up with our group of new friends for dinner and a few drinks - it was really nice to have some new people to talk to! We had a long dinner full of interesting conversation about where we'd been and what we'd seen - good travelling tales!