Melinda is out of town this week at meeting I have no part in. That means I have the whole house to myself! Woo! Anyway, that explains why Melinda's name does not appear in the title of this post.
Today, the US Consulate in Kolkata hosted a Town Hall meeting for American citizens. A friend of mine heard about it, and we were like hey a chance to meet more Americans and get free food. Let's do this thing. Four of us went. Basically what happens at these meetings is representatives from the consulate come tell you about the services they can provide and tips for staying safe in the city. It's fairly boring and mostly stuff you already know. But THEN, they open the floor for questions and that, my friends, makes the whole thing worth your time. The first attendee to ask a question began with this long winded speech about how there were elderly Americans who were home bound and had no internet she wanted to know what the consulate had offer them. It was kind of hard to follow her and ascertain what her point was exactly, but basically she wanted the consulate to establish a daycare center for the elderly. The speaker politely informed her that he neither the money nor the staff to provide such a service. Another man complained the education systems in India and America are quite different and wanted to know what the consulate could do to provide American schooling for his children. It seems to me this is something you should take into consideration before you move. But what do I know? I heard a lady sitting in front of me mutter, "Go back to America." under her breath. Again, the speaker politely recommended some homeschooling websites and schools run by NGOs the man could try. My personal favorite was the man who said he had two homes and was afraid of being robbed. He then asked if the consulate's security services could provide a guard for his personal residences. The security guy did an admirable job of laughing in attendee's face, though I think he really wanted to. His response: I am the department. So, I cannot personally come and patrol your house. My thoughts are, if you can afford two homes, one of which is in a very nice part of Kolkata, you can afford to hire a guard. A lady in the audience suggested that this man go and acquaint himself with the local police so that they would know him personally if he ever had a problem. Then, an Indian-American audience member made the comment that this plan probably wouldn't work as people don't normally do that and you can wait all day at the station before some will agree to meet you. (I happen to think this man is correct.) The woman apparently was seriously offended that anyone might contradict her. She proceeded to yell at the guy for thinking she was stupid, and then basically said that if he wouldn't condescend to visit the police station, maybe the police would not want to come to his house. So there. The man dealt with the situation quite well, and simply said that they would have to agree to disagree. (Wherever you are sir, I applaud you.) There were some more questions and a quiz about random American trivia. I now know that the Styx started out in Chicago, and Wyoming is the least populous state in America, with about 500,000 residents. I'm totally moving there when I get back. Afterwards, we had tea and refreshments. It was mostly Indian food, which I have to admit was slightly disappointing, but they did have rolls. I hadn't had rolls in almost a year, and I had forgotten how much I like them. We did meet other Americans and found out that an American Center exists where they occasionally have entertaining events. I liked it on facebook so it would keep me posted.
Today, the US Consulate in Kolkata hosted a Town Hall meeting for American citizens. A friend of mine heard about it, and we were like hey a chance to meet more Americans and get free food. Let's do this thing. Four of us went. Basically what happens at these meetings is representatives from the consulate come tell you about the services they can provide and tips for staying safe in the city. It's fairly boring and mostly stuff you already know. But THEN, they open the floor for questions and that, my friends, makes the whole thing worth your time. The first attendee to ask a question began with this long winded speech about how there were elderly Americans who were home bound and had no internet she wanted to know what the consulate had offer them. It was kind of hard to follow her and ascertain what her point was exactly, but basically she wanted the consulate to establish a daycare center for the elderly. The speaker politely informed her that he neither the money nor the staff to provide such a service. Another man complained the education systems in India and America are quite different and wanted to know what the consulate could do to provide American schooling for his children. It seems to me this is something you should take into consideration before you move. But what do I know? I heard a lady sitting in front of me mutter, "Go back to America." under her breath. Again, the speaker politely recommended some homeschooling websites and schools run by NGOs the man could try. My personal favorite was the man who said he had two homes and was afraid of being robbed. He then asked if the consulate's security services could provide a guard for his personal residences. The security guy did an admirable job of laughing in attendee's face, though I think he really wanted to. His response: I am the department. So, I cannot personally come and patrol your house. My thoughts are, if you can afford two homes, one of which is in a very nice part of Kolkata, you can afford to hire a guard. A lady in the audience suggested that this man go and acquaint himself with the local police so that they would know him personally if he ever had a problem. Then, an Indian-American audience member made the comment that this plan probably wouldn't work as people don't normally do that and you can wait all day at the station before some will agree to meet you. (I happen to think this man is correct.) The woman apparently was seriously offended that anyone might contradict her. She proceeded to yell at the guy for thinking she was stupid, and then basically said that if he wouldn't condescend to visit the police station, maybe the police would not want to come to his house. So there. The man dealt with the situation quite well, and simply said that they would have to agree to disagree. (Wherever you are sir, I applaud you.) There were some more questions and a quiz about random American trivia. I now know that the Styx started out in Chicago, and Wyoming is the least populous state in America, with about 500,000 residents. I'm totally moving there when I get back. Afterwards, we had tea and refreshments. It was mostly Indian food, which I have to admit was slightly disappointing, but they did have rolls. I hadn't had rolls in almost a year, and I had forgotten how much I like them. We did meet other Americans and found out that an American Center exists where they occasionally have entertaining events. I liked it on facebook so it would keep me posted.
Reminds me of Gilmore Girls!
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