Gone to INDIA! .............Kolkata that is (Note: I am posting this post facto)

Beautiful Victorian Memorial

Background

Kolkata, capitol of the West Bengal state of India, is renowned for its rich heritage and vibrant cultural history. Known as the City of Joy and the City of Palaces, the beauty of Kolkata is easily noticeable by its many nicknames. The World FactBook administered by the Central Intelligence Agency reports that Kolkata is religiously named for the Hindu goddess Khali of chaos and destruction.

Symbols

One of the most recognizable symbols of Kolkata is its beautiful Howrah Bridge which connects Kolkata to its sister city Howrah. Officially completed by the British in 1943, the bridge is technically a cantilever truss bridge and spans 1500 feet suspended over the Hooghly River on 270 foot high pillars. The bridge represents the great architectural influence of the British on the city.

Language

India has twenty-two different languages and while Hindi is the national language, Bengali is the primary tongue in Kolkata with 55% regularly speaking it. Other languages spoken in Kolkata include Hindi 20%, English 10% and others representing 15% of the total population

History

Historically, Kolkata has a pretty oppressive background. Christopher Anzalone an esteemed writer for the Encyclopedia of World History reports, “From its appointment as the former capitol of India to its struggle for democratic independence, the shaping of its culture was largely due to its political history” He continues to state that prior to the seventeenth century, this region of India was little more than a widespread community of small rural villages and much less the cultural capitol of India, as it is known today (Anzalone). It was competitively ruled by various emperors from the Pala, Sena and Deva dynasties from the eighth century until the twelfth century.

In 1192, the Mamluk or Slave dynasty overtook the imperial dynastic lines. Mamluk, a Muslim soldier, travelled throughout the vast northern region of India throughout his reign and is greatly responsible for the Islamic influence in Kolkata (Anzalone). His rule was shortly undermined by the Balbans; and the cycle of continual dynastic rule continued through the seventeenth century with the Shahs after the Balbans, then the Abyssinians and finally the Mughals.

The true potential of Kolkata was recognized by Job Charnock who, wishing to increase international trade opportunities in 1690, laid plans for British Calcutta. These were the early days of the East India Company; and its need of a port city made Kolkata a promising prospect, as it was conveniently located on the eastern banks of the Hugli River(Anzalone). It was an ideal location for exporting raw materials and importing finished goods. At the time, West Bengal was controlled by the Nawabs who had taken over as the Mughal power was waning. When the British opened a factory at the Cassim Bazaar, their colonial intentions became clear. Before long, the East India Company bought land revenue rights and in time instituted its own presidency.

As the British regime expanded beyond Kolkata, keeping control became difficult at times. Fort William, named for King William I, was built in Kolkata in 1706 to protect the trade routes of the Company. When it was attacked in 1756 by Siraj ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, the city was captured and renamed Alinager (Anzalone). This triggered the Battle of Plassey where the British under Robert Clive defeated Siraj in 1757. Anzalone continues to say that from this point forward, the Nawabs were puppet rulers in the eyes of the Brits. When Mir Jafar replaced Siraj as Nawab, Clive personally escorted him to the throne. When he attempted to demonstrate his power through a closet alliance with the Dutch, the Battle of Chinsurah ensued and resulted in the establishment of a Governor General of Bengal in 1771. This new position deprived the Nawabs of executing any real power. The British, then, named Calcutta the capitol of British India; and so it remained until 1912, when it was moved to Delhi.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the British made great advancements in Kolkata. By the dawning of the twentieth century, the port at Calcutta was the primary supplier for all of Bengal, Bihar, Assam and a number of the Northwestern provinces. At the onset of the industrial age and the birth of heavy machinery, trade items from Calcutta reached the far ends of northern India with opium and indigo making up more than half of all exports. The dynamic growth of the industry attracted many of the rural poor seeking jobs (Britannica). When employment was available, the commute to and from the city became too difficult and most relocated to the filthy living conditions of the city, creating the slums. The British preferred to separate themselves from the Indian people and eventually a dual society existed. The gap became narrowed by the constant close trading interactions. When the British began to hire Indians and then educate those in their employ, an elite class of manifested.

This higher Indian class began to learn the culture of the British and the ways they were exploiting the people and their resources. With this knowledge, there was great discontent and chaos within the chaste. A great number of them split and sided against the British and created another class entirely. When the common people backed this new class, the British were constantly bombarded with revolts. However, they were suppressed until the British were forced to relinquish all rule of India in 1947, but the clashes of the classes remain to this day (Anzalone).

Kolkata’s history explains the rapid rise of population, creation of the slums, tension between classes and the drastic variety between neighborhoods.

Geography

Kolkata is located in the eastern part India and is centered at 22.3 degrees north latitude, 88.2 degrees east longitude (NASA).The city proceeds in a north to south direction expanding linearly along the banks of the Hoogly River. The Telegraph, a newspaper in Kolkata, recently released an article explaining how majority of the city was a marshy wetland, becoming industrialized over years to support its quickly multiplying population. The remaining wetlands have been marked areas of reserve by the state of West Bengal (The Telegraph).

Common to most of the Indo-Gangetic plains, the primary type of soil and water in Kolkata is alluvial (The Telegraph). The city’s underlay consists of sediments made up of clay, silt, various deposits of sand and gravel. These sediments are tightly enclosed between two thick clay levels. The Bureau of Indian Standards reports, Kolkata is classified in seismic zone-III, on a scale of one to five where five is the most likely to experience earthquake activity.

Politics

Currently, Kolkata is under several overlapping civic administrations. The KMC or the Kolkata Municipal Corporation officiates and has jurisdiction over the local city itself. The KMC has a locally elected council of 141 ward members and these members choose a council chairman and executive mayor (The Official Website of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation). The elected mayor then selects a deputy mayor and ten members forming the Mayor-in-Council which operates similarly to a cabinet. The current mayor is Sovan Chatterjee. Kolkata is unique because no other state has implemented a system of political executive in its local government.

Natural Resources

            The most famed natural resource of Kolkata is its Hooghly River which is the city’s only tributary to the infamous Ganges River of India. The Hooghly River is an important source of water as it is used for the many hydraulic plants of the city (Hazard Profiles). It is also used for drinking.

            The World FactBook also lists coal as an important resource of India in general. India has the fourth largest reserve in the world. India as a whole also capitalizes on iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, rare earth elements, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, and  arable land (World FactBook). Additionally, India is the world's largest producer of licit opium for the pharmaceutical trade, but an undetermined quantity of opium is diverted to illicit international drug market (World FactBook).

Social Structure and Issues

Family is another key aspect to Bengali culture. Families assign each members role down to education, employment and marriage. Women are considered inferior to their male counterparts but are encouraged to work equally as hard.  

As mentioned earlier, there was a complex caste system that existed in all of India. When it was abolished in 1947, the prejudices continued and the tension is still very real to this day. Crime occurring due to interclass friction accounts for over twenty-five percent of all reported crimes in Kolkata (World FactBook). Usually these struggles occur between those in poverty and in the slums. The slums has its own mini-chaste system as well.  The following are average family incomes for various slum classes as reported from Dr. Kitai Kundu in his article, The Case of Kolkata, India, “Income categories identified by studies made during a wellbeing exercise include high (Rs 1500-5000 per month - ca. US$ 33- 110), medium (Rs 800-2300 per month - ca. US$ 17-50), and low (Rs 500-1500 per month - ca. US$ 11-33).”

He continues to provide evidence where eighty percent of all households were found earning Rs 500 and Rs 1700 (ca. US$ 11-37) per month. All of the information demonstrates that with an average family size of five or six, more than seventy percent of those living in the slums live below poverty line. Poverty characterizes the majority of the population and beggars are more than common.

Religion

Hinduism is by far the major religion of Kolkata. Records from a recent census of the city reported by the World FactBook claims 73% of the population in Kolkata is Hindu, 23% Muslim, 2% Christian and 1% Jains. Other minorities exist such as Sikhs, Buddhist, Jews and Zoroastrian constitute the rest of the city's population.

Educational Models

The overall literacy rate in the slums is 28.5 per cent, the same for women is 25.2 per cent (World FactBook). While 14.5 per cent of males have attained secondary level and 3.9 per cent of males have attained graduation or above level, corresponding levels for women are 7.3 and 1.3 per cent respectively. Any purposeful literacy program in slum areas in Kolkata should consider completely illiterate people and people with below primary level of education as its target group(World FactBook) . This group includes 37.7 per cent of males, 51.9 per cent of females and 44.2 per cent of the total population.

Sports and Games

            Soccer, called football, with cricket in second place, is by far the most popular sport in India (Britannica). Fields for soccer can be found in every park and schoolyard. Though girls do not usually play, boys begin at very young ages and continue to play until they are very old .

Tradish Bengali Food

National Foods

The foods of Kolkata are popular throughout all of West Bengal, however the Hilsa fish is used in many traditional dishes of this city (Britannica). Although there are many ways to prepare and serve the fish, the most popular way is to boil it whole and then season it with various spices. The egg of the fish is given to guests to designate their position of honor in the home.

Demographics

            According to a recent census by the CIA there are 1,189,172,906 people in the country of India as a whole making it the second highest populated country in the world. Of this number, 29.7% are under the age of 15, 64.9% are between the ages of 15 and 64 and 5.5% are 65 years and older. The average life expectancy for India in general is 66.8 years old with women more likely to live to be 68 and men 64. There are currently 2.4 million people in living with AIDS putting India in third place for the highest number of people living with the illness (World FactBook). For those over the age of fifteen, it has been recorded that 61% of the total population can read and write. Men are more likely to be literate with their average of 73.4% compared to women with an average of only 47.6% (World FactBook). There is a 10.8% unemployment rate and twenty-five percent of the total population is below the poverty line (World FactBook). Of those employed, 52% hold an agricultural occupation,  34% services and 14% are involved in industry.

Christianity

The first wave of Christianity arrived with the Portuguese. Christianity came to Bengal initially with the Portuguese in the 16^th century. They were Jesuits, who were responsible for the major part of Christian activity (World Christian Encyclopedia). Not much information has been specifically documented on who was the first Portuguese to evangelize the area; however, it is clear that the strain of Christianity was Catholicism.

However, protestant Christianity in the area can be dated back to 1793 when the Englishman William Carey arrived. He went specifically for evangelism purposes and even left his wife and family in England for a period to do so (Beck 56).  Carey spent three years studying the culture and learning the Bengali language. He moved to Serampore and here, four years later, he baptized his first Bengali convert on December 28, 1800.Carey was most known for his translation work and linguistic skills. He was elected Professor of Sanskrit and Bengali languages at Fort Williams College, and he translated the New Testament in the Bengali less than a year later, one of his biggest accomplishments (Walker 87).  In 1808, he published the New Testament in Sanskrit and on June 24, 1809 the complete Bengali Bible was finished. Carey was very dedicated in his work and sought for everyone around him to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Shortly after he began a Marthi and Punjabi New Testament translation (Walker 128). These were finished in 1811 and 1815 just before his completion of the Old Testament in Sanskrit in 1818. He also opened two evangelical schools where locals and foreigners can learn the truth of God’s word. He died at Serampore on June 9, 1834 (Walker 176).

Since its tough beginnings, the present state of Christianity in Kolkata has not drastically improved. There are churches. Some more modern contemporary churches but most are house churches. Missions still has a live role in the city however. Mandryk, in his most recent copy of Operation World, reports that here are currently, 150,000 Christians in the city today; but only a small portion of these are Bengali speakers. There are about 200 denominations and agencies at work in this area and they focus on unreached groups

William Carey!

William Cary and those who followed after him did much in Biblical translation and there is evidence of the work they accomplished. However, West Bengal is currently the most unreached place despite their fervent efforts. Christians are still less than one percent of the total population.

 There is still great work to be done. As stated earlier, Kolkata and West Bengal have the highest percentage of unevangelized people. Operation World states that sixty-seven people groups are unreached and unengaged and twenty-seven of them have populations of over 100,000. (Mandryk, 446)

 As I will be serving as a missionary in India, it is my role to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, serve the missionaries on the field and collect information and report back to the states. Sharing the Gospel is my primary objective in order to win national souls to Him; and through the English classes and the relationships formed I will do so. The national believers will be taught to reach their own people and form churches.

 My responsibility also includes serving the missionaries already on the field. I will encourage their efforts and graciously appease them in any way. I will also learn from their experiences and studiously glean from their cultural knowledge. Taking the initiative to ask them questions about engaging in the culture.

I also intend to collect the information that I have gained and report it back to ministries in the States. I will strive to raise the awareness of Christians here in the US that a spiritual need for missions exists; and I will also provide avenues for them to become involved. Missions is often a sided topic for many churches. By presenting my experiences and sharing how God is presently at work in India, they will visually see the need for evangelization locally and especially abroad. This way the Gospel will be advanced in Kolkata, India.