KALIGHAT KALI TEMPLE

A blood-colored shrine dedicated to the goddess Kâli, the most frightening of Hindu mythology but also the most venerated in Calcutta. According to the legend, while Sudarshan Chakra was cutting up the body of Sati, the first wife of Shiva, a finger of the beautiful girl fell in Kalighat. The legend sets the tone because everything here has the taste and color of hemoglobin: from the garlands of red carnations that adorn the statue of the goddess with her blood-stained mouth and neck surrounded by skulls, to the meat hanging from the beaks of the crows that peck at the remains of the sacrifices. Every morning, goats are beheaded in honor of Kâli. At the festival of Durga Puja, it is an ox that is cut off its neck.

The temple itself is not very beautiful and, I might as well tell you right away, the floor is black, dirty and it is not rare to walk on drops of blood. You have to leave your shoes at the entrance, as in all the temples. Here beats the heart of Kolkata: a temple dedicated to destruction and death but also to rebirth and life. Every day, the poorest of the poor come to eat the "leftovers" of the goddess' meal prepared by the temple kitchen. You will not be able to take pictures of the sacrifices. Don't be fooled by the temple priests who will ask you for an exorbitant donation after the prayer they make at the end of the visit.

To the right of the temple is a creamy building, the Nirmal Hriday (the home of the pure of heart), founded by Mother Teresa in 1952 to help the poorest of the sick.