India circa 1986

A trip down the ginnels of calcutta 
 What a wonderfully intriguing place, as an entirely new and alien culture to a young me it warranted staying for an extended stay, from one day to the next I never knew what I would see or find. Walking out one day into tje humidity, smells and bustling life I found,  hidden behind blind alleyways a different world of new exploration, layers upon layers of alleyways and places where the cautious tourists rarely happen upon unless they are a little lost,  places that excepting the curious tourists the residents and workers of this mini eco system rarely saw a visitor.
This day I happened upon a small rug making enterprise set back into a 3 walled room, the front open to the air where 2 looms were operated by a couple of young children, it was c1985 and the child labour laws have changed since then Im sure, I watched them working away for about half an hour remembering my own youth as a working child. 
By the age of fifteen, I was already no stranger to work. Growing up in rural Cornwall, I spent several years helping on local farms, learning early the value of long days, responsibility and getting a job done regardless of the weather. Alongside that I had worked wherever, serving customers from a travelling fish and chip van, helping on an ice cream van during the summer months, and taking front-of-house roles in cafés and village shops. Those experiences, scattered across fields, lanes and small communities, gave me an understanding of people that no classroom could provide. Looking back from the crowded streets of Calcutta, it was impossible not to recognise how those formative Cornish years had quietly prepared me for a world far larger and more varied than I could ever have imagined, while still keeping him firmly grounded in the values of hard work, adaptability and appreciation for everyday life.

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