Visiting Kolkata High Court and the “High Tech Museum”

After I wiped the fish guts off my shoes and we returned from our city walk, we jumped in the cars and headed for the Kolkata Court House. We couldn’t all go in at once, so the group split in two; half to the court house and half to the museum to see an exhibit on the history of Kolkata.
I was in the museum group first. I was interested in Kolkata’s history, so I was looking forward to the tour.

The tour began in a small waiting room. On one wall, there was a sign that read, “For the first time in this country, a history museum is set up in high-tech storytelling form…” On the other side of the room was this advanced technology in action. It was a 10-12 inch video screen inside a wooden box-like thing that looked like it was made in a middle school shop class. One of the guards, not the tour guide, hit play on the DVD player and on came a Kolkata history video SHOWING WHAT WE WERE ABOUT TO SEE.

It was hilarious. To make the history video, some guy with a video camera simply walked around the exhibits of the museum and taped stuff. At one point, you could see the camera crew in the video trying to duck out of the way.

The tour guide finally showed up and told us to wait while she turned the lights on in the first exhibit room. Can you imagine being held up in the Pirates of the Caribbean while someone turns the power on in each new section?! In one window, she said, “Look closely and you can experience the drama of the battle scene.” On came a few red and green lights and a couple banging noises. It was intense. Sleestack intense (that reference will be lost on most of you until you see Will Ferrel’s new movie “The Land of the Lost.”

The tour lasted for 15 more minutes. I couldn’t understand anything the tour guide was saying so I updated my Facebook status and waited for it to end.

The other half of this outing was awesome, however. One of our lawyers took us into Kolkata’s High Court. Most of our trials occur in local courts. However, if a perpetrator appeals a case, it will often end up here.

The court system in India follows British custom. Everywhere you looked were men and women (mostly men), in traditional black robes, preparing for cases and chatting with other lawyers. We were allowed to check out the library at one point. It was packed with law books dating back to the early 1800s. If you looked closely, you could see thik layers of dust on each one. I don’t think they had been touched since the 1800s.

We actually got to enter a courtroom during a trial. I couldn’t understand what was happening, partly because it was in Bengali and partly because I know NOTHING about law. It was cool, nonetheless.