Diwali/ Kali Puja

Its Diwali right now, which is a three day festival that involves lots of fireworks. It celebrates Kali Puja, a Hindu god. Last night, Piya, Prativa, and Momita (not one of my students, but one of their friends who plays football with us) took the other volunteers and me around to see the pandals. They weren't nearly as big, nor as numerous as they had been for Durga Puja. We went to about six pandals and then we went to Prativa's house. They had us come in and sit down, and they gave us sweets to eat. The sweets had been on their alter to Lakshmi and Ganesha, so they probably went out to buy more for the gods after we left. Its part of Indian hospitality to feed their guests. So even though some of the students are really poor, we don't refuse the food they offer us because it is part of their custom to give food. They genuinely want to give us food, and they might even be... I don't know if offended is the right word, but they wouldn't understand why we were refusing the food if we didn't take it. So anyway, Prativa gave us Laddus, which are orange ball things that taste quite like honey corn bread. Partiva told me that in Hindi its pronounced ladDU, with the stress on the end of word, and in Bengali is LADdu. I think. Maybe its the other way around. But I found it interesting that its different in the two languages.
When we left Prativa's, we ran into Manisha and Mili, who had planned on coming with us to see the pandals, but their moms hadn't let them. Mili asked us to go to her house. It was my first time going there. Her house was small, but it was nice. They had electricity: lights, a fan, and even a TV. They had one chair and they unfolded a mat for us to sit on. The walls were concrete and the roof what either thatch or metal, I couldn't tell from inside because it had a plastic lining under it. Out of all of my students' houses I've seen, Mili's seems to fall right in the middle as far as how nice it is. Prativa's is the nicest one I've seen. So anyway, Mili's mom introduced herself, and they ran out to get us samosas, which were quite good.
We left Mili's house to go back to the school, where there was a fireworks show. On the way, we stopped by Bobby's house to ask if she wanted to go to Sodpur with us tomorrow, and we ended up staying there for an hour. She can't go to Sodpur because she's going to her in-law's house, but she talked to Piya's mom so that Piya could go. I'm not completely sure, but I was under the impression that she lied to Piya's mom, who is quite strict, and told her that she was going with us, so that Piya could go. I'm not completely sure though. When most conversations happen in Bengali, I'm a tad out of the loop.
Bobby served us fried chapatis (I don't know what else to call them). I'd had them in the States but had never really liked them. Lots of Indian restaraunts in the US serve them as kind of complimentary appetizers. Anyway, the ones Bobby gave us were fresh, and they were made with ground black pepper. They were quite tasty. Then Bobby's husband set off some fireworks for us, and the girls took pictures with our cameras. Prativa and Momita went home, and we went back into Bobby's house for tea and biscuits. Bobby wrapped a sari on Ellenoor and we took lots of pictures of all of us. It was a fun visit.
When we left, Piya took us the fireworks show by the school. They weren't quite as extravagant as the 4th of July shows I see in the states, but Khardah is just a small town, so I imagine the shows are much bigger elsewhere. Mind you, this was fireworks Indian style. That is, they were set off quite haphazardly, going dangerously close to buildings, people, trees, and power lines. When we had played football with the kids earlier that day, a few boys were setting off fireworks in the field while we were playing. There's just no caution about them. Several times when we were walking to see the pandals, people would set them off as we were coming towards them on the street. Anyway, the show was still fun, and the Khardah-ians seemed to really enjoy it. They cheered especially loud for the big fireworks that threaten to light them all on fire.

Earlier in the day yesterday, we went to the Blue Sky Cafe for breakfast, and then we went to New Market. Most of the shops were closed for the Puja though.
On Monday a new volunteer named Anna arrived from the States. She's a jewellery maker, and she brought a whole bunch of supplies for the women to make jewellery with that they can sell.
On Sunday, I went to the Nayak's house for dinner. The Nayaks are a family that Nancy, the US coordinator for CRAWL is friends with. They're an Indian family, but they lived in the US for awhile. They cooked me yummy (totally not spicy, they were extra careful) Indian food and their daughters played American board games (Clue and Othello) with me. It was nice to get out of Khardah and go somewhere different. They live in a nice apartment complex with trees and grass and bushes in it. Its not one of those disgustingly luxurious subdivisions, but it was solidly middle class. Its interesting to see how the Indians who are better off than my students live.

~m