funerals, wizards and tests

Last week, Bobby's neighbor passed away. On Wednesday we were invited to go over to his house for the memorial. Subhamita came with us. We bought flowers and sweets which we put on the altar (beautifully decorated with flowers) they had set up for him. Then we sat down to visit with the family and they served us sweets. They invited us to come to the memorial dinner that night. It was at a building just beside the school which is also used to host wedding parties. There was another altar for him set up there, also decoated with white flowers.
The meal was delicious, and huge. We had stuffed kulcha (a fried flat bread with potatos and spices in it), about four different kinds of curry, cucumber salad, chutney, chops (breaded, deep fried things - usually potato or fish, but in this case beet - which are kind of similar to hush puppies) two kinds of sweets, and ice cream. And, with the exception of the ice cream, we of course ate it all with our hands. I did much better than I did last time.
The man who died was only 58, and in fact he was the last person I talked to in Khardah before I went to Thailand. He owned the van which Bobby hired to take me to the airport. So I knew him, and I knew his daughter, Bobby's friend. That is to say I was acquainted with them. But the other volunteers didn't really know them at all. Its interesting to see the difference in the ways cultures deal with death. In America, when someone dies, close friends and family come to mourn. Unless the person was a public figure, stangers do not attend the memorial services. I know Bobby's neighbor's were just trying to be friendly. They invited perfect strangers to the memorial services. Of course we weren't involved or present for the more intimate parts of the funeral process. It seems to me that for the dinner though, its viewed as a party and therefore the more the merrier. Interersting cultural difference. I was happy for the invite though.

On a completely different note, Manisha and Prativa began watching The Wizard of Oz for computer class yesterday. They read the book in class, so now they get to watch the movie. They really like it so far. It was really fun to share something which is so embedded in American culture with them.

Today I gave a test on adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions to the intermediate group. At first they couldn't remember how to do anything (solely because it was a test; they could do it all yesterday) but after a little help from me, they did really well. The scores were 92%, 80% and 83%. Suraj will have to take it next week because he wasn't there today, but I am sure he'll do really well. He's great at math. And Sayani doesn't come anymore, so that's all. All really good scores. I am so pleased!!

~m