St Patrick's Day isn't celebrated at all in India. I talked to Nienke, a dutch volunteer about it, and it turns out it isn't celebrated much in most of Europe either. It must just be an American and an Irish thing... Anyway, I wore a green salwar so I was sure not to get pinched by any stray leprechauns. Nienke and I went to New Market so she could get a few things before her trip, and them we met up with Babai and his friend Puru at Dum Dum. We took a train ride to the Dakshineswar Kali Temple (also known to CRAWL volunteers as the monkey temple, because of the many monkeys on the grounds). We made an offereing of sweets and flowers to Kali, and walked around the temple complex. The main temple there is for Kali, but there are also 12 smaller temples, all of which are for Lord Siva. Monkeys and cows roam the surrounding gardens and devotees bathe, pray, and wash laundry etc. on the ghats. We spent awhile just taking in the sights. A street boy came up to us on the ghats and we thumb wreslted with him and took his picture. The other people there were really amused to see foreigners playing with this boy. When we were ready to leave, he unsurprisingly but sadly, began begging us for money. We didn't give him anything; I never do. Because of the work I do at Sealdah, I can walk away from these situations feeling generally guilt free.
Anyway, after we left the ghat, we boarded a small ferry to the Belur Math. We arrived in time to enter the temple (for Ramkrishna) and sit down with hundreds of other people for the singing of prayers. Monks at the front of the temple sang, and some of the congregants joined in, but most just listened. Everyone sat on the floor, but men and women sat in separate sections. We arrived just before the singing started, so there wasn't any space for us to sit. Seeing us standing off to the side, the women at the edge of the group squeezed in to make room for Nienke and me. The hospitality (of the women and children, at least) here is so amazing. Other foreigners and I get stared at where ever we go. Some people take this for hostility, but in fact it is usually just unguarded curiosity. The people are so welcoming and so excited to see foreigners. This is of course more true in Khardah than in Kolkata; more true on the train than the metro. Children come up to me where ever I am to say hi and shake my hand. Women stare at me, and when they notice me watching, they break into huge smiles. People are always curious and friendly; they ask me where I'm from and why I'm here. I have been invited to innumerable strangers' houses for a meal. Of course I never go, but the intentions are always welcoming and friendly. The sweet treatment that I get from the women and children here more than compensates for the usual harassment and annoyances I endure from the men.
Anyway, we sat and listened to the singing for about 15 minutes before Babai waved to us to go. We left prematurely (the singing goes on for nearly an hour) and walked around the grounds a little. We went to a tea stall at the side of the road and had some tea before taking the ferry back across the river, and taking a taxi home. (Trains at night are best avoided.)
At school yesterday, I had the intermediate and advanced groups together because no one has come to fill Lauren's place yet. Attendance was low because final exams are going on in the public schools now. (In fact, none of my students will be attending CRAWL school for the next two weeks because of exams. This coincides perfectly with my trips to Visag and Varanasi.) Instead of trying to run two separate lessons, I decided to just do one class that incorporated math and English. Drawing inspiration from my high school Humanities classes (thanks, Mrs Young!) I decided to have the kids play jeapordy. Prior to class, I wrote out math and English questions to correspond with each category and point value. The kids didn't take long to catch on, and they loved it! I was so pleased with how well it went. They payed full attention and really tried to get the answers. There's no motivator like a little healthy competition.
Yesterday afternoon, Nienke and I went to Kolkata's other prominent Kali Temple, in South Kolkata, in Kalighat. A priest gave us a tour of the temple and the ghat and requested a donation, which we gave. We also offered flowers to Kali. The current temple was built in the 1600s, but the sacred location is much older. Currently, the temple's facade is a tile mosaic donated by an Italian holy man. Its beautiful.
Today at the school, the kids replied to letters written to them by an elementary school class in Oregon. One of the previous volunteer's mother works at that school. I thought it was so neat that each of those classes is getting pen pals in another country. My students weren't quite so enthusiastic. They did like writing the letters, but they just failed to see how kool it is. Haha. I made sure to have them all write their names in Hindi or Bengali (whichever they use) as well as English. Those American kids will think that's so neat. Well, I would have if I were them... They wrote about their favorite food and their hobbies and their families. They also drew pictures. I'm still excited about it now, haha.
In the second hour of class, we had a birthday party for the Feb and March birthdays. Animesh was my only student with a birthday during that time. Rinki and Dhunanjoy ( 4 or 5 yr old twins) and Preeti (7 yr old girl) also had theirs. They all got a new outfit, and we had cake and chips to eat. It was fun.
Tonight Nienke and I are having Bobby over to the flat for a pasta dinner, European style. She already told us that she only wants a small amount of food (haha). I'm sure she thinks we're utterly incapable of cooking. It'll be interesting to see how she likes it though. I'm excited.
Tomorrow night, Nienke and I will take an over night train to Visag, a beach south of Kolkata in Andhra Pradesh. We'll spend three days there before coming back to Kolkata.

~m