Check-in

Hey All!

So everything is going well, despite the fact that I haven't written in a million years. Actually, I lied. One thing is not going well. My computer crashed about two weeks ago and I lost all my data, etc. Luckily I'm able to get the hard drive replaced under warranty, but it still sucks. So that's why I haven't written in awhile.

Kalimpong was lots of fun! It was really beautiful. I wish I could upload photos from my trip, but alas, they are buried with my old hard drive.

Everything with the NGO is finally jiving and going really well, but I fear it's too little too late. I'm not sure I'll be able to get the program off the ground before I leave. And if I don't, I'm not sure the others will have the will to ensure that it actually starts. So that's stressful. But I really am enjoying doing the work.

School and my social life are equally hectic, and basically I'm just struggling to balance all three. But I'm having a really good time!

I'm gearing up for my trip around South India at the end of my program. Really excited!

~m

Debates, Gay Rights, and Stopping Domestic Violence

This past week was packed full of interesting experiences.

On Monday, American Independence Day, we didn't have class. I went with Tiljala SHED to a program about stopping domestic violence. The program was put on by the Jadavpur University Women's Studies Department, in the school that T-SHED runs in a slum in Topsia. Many of the women from the slum came to hear the presentation. At the beginning, I could understand everything that was being said, because the presentation was done in such a way as to be very accessible for the women. This means no big, academic words, etc, which means I could understand it. However, as they asked for lots of audience participation, the conversation soon switched to Hindi/Urdu, which I cannot understand. Most of the slum dwellers are Urdu speakers from Bihar or other states.

The presentation started out by asking what are instances of domestic violence and why they happen. Presumably, it went on to explain ways women can confront it and ways to stay safe, but I didn't understand alot of what they were saying. At the end, they were talking about how women can go to the police if their husbands hit them, and how their husbands can be fined or put in jail.

I think this is good, but as I was listening to it, I was thinking that no woman would want to have her husband fined or put in jail, because she and her children depend on his income. This got me to thinking about domestic violence in the US, to which I've previously not given much thought. I wonder if such income constraints prevent women in the US from acting out. Surely it does, but it's not something I've ever really thought about before. Nonetheless, it's good that women here at least have the legal support in some way, even if it's not yet practical for them to use.

That particular slum is one of the main drug trafficking hubs of Kolkata. One of the T-SHED workers asked me if I wanted to see the drug dens and I said sure, thinking that we'd just walk slyly by. Nope. Instead we went with one of the women who works alot in that community and knows all the people there. She took us inside the dens, and we got live demonstrations of how to smoke brown sugar, a form of heroine. Definitely an experience I never thought I would have. We spoke to some of the drug users about why they use it, and it was clear that they were completely addicted. One man talked about how his four children and his wife didn't respect him anymore, but how he needed to smoke it to be able to do his work. At first I thought that it was because his work was painful or something, but then I realized that it's not because of the nature of his work, but because of the nature of the withdrawals if he stops using it. Really sad. One hit costs 50 rupees, and it takes two hits to get high. 100 rupees a day is a huge amount for someone who probably makes less than 1000 rupees a week. I'm not really sure how much most of the slum dwellers make, but it can't be much. For your information, 1oo rupees is about $2.20 or so.

I'm going to skip to the weekend in the interest of space and time. On Saturday I went to a debate sponsored by the American Center of Kolkata about whether capitalism is a prerequisite for democracy. I thought that it was going to be community leaders in the debate, but it was actually teams of students from some of Kolkata's top colleges. It was interesting, and some of the speeches were pretty good, while some weren't. Even though the event wasn't what I had had in mind, I was glad I went.

Yesterday I went with two other AIIS students to a gay rights rally. They had booths for different advocacy groups in the city, who work on issues from legalization, to safe sex, to transgendered issues. The main reason we went was to see a documentary that they were showing about the Hijra community in Pakistan. They movie screenings were running about 3 hours behind schedule, so we waited for a long time to be able to see it. Then, when they showed it, it turned out to be only 10 minutes long and not very informative. Woops. Nonetheless, it was very interesting to see the rally as a whole, because India is still very conservative. Most of the attendees were upper-middle class gay men, which I am told is often the core group (and main funders) for the movement in India. Some women told me that lesbians, transsexuals, lower class people, minorities, etc are often pushed to the sidelines, and that the parades, rallies, etc are very political within the community. Kinda sounds like what I know of the gay rights movement in the US. Anyways, it was exciting to see this side of human rights work in India, after spending so much time working on economic empowerment.

Though I had other fun and interesting experiences throughout the week, those are definitely the list-toppers.

Tonight I'm going with Ben, Jeff and Rebecca to Kalimpong, in the Himalayan foothills for our midterm break!

~m

Off the Beaten Path in Kolkata, and Shantiniketan

Week three is over, but nothing has slowed down. I'm very busy this summer, between classes, working with the NGO, and trying to see all my friends.

Classes are going well, but I don't feel like I'm improving noticeably. I guess that's what happens when you get up into higher levels, the progress is more gradual. But I am really enjoying the classes, as ever.

Working with Tiljala SHED continues to provide me with new experiences and new views of Kolkata. I went earlier in the week to Topsia, a rather run-down part of the city. First I went to visit one of the schools, which is in a slum along a canal. The houses in the slum were some of the worst conditions I've seen in Kolkata, at least up close. It makes the slums I worked in Khardah seem clean and cozy by comparison. There were flies everywhere. the houses themselves were made mostly of plastic and scraps of different materials, rather than the that and concrete that abounds in Park Circus, for instance. Anyways, the school itself was very sweet. There was a class going on when I got there. The children were drawing pictures. They had all come after their regular public government school.

One second grade boy had stopped attending the public school the month before. His mom apparently doesn't see the point in sending her children to school. He told me his brother went until 4th grade, so I told him he should go until at least then also. He was really embarrassed to talk to me about it, but he said he would go the next day. I wonder if he did.

After visiting the school, we stopped by the go-down that TSHED owns. Go downs are these enormous shacks (usually built on a slope down to a canal, which I assume is how they got their names, though I'm not sure) that hold trash. People sit among bags and bags of trash, which they have actually bought from private and public places like malls and office buildings (yes, they buy the trash.) The people sit there and sort the trash first into plastic, paper and one other category (I forget, woops). And then they sort again. And again. And again. I don't know how many categories they sort into, but once they've done that, they sell the sorted trash to other people/companies, who specialize in recycling that specific kind of trash. When one first comes to India, it seems bad that there aren't recycling facilities and that bottles and things instead just get thrown away (if they aren't kept for storing water in private homes, which is very common). But unlike in the US, in the trash does not mean in the landfill. The whole process is actually really impressive and admirable.

...Until you see how it works on the ground. The people sorting the trash do not have any kind of protective gear whatsoever, not even gloves. TSHED tried to introduce gloves before, the workers didn't want to wear them because they're too hot. I have to admit that big rubber gloves are one of the last things I'd want to wear in this heat. But then bags and bags of trash are the last thing I'd want to touch. But such is the life of many of the people living in this area.

If the sorting is bad, some of the recycling techniques are worse. We drove by a go down where some kind of trash was being bured for recycling. I don't know what they were burning, but the air was so toxic I wanted to gag. Once again, not much in the way of protection for the people working and breathing in the fumes. It is truly grueling work.

All of this is tucked out of sight, just behind Science City, an amusement park and big attraction for middle class children. I never would have known any of it was there if I weren't working with the NGO.

In completely unrelated news, we went on a class trip to Shantiniketan over the weekend. It's the birthplace of Rabindranath Tagore, the famous Bengali poet. Later in his life he started a university there that saw such students as Satyajit Ray and Amartya Sen. The whole town is really wonderful, and very peaceful, as is fitting for it's name, which translates to Abode of Peace. We spent the first day touring the town, the university, and the nearby sights on bicycles. One of the students cant' ride bikes, so we hired a bicycle rickshaw for her. I tried pulling her in it for awhile on a dirt road outside of town. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but then again she is very small and I wasn't going very fast. It is a good workout for sure. I actually had a lot of fun pulling her, and the ricksha-wallah got a good laugh out of it too. But the best part was the looks of confusion, shock, and amazement from the villagers we passed on the road. Seeing a young white girl pedaling a rickshaw is truly an unusual sight.

The next day we toured around some of the more distant sights by car. It was a very enjoyable trip.

I am attaching some photos from Shantiniketan, but I don't have any from Topsia.

Below see Ben with a calf outside of a small temple, a statue of the highly revered Rabindranath Tagore, a village barber, and a goat that somehow found it's way into a window of a village house.

~m

Week Two

I had a very busy second week in Kolkata.

I started volunteering with an NGO that works with slum and squatter communities in Kolkata (and a little outside of Kolkata) called Tiljala SHED (Society for Human and Educational Development). The first time I went to visit them, I didn't have much time, so I just went to the head office to meet everyone, and then I left. The office is a short auto ride away from AIIS. The next time I went, I helped edit the English in their 2011 Annual Report. Three other people work in the room where I generally sit when I go there. Shafkat, the son of the Joint Secretary, who speaks English really well and loves to talk (though I think I've convinced him to speak in Bangla most of the time, and to put up with my plodding speech in the language). He's in his mid-twenties, the person in the organization closest to my age. Then there are two women, both in their late twenties. One of them is the main coordinator for a sponsorship program for girls. She was actually a beneficiary of the program, which supported her all the way through college, and now she's running it. The other woman is her assistant. All three of them are very nice.

I went with T-SHED on Sunday to a village where they're building a program center. The village is called Paglahat, which literally means crazy (person) market. Lol I wonder who named it... Anyways, they were providing free health examinations and medicine to the villagers. I had the all-important job of writing the name, age, weight, etc of everyone who came on a card for them to give to the doctor, as well as in a notebook for T-SHED's records. If I hadn't been there, Shafkat would have been the one writing names. Instead he just sat next to me to help me spell the more obscure-sounding ones. Anyways, it was cool to see what they're doing out there.

On the way to Paglahat, we passed by the Kolkata Leather Corporation. Apparently it used to be in the city, but they moved it outside because it was causing too much pollution. Better to pollute the villages, right? Anyways, it was one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen. There were enormous piles of blue-green leather scraps all along the road. The chemicals the leather is treated with are highly toxic, yet there it was, literally tons and and tons of toxic waste, just sitting by the side of the road. The air reeked of chemicals.

Today after school I went to the TSHED office and then Aftab, whom everyone affectionately calls Mama (which means maternal uncle in Bengali), took me to the TSHED school in Park Circus. Park Circus, Mama told me, is the largest slum in Kolkata. I had never been in it before, only seen it when passing through the Park Circus Station by train. The inside was a maze. I'm sure I couldn't find the school again if I tried. It is tucked back deep in the slum. I'm told about 50 boys attend regularly, though there were only about 10 boys there when I went. The school is just for boys. TSHED runs a library in the slum which is just for girls, but because they had to choose whether to allow boys or girls in the school (I'm not sure why it had to be either/or), they chose boys because many girls cannot come because it is risky. The security in the slum is not so good. Many of the boys come after their classes at public school. It is not only a school, but a safe house where the boys can eat, play, sleep, wash, and get health check-ups. The informal classes are only a fraction of the attraction of the school. I had a good time playing and talking with the boys. We did lots of hand-clap games and they sang songs. They were very similar to the children CRAWL (the NGO I worked for a few years back) works with at Sealdah, another train station in Kolkata.

One boy had the skinniest arms I have ever seen on a child of that size. He told me he's six years old, which is about right for his height, but his arms are as small around as an infant's. Despite that, he came into the room with his arms cocked, showing off his (invisible) muscles. I exclaimed how strong he looked. Actually, he looks like if the wind blows too hard he might float away.

Anyways, I'm glad I'm getting to see the work that TSHED is doing, even though I haven't quite figured out how I will be helping them. I may begin teaching at that school or one of the other two that they run. We'll see.

Aside from working with TSHED, I was busy catching up with all my friends last week. One day I went back to my host house from last year to see everyone. Another day I met up with a friend and brought her to where I'm staying so I could give her a book she'd asked me to bring for her. Earlier on that day, I had gone with my class to College Street. College Street and the surrounding area is a whole maze of book shops. It's a really cool part of the city. I bought two books of Bengali short stories so I can practice reading on my own.

On Saturday I went back to Khardah for the first time since I've been here. It was wonderful to see everyone again. Seeing all my old students reminds me why I love coming to this country and why I'm taking the time to learn Bengali.

One of my students, a fifteen year old girl, ran off and got married without her parents' permission a few months ago. I saw her as I was leaving Khardah. She seems to be doing pretty well, so that was a relief. I told her it's illegal for girls to marry before they're 18 (before 21 for boys), and her response was "everybody does it." It's true that many people still do. I'm well aware of this fact. I just don't like it when it's someone I care about as much as her. Anyways, I was happy I got to see her at all.

~m

Borsha Kaal Eshe Gaelo

The monsoon has arrived! Though the rains started when we got to Kolkata on Tuesday, and came for a few hours every day, it wasn’t until Friday that we realized how forcefully the monsoon was upon us. Friday brought the heaviest rains Kolkata had seen in a decade. More than 15 centimeters fell in 24 hours, and the rain was constant for about a day and half. Some of you may have seen my blog last year about the flooded streets near my school last year. Well this was even worse. Luckily I didn’t have to walk through it to get to school, as AIIS sends a car to pick me and two of the other students up each morning, because I live so far and because they’re on the way from my place to the school. When we arrived, the streets were not yet flooded. But by the time class was over that day, the streets had turned into rivers. I went crazy taking pictures of it, so I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

Arrival in Kolkata and My New Host Family

We were greeted in Kolkata by the first coming of the monsoon rains. It had not rained in the days, weeks, and even months leading up to our arrival, so it was very hot and dry (India’s summer season is mid-April to mid-June). But literally as we were walking from the airport to the car, it started to rain. I found it to be a perfect welcoming gift, because it means a breaking of the heat of the summer months. Everything was washed clean of its dust and grime, and Kolkata shone as we drove into the city. The colors somehow seemed brighter, the attitude softer and the city gentler than in Delhi. But maybe that was just because of my pre-existing affection for Kolkata.

We were taken to AIIS in Kolkata, and later our hosts/land ladies (the other three CLS students are staying in apartments rather than with host families) came to pick us up. I had asked to stay with my previous host family, but Protima Di, the head teacher at AIIS, had told me that was not possible. I originially thought that she was putting me with a family who is new to the organization, so I was going to guinea pig them in, so to speak. That, however, was not the case. CLS has a rule that each CLS student should have his or her own host family, so because the Mukharjees (my hosts from last year) have multiple rooms, Protimadi put two AIIS students who are not on CLS in that house. At first I was disappointed, but Protima Di, because she knows me so well from last summer, was able to choose a great host for me. Chitra Di is a really strong woman who exudes confidence and has an easy, genuine smile. I liked her immediately. She came to pick me up in her own car, which she drives herself. An older woman who can (or chooses to) drive is a rare sight in Kolkata. In fact, she is the first woman driver I’ve ever seen here. One time a saw a girl about my age learning to drive a car, and I’ve seen young women driving scooters and mo-peds, but never an older woman, and never her own car. So I was impressed from the moment we left AIIS. As some of you may know, traffic in India is absolutely hectic. But Chitra Di held her own and didn’t back down to men driving much larger vehicles. After one particularly bold move, the small, sari-clad woman, beeping and honking with the best of the them, turned me and said, “you have to fight.”

Chitra Di lives alone in a flat in New Alipur, in South Kolkata. She has one daughter, who is living and working in Delhi. Her flat is actually pretty far from my school, and from the metro, which is my only complaint about the arrangement, and, in my mind, totally worth it. She has one maid, Brihoshpoti Di, who lives in the servants’ quarters downstairs (who knew that modern apartment buildings have “kajer lok-er ghor” built into them?). Chitra Di’s apartment is small: two bedrooms, one large living/dining room, and a kitchen. Especially compared to the entire four-story building owned by the host family I stayed with last year, the new place is small. But I actually prefer it. Last year there were so many people who I didn’t know, and so many rooms I had never seen where I was staying. This year, there are just two other people, both women, and every room in the apartment can be seen from the middle hallway. There is a coziness to it that wasn’t at my previous place.

While it was weeks before I even found out where the kitchen was in my last house, here I am allowed, and even expected to carry my dishes to the sink after dinner. I know this sounds silly, but such a small task actually feels empowering in a culture where the guest is usually not to lift a finger. Though I still doubt I will ever be allowed to so much as make myself a cup of tea.

Chitra Di is a designer for a fair-trade NGO that exports handicrafts to Europe and other parts of Asia. As far as I can tell, she decides how a shirt, or a piece of furniture or a textile should look, and then the artists make it. Anyways, she is socially-minded. The first night I was at her place, she say down in front of the TV and asked me if I’d like to watch the news. My kind of lady! I was exuberant. Last summer I watched lots of TV with Maitrayi Di, though it was all Bengali soaps. With Chitra Di I watch CNN and BBC. Perhaps not as good for my Bengali education, but so much better for my taste in media and my ability to be informed.

Long story short (or, if you’ve read this whole thing, long story long), I really like my living arrangements for the summer.

~m

In Delhi

All 60 or so of us doing CLS in India landed in Delhi last weekend to have our in-country orientation. We visited the AIIS headquarters in Gurgaon, outside of Delhi, where there is an impressive collection of ethnomusicology sound recordings, archeological documents and literature from India. Amidst many hours of orientation, we were able to squeeze in a little sight seeing. We went to the Qutb Minar in Delhi, which is an ancient astrological instrument (it’s actually an enormous sundial). The minar is well-preserved, but some of the surrounding grounds are in ruins. The whole sight was very beautiful.

After our tour of AIIS Gurgaon, they took us to the Kingdom of Dreams, which is probably the closest thing India has to Disney World, minus the rides. It’s this immaculate fake castle, and on the inside they have shops and restaurants from nearly every state. I think they took us there just because it was close to AIIS (Gurgaon is a business-oriented suburb of Delhi where the ultra-rich live amongst towering headquartes of Multinationals and shantytowns of construction workers and other service people). Anyways, it was disappointed to have to spend two or three hours in the Kingdom of Dreams, which is a pathetically unrealistic representation of the country, when we could have been exploring Delhi and its real monuments.

Luckily we did have Monday afternoon free to go wherever we chose. I went with two guys from the Urdu program to Old Delhi. We went on the metro, which is one of India’s prouder recent achievements. The whole system was built, with the help of funding and technical support from the Japanese government (India is the biggest recipient of Japanese foreign aid), on time, within budget, and without any corruption scandals. There are five or six lines, and the trains are clean, fast, and air-conditioned. I was very impressed. By comparison, Kolkata’s metro system, which was built in the 80’s, has only one line, which runs from North to South (though they have recently expanded it further south, and are in the process of building an East-West line), and is un-air conditioned. It also generally runs on time, and for a fraction of the price. A ticket on the Kolkata metro costs from Rs 4-8 while in Delhi it’s Rs. 15-30 or so. Double the number to get the approximate American cost, in cents (a 4 Rupee ticket is about 8 American cents (though it’s actually probably closer to 9)).

We got out of the metro and basically guessed where to go, walking around until we could see the top of the Red Fort. When we got up to the gate, we realized that it was closed, as most monuments and museums in India are on Mondays. We looked at it through the gate, and then, in a roundabout way, eventually found the Jamuna Masjid. It was absolutely beautiful, though we declined to pay the Rs 200 entrance fee, so, like the Red Fort, we only saw it from the outside. After that, we wandered through some of the alleys in bazaar of Old Delhi before heading back to the metro. All in all, it was a fun afternoon, and it was nice to finally get out on my own, and be able to choose where I was going, rather than being ushered around.

On Tuesday morning, we all left for our different program locations.

The pictures of me at the Qutb Minar, the bazaar in Old Delhi, and inside the Kingdom of Dreams.

Back to Kolkata! ...Again!

I'm sitting in Washington Dulles International Airport and I figure that now is as a good a time as any to write my first post for the summer. I know I wasn't the most consistent writer last summer, but hopefully this year my posts will be more regular.

I'm heading back to the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) for intensive language study in Bangla/Bengali, on a Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) from the State Department, same as last year. Yes, it's a mouthful. Anyways, I'll be in Kolkata for 10 weeks this summer, and I'm really excited!

Unlike last year, this year the group of us going to Kolkata on CLS (there are four of us) get to go to Delhi for orientation with everyone else going to India (about 60 of us). Last year for some reason the Kolkata students did not get to do that. So I'm really looking forward to being put up in the Taj Hotel, one of the nicest hotels in Delhi, and getting to tour a bit in Delhi before we fly out to Kolkata later in the week.

I can already tell that this year will be very different from last year. This year there are 4 CLS students and 9 general AIIS students studying Bangla, compared to only 3 CLS students and no general students last year. Last year I had all individual classes, which had its pros and cons, but that surely will not be the case this year. Last year, I was the most advanced student at the institute. Rebecca, the other woman coming on CLS with me, has better Bangla than I do, and I imagine that several other people will as well. We won't meet the other 9 until we reach Kolkata, and I have not yet had a chance to talk to Ben and Jeff, the other CLS-ers in Bangla, so I'm not sure where their level is. But I'm really excited to have people who are more advanced than I am, because they can help teach me too, and it will push me more in class. Also, it will be nice to have so many peers who are willing and eager (and able) to converse in Bangla. I hope to speak much less English this summer than I did last summer.

I've had a really wonderful time seeing so many of my friends in DC before heading out. I arrived in DC a few days before the CLS pre-departure orientation began so that I could see my friends, some of whom I hadn't seen since December or January because they were studying abroad. It was really great to go all around DC without having a tight schedule or stressful classes to worry about. These past few days have really made me appreciate DC even more. The beautiful weather didn't hurt either.

Congrats to my big bro Evan for graduating from college! He kilt it, yo.

From one capitol to another...

Nomoshkar!

~Maura

Strikes, visits, etc

Wow, I’m getting much less time to write than I thought I would. Which actually is a good thing, because it means I’m really busy.

School is going really well. Now that my online class from AU is over (took my final exam on Friday), I will be able to give my full attention to Bengali class. Before I was spending time that should be have been spent studying Bangla, studying cinema. That was part of what packed up my schedule, too. But anyway, about school: I have four classes a day, on various topics. Some of it is pretty standard basic stuff – grammar, etc. But some of my classes have been tailored to my personal interests, so my reading class often involves reading political news. The other day was reading about the Maoists in the Southwestern part of the state. At this point I’m just reading headlines and highlighted sentences; I can’t just sit down and read the whole thing. I’m getting speedier at short stories, though.

Some of the highlights of the past week:

On Monday, I went to visit my friend Anwesha at her grandparents’ place. I met her at the Durga Puja in DC. She goes to Georgetown, lives in FL. But she’s Bengali and this summer she and her parents came back to visit. So I got to meet them and her grandparents, too. Her grandparents were really excited to have me at their place. They took a gazillion photos while I ate lunch, lol.

On Wednesday, we had a guest speaker come after class. Abhijit Bose is a famous Bengali folk singer. He talked about the different types of folk songs in the different regions of West Bengal. He told us about eight or nine varieties, and this is just in one state! He’s famous for a reason. His voice is absolutely beautiful. He tried to teach us a song and to get us to sing along, but that was problematic for two reasons: we couldn’t read his extremely sloppy Bengali handwriting, and I (idk about Danielle and Andi) am a terrible singer. I don’t sing aloud where people can hear in English, let alone try to sing a song I’ve never heard before in another language. Haha. It was really neat to have him come though.

To continue with the musical activities, Danielle and I went with Andi to her first tabla lesson. Tablas are really neat Indian hand drums that make all sorts of noises most Americans wouldn’t associate with a drum. That was pretty neat to watch. The notes are Bengali (or more probably Sanskrit) letters, but unlike English notes, the notes’ names are matched with their sound. So the teacher taught Andi about eight notes, then sang/clapped them out for her to play. At the end of the lesson, we asked him to play something more complicated, just for show. He began singing the notes as he played them too, which was neat. It sounded like the music that goes with Kathak dance (a traditional Indian dance, Wikipedia it). So that was neat.

On Friday we went on a field trip after class. Prosenjitda and Priyankadi took us to the Marble Palace. It requires a pass from the WB office of tourism, which is why I had never gone before. If I had known how incredibly cool it is, maybe I would have though. It’s this enormous (crumbling, as is most of the Colonial architecture in Kolkata) mansion with floors and walls of marble. Every square inch of it is extremely detailed; its impossible to take it all in. Most of the floors were designed to look like carpet, so there were easily 15 different colors of marble within 5 square feet of floor. The ceilings aren’t marble, but they’re extremely intricate as well. The house would be a sight to see empty, but it is the opposite. Every room is chock-full of paintings and sculptures from colonial times. There’s an enormous statue of Queen Victoria, busts of many other historic figures, and statues of probably every Greek god. It was really more than the eye could take in. The family of the man who had it built in the 1800s still owns it, and in fact part of it is sectioned off as their living quarters. Outside, the grounds are quite well maintained, and there is even a small zoo with birds and deer and such. I saw the most beautiful peacock, but the zoo only convinced me further that visiting any zoo in India is a bad idea. The cages are shamefully small, and I just felt sorry for all the animals.

After the Marble Palace, we stopped by Rabindranath Tagore’s (the famous Bengali poet) birthplace. His old family home has been turned into a museum, and it’s on the campus of a university he established (or perhaps it was just established in his name). I had been there before, on Tagore’s birthday last year, and it was so packed I barely saw any of it. It was much emptier on Friday, and we strolled around the campus and through the galleries at our leisure. Unfortunately it was near closing-time when we entered, so even then we felt rushed.

On Saturday, I went back to the CRAWL Sealdah Station project for the first time, and Danielle and Maitrayeedi (I spelled her name wrong last time. It’s pronounced Moitri, but in English she spells it Maitrayee) came with me. I saw a lot of people I knew, which was really neat. Unfortunately, the project isn’t going so well. There were only about 20 or 30 kids, compared to the 70-90 we usually had last year. They’ve planted flowers in the spot where we used to set up, so now they’re running the project at a different part of the station. Just this past week the RR Authority “un-granted” the permission to give out food, so now we have to take the kids off the station grounds and form a line there to distribute food. Wound care, coloring, and washing are proceeding as usual. I really enjoyed going back again, even though it was so different and not everyone I wanted to see was there. I have to figure out the bus routes/schedule so I can there more cheaply. The taxi we took cost Rs 156 (just over $3), and that was only one way. By comparison, I can’t imagine a bus costing more than Rs 8 or so.

We caught that cab (and one on the way back) despite the transportation strike that was going on in Kolkata that day. The Indian Federal government raised gas prices on Friday at midnight (I guess the correct thing to say is Saturday at midnight), and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the former majority party in West Bengal, called a 24-hour transportation strike (of taxis and auto-rickshaws) in protest. It was an amazing sight to see. I live on one of the larger roads, and there were three rows of taxis parked as far as the eye could see. It was eerily quiet with only personal cars on the streets. Usually there are lines of autos waiting for people, but later in the day I saw a line of people waiting for an auto. And that night, I saw a group of people marching in protest. The marches are actually not uncommon, I used to see a lot of political marches when I lived here before. That’s one thing I love about Bengali culture, even if I don’t agree with they’re ideals: they’re very active and political. I won’t get started on West Bengali politics here, but there is a lot I could say. Anyways, their request won’t be answered. India’s national deficit is skyrocketing (perhaps not compared to the US), and they’ve been subsidizing gas since the 70’s. Gas prices had basically not changed since 2004, when ppb soared. Basically, the state can’t afford to keep subsidizing gas at such high rates. Here’s the full story: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100626/jsp/frontpage/story_12612781.jsp

On Saturday evening, I went to my friend Sweta’s house. I know her through Babai. She showed me around her area (called Girish Park, very close to the Marble Palace and Tagore’s place). I really like her neighborhood a lot. Things were starting to close when went for a walk around 8:30, and the transportation strike contributed to the calm. But the streets were narrow and winding, and not nearly so hectic as the road I live on. We went to a (Kali) temple and prayed, and she showed me around the different aspects of it. I had dinner at her place before heading back to mine. Sweta is actually Bihari, so she spoke to her mom in their native Bihari language and in Hindi. She and her brother and her little neighbor spoke Hindi with eachother, and the three of them spoke English with me. But her mom doesn’t speak English, so we spoke Bengali to eachother. In that one room, there were four languages being spoken. Sweta joked that it was like the tri-lingual train announcements, with everything being translated from language to language.

On Sunday I went back to Khardah for the third time since I’ve been here. This time Prativa and Mili had come back from visiting their families, so I got to see them for the first time. I had tea and played cards with Bobby and Debashis and their neighbor before walking around Khardah with the girls. I also finally got to see Monica Aunty (the jewellery shop-keeper near my old flat). I went to her house because she wasn’t at the store. It was neat to see her. She was excited with how much Bangla I can speak now. She literally watched me progress from no Bengali, to a few words, to struggling to produce coherent sentences, to where I am today, which still has plenty of room for improvement. But she’s seen the lingual transformation.

Well, I think I’ve written entirely too much for one post, so I’ll leave it at that. Below are some pictures of the transit strike, as well as one of my room, one of the house I live in (viewed from the second-floor terrace), and one of me and Sweta.

~m

Monsooooooooooon

Well, last night I wrote a very long post about everything that's been going on, and I saved it on my zip drive to post at school today. Except the folder I created for it was on my desktop. Woops. So I'll have to post that later...

But it's ok, because between last night and this morning, I have plenty of interest to write about: the coming of the monsoon.

Today is the first real day of monsoon-like rain, by my estimation. It's rained before, but never like this.

So I got ready for school like usual this morning, and I decided to leave about 20 min early so I would have time to post the blog I wrote last night before class. The maid, Sondhadi, asked me if I was going to go today. I said yes, class is happening. She asked if I had an umbrella, and I told her yes. She said ok (this was all in Bangla, btw. The only English word I've heard her say is "ok," though this morning, and usually, she used the Bengali equivalent, thik achhe), but she still seemed a little concerned. I was soon to find out why.

I left my house and hadn't even made it half a block before the water stopped me. At the corner of a small street (or maybe a driveway), the curb was met with waves of water. I could see a man crossing, and the water was almost to his knees. "No way," I thouhgt. I looked for a way to get onto the street, but it was too far to jump over the water at the side of the road. So I turned around and walked the other way until I found a place I could get onto the street. I walked all the back to my house, and past it, before I gave up and stepped in maybe 8-inch water to get onto the higher part of the street. I began walking, but I soon had to walk back into the water to avoid being hit by a bus. At this point I gave up and resigned myself to the fact that I would have to walk through the water. So I made it to Hazra More (where I catch an auto) intermittently wading and walking.

After the auto ride, I began walking again. I got to Swinhoe Street, the street AIIS is on, and it looked like a river. I followed a woman into the knee-deep water and began the long wade towards school. The water kept getting higher, and eventually I had to cross the street to slightly higher ground. I was terrified that I would fall off the sidewalk I was on because I couldn't see the curb. The water was opaque brown, with all sorts of trash and who-knows-what floating in it. I could feel the current pulling me as I made my way across the street. It really felt like a river. When I finally made it to the school, water was up to the third or fourth step on the staircase that lets out onto the street.

Now I really understand why there are still hand-pulled rickshaws today. If I had seen an empty one, I would have taken it.

Amazingly, cars were coming through, as well as the rest of the usual traffic: people, bikes, rickshaws, though everything was obviously much slower.

Later, I did see a guy pushing a broken-down car.

Pratimadi told me that years ago, it would flood even worse, and the school had a boat to ferry people to the higher ground of the big roads. But now the water receeds quite quickly. It's been just 7 hours now since I was walking through, and the middle of the street is above water. Only the sides of the street are still water-logged, like happens in the US.

Prosenjitda told me that flooding like this usually only happens 3 or 4 times a year. I'm glad I won't have to walk through all that every day....

Who needs Venice when you have Kolkata?

~m

(Pictures of this are coming)

Back in Kolkata

Well, well, well. A year has passed. And here I am again, back in Kolkata. This time, I'm not staying in Khardah and not working with CRAWL. I'm here on a scholarship from the State Department, studying Bengali at the American Institute of Indian Studies. I'm staying with a host family in South Kolkata, in an area called Kalighat.

I arrived around midnight last Saturday, and have been settling in since then. Obviously, there isn't any culture shock (or near none, compared to last time) to deal with this time. I'm just getting used to the way classes work at AIIS, to living with my host family, and to finding my way around Kalighat and Ballygunge (where the school is), which I didn't spend much or any time in last year.

The school is really great. There are actually only three students here right now (and no more are coming), all three of us from CLS (the state dept scholarship). The other girls are Andi and Danielle. They were both in Dhaka for CLS last year. There are three teachers at AIIS, Pratimadi (Her name is Pratima Dey; didi, or di, is a respectful term attached to the end of someone's name, that means "older sister"), who is the head teacher, Priyankadi, and Proshinjitda (same as didi, dada means "older brother"). So there is the potential for us all to have individual classes, which I do, but I think Andi and Danielle take most of their classes together because they are at the same level. I'm in slightly more advanced classes.

There are four class periods in a day, each an hour long. We have two classes, then a tea break, then two more, then lunch. After lunch is "zero hour" where we can get extra help if we want. So far I've had pronunciation class, reading, listening, tutorial (where I can choose the content, but last time I read), journal correction, and movie watching. It's awesome to get so much individualized help, let alone to have a Bangla teacher at all.

I'm living in a room with a wealthy, older family. My host mother is Maitrayeedi (pronounced Moi-tree) and my host father is Gorada. Their last name is Mukharji. There are quite a few staff people around, but the woman I see most (and who makes my food) is Sondhadi. Maitrayeedi's mother also lives here. "Grandma" in Bangla is didima, but we call her didi for short (though this is not the standard way). They have two children, a son and a daughter, but both are married and live elsewhere. The son lives a little bit far away. The daughter lives pretty close, and she comes over quite alot (I have seen her every day since I've been here). Her name is Gangidi. I am supposed to speak only Bengali with them, but they often speak in English. I need to be more strict with myself, haha. The first story of the "house" (building they own and live in) is their mustard oil factory. The second story is mostly offices (including the computer room I'm using now), and the other two (I think there are only two more) are the living quarters. I live on the third floor.

I have some homework to get going on, so I'll explain the rest later, and get to the interesting part - what I've actually been doing.

~m

belated last post

The end of my time in India was really great.  I was so busy just spending time with people before I left.  A fair came to Khardah which I went to with some of the students and we rode the rides and stuff.  It was fun, but we had to leave early when it began raining.  

I had a tea party with all the students, which was nice.  I bought like every possible kind of biscuit and potato chip.  They disappeared quickly.  The tea I got from a stall across the street.  I carried a big pot over there for them to fill.  I was too lazy to make all of it myself...

I spent alot of time at my students' houses or chatting with my neighbors.  

I left on May 29 and had a long, problem-free trip home.  

Being back is strange.  I'm still adjusting.  I do miss living in a small town setting like Khardah where I knew so many people.  And I miss the general open and friendly attitude of Bengali culture.  Its so different here.  Not to mention empty.  Where are all the people?  America, especially the old, upper-middle class neighborhood I live in, seems very big and quiet and... asleep, I guess.  Compared with the lively, crowded streets of India.

I had a slideshow of some of my photos from my trip on Sunday.  Friends and family came to see and listen.  It was nice.

I'm also still in touch with the CRAWL students.  I gave CRAWL money for their internet use and I made a skype account for them so they call and e-mail me quite frequently.  I miss them terribly so being in contact with them makes it easier for me.

I'm looking forward to the day I get to go back.

Thanks for reading.

~m

ei ei ei...
So much to write and so little time to write about it...

I was really sick on Wednesday, but I'm all better now. Got my antibiotics and I'm good.

I have two weeks left here in Khardah. Crazy.

I've been spending lots of time with my students, watching movies and playing kabadee and football outside of school. I've been going to Piya's house alot, which I really enjoy.

I have a new friend, a woman who works at a shop near the flat. When I'm on my way home in the evenings I always stop and chat with her (in Bengali). She gave me a gift, a green statue of a couple dancing. Indians have a thing for cheap statues of Westerners. It was really sweet of her.

Elections had been going on in India for awhile, but they ended on Wednesday. Different regions of the country vote on different days. It gets really violent in the areas where the elections are taking place. Kolkata voted on Wednesday, so all CRAWL programs where stopped. The results will be released tomorrow and all programs will stop then too. There was actually a problem in another part of Khardah on Wednesday. I don't know exactly what happened but it was violent and it made the news. It wasn't close to me though. One would have to take an auto to get to that part of Khardah from this part. Anyways, its pretty crazy. A few people I've talked to voted, but most did not. They all say that all of the people up for election are bad and corrupt. America sure doesn't have a perfect democracy or a perfect election system, but it is leagues ahead of India. Here voting goes hand in hand with riots.

Let me tell you about a delicious food to be found on the streets of Kolkata (and Khardah, and probably everywhere in India). Its called fuchka. Its deep fried balls of dough, slightly larger than ping pong balls. They're hollow and extremely thin and crispy, probably thinner than a potato chip. The fuchka-walla makes a mixture of potato, spices, onion, cilantro, and chilli, which he mashes in a bowl with his hand. Then he puts a little bit of this mixture in the bottom of one of the balls. He then dips the ball into one of two pots, one containing tamarind water which is spicy, sour and salty, and the other containing rose water which is syrupy and sweet. With the ball overflowing with this water, he places it in a bowl made out of a leaf, which the customer is holding. The customer puts the whole ball in his or her mouth at once. There is a huge burst of flavor; it is so delicious! I prefer the tamarid water to the rose water, but the most recent time I had this treat, the vendor double-dipped it, in the tamarind water and then in the rose water. That is the best. It is spicy, sweet, sour, salty, crunchy, soft, liquidy, everything all at once! And as soon as you've put one in your mouth, the vedor has put a new one in your bowl, so its really easy to eat a whole bunch of them without noticing, which isn't necissarily a good thing. They aren't very filling, but they surely aren't too healthy either. Anyway, if you ever go to India, you must try fuchka!
(ok, do I sound like a commercial, or what?)
That's all for now, folks.

~m

three weeks...

I know, I know, I've been slacking. I've just been so busy that I haven't been able to write. The problem is, every day is so full that I have so much to write that many days I dismiss the prospect of a post because I don't have the time to do it justice. And then the unrecounted experiences add up. So, like last time, there's no way I call tell about everything that's happened since my last post.

Today, Weis, a 60 year old Dutch woman, left. She was the last of the volunteers besides me, so now I'm alone at the flat and it looks like it'll probably be that way for the rest of my time here, which is only three weeks. Its ok, I have enough to keep me occupied, I'll just miss having someone to talk and process with. Especially because I know these last few weeks will be quite emotional.
Summer camp ended and regular school started back up. Summer camp was fun, the kids really enjoyed it. At school I'm teaching linear equations to the advanced group, and the intermediate group is working on geometery, currently the area of triangles.
A few weekends ago I went to visit Mayapur, the main world Hare Krishna place. It is really beautiful. I saw more (white) foreigners (not tourists, religious folks) there than I ever do in Kolkata.
I continue to play football, frisbee and cabardee with the kids outside of school.
My birthday was on Tuesday. Weis and I went to Bobby's house for lunch. We had rice, dal, chapatti, panner, potato and jackfruit curry, tomoato chutney, and cucumber. It was delicious. Bobby's husband gave me a little statue of a man and a woman sitting together. It was very Western, and odd choice, I thought, but I really like it. I was surprised that he got something for me at all. After lunch, we watched The Notebook. Its such a good movie. It took me back to being with my friends in America though, so it made me a little homesick. After the movie, the girls came to the flat. The brought me a piece of cake, which we all shared. I know they all scraped together to buy it for me. It probably cost 10 rupees, about 20 cents. It was really sweet of them. After we ate cake, we had their first extra English class. The other day when they were over for computer class, Piya said to me, "Auntie, will you teach me, Mili, Arati and Prativa English?" I said, "what? You already have CRAWL English class! What would I teach? We do noun, verb, etc at school." Piya made a face. "Spoken English class." I agreed, though I wasn't really sure it would be much help. The classes are turning out to be less about actual spoken English. Piya and Mili read, focusing on correct pronounciation. Its cute that they're trying so hard though.
I just can't believe I leave in three weeks. Its unreal that its almost over. I've gotten so used to being here, it'll be a huge transition to go back home.

I'll try to write more for the next three weeks...
~m

busy as a bee

Ok, I know, its been waaaay too long since I've posted. This is partially due to the fact that the internet has been exceptionally slow recently, and partially due to the fact that I've been really really busy. Obviously there's no way I can tell you everything that's happened, but I'll try to go over the high lights.
Last week all the volunteers took the girls on the train to Shodpur to go to a theater and watch a Bengali movie called Challenge. It was good, but of course there were no subtitles so I couldn't completely follow it. My favorite part of it was how enthusiastic the audience was. When the main character first came out, everyone clapped and cheered.
Summer camp continued. We had the last session today. The kids really loved it. Some of my favorite things we did were tie-dying and marbling paper.
We tried to bake cookies in a solar oven, but it totally didn't work. They were in the oven for 5 hours and they weren't even all the way done. The internet site said things would take about twice as long to cook. Bull.
I baked the rest of the dough at Subhamita's house the next day. Most people here don't have ovens, and no one, including Subhamita and Kakoli, had ever baked cookies before. The real cookies were a big hit though.
I went to the Nayak's house for dinner last week. (They are a family who lived in the US for a few years. I went to their house for dinner back in the fall) I wore a salwar and ate the food with my hands, which they were happy to see. They gave me the recipe for a paneer dish they served which is almost ecaxtly like my favorite dish at an Indian restaraunt back home.
I can't believe I have less than 5 weeks left here. Time just flies.

~m

On Tuesday, I went to Babai's friend Sharvani's house for lunch, but I ended up staying there all afternoon. She is a really sweet girl, and I like hanging out with here. Also haning out with a group of friends my age is really nice. Lunch was huge and delicious. Everyone was delighted to watch me eat with my hands. We had rice, dal, okra curry, egg curry, paneer curry, cucumber salad, and tomato chutney. I had sweets upon arrival and ice cream for dessert. So I was STUFFED. Shravani is 20 but she sleeps with her mom in one room (in the same bed) and her dad sleeps in another room. This is so different from America! She told me she used to sleep alone, but then she had insomnia problems so now she sleeps with her mom again. But appartently her 23 year old boyfriend still sleeps with his mom too. And not for lack of space. Its so interesting. So strange to what I've known.
Wednesday was Bengali new year. (shubho naba boyar; happy new year!) In the morning, I wore a beautiful green sari which I borrowed from Bobby to school. I didn't wear it because of new year (rather because I complimented her on it and she asked if I'd like to wear it and I said yes) but it fit nicely with the holiday. It was fun getting all dressed up and wearing make up and jewellery. I wrapped the sari 100% by myself. Kakoli told me it was perfect. So that was exciting. For craft that day, the kids painted beautiful designs on handkerchiefs, and for GK we swabbed their cheeks and looked at their cells under a microscope. The boys thought it was really kool but the girls were uninterested.
In the afternoon, the girls came over to watch a movie. They rented Mon Mane Na, which is a really popular Bengali movie. Its actually not even out of theaters yet, but they had a bootleg version. The songs have been on the radio for months. It actually wasn't bad, and I love the whole soundtrack, so I really enjoyed it.
Piya told me to go shopping yesterday because for the puja (the new year) all of the shops were giving out sweets to their customers. So in the evening, after going to the Iway, I went to Piya's house and asked if she'd like to help me pick out some jewellery to give as a gift to one of my friends back home. She said yes, she would, so we went. We were indecisive and in the end, a man at the shop gave us a box of sweets and told us to come back another day when its less crowded. Then Piya asked me to walk around to the shops with Puja (her sister) and Kajal and Kajal's sister. Puja and Kajal were all dressed up and looking beautiful. Our first stop was the photo studio where they each got portraits taken. Then we walked around and browsed a little bit. Last, we walked to Manisha's house to tell Manisha's mom something (most of my students' families don't have phones).
As I was returning to the flat, I stopped to talk to Tabla Man's son, whom I hadn't seen in awhile. He's a nice kid.
Sanaa, a new volunteer who is Indian but has lived almost her whole life in the US arrived. She's 21 and she's really nice. Her boyfriend Abid (also American Indian) is staying at the guest house in Kolkata. They're here for three weeks. Its nice to be with some American young'ns.
At school today for GK we hooked up batteries to light bulbs with wire. The kids enjoyed it quite a bit. After that, we played BINGO and the kids won different prizes.
Its freakin hot here now, and its only supposed to get hotter. Today it was ungodly humid, and the power kept going out, which meant no fans. I sweat up a storm just sitting in a chair.

Still lovin' it here.

~m

Easter and such

On Saturday night I went to the big field with the girls. A huge screen and been erected and they were showing Bengali movies all night. I stayed only for an hour or so, but I think it went on for quite awhile, and possibly on more nights than just one. It was totally free. It felt like a drive-in without the cars. But it was kool to see that so much of the Khardah community turned out to watch movies together on the lawn. It was a real small town community event. I liked it.
Easter was a fun day. Sealdah went smoothly. Bobby and Arpita stopped by the flat in the morning just to visit. Bobby is always telling me that in India, its ok to drop by people's houses univited for a visit. In fact, people don't invite folks for a specific time, they just expect them to drop by when its convenient. But this is the opposite of how it is in the US, where its considered rude to just drop in on people. So I never do here. I wonder if part of why Bobby dropped by was to prove that its ok to do... Anyway, we enjoyed having her there.
The girls came for computer class. They finished reading the Wizard of Oz and started watching the movie (if you think we already did that, it was with a different class. A different group of students.) At school/camp, I did a GK on air pressure and the kids made their own barometers. Then we colored Easter eggs, which they really liked. They also made "collages" which were pieces of paper cut into shapes and glued to another paper to make a picture. They were cute though.
That evening, the other volunteers and I went out to eat at the Penguine Inn, which was yummy as always. On my way home from there, I ran into Riya, a girl a little older than me who lives in the same area as Piya and some of my other students. I invited her to the flat for a bit. She gladly came, and we all talked about movies, marriage, school, etc. She turns 19 soon, but she's been married since she was 16. Her husband's family is paying for her schooling now, so that's good, but she says sometimes she and her mother-in-law argue over whether she should stay in school. She wants to be a doctor. I hope she gets to, but as she said, a woman's place in India is at home.
Today I went into Kolkata and bought a whole bunch of Hindi and Bengali movies. The girls came over to watch one, and they chose to watch Welcome, a Bollywood movie starring most of the same cast as Singh is King. I liked it quite well, but the power went out just before the end. With nothing to do at the flat without power, I came here to the Iway. Hopefully by the time I return to the flat, it'll be back on. I have just under 7 weeks left here, and I'm starting to feel the pressure of everything I want to do here before I leave.

~m

finally

Sorry I haven't written in so long. Once I get behind, I avoid writing because I have so much to say to catch up. So I'm not gonna do very much catching up. But here are the most recent occurrences:
Instead of having school, for the next three weeks (the current week included) we are doing "summer camp" with the school kids. This is because they are all currently on their equivalent of a summer break in the US from their Indian schools. So the camp runs from 10 to 1 and we do crafts and GK. Every GK is some kind of science experiment or fun activity.
A new volunteer named Michaela came on Sunday. She's from the Czech Republic, but she's lived in the US for the past 11 years. She's staying only for two weeks. She's kool. Then on Thursday, two Dutch women (friends travelling the world together) came. Their names are Tessa and Alie and they'll be here for 3 weeks. They're also really fun. All three of these women are over 30, so I am by far the youngest in the flat. That's ok though.
I went to Dum Dum for myfirst time ever since being in CRAWL on Thursday. Because of the altered schedule for summer camp, Dum Dum and school don't overlap. It was nice. Much fewer kids than Sealdah and much less hectic. Everyone is more polite and things feel more organized. More gentle. I am still partial to Sealdah though, because I know all of the people there. I know I would grow to love Dum Dum in the same way if I went consistently, but I will only be going for three weeks, and maybe only one day in each week. We'll see.
At summer camp, we've painted clay vases, made dry flower boquets (which involved painting dry coconut flowers and turned out beautiful), made wall hangings, and decorated big sheets of paper on which we will put a small poem or drawing from each student. For the GK part, we've made mold gardens, played with a parascope, grown (or are in the process of growing) sugar crystals, and talked about taste and taste maps (ya know those maps of the tongue that show which part is responsible for which taste? Well it turns out its a myth, but we had the kids taste sweet, salty, sour and bitter things anyways, and they tried to decide which part of the tongue tasted those the most. It didn't work very well...)
Sealdah has been empty the past two Fridays, but its been really fun on the weekends. I just love taking the kids to wash and brush their teeth. Its involvement with them a new level. They appreciate it so much too. And they're all so sweet. Also, because my Bengali is improving, I can talk to them a fair amount now, which is really fun.
I have just under seven weeks left until I leave, which is really unbelievable.

~m

Varanasi

Varanasi was great. Its not a very large city, especially compared to Kolkata. But I stayed mostly in the tourist Old City area, which added to the effect of it being small. The Old City is the part of the city near the ghats; near the Ganges. It consists of teeny, winding alleys, in which Nienke and I got lost several times. Even rickshaws are too large for these alleys, but its illegal for them to enter them anyways. There was, like everywhere in India, an abundance of cows. Perhaps this was just more noticeable in Varanasi because one has to squeeze ones self to the side of the wall to allow a cow to pass in an alley.
One night, Nienke and I went to the daily puja (worship) that is performed just after sunset at one of the largest ghats. (Ghats, for those of you who don't know, are steps leading down into the water. In this case, into the Ganges.) We paid to sit on a man's boat and watch from the water, since the priests face the river. Five holy men in organge robes performed the puja. It involved lots of chanting and incence and fire. Despite the fact that I couldn't understand what was being said, it was beautiful to watch.
One morning we got up extra early to take a boat ride on the Ganges at sunrise. We watched hundreds of people bathing in the sacred waters and the golden sunlight. It was gorgeous. That was actually my favorite part of the trip.
Varanasi is used to a high volume of tourists, both Indian and international. There was a higher concentration of foreigners there than anywhere else I've been in India. Nienke and I always wore salwars, which scored us points with the locals. Most foreigners wear baggy ali babba pants and have a "dirty hippy" look to them.
Nienke and I spent alot of time at a bakery which catered to tourists. We lounged for hours at a time on the cushions and low tables (ok, not on the tables themselves) eating good Western food and talking to people from all over the place. It was nice to chill in such a Western enviornment for a change.
I took the train back to Kolkata alone. I sat in a compartment with two families: one with a mother, father, son, and grandma; and one with a mother, father and two daughters. A man travelling alone also shared our compartment. The grandma was a really sweet old woman who didn't speak any English. I siezed my opportunity to practise Bengali, and was able to communicate basic things to her. The son, his father, and the man decided to play cards, and they invited me to play also. Grandma supervised my playing (pulling cards from my hand and putting them on the "table" before I could decide what to do) until one of the men went to smoke and she could play her own hand. The game was called 28, and it was quite like Euchre. It was fun. They ended up not serving dinner on the train, so everyone pitched in to feed me. Grandma's family gave me veg biriyani, the girls' family gave me a sweet and the man gave me some fruit cake. Indian hospitality is unbeatable.
It was a great trip.

~m

Visag

The trip to Visag was great! We took an overnight train leaving Howrah station late Friday night and we arrived in Visag early Saturday afternoon. While in Visag, we visited RK Beach, the main beach of Visag City; the zoo (nothing interesting to report there); Kailasagiri Hill, a big hill with a passenger ropeway kinda like a ski lift to the top, and with a path that stops at many scenic turnouts; Simhachalam Temple, a huge beautiful temple up on a mountain; and Rishikonda beach, a more secluded beach about 8km North of the city. We stayed at a resort on Rishikonda for two days. It was absolutely fabulous. We had a balcony with a great view of the Bay of Bengal, and we spent many hours sitting out there reading, eating and relaxing in the shade when it was too hot on the beach. Visag is no Goa, so we couldn't run around in bikinis or anything. We always stayed fully clothed, but we would roll up our salwar pants to our knees and walk along the shore. The water was so warm and inviting, I just wanted to swim! I really could have, if I had gone in fully clothed, but I didn't want to do that. It was still great just walking in the water and relaxing on the beach though. I had a fabulous time!
Takin a train to Varanasi tonight.
~m