Calcutta Modernity
Since I last wrote, a few weeks have past, we've visited Calcutta, I've started a new ISP, and we've celebrated a major Hindu festival among other things.
Calcutta was a point in our trip that I was looking forward to, but couldn't actually picture reaching. Our Calcutta excursion was in the middle of March and our last trip outside of Benares before leaving for good. We've been in Benares for so long now, I was having a hard time picturing being post-Calcutta, with the departure date just on the horizon. But that's the reality that we have to face everyday now: we are leaving Benares, and we are leaving soon.
Calcutta was surprisingly modern. Shopping malls, McDonalds, taxis, and cleanliness. But the most surprising thing about Calcutta for me was how I felt I fit in. Hannah, Mackenzie, and I ended up purchasing and wearing Western clothing (jeans and shirts). When we were walking around the city in our Western clothing, I felt surprisingly comfortable and not so out of place, something I'm not used to after living in Benares. We went to a planetarium showing, saw the Victorian memorial, danced at a "disco," ate some mangoes, and walked around the lobby of the nicest hotel, and place in general, I've seen since I left America. It was refreshing, once again, to take a break from Benares and come back with more energy to make the most of the rest of our time here.
I started learning Sanskrit about a week ago. I figured why not, as I've been interested in it since we started learning Hindi, and I had a little extra time. Sanskrit is deceivingly difficult, as the script is nearly the same as the Devanagari script but the grammar and vocabulary is different and more complicated. I love the way the language flows and sounds, and I especially love that it's such an old language and that I can connect Sanskrit words to Hindi words that I know and even a few English words.
HOLI MUBAARAK HO!! Or in other words, Happy Holi!! A day late. The festival of colors, or the festival of chaos. We all convened at Dolly Ji's house, early in the morning to avoid the potential danger on the streets that starts around 7 AM. Around 9 AM the celebration, or attack, began. Wet colors, water guns, metallic gulal (color powder). I was attacked multiple times, just when I thought it was over I had a bucket of concentrated pink color water dumped directly over my head. I've bathed thoroughly since, but my hair and skin has not gone back to it's original color. My feet are purple and
pink, and my back is almost completely purple. I celebrated with my host family when I went home as well, with TONS of sweets and lots of meeting people. I went with my family to family friends' homes, as is the custom on Holi, and received dozens of dry color tikkas from people of all ages. One of the coolest things about Holi, is that after about 1 PM, the city died. The celebration ended. The metallic-faced kids that were roaming the streets in gangs awaiting victims to shoot down with wet color went inside. And standing on my balcony I could appreciate a peaceful Varanasi, a kind of Varanasi that I've never seen before.
I will post photos soon. I'm excited to see my mom on April 1st who is coming to visit me. I'd love to hear from anyone still reading in a comment or e-mail, I miss you all.
Lots of love from Varanasi,
Ada
Since I last wrote, a few weeks have past, we've visited Calcutta, I've started a new ISP, and we've celebrated a major Hindu festival among other things.
Calcutta was a point in our trip that I was looking forward to, but couldn't actually picture reaching. Our Calcutta excursion was in the middle of March and our last trip outside of Benares before leaving for good. We've been in Benares for so long now, I was having a hard time picturing being post-Calcutta, with the departure date just on the horizon. But that's the reality that we have to face everyday now: we are leaving Benares, and we are leaving soon.
Calcutta was surprisingly modern. Shopping malls, McDonalds, taxis, and cleanliness. But the most surprising thing about Calcutta for me was how I felt I fit in. Hannah, Mackenzie, and I ended up purchasing and wearing Western clothing (jeans and shirts). When we were walking around the city in our Western clothing, I felt surprisingly comfortable and not so out of place, something I'm not used to after living in Benares. We went to a planetarium showing, saw the Victorian memorial, danced at a "disco," ate some mangoes, and walked around the lobby of the nicest hotel, and place in general, I've seen since I left America. It was refreshing, once again, to take a break from Benares and come back with more energy to make the most of the rest of our time here.
I started learning Sanskrit about a week ago. I figured why not, as I've been interested in it since we started learning Hindi, and I had a little extra time. Sanskrit is deceivingly difficult, as the script is nearly the same as the Devanagari script but the grammar and vocabulary is different and more complicated. I love the way the language flows and sounds, and I especially love that it's such an old language and that I can connect Sanskrit words to Hindi words that I know and even a few English words.
HOLI MUBAARAK HO!! Or in other words, Happy Holi!! A day late. The festival of colors, or the festival of chaos. We all convened at Dolly Ji's house, early in the morning to avoid the potential danger on the streets that starts around 7 AM. Around 9 AM the celebration, or attack, began. Wet colors, water guns, metallic gulal (color powder). I was attacked multiple times, just when I thought it was over I had a bucket of concentrated pink color water dumped directly over my head. I've bathed thoroughly since, but my hair and skin has not gone back to it's original color. My feet are purple and
pink, and my back is almost completely purple. I celebrated with my host family when I went home as well, with TONS of sweets and lots of meeting people. I went with my family to family friends' homes, as is the custom on Holi, and received dozens of dry color tikkas from people of all ages. One of the coolest things about Holi, is that after about 1 PM, the city died. The celebration ended. The metallic-faced kids that were roaming the streets in gangs awaiting victims to shoot down with wet color went inside. And standing on my balcony I could appreciate a peaceful Varanasi, a kind of Varanasi that I've never seen before.
I will post photos soon. I'm excited to see my mom on April 1st who is coming to visit me. I'd love to hear from anyone still reading in a comment or e-mail, I miss you all.
Lots of love from Varanasi,
Ada
