July 24th 2014

I can’t help but do the countdown math. There is this coming weekend, I’m going back to Varanasi, there is the weekend after that, we are going on a group trip to Agra, and then there is the weekend after that. And that’s it, no more weekends.

I want to be really excited to go home, but as soon as I go home there is so little time before I go back to school. And then there’s the whole “living in the moment” thing.

Every day I get a little more comfortable speaking Urdu, and every day I say something that makes absolutely no sense. Sometimes the sentences come easily but more often than not I find myself running in circles around the point I am trying to make, tripping over tenses, and butchering the pronunciation with my American accent. It’s a shame that the words for “big,” “brown,” “bad,” and “elderly person” all sound exactly the same when I say them.

Whenever my family tries to serve me more food (which happens every single night) I react by blocking my plate with my hands and say “Nahin, nahin, mein theek houn” (No, no, I’m okay), which if I remember correctly is a normal polite response for “No I don’t want any more food” in English. But every time I’ve said this, they’ve looked at each other and laughed. About a week ago they decided to tell me that this was a very strange response for me to give, because they were not asking me how I was, but instead trying to serve me more food. I explained to them that “Mein theek houn” was me saying no. They reasoned that “Meni kharab houn” (I am bad) should mean “yes” if “Mein theek houn” means “no.” So whenever I’m around, if anyone wants to say yes, they say “mein kharab houn.”

This past weekend I went to visit Varanasi where I spent most of the year right after high school and before college, from September of 2012 to May of 2013. As usual, I  hated the train ride, but as soon as we got out of the station, I felt like I had come back, maybe not home, but to a kind of home.  As the rickshaw took us from the station to Assi Ghat, I recognized the roads that I used to ride my bike down every day, on my way to and from work. And from there the familiarity increased: the street food stalls, the mango smoothie stands, the shops, the restaurants, the temples. I still know Varanasi, and that’s a good feeling.

More importantly, I still know the people in Varanasi, and they were the real reason I felt I needed to go back. Spending time with Dolly Ji, my host parents, my host sister, Virendra Ji,  Tom, Ajeet Ji, Manju Ji, and with the Guria kids made my trip. Somehow, everything worked out extremely well, and I was able to not only spend time with everyone I wanted to see, but also to show my friends that travelled with me around a little bit. I feel thankful that Varanasi has become a place that I can easily come back to, walk along the ghats, get lost in the gullies, and spend time with people I love without it seeming like the last time I was there was two years ago.

Other updates: The monsoon rains have begun—though they come and go sporadically. Eid is quickly approaching, it will probably be on this coming Tuesday. My family has assured me that they throw the best Eid in town. I’ve done more and more exploring, the other day my language partner took me shopping, she held my hand as she led me through the masses of Eid shoppers. She helped me bargain down gifts for people at home, and a birthday present for my host mom. The old city, the predominantly Muslim area, is crowded with people, animals, clothing shops, book shops, every kind of shop, and is my favorite place in Lucknow. Even when the shop keepers told us it was a fixed price, she wouldn’t take “no bargaining” for an answer. I’m still running, watching serials, eating mangos, loving my host family, learning Urdu, running, and getting stared at.

Okay that’s it for now. Love from India,

Ada 

Aadaab, Asaalam alaikam, Namaste

The pollution, the heat, and the humidity, seems much stronger after spending a couple of days away from it. I visited Nani Tol, a hill station in the foothills of the Himalayas, with a group of friends this weekend. We went by car, passing through villages, and open spaces, until finally the land formed into hills, and then mountains. Before long, we were making our way up the mountains on the sharp and weaving roads, cringing every couple of minutes as we nearly missed buses, motorcycles, and pedestrians. The mountains were shrouded in trees and mist, and surrounded a lake. If you were wondering, the answer is yes, we were those foreigners that decided to go swimming in the lake. And if you are worried, don’t be, because it’s not nearly as dirty as the Ganga. We also went to a Bollywood dance party because we heard the music from across the lake—when in India.

The week before this, I started doing something extremely exciting: I started running. I’ve been waking up early and walking to a somewhat closed-off neighborhood, and running there. The heat, humidity, staring, and looks of utter bewilderment are still a lot at this time and in this area, but it’s better than it would be at any other time or in any other place. And since I’ve started running, I’ve started to feel a lot happier here.

I am now able to find my way to several places on foot, which I take as a sign that I am getting to know the city. It’s comforting to know that I don’t have to take a rickshaw to all of the places that I want to go, and it’s a lot less of a hassle.

I’ve continued to break fast with my family every night around 7:00 pm, and it’s become one of my favorite traditions. My host family has also become one of my favorite parts of this program.

I’m also still learning Urdu. As my vocabulary has (slowly) expanded, my range of conversation topics has as well. I have recently been able to talk to my family about what they think about Hindu-Muslim relations in India, Nirendra Modi, Pakistan, and politics and general. That’s why I wanted to do this program in the first place—I wanted to be able to have important conversations with people in a different language. I like hearing people talk about their lives and their opinions, and I like that Urdu enables me to access these kinds of things from a large group of people that I wouldn’t get to really hear from if I only had English.

Last update, I’m going to Varanasi this weekend and I’m excited.

Lots of love,

Ada