thirty-five: wrap-up

It is funny how quickly a month can pass by; it only feels like yesterday that we landed in India, let alone Kolkata. Admittedly, in some ways I am eager to return to home and then to college. Both will offer a sense of permanency - something I miss after being in the limbo of travel for two months this summer. (Not that I didn't enjoy it!) Going back to the U.S. also heralds the return to reality and responsibility, of choreographing deadlines for IASA and worries about financial aid. Textbooks and packing and cleaning.

I am looking forward to getting back to exercise and meditation. Without going to the club, it's difficult to walk through the streets of Calcutta uninterrupted, and I much rather walk outside than on a treadmill. Sometimes I felt like I was stagnating in the flat. The smallness of our flat made it difficult to find some "alone" space for meditation. I'm not good enough at stilling my Mind where I can meditate anywhere, with distractions around. Additionally, to see my dad again would be great! He couldn't come with us to India and was missed very much. :( He has taken the week off this week so we'll definitely get to spend time with him!

My attempts to practice Hindi this summer have been an absolute failure - I understand most of it, but speaking still feels beyond me. I'll continue to brush up my grammar and writing before classes begin. I did speak more Bangla, though, promise! Sigh. I will have to try harder and force myself to speak more of everything. Though I really want to do many Chinmaya Mission courses next summer which would be really good for me spiritually and volunteer some of the mission's rural development programs, I also want to study Hindi in a structured immersion atmosphere. It's a bit of a predicament, so let's see how things turn out. Regardless, I will apply for that language scholarship for that particular program... Additionally, to do some side traveling with my uncles next summer would be pretty rad - like, to Sikkim and stuff.

Again, there is so much to say about India and my family. I'll continue to write about it here - sort of a post wrap-up. Or maybe I'll write it in my journal, let's see. But anyway, I know I'm going to miss my family here the most... I am keeping my fingers crossed and hope they will eventually come visit us, some day.

argh, still there is much to say but it's quite late.. goodnight.

thirty-four: Haldiah and Odds/Ends

In the week since my last post, much has happened. Yes, some of the time we relax in the cool and quiet of the flat, but we have been on the go for the rest of the days after lunch. Earlier in the week I ventured with my aunt, mother, and family friend into the chaotic heart of Kolkata: Boro Bazaar. Because of the great deals, it is a wonderful place to get done with shopping, but it is a tumultuous trip requiring patience and street smarts. (Thankfully, my aunt is quite the expert at bargaining and navigating the throngs of people in the streets.) We used multiple forms of transport that day: metro, taxi, hand-pulled rickshaw, car. Boro Bazaar was a visual carnival with its rows of vendors (fruits, hair clips, buckets, bags, anything you could imagine) and the narrow alleys leading to bright colors of sari shops and jewelry. Without the brief respite from the crowded streets - so crowded moving often was difficult - in the A/C market, I may have gone crazy. The long day, punctuated with some yummy dosa for lunch, neared an end with a confusing rickshaw ride through the streets back to our car.... when the rickshaw-walla didn't understand our directions. Culminating the trip was negotiating with the goonda (small time gangster) trying to charge us 20 rupees an hour for parking - a ridiculous sum for parking in that area. Our family friend - might as well be my aunt! - immediately argued back: Sure, I'll pay that rate. First show me the paper where it's written officially? Suddenly the rate fell to 10 rupees an hour. Awesome. Sprawling with exhaustion on the bed back at home, I asked my sister, What did you do today? Why do you look so tired? She sighed, We watched three movies today. I groaned.

We've done many other things: drink delish street chai, learn poker, spend time at Tollygunge with my grandmother, hit up huge malls, spend time with old friends from back in Michigan, but this weekend we've ventured to Haldiah, a town 2.5 hours away from teeming Kolkata when the traffic was good. Today? Today it was not, and we reached my mother's childhood best friend's house in four hours. She and her husband are doctors in this area, and have the fortune of living in a lovely, yet big flat and duplex community. There's a gorgeous lake near the guesthouse-villa we are staying at in this gated community, and it's understandable why people come here to vacation. The drive here was pretty uneventful, and it was nice to just sleep and watch the deep green of rural West Bengal pass by.

Anyway, we are currently playing Egyptian Ratscrew (the only card game we can think of to pass time) and I am also reading Q&A by Vikas Swarup. Q&A, the book which inspired Slumdog Millionaire, puts the movie to shame - the movie, though already with an element of fantasy, seems even more glossed over and illogical once you read the book. The book is well-written and realistic and miles away from the movie in terms of plot. Read the book, now!

Anyway, we should be eating soon.... back to reading!

(And happy birthday Dani if you're reading this! :) )