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| Not exactly cake, but close enough... |
Homesickness is finally starting to kick in... I'm missing you all! Sometimes I don't want to be half-way around the world and I wish India was a hop, skip, and jump away from America. That would truly be the best of both worlds! My friend Megan said once you have survived in another country for one month, the rest is a piece of cake, but that doesn't mean that I don't miss Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with family and friends. Don't get me wrong, the never-ending weekly pujas are a blast, but they're just not the same...
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| This weeks Kali Puja, aka Diwali |
I finally watched a movie for the first time in India! Can you believe I haven't watched a movie for a month? Even so, Soma and I split the movie up over two different nights, setting up our own little cinema at my desk equipped with headphones and snacks of puffed rice and veg chops. Monday movie night is becoming a trend- Jannat last week with Soma and Another Cinderella Story with Nadira this week. Maybe I can start writing movie reviews on my blog too! Jannat, which means heaven in Hindi, was set in South Africa where two lovers struggled to make things work as Arjun, the hero, coped with his own addiction to gambling. !!This is a spoiler alert for all that might want to watch this movie!! Arjun picked up the ring that fell from his pocket as he gave himself up to the the police. The police, of course, thought he was making a move for his gun so they shot him multiple times in the chest as kool-aid blood stained his shirt. Not really the happiest movie; it even gave me a nightmare... The same sort of thing happened in my dream to my Dad. I woke up and just wanted to go home... Luckily the movie I watched with Nadira, a new office worker making a tourism brochure for South 24 Parganas, was a happier teeny-bop movie filled with dancing and young love.
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| Diwali lighting at Mr. Mondal's house |
Kali Puja, also known as Diwali or Deepavali, was on this week's puja program. You might also know it as the Festival of Lights when people "light millions of lamps to dispel the darkness and ignorance, and spread the radiance of love and wisdom" (according to the all-knowing Wikipedia source). This means that lights were strung from every house and families lit candles by the windows. It really looked like Christmas in November and it was so beautiful! The ephemeral beauty of the candles only last for an hour or so, but the hard work of melting the bottoms of these birthday cake-sized candles so they stand up is totally worth it, as you can see from the pictures.
Fun Fact: Crocodiles can live 100 plus years. Just a little something I learned from our visit to the Sundarbans ("beautiful forest" in Bengali). It is also the home of the Royal Bengal Tigers but unfortunately you have to take a super long boat ride to see them and apparently sign a waiver saying it's alright if the tigers eat you for dinner! Instead, we went to the crocodile project (for reintroducing crocodiles back into the wild). Honestly, it wasn't really worth the more than three hours we spent on the motorbike so it was a bit disappointing, but on the plus side we ate lucchi and googney (potato and chickpea curry) as well as omelete. Still wasn't worth my paining rear though! We ate more lucchi anyways that night with Soma, rolling the dough into balls, flattening them, and then frying them with the 5 or 6 girls that returned to Ashok Nilay. Probably the highlight of my day. I was so exhausted that I ended up listening to music and falling asleep around 9 o'clock... haven't gone to sleep that early since I don't know when!
