Everyone's Infected with Disco Disease

Party all day.  Party all night.  Dance like there's no tomorrow.  Dance like no one's watching.  This is the mentality of the rural villagers in West Bengal during the month-long pooja festivals.  After one pooja ends, another begins and the festive mood never seems to end.  The Jagadhatri Pooja is the biggest one I've seen in the village by far, with a classic carnival feel.  People come all over South 24 Parganas to experience the elaborate, colorful lights and streets filled with shops and carnival games like shooting balloon targets with a gun.  

The only difference between the American carnival and this Indian pooja are the shops filled with jewelry and dishware as well as the mouth-watering food- there aren't any cotton candy stands or funnel cakes.  They are replaced with stands boasting a plethora of sweets as well as temporary restaurants for chow-mein, lucchi, and poratas.  Music plays all day and all night too; I don't know when people get any rest...  Another difference I noticed was the speed of the Ferris wheel which was going along at an alarming rate.  I thought Ferris wheels were supposed to be a smooth, relaxing journey to the top for a beautiful view of the festivities, but the one here wanted to throw people out of the small two-person cars!  I opted for the spinning ride that threw my neck around on the basis of safety, rather than risking my life on the wheel of death.   

Wednesday was the Eid al-Adha Muslim Festival, also known as the festival of sacrifice, commemorating the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael out of obedience to God.  Muslims celebrate this day by sacrificing an animal, which is then distributed among family, friends, neighbors, and the needy (thank goodness I didn't have to see this).  Mr. Mondal took me to a Muslim village to visit with an up-and-coming rural development organization owner.  His building is still in the process of being built with money he received from the government of India.  We received the royal treatment, being served at least four different types of sweets, two each, and green coconut water.  I normally don't like green coconut water, something about the taste makes me want to gag, but this coconut almost tasted like Sprite; I think this one had magical healing powers.  Later that night as I was walking with Soma to the Home for Children, we were diverted by an invitation to visit one of VSSU's branch manager's house for Eid.  Since there was food, Soma of course accepted the invitation (I swear, she'd kill someone for food).  Since I did not take the cow meat for Eid, the branch manager's wife drew mehindi on both the top and bottom of my left hand. 

From left: Suman, Me, Tagari, Soma, Pabitra

I was in for a pleasant surprise Friday night when I watched GLEE with Nadira- they referenced Singin' in the Rain and sung two of the film songs!  Although the remix of Singin' in the Rain and Rihanna's Umbrella weren't up to my par, the dance with the yellow umbrellas and dancing (and singing) in the rain definitely were.  Check it out if you haven't seen it yet, it'll knock your socks off all the way to Mars!  It's a visual treat that will surely put a smile on your rosy cheeks!  Speaking of rosy cheeks, I've become the childrens' barbie doll.  I had so much kajol and mascara on my eyes, my left hand was dressed in baby pink nail-polish while my right in glimmering white, and my hair was a new style never-before-seen in fashion magazines.  I love how these kids make me feel like a kid again though; I don't have to worry about anything but being a 10-year-old kid again myself.  The boys are naughty, pure-hearted kids.  One little boy with big brown eyes named Pabitra taps me on the shoulder then looks the other way, pretending I don't know, and then holds my hand down the road as I leave their Home.  Tagari, one of the smaller girls of ten years, tries hundreds of ways to put two or three different hair-clips on my head and affectionately calls me "amar auntie," or my auntie.  They're all so adorable and have their own unique, individual personalities.  I love, love, love them!  

The One Where I Forgot the Title

Hi delightful daffodils!  I hope you're enjoying my favorite time of year when the world prepares for it's winter hibernation while I sit in 80 degree weather.  Winter in West Bengal is not even close to winter, autumn even, in Missouri.  Everything is still green, except for the rice paddies, and wildlife is still bustling.  They cut the two-foot tall grass on VSSU's lawn to prevent snakes from making hiding spaces in our backyard, and unfortunately they found a baby king cobra snake!  As I bent over the bucket where he was kept, he started hissing at me.  I felt like Indiana Jones going on a thrilling adventure through a snake-laden cave.

Soma and I at my birthday party

Wednesday was just another normal, unbirthday-day, except for a wonderful surprise from one of my bestest friends.  I received a call that morning and I thought it was a call from the network so I disconnected it the first two times.  The third time I picked it up and told him he had the wrong number. He proceeded to say, "You're Kelsy. VSSU. Village: Ullon, South 24 Parganas..."  Nonetheless, I was a little freaked out! How does this stranger know where I live? Then he said he had a package from my friend and I finally understood that he had meant to call me and ask for directions.  I couldn't understand his thick Indian accent so he asked, "Can you please give the phone to someone who speaks English or Hindi?"  I was speaking English!  Apparently, he needed to talk to Soma in Indian English to understand how to get to the tiny village in West Bengal to deliver my package.  I anxiously awaited the carrier's delivery all day (wondering if all the visitor's that came to VSSU held my mystery package), and finally after the work day was over at 6 p.m. a man arrived holding my surprise!  It was chocolate birthday cake, flowers, and a card sent just for my birthday.  I'm still perplexed as to how my friend sent all this, but half of the surprise lies in the mystery of it all.  The cake was super super yummy, much better than the dry, tasteless cake from the train station I tried.  It was so yummy that Nadira and Soma smeared the chocolate cream frosting on my smiling cheeks!

Aurelie and I proceeded with our celebrations at the Kali Pooja pandal outside Mr. Mondal's house.  It was the same as any other Pooja, except for the fact that I electrocuted four girls... We were dancing in a circle, and as you might be able to guess, the electrical expertise for the lighting of the pandal is not the most professional.  I was minding my dancing feet and accidentally touched the tube light, resulting in jumps and exclamations of shock from all four girls that were holding hands in a circle with me- you could see the dominio effect taking place on everyone's faces.  After recovering from our shock, they surprising continued to dance with this electrifying American!

After completing our office work the next day, some of us from the office went out for dinner in Lakshmikantapur to celebrate Aurelie's and my birthday.  It just so happens that my birthday is exactly one day before the other intern's- what a coinkidink!  The porata was a nice palette change from the mundane rice and potato curry.  Nadira bought both of us a huge box of chocolates and Appy Fizz, just like my favorite fall apple cider drink.

I was so busy the whole week celebrating my birthday that I hadn't had a chance to see the kids who had returned to Ashok Nilay for school.  After one long month, I saw the children again on Saturday, with temporary tattoos in hand.  It was difficult to control their excitement as they all gathered around me, waving their chosen tattoo in my face, but it was worth it; only the smiles on their faces expresses their joy in such a simple gift.  I stayed the night with Soma in the Home for Children, enjoying music and a bit of gossip as our evening treat.  Tagari came into my room the next morning at 5:30 a.m. yelling, "Auntie, Auntie" to wake me up.  I groggily got out of bed to see the foggy pond outside and Chameli leading her fellow students in the morning prayer.  These children have so much more discipline than I did at their age!  Soma and I walked around the grounds, enjoying the beautiful hibiscus flowers while awaiting a rickshaw van to take us to the train station.  It was a bit of a rough morning that didn't exactly go how we had planned: the train was delayed and the market in Kolkata was not open when we arrived.  Everything worked out for the best though; we met Nadira in the market to buy our tickets for the movie, Autograph, a Bengali film.  The cinematography and camera angles were really creative- just something I noticed since I couldn't understand the dialogues.  I also bought a super-cute orange purse (sorry I don't have a picture of it yet Leah), two gold bangles, as well as some sweets to share with Soma before we boarded the train back to Lakshmikantapur.

A One-Month-Old Piece of Cake

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... 

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.  

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!