So, just feeling like it's time for some clarifications. This blog consists of totally unedited journal entries. I'm also using my tiny ipod touch to write most of the time, so it feels daunting to edit and double check my work. I mean - I'm typing with my friggin thumbs, for god's sake! My priority right now is to keep my friends and family up-to-date with my experiences here in India. If that means lagging on the editing, so be it. Strangers are welcome too, of course - this is a public blog. Anyway, I'd be tickled pink to know that people who don't even know me would be bothered to read something I write.
And, yes, I am totally biased. This is not an academic paper, nor a journalistic study. If you are interested in knowing more about anything I talk about - refer to other, more reliable sources... like wikipedia - that's always 100% accurate ;-) Yes - I'm being sarcastic. On the other hand, it's great for a quick/general overview to get one started. If I happen to know of other resources, I'll try to remember to share them.
Oh yeah. I misspelled Kalighat in a previous entry. I think I was spelling it Kaligat before. I kind of knew I was misspelling it at the time, but I was too lazy to double check. Also, I think I described Kalighat at the time as a town. The word I was looking for was neighborhood.
Lastly, I am by no means a great mind for learning new languages. I enjoy it, but learning a new language does not come to me like moths to a flame, rather a new language for me is like trying to hold water in the cup of my hands - it seems to constantly be slipping out of my grasp. I learn a word or a phrase, and I promptly forget it. Only after being told 4 or more times, or hearing it repeatedly every single day, do I remember things. To prove my point: I took Spanish in high school, I've done a semester in Hindi (and have watched Hindi movies a gazillion bazillion times), and I took a year of Tamil. It has never been an easy ride, and I still don't speak or comprehend anywhere near fluently, not even close, at all. SO - take my language sections with a grain of salt, because I am bound to make mistakes that will make anyone who knows the languages I am talking about cringe. For example, if you read my last entry, I shared that I ask "nam ka" all the time - basically meaning something like 'name is?' Well, no wonder I didn't always get an answer, no wonder people were looking at me quizzically when I asked that! It's a nonsensical word, that's why! 'Ka' doesn't have a meaning in Bengali. 'Ki' does though. So, I stand corrected. Maybe I'll have more luck from this point on when I ask that question...
I'd really like to be perfect, flawless, and all-knowing. Unfortunately, it's not going to happen in this lifetime. As far as this blog goes - I'll be working on letting go and being okay with making silly mistakes, particularly this publicly :-) If you have alternate information, or a language correction, or a similar/different experience, definitely post it in the comments section. It will make this blogging experience that much more interactive! I was surprised to see, last time I checked, that I had almost 300 reads total of this blog. That sounds like a lot to me... Perhaps my same five friends are just reading it over and over! Wow, they must really love me! ;-) On a more serious note, a lot of people have sent me messages and little notes, telling me that they are really enjoying my blog. Thank you so much for your feedback, it makes me feel really good to know that people are enjoying this, particularly in the light that I've had a long run of feeling not very good at anything in particular. Some people like my writing?! Yay, I have something to offer the world that I happen to also enjoy!
Saree Search & Banana Leaf Dinner
We went saree searching yesterday. Now that Rebecca has her wedding saree, it is time for us to get sarees for her female family members. Plus, I needed a saree too! Rebecca had a lot more fun this time because we were shopping for other people. She really just isn't into shopping, especially when it's for herself. It can be a little painful sometimes trying to help her, cuz sometimes it's almost like she is resisting it and I have to just keep encouraging her and finding options for her and telling her what I think looks good on her, and then finally she warms up a little. But it leaves us both exhausted by the end of it! She keeps joking that I should be the one getting married, cuz I am all blissed out on the saree shopping and the jewelry shopping. Plus I'm more interested in this kind of thing. Funny thing is, back in America I rarely go shopping for fun things like clothes and jewelry. It's just that I love Indian textiles and jewelry. The textures, color combinations, unlimited variety of styles and designs - really, it's like I'm in heaven. Even though I'm not buying anything for me, I'm just - I'm a kid in a candy shop and sarees and jewelry are my candy. I mean seriously, it's sensory bliss for me. Plus I get to learn about culture, history, and geography - cuz I'm always making sure to ask what each style's name is, where it's from, etc. Every style has a story, has a time in history, has town or city that it originated in, and a material that is unique. To top it off, they spoil us with complimentary chai and coffee!
I got this incredible saree that they told us is Parsi. That means, this style comes from the Parsi's (Persians) who came from Iran to India forever ago to escape religious persecution (they were Zoroastrian). I don't know that much about them, I'll have to look it up later. But it felt really significant to me for some reason. It is really just this royal saree. It's also the most I've ever spent on a saree, which is nothing compared to what some sarees cost, but it's definitely a fancy shmancy one. I also knew that I wanted to get a really decadent one this trip. Well, this one is damn decadent already. I'm really excited. We bought it at one of the oldest saree shops in Calcutta (at least according to Abhijeet). It's called Adi Dhakeswari, down the road from us, in the Goriahat neighborhood. They have black and white pictures of all the famous people who've come to their shop over the years. They also have this really old cash register that they actually still use. They used it when I paid for my saree, so I can absolutely vouch for that!
By the end of the day, we were exhausted, so Rebecca and I stopped at a South Indian restaurant on the way back called Banana Leaf. We've been there twice before actually. Basically, it's close and it's yummy and it costs less than $10 to feed 4 people! They're really sweet there too. And they're actually Tamil, so when Rebecca said "Rumba Nundri" (Tamil, which means "thank you very much"), the man was first shocked and then let out a delighted laugh and burst out in a beaming grin. He thought it was the sweetest thing that she could speak Tamil. We ordered take out, so they rolled up 4 banana leaves for us to take home to eat off of.
We're all fighting off a cold here. The only person who is unscathed by it is Baba. The rest of us are coughing, and congested, and stuffy headed. I bought some tissues yesterday and the box is hilarious. Here's a picture. Rebecica found it particularly funny that out of all the uses listed for a tissue, the most common use is the one they listed last. Silly, silly.
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