Celebrate good times...

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OK, so imagine you have something to celebrate every 3rd day of the week. Then...not only do you celebrate...but you offer up flowers and firecrakers to the gods...and you put on spontaneous parades in the streets...and give out fruits and candies...and dress in extraordinary colors. Then an ELEPHANT comes out of nowhere to lead a parade with camels and horses and an entire trumpet and brass section just for fun. Lest we not forget that literally thousands of your nearest and dearest friends decide to join you for this holiday.

And this, my dear friends, is me in India. And while I am not considering converting...no offense...but Judaism has a heck of a lot to learn about the term "celebrate".

I know its only been about 6 hours since my last blog...but I didn't want to forget anything about today. After arriving to the "Pink City"...which is sort of pink...and more like a washed out version of pink with 1.4 million people crammed into it...I attempted to take myself on a tour of the palace. Here's the problem....when I'm alone...I don't have so much patience for things like historical venues with no plaques to read. Particularly if they are really disguises for the strip mall souvenir shops overcharging for junk. However, I did have the lovely opportunity to get offered rides in "Indian heliocopters" also known as bike rickshaws...and then get accused of being "cold and mean" when I didn't take them up on the offer. But, I was not to be deterred from my mission-shopping. Three hours later I am pleased to report that not only have I made some fabulous purchases at prices that are probably marginally higher than they should be...but I have a new Indian friend in the jeweler who now wants me to open up a shop in the states and use his factory as my manufacturer.

Then, off again, I meandered by way through the bazaars to find an incredible paper shop...and there it was heading straight at me...a parade for some really important Hindu festival. (I use the word important because of how much energy went into it...in reality it might be the spiritual equivalent of saying Grace...I really have no idea) Though no one could tell me which one, or explain its significance...all I can say is that there were flowers and fire and offerings and elephants and camels and kids and brass sections and floats (did I mention the FLOATS? and henna and so so so much more. As usual, the kids loved my camera...and I soon found that I had my own following of children under 3 feet following me for blocks. I can only hope that they found their parents in the end.

Once I had had enough I left the old city and tried to hail a bike rickshaw. After getting in and realizing he didn't speak a word of english...he proceeded to ask directions to every other rickshaw driver until he thought he knew the way. Then, starting out, we hit a massive traffic jam (think Times Square during rush hour)...and a road was closed off. Now, while I would normally not care so much, perhaps I left out the part of it being a bicycle rickshaw. Once out of the jam, apparently my driver fel the need for a break...so after pulling into a backstreet he pulled up to a stand...picked up a cigarette...and apparently felt good enough to continue going...cogarette in hand. All I could think about at that moment is that in 6 weeks I will be huffing and puffing my way up and down mountains in the Negev desert...and may not be able to make it through...and this man is not only pulling me and the rickshaw...but also managing to do so while dragging on smoke.

So...that was my day...or rather, the last 6 hours of my life. Sorry to clog your mailboxes again...but I just couldn't resist getting it out on paper.

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Comments

[Shana]

Wow!
Hey hon, sounds like everything is going so well there. I can't wait to see all of your pictures.