Let's review some things in life that bring me great joy: 1) Music. Especially street music. 2) Crowds of people, especially if they are dressed in their finest clothing. 3) Seeing other cultures and how their people interact with their innate human drive to relate to Nature and cosmic and supernatural forces through communal puja . 3) Delicious food. 4) Long walks. 5) Not spending much money. Today I left Sudder Street around 6:22 and started walking west to Babu Ghat on the Hoogli. On the way, I asked directions from a few people. Everyone, from the most affluent business [View Full Entry]

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga_Puja Myself and a group of three friends- an Irishwoman, a German and an Austrian were checking out all the Durga Puja festivities last night. Everyone is in their finest clothes- Western for the "middle class" (upper 20ith percentile) Kolkata-vallas , lungis, saris, and salwar-kameez for the more traditional. There are many temples set up with the image of Durga slaying the demon every third of a kilometer or so. The Hindus offer up a little thing almost like the Sign of the Cross (they touch their foreheads, [View Full Entry]

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-If she is a woman, does she have nice jewelry? -Are clothes dirty or clean? -Do they have shoes, and if they do, are they in good condition? -How many teeth, and in what condition? -Do they have emergency reserves of fat on their ribs? -Does the person have a bhen, bhai, ekta bhalo bondhu to watch their back? Perversely enough, obvious cripples often do better than those who are merely very hungry and dirty. Pity is a human universal. I've decided not to try to actively learn Hindi. Although it would be hugely useful, it is simply too nasal, and [View Full Entry]

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It is the end of Ramadan. All the Muslims are dressed in their finest clothing and in a very joyful and festive mood. Yesterday was the birthday of Mohandas Gandhi. And in a couple of days Durga Puja begins! It is a Hindu celebration of the triumph of feminine divinity over the forces of chaos and evil. All of Kolkata is moving fairly slowly (not that most people are usually rushed by any means) due to the various holidays. Everyone in Bengal, no matter what holy books they read or how they have been taught to commune with and worship the [View Full Entry]

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6,403 Indian Rupees, 6174 Nepalese. My time in India has greatly exposed me to the way that old people and babies are cute in the same way. I'm sure there is one word for the phenomenon of both types of innate, helpless human need and the desire for our species to care for its members, regardless of creed, "race" or language.The English words cuteness and love or compassion are obviously imperfect. If anyone knows a word for this type of human bonding in a non-English language (as applied both to the very young and helpless and the rather old and helpless [View Full Entry]

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I'm fairly desensitized to most of the "unusual" sights a Westerner can see on the streets in a major Indian metropolis. Nursing newborn puppies, dying people, old men smoking chillims, elephants, young men selling (hopefully) fake guns, giant rats..... I barely notice such things now. Children defecating into the gutters or on the sidewalk.... this is no big deal either. However, today I saw a kid, maybe three or four years old, expelling some solid waste onto Park Street that was bright green . I hope he is in good health. [View Full Entry]

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Kolkata has changed quite a bit in the month I was gone. Stands that once sold fruits are now full of belts and shirts. There is a general pre-holiday atmosphere throughout the city. I went to New Market yesterday, and the crowds were, well, crowded. Less Westerners than there had been on Sudder. However, there are many Americans right now at Prem Dam. It was great to see the patients again, I missed them dearly. I was talking to Daniel and Mr. Badger to get the news, and apparently one of the patients escaped during a musical program! The weather is [View Full Entry]

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As most of you have probably figured out by now, I've been off the grid for a couple of days. Here's a quick list of the people and things I've recently seen and heard, felt and smelled: Immediately after posting my last entry, a group of about a hundred people carrying torches and chanting slogans marched up the main street in Thamel. As it turns out, they were members of the Night Workers Union, protesting a recent government move to shut down bars at ten o'clock (they used to be open until two AM). I think a good compromise solution (one [View Full Entry]

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The food here is incredible. Mike and I stopped by some small store (selling bread, biscuits, soda, juice, tobacco, ect) that had some eggs and noddles displayed. We got the best egg chowmein I've ever had (complete with channa, hari mrichi, aur alu ). There are also delicious soups and momos available at decent prices. For das Nepali rupiyay one can purchase two fairly hefty sticks of deep-fried, seasoned tofu. Just a few hours ago we wandered down to Durbar Square. Very beautiful and historical place, even though Kathmandu is "only" about 400 ( char sau ) years ol [View Full Entry]

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Interactions between unrelated men and women are more acceptable here than in India. Women on the street will give the sideways nod. Every fourth or fifth t-shirt worn by a local has the face of either Britney Spears or an American "professional" wrestler on a black background. I am paying for the cheapest internet I have encountered so far (15 NRS an hour) and it is also the slowest. The Nepalese are a bit less anal about right hand/ left hand interactions. Street kids huff glue, and in the same breath foreigners for money. I had the good fortune to run [View Full Entry]

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