So a quick shout out to the beachland crew is in order! I heard Friday night was quite a great time, looking forward to some street bonding time (hopefully over soup, where did those nights go anyway?) when I get back.
This week has been a blur ( ok it has actually sort of felt like it stretched forever but in a good way, I'm not really in a rush over here). We had two days of class which is becoming increasingly stressful, two days of holiday for Diwali, an all day seminar ( which was brilliant!), and a day trip to Laporiya ( a petty superb example of the power of proper community resource management in an desert) and our Halloween party last night. Whew. and now, I am writing this entry between writing my 10 page paper due tomorrow, studying for my Hindi final on Wednesday ( ok well maybe i'm not actually doing that part), and working on the technicalities of my study project which begins in six days. more on how utterly horrifying that is later.
oh and meanwhile, the world just becomes more and more cyclical, though I'll explain that part as I go.
First things first, festivities! Diwali is celebrated by Hindus and Jains and is known as the festival of lights. It is the most important holiday for Hindus and is celebrated through doing Lakshmi Puja ( Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity), and lots and lots of lights. Over the past few weeks we have increasingly watched Jaipur gear up for this festivities with lights appearing everywhere. On the actual day, my host family and I covered our roof with candles, a welcoming gesture, and the world lit up with fireworks, rockets, and these really loud annoying bomb things which don't even make cool light, just a loud noise. Literally, going outside during the day of Diwali meant risking your ability to take a deep breath, but my goodness it was cool to be surrounded for hours by the sounds of millions and millions of people throughout India celebrating. Really, just think about that. 1.1 billion people live in India, 80% are Hindus, 2% are Jains, and a vast majority of them were shooting fireworks off. Not to mention how in many areas people just shoot of fireworks because who doesn't love fireworks!
and than it was Halloween time! All I can say is that I do adore the people here.
This week has been a blur ( ok it has actually sort of felt like it stretched forever but in a good way, I'm not really in a rush over here). We had two days of class which is becoming increasingly stressful, two days of holiday for Diwali, an all day seminar ( which was brilliant!), and a day trip to Laporiya ( a petty superb example of the power of proper community resource management in an desert) and our Halloween party last night. Whew. and now, I am writing this entry between writing my 10 page paper due tomorrow, studying for my Hindi final on Wednesday ( ok well maybe i'm not actually doing that part), and working on the technicalities of my study project which begins in six days. more on how utterly horrifying that is later.
oh and meanwhile, the world just becomes more and more cyclical, though I'll explain that part as I go.
First things first, festivities! Diwali is celebrated by Hindus and Jains and is known as the festival of lights. It is the most important holiday for Hindus and is celebrated through doing Lakshmi Puja ( Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity), and lots and lots of lights. Over the past few weeks we have increasingly watched Jaipur gear up for this festivities with lights appearing everywhere. On the actual day, my host family and I covered our roof with candles, a welcoming gesture, and the world lit up with fireworks, rockets, and these really loud annoying bomb things which don't even make cool light, just a loud noise. Literally, going outside during the day of Diwali meant risking your ability to take a deep breath, but my goodness it was cool to be surrounded for hours by the sounds of millions and millions of people throughout India celebrating. Really, just think about that. 1.1 billion people live in India, 80% are Hindus, 2% are Jains, and a vast majority of them were shooting fireworks off. Not to mention how in many areas people just shoot of fireworks because who doesn't love fireworks!
and than it was Halloween time! All I can say is that I do adore the people here.
the peacock meets the flower child
boy time. how sweet!
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