The Holy City

Dear Friends,

I want to apologize for not keeping you all up to date with my travels. We have just finished our stay in Varanasi, and I had less time to use the Internet than I thought. None the less, here's my update so far.

Varanasi. known to many as the holy city. It is the place that most Hindus send their deceased loved ones to be cremated (if they can afford it) and then sent down the River Ganges. I think it is because of this high traffic level of people that many had warned us to stay close together and watch out in Varanasi as there are plenty of thieves and other people of the sort. After spending about three weeks there, with one to two day trips to other places around it, I have to say that it has been one of my favorite places so far.

When we arrived in Varanasi towards the beginning of October, we were given the task of doing a field research project in which we were to pick a specific area of interest, and perform field research with the aim of writing a paper and presenting on that research at the end of our stay in Varanasi. I chose to do my project on how student affairs are run on college campuses in Varanasi as a reflection of student affairs in greater India. The time limit forced me to focus mostly on Benares Hindu University, the major university in this region. I will put up my findings on that another time, but embedded in our time in Varanasi was also the opportunity to experience the city from within. We had lectures on feminism in India, education and education reform, politics, religion of Varanasi, and the social and modern historical make up of the city and India. Along with all this, we also took field trips through out the city and outside of the city. The majority of our time in Varanasi was put together by an NGO called Nirman. Nirman is a NGO focused and dedicated to post colonial education as a means of social progression. In keeping with their dedication to that above notion, they have set up two campuses for educating children and adults. One is in the city of Varanasi itself, and the other is a rural campus in the village of Betewar, which is about an hour drive outside the city. During my first week or so, 12 of us students were stationed at the campus and commuted back to the city to join the rest of the group during the day. It was a really good experience to be a part of that rural campus. The staff there were good people who always made sure we were comfortable, or as comfortable as possible in a rural village in India. The facilities themselves were not bad at all. We had about 15 windows in our room (it doubled as a class room so it was really big) and three fans so a good breeze was always there. The bathrooms had a squat toilet, a sink, and a bucket. If you haven't heard or guessed by now, about half of the places we've been have been equipped with bucket showers. A bucket shower literally consist of a bucket that you feel with cold water and pour over yourself. Having a hot shower is nice in the US, but when you are coming in from the humid heat of 90 to 100 degrees, a nice cold shower is pleasant and welcomed. Although the staff themselves spoke little English, you find little ways to communicated the necessary things. That being noted, the person I had the warmest conversations with was a cook known as DeedeJee (Deedee means sister in Hindi and Jee shows respect and affection, often for elders). While I could never pronounce her name, nor could I understand her, she always had a huge smile and even taught me how to cook. At the end of the week there, I started wondering about how we manage to let trivial things, such as language, come between us as people. I learned how to cook with a lady, and we could barely understand each other. It made me realize how much we can use the walls that supposedly divide us as people as bridges that can connect common ground.

After that week, 18 students (half of the ones from the rural campus) were put into home stays and 6 of us were placed at the urban campus. This was a different experience in and of itself. This is were I really began to get to know the city and start my research. In the first few days we all went exploring through the city and many of us went towards the river. On the way back, we got lost and I had to stop and ask for directions. As I turned around and around looking for anything familiar, a girl stood at the door of her house. I stopped and asked for directions and she showed us the way. The next day, I was exploring again, and was lost yet again. Unaware that I was in the same place as the day before, I looked around, very puzzled. I saw a girl laughing outside of her house and began to ask for directions. Just then it clicked that I had been there before. We both had a laugh and she pointed me in the right direction again after exchanging names. I went back to that house and talked to Pyul ("pile"), her 4 sisters, one brother, two nephews, one niece, and two parents often. They were incredibly nice people who are from the clothe washing caste. They invited me in often and offered me tea and coffee and joked about how lost I looked that first time. As I left the city of Varanasi, I stopped back by the house to say thank you and goodbye. They sat me down and talked to me for over an hour and offered me food and chai of course. Afterwards, they insisted that I come back with my sister so she and Pyu, who are the same age, can get to know each other and hang out. I told them it would be doubtful that I would be back in India, but if I chose not to go to Nepal after the study program, that I would indeed return. They told me they would miss me and sent me on my way. Just as I was turning to walk away, Pyul stopped me and told me the should would miss me and proceeded to take her multi-colored wood glass bracelet off and slip it onto my wrist as she smiled and said that "this is for my new big baiya" (which means brother in Hindi.

This was one way, that I chose to get to know the city, but many others did it in many different ways. We saw music shows and plays. We took part in crazy festivals and danced in Parades. We met with leaders of communities within the city and village heads, but nothing proved to have more of an inside view of the city and really India than our home stays. After the week at the urban campus, I moved in with my home stay family. This family of musicians is lead by the father, who's had music in his blood for 5 generations. He was known to me as Gurujee as that is how he insisted we address him. He is a kinds man, with a lot of knowledge of music and very proud of the music that runs within the family tree. The house was filled with musicians as well. All three of the suns were musicians, the aunt was a singer as well. There were also two cousins, grandparents, and an uncle that lived with them them that were musicians as well. The eldest son, Ankur, played the Sitar and was fabulous at it. He is studying literature at BHU (the main university) and loves it. It was interesting though, that he does not expect to go into any field that involves literature. It's like he told me, " I love my studies, but we are a family of musicians. It's not what we do or who we are, it simply is us." I still have a hard time grappling with the notion that they sons have no say in their future, but I guess that is a western notion and sense of freedom. Like I have said before, the perception of freedom is completely different here. For the boys in the family, it isn't a question of music or not, it's a question of what instrument. The other son, plays the Tabla (a form of drums), and the youngest plays the violin. I spent some time hanging out with the youngest son and hearing him play the violin. He is an incredibly sharp kid. He could go on and on about stuff that I knew nothing about. He loves to play on the computer and listen to music. I introduced him to some new music from my ipod, and from that moment on, we were brothers. I just hope that he is able to express that intelligence and love of technology in more ways than his older brothers were...

The last few days of the home stay were dedicated to putting together and writing my paper. The last day, 5 of us got on an overnight train to Delhi, and from there caught a plane to the southern state of Kerala to start our first week of independent travel which has brought me here, on the Arabian cost of India. But that is perhaps another story, for another time. This time, however, I promise it won't be so long...