Hindi class was mostly review b/c 10 out of 17 of us had to go back to the F.R.O to finish the registration process.
Midday lecture (crash-course) on the gods/forms of Hinduism. Storm-Ji continues to be an awesome lecturer.
First painting class in the afternoon. This is the practica I chose to sign up for (there were around 10 to choose from, five of us picked painting). It's this special Indian form traditionally practiced only by women. The village women would make these elaborate wall murals on the interior of their homes, using extremely simple forms (like bodies made up in rectangles, triangles, circles) and repeating line patterns. These works were never seen by anyone (except the family) for their whole history, hundreds of years, b/c they were done in private homes, accessible to no one from the public world, especially westerners. Sometime around 3-400 years ago they were accidentally discovered in a village being demolished; since then the form has evolved and is practiced by many artists. But the cool thing is, traditionally the practitioners were totally untrained; therefore it is a form that anyone can easily learn. The class was very nice, and the teacher is great.
Weekend
Way too much to say on this. For now, I'll just say that we took our first overnight excursion to Amritsar, in the north, which is the only active border crossing between Pakistan and Indian. There is an elaborate "celebration" (see jingoistic, militaristic, theatrical displays) every sunset, which we saw. More on this later. Sat. night we went to the Golden Temple, the world center and pilgrimage site for the Sikh faith. Unbelievable. Overwhelming. Upsetting. More on this later. Sunday, went back to the Golden Temple, another emotionally exhausting day. Followed by a six hour train ride back to Delhi.
Side note: when we finally stepped out of the New Delhi train-station I was surprised, but I didn't know why. I realized that I had been unconsciously expecting to arrive in an easier environment, like Massachusetts. Somehow the weekend was so intense, and the travel to and from so long, I expected to get back (to some undefined "home") and slip into our taxi, and speedily make our way home and go to sleep. I forgot that Delhi is even more challenging than where we had been coming from. And so it took 15 minutes just to walk out of the train station, the corridors were so over-crowded. Then crammed into our taxi with no extra room. Then sitting in traffic for 20 minutes just to get out of the parking lot, mosquitos trapped in the car. Then the standard drive thru delhi (I haven't described this yet, but it is one of a kind): picture the jerkiest, stop and start traffic (which is always and everywhere) you can imagine; add pot-holes and optional adherence to the travel lanes; add motorcycles and rick-shaws, and buses and cars around you on all sides, closer to you than would ever be considered safe in the states, weaving and jockying; add waves exhaust and shit-smell.... But here is the important part: constant constant constant honking. EVERYONE honks as frequently as they check their mirrors. They honk when they're passing; when they're going around turns, speeding up, slowing down. When they need to blow their nose, and when they change the radio station. So anyway, I thought to myself: "Oh right, I'm still in India." Actually, I was mostly just tired and grouchy. Storm-Ji has told us to expect these moments, maybe once or twice a week (maybe more) when being in India just drives you nuts--makes you angry and frustrated. It was one of those.
But, overall, things are very good.
Classes are in full swing, and the workload is intense. More later.
Side note: when we finally stepped out of the New Delhi train-station I was surprised, but I didn't know why. I realized that I had been unconsciously expecting to arrive in an easier environment, like Massachusetts. Somehow the weekend was so intense, and the travel to and from so long, I expected to get back (to some undefined "home") and slip into our taxi, and speedily make our way home and go to sleep. I forgot that Delhi is even more challenging than where we had been coming from. And so it took 15 minutes just to walk out of the train station, the corridors were so over-crowded. Then crammed into our taxi with no extra room. Then sitting in traffic for 20 minutes just to get out of the parking lot, mosquitos trapped in the car. Then the standard drive thru delhi (I haven't described this yet, but it is one of a kind): picture the jerkiest, stop and start traffic (which is always and everywhere) you can imagine; add pot-holes and optional adherence to the travel lanes; add motorcycles and rick-shaws, and buses and cars around you on all sides, closer to you than would ever be considered safe in the states, weaving and jockying; add waves exhaust and shit-smell.... But here is the important part: constant constant constant honking. EVERYONE honks as frequently as they check their mirrors. They honk when they're passing; when they're going around turns, speeding up, slowing down. When they need to blow their nose, and when they change the radio station. So anyway, I thought to myself: "Oh right, I'm still in India." Actually, I was mostly just tired and grouchy. Storm-Ji has told us to expect these moments, maybe once or twice a week (maybe more) when being in India just drives you nuts--makes you angry and frustrated. It was one of those.
But, overall, things are very good.
Classes are in full swing, and the workload is intense. More later.
1 comment:
Intensity of streets sounds very impressive. Just what I imagined. Contrast with US of A must be equally impressive. Those of us back in US of A coast along, not imagining what it is like in the rest of the world ...
Keep us posted!
Woodsbear
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