do you like music?

"Do you like music?" Nawal asked me. First, let me say that I smiled, because it was hard to come up with words to accurately describe how important music is to me. As a source of happiness and sanity, music is an indespensible part of my life. All I could tell him, though, was "yes, I love music."

Nawal is a music teacher here at Nirman, and he is working on his Ph.D at the university here in Varanasi. He plays the tabla drums. He is also coming to study in the US this fall, and will be performing at the Ath in October :) When he asked me this question, the two of us were sharing a rickshaw destined for the River Ganga. When we got there, we waited for a few minutes until one of his friends from school arrived, and then the three of us got into a boat to head downriver. The sun was setting, so it was especially beautiful, and, mercifully, a little cool. As we made our way toward the ghat upon which the ceremony was to take place, Nawal and his friend asked me questions about how I was feeling and what I thought of India. I kept telling them that I was good, and that I was enjoying the new experiences. Nawal told me that in his case, as in many others, once you come to study in Varanasi, you don't want to leave. The two pointed out a yellow building on one of the ghats where the said they lived while they were getting their Masters degree. Very cool. We came around a bend and I saw the fires. I mentioned that I'd read about them, and knew what we were going to see. It wasn't as bad as I'd expected, because we weren't very close, but Nawal pointed out a yellow blanket under which a body was lying.

As we got closer, I noticed a ghat upon which hundreds of people were sitting. I wondered if that was where we were headed. Sure enough, the man rowing the boat slowed down as we neared it, and for a few minutes we sat in the water, watching the ceremony. Because I'm still sorting out the camera cord issue, here's a link to another blog showing what I saw. http://travel.paintedstork.com/blog/2006/09/photo-essay-ganga-aarti-at-dasaswamedh.html

After a few minutes, Nawal asked if I wanted to get closer. I said yes, so he instructed the man rowing the boat to take us to the shore. After some deft maneuvering (there were numerous boats sitting off the ghat to watch the ceremony) we got on land, and walked toward the stairs, where we would sit down. Nawal had told me that they were friends with the person who was singing, and the three of us ended up sitting on the musicians platform. It was unreal. I can't really even begin to describe what it was like, except the incense smelled amazing, and the ceremony iself overwhelmed my senses in the most exhilerating but peaceful way. Phenomenal.

When it was close to over, we went back to the boat and returned to where we'd come from. Assi ghat. Nawal and his friend were going to put me on a rickshaw to send me back to Nirman, but I requested that they accompany me, which they did. That was Sunday night. It is now Tuesday morning.

Yesterday I spent the morning dividing my attention between outlining math curriculum for the 3rd grade and trying to get the internet to work, to no avail. Irfana is having me outline the math curriculum from preschool through 5th grade. Right now I'm going through the textbooks and outlining the topics and relevant materials, but once I'm done with that, I have to go back through and write detailed instructions on how to use said materials for each chapter. We'll then work on replicating the materials with supplies that can be found here, and Irfana has assigned my new friend Dost to help me with that.

Dost is a music intern who is here for a month. He and his mom arrived yesterday. They're from Delhi. They are both extremely nice, and Dost has been really considerate of me in that he translates for me when the conversation shifts to Hindi. I was telling Avi the other day that, despite my frustration at the language barrier, I do enjoy listening to people speak Hindi because the cadence of the language is so beautiful. Last night, Dost, his mom, a man who also arrived yesterday (they say he's the manager here, I've been told his name several times but don't remember it - need to see it written down), and I walked back down to the river. We sat there, talked, and observed while the sun was setting. On our way there, when we were walking through Lanka (where the market is), the man took us to a stand, which he said has a following on facebook. He bought us all these sugary, milky yogurt drink things. Mine was tasty, but it was of a consistency that I had trouble drinking quickly. As I was enjoying it, I was telling myself "this is what will make me sick." So far, so good.

On our walk back from the river, Dost and I walked ahead and chatted. We'd spent the afternoon sharing music with each other. He liked some of what I showed him, including the XX and Rocky Votolato. So cool. He showed me some Hindi music, because I'd told him that I enjoy it, and tried to translate some of the lyrics for me.

When we got back to Nirman, the four of us ate dinner together. The food here is spicier than I'm used to eating, but it hasn't been abhorrantly hot. I'm managing just fine, getting used to the whole "eat what's put in front of you or go hungry" concept. Thanks for babying me my whole life, Mom :) It really hasn't been too bad, though I could really go for some chicken or meat of some kind.

I should have started doing my work an hour ago, or at least showered, but I wanted to update the blog since so much has happened in the past couple of days. I'm enjoying myself and the new opportunities I'm having. It's so cool to have watched the sunset from the Ganges two evenings in a row...