Alice’s turn to blog!
Leaving Bodhgaya with 2 shaved heads and, for the most part, healthy people, Shanti group headed to Varanasi, where we became students again. The first night we all stayed in a long-term hostel for students, which was almost like a dorm room. The next day, it was immediately time for us to begin our Hindi study and then visit all the different options for internships. Those of us who had chosen to do homestays packed up our things and went to meet our families. Sterling stayed with Pinkuji, our Hindi teacher and main contact in Varanasi. Kaila, Ellen, and I all chose to do homestays as well, while Dan, Greta, Tully, and Sarah stayed in the hostel and ate delicious meals that they cooked themselves. Sarah and Ellen were quite excited to find gouda at a nearby store.
My family was, as far as I could tell, actually composed of the three families of 3 brothers. My actual host father was the middle brother. Even though he, his wife, and his 4 year old daughter were actually my host family, all three families acted right away as if I had been there for a very long time.
Our third day in Varanasi, we started our internships. I chose to do stone-carving and jewelry-making, along with Tully (both of us deciding to do the two because we could take physical objects away from each. We are, after all, material girls). Kaila chose to do fire-dancing and sitar, Ellen chose jewelry-making and fire-dancing (after deciding against ayurvedic cooking), Sterling decided on ayurvedic medicine and yoga, Sarah on Bollywood dance, Dan on extra Hindi lessons and Greta on jewelry-making and yoga. Needless to say, we were all quite busy, dividing our time among spending time with our families, going to our internships, and Hindi lessons. In our free time, we were tasked with seeing as much of Varanasi as we could.
While I had a wonderful time doing my internships and learning Hindi in Varanasi, I think my homestay was one of the bigger parts of my experience. My family, at the time I was staying there, told me that “tomorrow we are having a party.” This “party” turned out to be an engagement party for one of the daughters of the oldest brother. Apparently, the party was quite small (though it didn’t seem that way to me; there were at least 70 guests, all crammed onto the family’s roof). They were quite happy to have me there, and I even got to take a picture with the happy couple. The next day, I was informed, I should be at the house all day for a “worship”. This also turned out to be a massive understatement. While I was unable to stay at the house all day Monday, when the “worship” started, I came back that night to find the whole street leading up to the house covered by a large tent and a small stage right outside the front door to the house. The “worship” turned out to be another big party, with singers and a small skit, none of which I understood. I went to sleep at midnight, but I didn’t actually get to sleep until 4 or 5 am, when the music stopped. But I have absolutely no regrets. And the food was delicious. Somehow, my family managed to feed 100+ people, and I saw at least 1000 roti. Indians take big parties to a new level.
We said goodbye to Varanasi on Thursday as we boarded our 20 hour train to Rishikesh. Next up: resting in Rishikesh and a yoga retreat!