Diwali, Diwali, don't put me in that sari!!

Ah, Diwali, the festival of lights here in India. Today is the true day of Diwali (though from all the festivities of the past week one can't really discern one festive day from the next) and I had my initiation into "true Indianness." Yes, that's right. I wore a sari today. I will be wearing one tonight too, for puja (prayer) to Lakshmi (goddess of wealth). Saris are beautiful, yes. Saris feel wonderful, yes. But are saris really fun to wear? No, no. No. Let me tell you a story of my sari afternoon. (haha, get it, sari-sorry)

Aunty wanted me wear my new (maroon) sari for a little Diwali luncheon with her husband's family. He is deceased, but she is, of course, still invited to the family functions. So, about 1 1/2 hours before we left for the party, I was told to put on my sari. Well, of course I couldn't do it myself, so Aunty came into my room to help me. I guess the sari I have is a bit long, and she had to get help from the servant downstairs... so I was being pushed and proded and turned around by two elderly women as they attempted to get the meters and meters of silk wound around my body. Now, once this was finished, I tried to walk. Then I realized that the sari is the Indian equivilent of the corset, though this particular fashion restricts your legs rather than your abdomen. I think I prefer a restricted abdomen...

Anyway, so now the sari was on. I looked pretty and whatnot. (pictures, yes I know, I know). But then we went to the party. Now, this was not just any old Diwali party. We ended up at a lawn party under a tent with fancy outside furniture. Everything was yellow and gold and pink. The party was chock full of fashionable, hip, young Indians. I might add that these people are all exceeding wealthy, as well. So, of course, I am the only young person in a sari other than the 11 year old girl with the braces and glasses who decided to sit next to me at lunch. I chatted with a Punjabi woman who went to Colby (wow! small world) and an American girl (in a very revealing outfit) whose grandmother is Indian. It was a nice lunch, but I was in a sari. Every time I sat or walked or got up I had to shift it and adjust it and then I felt really strange, like some dorky Indian-obsessed American girl who crashed the elitist-Western-influenced class of Delhi.

This was, I have to say, the most culturally enlightening experience I've had yet.

But, that's all said and done. I'll put the sari back on when I get home. Delhi is beautiful right now... Diwali means candles and christmas lights and gifts a plenty! It's pretty much Christmas, except it's 80 degrees and we're eating curry, not pot roast (pot roast? do we eat pot roast at Christmas?).

To respond to my dear brother Ezra, there are monkeys. They come on the roof of our school and eat the chair cushions and we have to get a monkey wala to come and bring his BIG monkey to chase away the small ones. Very exotic. Also, there are men who ride around my neighborhood with monkeys on the back of their bikes, dressed in little outfits. It's sad. They can dance and it makes me sad. That's all about the monkeys. They're kind of like chickadees here, or... racoons. More like racoons.

There was something else I wanted to tell you all... oh! The other day we were shopping for Diwali and I found the most beautiful paper in the world (oh, India!). Also, the area we were shopping in (GK N-Block Market) decided to celebrate the holiday by playing such American hits as "I believe in miracles," "Doing That Thing You Do" (from that old movie written by Tom Hanks?), and various Stevie Wonder tunes. Huh. India?

Oh, and I was very, very ill yesterday, but now I'm fine. Had a freak attack of super-tummy-death-world. That's what I'll call it, for lack of a better phrase. But now I'm all right. I sat on Aunty's couch, drank Limca (the best soda ever), and watched TERRIBLE Hindi television.

I'm going on a trip again on Monday - this time to the West, to Orissa and Kolkata! I get to scope out the city I'll be in for one month of my ISP period!
Mucho love. Happy Diwali.