festivals, monuments, revolutionary poets

I know, I know. I said I would post pictures, then I didn't. I have no excuses. I hope I'll get them up sometime. If not I'll just do one of those cool online albums so ya'lls (ezra) can see them.

We are back in the swing of school and there is so much to do. I have to organize an interview with a professor at JNU in Delhi for my independent study project. We are getting underway with the planning of our ISP's.... it's crazy but so, so exciting. I was fascinated with the artist Nandalal Bose, but then I came across the poetry, plays, short stories, and basic philosophical writings of Rabindranath Tagore (who founded Santiniketan, which is now Visva-Bharati, an art school based on ashram values in West Bengal- Bose attended the school and was part of Tagore's inner circle of intellectual hoo-hahs), and I think he's pretty hip to the jive. So, now my goal is to convince my uber-academic AD that doing a study of Tagore through collage is relevant.... I still have to write a 20 page paper so I can't imagine why she wouldn't let me do it. Either way, I will do it.... so we'll see what happens.

I should talk for a moment about the trip. We saw some really amazing things. My favorite monuments being the Gwalior Fort, the temples of Khajuraho, Datia, and of course the Taj Mahal. Gwalior Fort was really cool because it's built into a hillside, which I loved. The Taj is truly incredible and was especially satisfying because we went there at 5 am. We were the first in line to enter at 6 am and we got to have about 15 minutes to ourselves. There was no one in or around the building, and it was shrouded in mist. Truly, truly awe inspiring. It was also the first tomb tht actually felt like it was "haunted" or something. I went into the main chamber and even the faintest whisper would resonate all the way into the dome - very eerie and beautiful.

It was also really great to get out of Delhi. We saw the countryside, and we saw poverty on a level that is sometimes (not that often, but sometimes) hidden in Delhi. Agra was especially disturbing... but at least we are all in group and there's an oppurtunity to discuss what we see.

Anyway, the festival season is still in high swing. This Saturday is Diwali (kind of like Christmas except, according to the Indians, MUCH MUCH better). The city is decorated with lights and I'm expected to get a sari. Our family is having a huge, huge dinner. This past Saturday we had a dinner for the beginning of Diwali week - and I guess you have to gamble so we played poker until about 2 am. I say we, but I really mean the men played poker. My aunty's daughter (Jaya) is hilarious and informed me that Indian men are chauvinists, after her husband Rajiv (who is also a jokester) told us we had to stay one more hour. There's an interesting power dynamic. Rajov told Jaya we would stay, then Jaya sent her daughter over and Rajiv immediately got up because, in this family, the daughter has ALL the power. They're a great family.

Hope all is well. I'll check in again soon.