Oh my, I have been a slacker when it comes to my blogging, I guess that is a true sign that I am now on the move and can't seem to sit still enough to write out a post. So here is the DL since my last post:
After the first wedding we went to I did get a chance to drape my Saree once again and step out into the most lavish wedding I have ever attended. Driving up to the the entrance was spectacular enough with a giant archway entirely covered in flowers. It was an outdoor wedding, with several tents set around the area for lounging, eating and drinking (yes there was an open bar). Not to mention the entire area was completely covered in flowers as decoration, no lie, there had to have been 1,000,000 flowers used. The main part of the ceremony did not begin until 11pm and was rather long but beautiful, despite the fact that I had no idea what was going on. The thing I loved was that the couple took 7 trips around the holy fire as a symbol of 7 promises to one another... precious. After all that came the food! I could write an entire post about it, so let's just leave it at that....
The weekend after the wedding I ventured out with 3 of my fav girls (minus Yolanda) and went to the Corbett tiger reserve hoping to see a tiger on safari. No such luck, but we did see elephants and barking deer (yes there is such a thing) and got to get out of the stinkiness that is Delhi for the weekend. Once we returned it was my final two days at the school since my volunteering time was coming to an end. It was chaos as usual in the classroom but this time for a different reason, the excitement of Holi was coming! Holi is one of India's biggest festivals of the year where people cover one another with powdered and the not so easily removable wet colour. We started celebrating about 4 days early (actual day was March 8) because of the children adn our host brothers who enjoyed attacking us with water balloons and colour the minute we stepped through the door. We also had a party for the kids complete with samosas, music and colour in a tiny classroom with over 50 kids. FUN! Colour was being thrown in every direction, got in ever crevasse, but it was amazing, such a memorable time to spend my last day with the kids.
After our celebrations me and the girls took off again to Jaipur, which is apparently one of THE places to be for the actual day of Holi. We got there the day before Holi and just in time for the elephant festival! Yes this is where I hugged the elephant, probably one of the highlights of my life! She was so massive and prickly, but to hug her she felt so warm and caring :) One thing I have enjoyed more than I thought I would on my travels have been my interactions with animals. To be so up close and personal with such a magnificent animal really gives a feeling that I just can't describe, she's beautiful, that's it. At the festival we also got doused in colour by some mischievous early celebrators and then swarmed with cameras taking our picture. I don't know why foreigners covered in colour is so interesting, but I guess it was! Unfortunately on actual Holi I wasn't feeling the best, but I still tried my best to participate in the throwing of colour and the free vodka our hotel had set up. Holi really only goes on during the morning where everyone gets boozy and ends about 2pm. We got a chance to go to a local celebration where there were dancing performances and such, but then they put on the bollywood music and the whole crowd got up to dance. Even gotta work on some of my Indian dance moves with the local ladies and show them a few tricks of my own.
Once the celebrations were over with, we washed off the best we could and got on the bus and train again! This time Varanasi bound. Ah Varanasi, the holy of all holy cities can really agitate you when getting off a night train with little sleep and being swarmed by touts and drivers trying to tell you this and that and the wrong thing. My patience gets tried at times... sometimes I fail. Needless to say we made it to our hotel and set out in the holy city for the day. It's a beautiful feeling you're surrounded by in that city. The energy that is given off by the people and the place itself is magical and can be completely felt through your entire being of being there. We walked the ghats taking in the random sights of watching men bath, laundry done on the banks of the river and men in loin clothes chasing cows into the holy water. We also made it to the main burning ghat. For those of you who aren't familiar with Varanasi much of it's tradition, I'll try and explain the best I know, which isn't much. Varanasi is located on the banks of the Ganges River, the main holy river that flows through India. Varanasi is considered a pilgramige sight, where so many Hinus try to ensure they visit at least once in their lives. The burning ghat is along the river bank and is a main cremation sight for Hindus who have passed. It is considered a great honour to be cremated there. I was humbled to be visiting a place where so many Hindus can only dream and hope to visit in their life time. I also felt rather intrusive and out of place at the burning ghats where so many families were mourning the death of a loved one. But we were welcomed and shown a place where we could observe without being offensive. As I watched the workers stack logs of wood, bodies wrapped in decorative wrappings were brought in from the streets after a parade with their family and friends. Everything felt so out in the open for everyone to see. I think I was looking at it from a very western perspective, but I felt almost uncomfortable being in the area. This likely has something to do with the way we have been trained to view death in Canada. While the passing of a loved one is mourned here, I think they might have a better grasp of understanding it, and their traditions allow them to grieve in different ways. I still don't fully understand everything that went on, and it is difficult to put into words from my experience.... it is a very powerful feeling to witness such a grand tradition in such a ceremonially rich culture. I'm rambling... I'll move onto the next experience of Varanasi. In the evening the three of us girls got on a little row boat with a 17 year old boy, Raul. He took us out on the waters where we flew a kite, took in the sunset and set out little paper cups filled with flowers and a lite candle. As we sent out our flowers, we were to say a special blessing for someone we love, mom. From the boat we could see the evening pooja on the shore, which is a beautiful ceremony lasting about half an hour complete with music, chanting and fire. Once again I was humbled as we sat among boats full of Hindu pilgrims who had traveled from all over the country, and I got the opportunity to experience this my first time to India. The next morning we got up early to take in the peace that is the ghats at dawn and watch the morning rituals of so many locals.
After only 1 day (not enough) in Varanasi I was off again, this time on a 24 hour train to another holy city, Amritsar. While I've been travelling on my own since I left Canada in October, I never really had been totally alone. My journey to Amritsar was kind of the beginning of my solo journey, or so I thought. Being a solo traveler doesn't last long. But my journey from there will have to wait until I have refueled my brain. I was up at 5am today to watch the sunrise over Dal Lake and the floating vegetable market.... save those stories for another post! Stay tuned!
After the first wedding we went to I did get a chance to drape my Saree once again and step out into the most lavish wedding I have ever attended. Driving up to the the entrance was spectacular enough with a giant archway entirely covered in flowers. It was an outdoor wedding, with several tents set around the area for lounging, eating and drinking (yes there was an open bar). Not to mention the entire area was completely covered in flowers as decoration, no lie, there had to have been 1,000,000 flowers used. The main part of the ceremony did not begin until 11pm and was rather long but beautiful, despite the fact that I had no idea what was going on. The thing I loved was that the couple took 7 trips around the holy fire as a symbol of 7 promises to one another... precious. After all that came the food! I could write an entire post about it, so let's just leave it at that....
The weekend after the wedding I ventured out with 3 of my fav girls (minus Yolanda) and went to the Corbett tiger reserve hoping to see a tiger on safari. No such luck, but we did see elephants and barking deer (yes there is such a thing) and got to get out of the stinkiness that is Delhi for the weekend. Once we returned it was my final two days at the school since my volunteering time was coming to an end. It was chaos as usual in the classroom but this time for a different reason, the excitement of Holi was coming! Holi is one of India's biggest festivals of the year where people cover one another with powdered and the not so easily removable wet colour. We started celebrating about 4 days early (actual day was March 8) because of the children adn our host brothers who enjoyed attacking us with water balloons and colour the minute we stepped through the door. We also had a party for the kids complete with samosas, music and colour in a tiny classroom with over 50 kids. FUN! Colour was being thrown in every direction, got in ever crevasse, but it was amazing, such a memorable time to spend my last day with the kids.
After our celebrations me and the girls took off again to Jaipur, which is apparently one of THE places to be for the actual day of Holi. We got there the day before Holi and just in time for the elephant festival! Yes this is where I hugged the elephant, probably one of the highlights of my life! She was so massive and prickly, but to hug her she felt so warm and caring :) One thing I have enjoyed more than I thought I would on my travels have been my interactions with animals. To be so up close and personal with such a magnificent animal really gives a feeling that I just can't describe, she's beautiful, that's it. At the festival we also got doused in colour by some mischievous early celebrators and then swarmed with cameras taking our picture. I don't know why foreigners covered in colour is so interesting, but I guess it was! Unfortunately on actual Holi I wasn't feeling the best, but I still tried my best to participate in the throwing of colour and the free vodka our hotel had set up. Holi really only goes on during the morning where everyone gets boozy and ends about 2pm. We got a chance to go to a local celebration where there were dancing performances and such, but then they put on the bollywood music and the whole crowd got up to dance. Even gotta work on some of my Indian dance moves with the local ladies and show them a few tricks of my own.
Once the celebrations were over with, we washed off the best we could and got on the bus and train again! This time Varanasi bound. Ah Varanasi, the holy of all holy cities can really agitate you when getting off a night train with little sleep and being swarmed by touts and drivers trying to tell you this and that and the wrong thing. My patience gets tried at times... sometimes I fail. Needless to say we made it to our hotel and set out in the holy city for the day. It's a beautiful feeling you're surrounded by in that city. The energy that is given off by the people and the place itself is magical and can be completely felt through your entire being of being there. We walked the ghats taking in the random sights of watching men bath, laundry done on the banks of the river and men in loin clothes chasing cows into the holy water. We also made it to the main burning ghat. For those of you who aren't familiar with Varanasi much of it's tradition, I'll try and explain the best I know, which isn't much. Varanasi is located on the banks of the Ganges River, the main holy river that flows through India. Varanasi is considered a pilgramige sight, where so many Hinus try to ensure they visit at least once in their lives. The burning ghat is along the river bank and is a main cremation sight for Hindus who have passed. It is considered a great honour to be cremated there. I was humbled to be visiting a place where so many Hindus can only dream and hope to visit in their life time. I also felt rather intrusive and out of place at the burning ghats where so many families were mourning the death of a loved one. But we were welcomed and shown a place where we could observe without being offensive. As I watched the workers stack logs of wood, bodies wrapped in decorative wrappings were brought in from the streets after a parade with their family and friends. Everything felt so out in the open for everyone to see. I think I was looking at it from a very western perspective, but I felt almost uncomfortable being in the area. This likely has something to do with the way we have been trained to view death in Canada. While the passing of a loved one is mourned here, I think they might have a better grasp of understanding it, and their traditions allow them to grieve in different ways. I still don't fully understand everything that went on, and it is difficult to put into words from my experience.... it is a very powerful feeling to witness such a grand tradition in such a ceremonially rich culture. I'm rambling... I'll move onto the next experience of Varanasi. In the evening the three of us girls got on a little row boat with a 17 year old boy, Raul. He took us out on the waters where we flew a kite, took in the sunset and set out little paper cups filled with flowers and a lite candle. As we sent out our flowers, we were to say a special blessing for someone we love, mom. From the boat we could see the evening pooja on the shore, which is a beautiful ceremony lasting about half an hour complete with music, chanting and fire. Once again I was humbled as we sat among boats full of Hindu pilgrims who had traveled from all over the country, and I got the opportunity to experience this my first time to India. The next morning we got up early to take in the peace that is the ghats at dawn and watch the morning rituals of so many locals.
After only 1 day (not enough) in Varanasi I was off again, this time on a 24 hour train to another holy city, Amritsar. While I've been travelling on my own since I left Canada in October, I never really had been totally alone. My journey to Amritsar was kind of the beginning of my solo journey, or so I thought. Being a solo traveler doesn't last long. But my journey from there will have to wait until I have refueled my brain. I was up at 5am today to watch the sunrise over Dal Lake and the floating vegetable market.... save those stories for another post! Stay tuned!
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