Happy New Year!

Everyone ringing in the New Year

Well yesterday was Bengali New Year and we all congregated on Lake Road at one of the host parent's house for a nice lunch. Seeing as it was New Year, we thought we would all dress up in our Indian clothes to make things more authentic. Rachel and I arrived a little late because we had to drape our own saris seeing as Auntie was out of town. After arriving we all took some photos and then proceeded to eat lunch. Our lunch consisted of us sitting on the floor with a banana leaf for a plate. We had rice, chicken with gravy, pakora (dad you should try pakora the next time you eat at your Indian restaurant), dal, and gulab jamun. The food was really good and I sat during most of lunch talking to Vinayak (one of the host brothers who accompanied us to Darjeeling).

Eating on banana leaves

After we ate, we mainly sat around talking and some of our group sang some songs to ring in the New Year. Sucharita (our program director) had us all go around the circle and say a sentence in Bengali (I got down on my knee and told her "I love you", a phrase I was told never to utter to ANY Indian men while I was here or I would surely not be leaving the country). We took a couple more photos and then said our goodbyes.

Rach and I tied our own saris!

Rachel and I then decided to take a taxi to one of the markets and Rachel was somewhat disappointed that some of the shops were closed for the New Year. We wandered around and Rachel eventually found what she wanted and bought a couple more saris for her family members (that girl has a closet-full of them now...I have no idea how they are going to fit in her suitcase). We decided to catch a bus back home and after getting on and going in the wrong direction, we had to get off because we realized that bus 45 and bus 45B do NOT have the same route. We eventually caught the 45B and made it home. I'm not a big fan of traveling around in saris because they can get caught, you can step  on the hem, and men tended to stare at me more due to the fact that I was wearing a sari and also the fact that my white skin is exposed more (I still cannot fathom why it is acceptable to show your stomach but not to wear shorts but I assume it has to do with the legs being a more attractive body part here than the stomach is). One man even started saying to a friend (in Bengali of course) that he should look at the white lady wearing a sari. I gave him my meanest glare as he pointed and gawked. I still feel quite uncomfortable with the way people stare but I am getting better at ignoring it so hopefully by the time I leave, I will be quite accomplished at glaring at onlookers who are leering, and ignoring the rest.

Me in my sari with Swami Vivekananda in the background (I love saying his name!)