happy halloween!

Kali Puja was on Tuesday, and the icon in the pic above reminded me of Halloween.  Kali, the patron goddess of Kolkata, means “black” in Bengali and is associated with destruction.  Unfortunately, I was pretty busy vomiting for much of Kali Puja as a result of some nasty food poisoning, so I was only out pandal-hopping for a couple of hours.  I still managed to see some great stuff though.  Full album here.

durga puja

Durga Puja, the most important Hindu religious festival in Bengal, was earlier this month.  It honors the goddess Durga’s defeat of the demon Mahishasura.  Elaborate temporary structures called pandals are constructed to house intricate icons depicting Durga on her mount (a lion) slaying Mahishasura with Shiva’s trident.  Durga’s four children (Ganesh, Lakshmi, Saraswati, and Kartik) are depicted as well.  There are thousands of these put up throughout Kolkata.  The creativity and engineering that goes into many of these is unbelievable.  At the end of the 5-day festival, the idols of Durga are immersed in the Hooghly River.

Full gallery of Durga Puja pics (icons, pandals, immersion) are here.

civic dutifulness

I dropped it off at the US Consulate in Kolkata this morning, and then ate some luchi afterwards to celebrate. 

what's my deal?

Before I arrived in India, I wondered how people would “read” me here. My Bengali is pretty good, but I definitely sound foreign, and my accent and much of my vocabulary are much more Dhaka Bengali then Kolkata. But beyond that, how would people perceive the way I walk and carry myself, the clothes I wear, my haircut? Would they think that I’m a Bengali who grew up abroad? Or would they think that I’m Bangladeshi? Or something else all together? I constantly want to ask people where they think I’m from, though perhaps a more apt question would be “what do you think my deal is?” Though I don’t go around asking this question to every random person that I interact with, there have been a few occasions when people have brought it up. Here are some situational examples, all within a few days of each other:

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Scenario #1: At Metropolitan Supermarket

Me: Where can I find the gram flour?
Salesman: (leads me to aisle) Over here.
Me: Do you have smaller bags?
Salesman: (points it out, then takes a good look at me) Do you live abroad?
Me: (incredulous) Yes.

What I’m thinking after this interaction: Crap, what gave it away? I barely even said anything. I need to work on my accent. And stop wearing bright fuchsia t-shirts. And comb my hair. But who am I kidding, I’m not going to do those last two. I’ll just work on my accent.

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Scenario #2: On Rashbehari Avenue

Me: Excuse me.
Bengali Vegetable Vendor: (looks to face me)
Me: Which way to Triangular Park?
Bengali Vegetable Vendor: (in Hindi) You go straight, and then turn right.
Me: (continuing in Bengali) The next right, or the one after?
Bengali Vegetable Vendor: (still in Hindi) The one after.

What I’m thinking after this interaction: Why would a Bengali guy respond to me in Hindi when I’m speaking to him in clear, albeit accented, Bengali? Is it that he can hear that my Bengali isn’t perfect, so he assumes I’m not a native Bengali-speaker, but perhaps a Hindi-speaker trying to speak Bengali? So is he just trying to be polite by speaking to me in Hindi? Crap, maybe I should learn Hindi, too.

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Scenario #3: At the metro ticket counter

Me: Give me five four-rupee tickets please.
Ticket guy: All on one ticket?
Me: No, separate ones.
Ticket guy: (giving me the tickets) Have you come from Bangladesh?
Me: (less incredulous that in Scenario #1) Yes.

What I’m thinking after this interaction: Dammit, this guy can tell just from how I pronounce my numbers that I speak Bangladeshi Bengali. I really need to work on my West Bengali accent. But at least he didn’t think I’m from abroad. Huzzah!

they don't make passport pics like they used to

Since instead of returning to the States I'm moving to Bengal for a while, a reverse migration of what my parents did several decades ago, I thought I'd share this pic to mark the transition. These are the passport pictures from the passports that my parents first came to the US with.

bharat

So I've been in India for over a month and have been meaning to post, but I don't have internet access at home so it's a little difficult. I'm going to try to be better about it from now on.

Here's a pic that I think represents my transition from Egypt to India... a detail of Arabic calligraphy on the Taj Mahal.

packapackapacka

I leave for India tomorrow and finally need to actually pack everything into my suitcase.

Of course, my choice of things to pack this time around has been greatly influenced by spending a year in Cairo. The following is a conversation that I had with a guy in a souq in Cairo, in my terrible (TERRIBLE!) Arabic. I'm trying to buy a laundry bag. Let's listen in...

Me: I need a big bag for my clothes before I wash them.
Guy: (blank stare) You want to wash your clothes in a bag...?
Me: No no, a need a bag to keep my clothes in BEFORE I wash them.
Guy: Why don't you just wash your clothes without a bag?
Me: Please, just tell me, do you sell any big bags?
Guy hands me a garbage bag.

Needless to say, I'm bringing a laundry bag with me to India.