Friends and Neighbors

Hey, it's been a while. I've been sick, and also lost my internet connection for a while. But I'm back on the blog wagon!

I've been going out and doing things with people! A few weeks ago, one of my student's mothers, Udaya, invited me to a dance performance on the beach. Udaya is a classically trained Carnatic dancer, and an excellent one. So I piled into a car with a bunch of ladies wearing saris as they all exclaimed how thin and old I was. (According to my body size, I appear to be 19, not 26. I was like a freak of nature to them. So not only should I have several babies by now, but I should also be a bit chubbier. Oh well.) Once we got there, we talked about how Carnatic music heals the soul. The music struck me as incredibly beautiful, I was actually surprised. It was the best music I've heard in India so far. Udaya was also an incredible and expressive dancer. The dances tell traditional stories. One was about paying devotion to Lord Krishna, and making flower garlands. I don't remember the rest of the explanation, but I think there was some slaying of demons in there as well. It was a super peaceful way to spend a Friday evening.



My neighbors in my apartment building are also wonderful. I made friends with my downstairs neighbor Priya because she is the resident gardener, and I have been trying to start a garden on my balcony. On Sundays a man sells plants whose roots are wrapped in a sleeve of plastic on MG Road, and I've seen where to get the pots.... The only hurtle was where to find the extra dirt to fill in around the plant. I noticed Priya had some empty pots (empty of plants, but full of dirt) in her rooftop garden. So I rung her bell with a proposal to buy some pots of dirt from her. I explained how I knew it was a silly request, but I only had a bicycle and it was difficult to ride outside of the town to go to a plant nursery. Priya told me to meet her on the roof at 6, when the sun wasn't so hot.

So at six Priya not only gave me several pots of dirt, but also several plants, and helped me repot a flowering tree I had bought. Priya took one look at the pot I had bought it in and said, "Too small." My garden has grown from two plant to six because of Priya. I also went to the birthday party of Priya's five-year-old daughter, who totally reminded me of myself when I was 5. We had similar tastes in dress-up dresses:




Vidiya, Krishna, and their son Vidiji are my neighbors who live directly across the hall from me. They are quickly becoming my family away from home. Vidiya touches base with me once or twice a day. I go to their flat for tea and a chat, they come to my flat for tea and a chat, Vidiya took me to their family doctor when I was sick and brought me food to eat, she's there to talk to the internet people in Tamil for me .... the list of little everyday things that they help me with goes on. I also really enjoy my conversations with them. They love talking about yoga, spirituality, American culture and Indian culture. Plus they are my main gurus right now for learning all about the Hindu gods, something I'm endlessly fascinated with. It is nice to have someone to be there for you, but also nice to have someone who understands you as well. They are wonderful. Vidiya is a total godsend!

Leslie and Gary live about five minutes from me, and were the first people I met in Pondicherry. Leslie is the director of the school I work for, and she hired me. In a way, she's the reason why I'm here! She has also been extremely helpful to me. I love going over to their house for an excuse to say hello. They have a library of DVD's and books that I can't wait to tap into... once I find the time! Leslie and Gary were my first dinner guests, and hopefully there will be many more occasions to have people at my table! Leslie and Gary are Americans, but have lived here for 35 years now. They lived in the ashram when the Mother was still alive. Gary helps run the Mother's Service Society which is a really unique research group that studies the texts of Sri Aurobindo and works to bring them into the context of everyday life in Tamil Nadu. Leslie got her Masters here in Pondicherry in History (the books she has on India are daunting and enticing to me at the same time) where she also studied Tamil-- she can read and write it! I think this is really incredible. Primrose school is an extension of the Mother's Service Society, and a successful project that has bloomed in the past ten years to become one of the most unique schools in Pondy. Well, I think Leslie and Gary are totally cool, especially because they have adapted to this culture in such a unique way. They are also a well of exciting information.

Sujata teaches first standard at Primrose. I never see her at work because I work with the older kids, but I do take the bus with her and she also lives about a 5 minute walk away. For this reason, she has taken it upon herself to bring me into her family. This is the definition of Indian hospitality, especially if you are alone. Being "alone" is a concept that is hard to fathom amongst South India culture, and one that is rarely thought of as being pleasant. Therefore, Sujata insisted that I "come over on Saturday and meet my family." Sujata lives with her two sisters, one brother and her mother in a very traditional South Indian home. I have gone to her house twice, the second time to have lunch on the 4th of July. I brought them all icecream cones (kind of like drumsticks) and explained to them that this is what people would be eating in the U.S. on this day. First, we ate a delicious lunch that her mother prepared. It's hard to be homesick when you're eating fantastic food on a banana leaf in the company of a big family. They also love teaching me about Tamil culture, religion and tradition.



To be honest, we really don't have that much else in common, but we all happen to love music! Sujata and her sisters were trained in classical singing, and we spend our time singing each other songs! This is something my family always loved to do. It is such an old fashioned past-time, something that is rarely done in America anymore. Just sitting and sharing songs. No instruments, no record players, no mp3's, no youtube, just voices a'cappella. I really want to learn some of the songs that Sujata and her sisters sing, plus they love singing the American folk songs that I share with them. Sujata's mother said I have a good voice for Indian singing! Sweeeeet!



Ok, I will probably never write in detail about these people again, but for some reason this is the only news I feel I have to share at the moment. I'm writing about these people because they are really important to me. I would be miserable here if I weren't connecting to those around me. It's just so interesting to build relationships from scratch with EVERYONE around you. I mean, I didn't know any of these people until two months ago, and they knew nothing about me either. It's all about baby steps at this point in the game.