A Festive Weekend

Though neither my hosts nor I were celebrating the Hindu festival of Diwali, it has been impossible not to notice it in recent days and this has set something of a tone for our weekend. A bit like Christmas in the UK, many things shut for a few days and taught classes did not run on Saturday. Work did not entirely stop for us though and we had a very productive teaching review meeting on Saturday morning. This was especially useful as it was the first time that Mark, Shakyajata and I had been able to make time to come together for a chat about how things were going without then having to dash into a classroom or jump on a bus back to our respective campus. Having had a week of experience teaching together and getting to know one another and both student groups a little more, this became a really useful opportunity with lots of positive decisions made. Next week is now planned just enough, not too much to eliminate flexibility, with an even distribution of teaching tasks that we each feel well able to independently plan, prepare and deliver. I’m genuinely looking forward to it, both in teaching my ‘own’ content and seeing how my two experienced colleagues manage ‘their’ particular topics. Actually, such was my enthusiasm for my tasks that I came straight away from the meeting and began preparing for my first session; a ‘test run’ of an a practical activity and the creation of a gapped worksheet that I will use alongside it to introduce new vocabulary in the context of instruction verbs. Not only was it good to ‘strike while the iron was hot’ so to speak, it also meant I could really ‘switch off’ my work head and enjoy our planned afternoon together that we had agreed after a really enjoyable Saturday evening last week.

After lunch, Mark and I strolled out for a further explore of Bhilgaon village before wandering back round to the Nagaloka Buddhist training complex. I’ve pretty much got to the point where my confidence is such that I might have done this alone but it is rather nice to have a companion when you attract curious stares and the ‘Please ma’am, just one selfie!?’ demands. Having said this, I do think that two western faces tend to attract more of this kind of attention in the first place so it’s a bit of a double edged sword! Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable hour while the others rested and our main afternoon activity of a big shopping trip could begin in earnest!

The family have received a wedding invitation for next weekend, to which we are invited by extension and so we needed (OK, I’ll be honest, wanted, but it’s a great excuse) to buy some appropriate clothes. For Mark, this entailed a smart shirt, for Shakyajata, a nice, dressy kurta (tunic over trousers) and for me… well, I’ve decided to be brave and have a go at a sari! I’ve been told they aren’t easy to walk in and I will certainly need some help getting dressed but I’m up for it. I think. One new cultural clash I shall face is that whilst I find I am sometimes resentful of being ‘made’ to swelter in long trousers and with my shoulders covered every day, it is not considered at all risqué to bare ones midriff… and of course the tiny ‘blouse’ (that I would call a crop top) I will be wearing under the sari is going to leave me more publically exposed in that area than I am accustomed to. Still, I shall get over it. If I can cope with mixed sex communal showering at German computer parties, I’m sure I can cope with showing a little bit of tummy at an Indian wedding. This is a challenge I’ve yet to face though and procuring said garments in the first place was something of a trial in its own right!

We had decided that after catching the bus into town, we would be able to find all our purchases on Dr Ambedkar Road, one of the main shopping areas and also the site of the Saturday market. This would have been busy enough on any regular Saturday but on the Diwali weekend it was even more so. Imagine Oxford Street on Christmas Eve. Now imagine that the pavements have been removed so the pedestrians and vehicles are trying to share the same thoroughfare. Now add a row of market stalls in between the shop fronts and the constantly jostling pedestrian/traffic mash. Remove observation of traffic laws and pedestrian crossings. Add smog and a liberal sprinkling of agitated hooting. Add more of both of those. OK. Now you might be starting to get an idea of the sensory overload that is a shopping trip on Dr Ambedkar Road on a normal Saturday. Square that for Diwali.

We managed to find Mark’s shirt and my sari (as well as a rather lovely scarf for Shakyajata) in an ‘emporium’, which is sort of like a rather basic (and slightly confusing) department store. To choose the sari, we were invited to sit on chairs at a kind of low stage, upon which a salesman would liberally spill great lengths of rich fabric from their plastic wrappers, plucking them from a shelf behind him when asked. I began to despair; I don’t like shopping at the best of times and there were so many possibilities. Of course, my eye kept roving to the ones that were way outside of my price limit and I was aware that my indecision was not just draining my time but also that of my fellow shopping buddies and the patient salesman. “How about this one?” No. “How about that one?” No. “This one perhaps?” Hmmmm… No. “Ah. How about that one, there, the turquoise one with gold embroidery and a flash of red trim? And how much?” Finally, I’d found the one! Fortified by my mercifully brief rummage, I even managed to spot a dress I rather liked the look of and added that to my purchases, which were confusingly whisked away by the separate retailers as soon as I’d agreed to buy them. Sheetal didn’t seem concerned by this though so I went along with it, watching in interest as the items were scanned and then dropped into a big chute! I was presented with two slips of paper, one for each garment, that I was required to take to a desk downstairs for checkout. On presenting the slips to the cashier, you pay (My debit card worked! Result!), before having your slip stamped; but you are not yet furnished with your purchases until you have visited a second desk, where your items are retrieved by another worker on presentation of your payment receipt. I’m sure there’s some logic to it somewhere but it seemed like an unnecessarily drawn out process to my mind. If that appeared to have exhausted me, I needed to forget it because we weren’t even near finished. I still needed to buy a ready-made blouse (the sari fabric comes with a bit extra attached for you to make your own but unfortunately (or maybe for the best) Sheetal’s sewing machine is not working. I also needed a petticoat to wear under the sari. And to think some women wear these every day! These were thankfully a little simpler to get and I even managed to haggle 50 Rupees off the blouse while Mark located some strawberry flavour Kellogg’s cornflakes and Shakyajata found a kurta and trousers that she liked. Fighting our way up and down Dr Ambedkar Road was a trial however and by the time we stopped by a sweet stall for Mark to go inside and buy some paneer (cheese), we were all exhausted and really ready for some supper!

Vegan Food Fail #1 - Quite tasty with cheese bombs eliminated!

Shakyajata Enjoys her Pizza...

...whilst Mark anticipates breakfast!

A Packed Dhamma Class!

On Sunday, we have a two hour Dhamma class; Buddhist teaching led by Shakyajata. This is mostly for the students but Mark and I can join in as Sheetal translates into Hindi. This week, the young men came out on the bus to join us and it was really nice to see both groups together, though it did mean the shrine room was bursting at the seams and became almost unbearably stuffy. I confess, I slunk out early; sometimes it is useful to recap basic things you are familiar with but I felt my time would be better spent not draining anymore oxygen from the cramped space so I slightly ashamedly took myself off for a spot of yoga in my room instead. After lunch, we sought some shady outside space at Nagaloka again. We are very lucky to have a local green area, something I’ve become really aware of since Mark’s arrival and residence in the city centre. He’s certainly keen to spend time a little further out of the city when he can. We whiled away a pleasant two to three hours just chatting about not very much at all before heading back for the evening puja and meditation, but the highlight of the afternoon was a very close up view of a Grey Langur monkey, who seemed completely unperturbed by our presence despite our attempts to attract his attention!

The Diwali holiday continues into the beginning of the new week and so we have no classes tomorrow but we have instead planned a picnic trip to the Deekshabhoomi for both the young men and young women's groups. It’ll be the first time I’ve visited the place in daylight and without a crush of people thronging to celebrate the conversion anniversary (See Friday Night at the Deekshabhoomi) so I’m looking forward to the trip for that reason, as well as to spend some social time with the students. Fingers crossed the hired van turns up on time and gets us there. Normally when arranging a student trip, knowing we’d be going by coach would be a significant relief but I somehow have an inkling that in India, it’ll not be perhaps quite so straight forward. It’s certain to be an adventure though, whatever happens and I’m sure there’ll be more stories to tell very soon!