Diwali Break

Arriving at the groom’s house was much less spectacular than I supposed it would be. Family seemed underdressed and sorta sitting around. However little did I know that the festivities were yet to begin. Originally, my host and friend Munish said we’d stay until the afternoon. Some insisting and Indian delaying pressured us into joining the Barat, the process of heading the Bride’s house to initiate the ceremonies of the wedding. Sounds good until we realized it was a 5 hour drive to Amritsar in the neighboring state. I was of course herded into the car full of the groom’s friends and brothers. By the time the ride was done we were calling our the taxi the “mobile party restaurant”. I’ll leave things to the imagination. The wedding proceedings went on and I learned everything about Indian weddings. When Munish and I finally stumbled into our beds at 8:30am, we were certainly ready for sleep.

After spending one more night in the Kangra district with another teacher, Shweta, and her family, I took a bus (gratefully arranged by Shweta) to Dehradun in the next state of Uttrakhan Pradesh. Here I spent a day with Ish Mohan, the physics teacher visiting temples and doing shopping. That night he sent me on my way to my last destination in Rishikesh. I was greeted by my friend Anil at the drop off point. We went back to his home, where his parents, brother Sunil, and their wifes were waiting for us (Anil, Sunil and Karin are all teachers at the school too).

Here I was treated like the third child of the family and felt very at home. The next day, along with a student from our school we went river rafting on the holy river Ganga, or as we in the west know it, the Ganges River. It was a phenomenal experience as the only rain of the week came down on us as we were swept through the white rapids. Come Saturday, when Sunil and I went for one of my  most exciting adventures: finding and exploring the Beatles Ashram. The whole experience really deserves it own post, so that will come later this week.

After a great breakfast and relaxing this Sunday morning, I packed my bags and got ready to leave. I was given a warm good bye by the family, invited to come visit again several times over, (along with offers to find me an Indian bride) a tilak given on my forehead and embraces from everyone. Sunil brought me to the Bus Stand right on time at 1:30 to catch the bus back to Rajasthan. Now I write to you eight hours later with two more to go. Eek! Diwali break, you were awesome. Another journey finished. Back to teaching tomorrow!