Day of Firsts (Mega Pictures For Your Pleasure!!)

Did you know that India has marching bands? I had no idea until about 5 minutes ago when a marching band (which happened to include all the normal instruments drums, trumpets, saxophones, plus a few random extras… who the heck wants to march with a bassoon?) followed by 20 horses decked out in gold and silver paraded past my balcony. With every block they stumbled amongst the cow dung and motorcycles as they journeyed away from the Ganesh temple, they were swarmed by any onlooker who felt it a good day to be in a parade. Women clothed in yellow and blue saris chatted joyfully while munching on fried bananas and fresh papaya as they picked their way down the street. Near the end, desperate children ran behind, trying to catch up as they pulled their goat or baby brother or kite behind them. Of course I set down my book I had been reading on the balcony and ran to grab my camera, but in the heat of the moment it was not to be found and instead I just sat and soaked up the colorful display of immense happiness. Next time I will have the camera. Trust me, this is India, there will definitely be a next time!

While chopping a fresh bunch of cilantro purchased from the greenery vender who greets me every morning on my way to class, my host mom informed me that today (January 31^st) is Basunt Panchmi, or the first day of spring. Yes you did hear that right, while you are enduring the wonders of Midwestern winters, we are currently experiencing a “cold front” and the first day of spring. New fruit is daily coming into season and I’m presented with a new delight every morning: mango, papaya, fresh grapes, bananas, oranges…wedding season is in high gear, and clear blue skies have calmly situated themselves above the chaos of Jaipur. Basunt Panchmi is associated with the Goddess Saraswati who rides a swan, plays sitar, watches over the world of education, and just happens to enjoy the color yellow. Therefore, today we wear yellow, we eat yellow foods, and think in the mindset of yellow in order to receive blessings from her (you pray to her for help with classes, she helps write music and is a lover of songs, and all around a pretty darn cool lady if you ask me).

Even after studying Hinduism for the past few years, it still amazes me how personally, and even physically, devoted people are to their deities. Religion is completely enveloped in life in the household that I’m a part of. They have a small house God who is daily awoken from his slumber, bathed, fed, given flowers and inscents, and in return he blesses and gives good fortune. Besides the wonderful fruit, I’m greeted in the morning with a small burning candle our host mother has presented to the God and then proceeds to take some of the light symbolically into her hand and pass it over my head in order to bless me and give me good fortunes for the day. Both our host mom and dad walk daily down the street to the Ganesh temple where they take pooja (presenting Ganesh with a small token of affection or merely praying or meditating in his presence) and received Prasad, or holy food as I’ve spoken about before, in return. After asking Ganesh to remove their obstacles (which is one of the things associated with the elephant headed God Ganesh who happens to love eating butter and is friends with a little mouse) they proceed down to another temple to again do pooja and receive Prasad. Daily they bring home multiple sickly sweet, overly rich, blessed pieces of candy and cookies which I feel awkward not eating as it would be definitely wrong to throw out the blessed food with the trash which then gets brought out to feed the pigs or cows living across the street. However, tucking on a few extra pounds around the waist at the cost of pleasing an elephant headed God is something I’m not quite sure I should endure. (I might end up like these monster pigs. They're HUGE. This picture doesn't do them justice because I didn't want to get closer otherwise they snort and run at you. I'm completely scared of the evil crazed pigs)

Speaking of food, this blog entry was interrupted by calls for a late lunch of “Subhji”, which is an ambiguous name for any mixed cooked vegetable, bread, cilantro, lemons, and papaya. Today’s Subji consisted of every vegetable our mother could get her hands on: cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, onions, ginger, and of course mountains of spices. After roughly chopping everything, she put the veggies in a pressure cooker and cooked it until it was mushy but still a little solid, added fresh shelled peas, a few more spices, and then served it to us in little metal bowls. (interjection here again, my little host sister wanted to see what I was doing and informed me the Subhji we had today was in fact named Pavbhaji but when spoken of is still known as Subhji). On top of the Subhji you sprinkle fresh cilantro and squeeze a little lemon juice. Amazing! Our host mom is adorable and a wonderful cook.

Today was a day of firsts for me. Besides the whole marching band/first day of spring extravaganza of the morning, I went for a walk by myself, wore my first headscarf and set of Indian clothes that I had tailored for me, rode in my first cycle rickshaw, visited the old city for the first time, got stopped for the first time in my life by 5 monkeys crossing the road, and took my first picture of a camel! A very successful day all around if you ask me. Even while wearing the traditional dress of India, my almost florescent white skin brought on by months of winter hibernation plus my blondness seems to still draw attention. I’ve come to accept it; however, it’s still unnerving to get singled out by men, grabbed at, followed by grown men and homeless children alike (perhaps that says something about Indian men here….) whenever I step outside my door. Wearing the headscarf today really helped lessen the attention drawn to me as they had to look really closely before realizing I was different, which I think most people don’t take the time to while strolling down the street. Although it still happened a few times. The head scarf also perpetuated the belief within my host family that I’m engaged to Nathan as only people engaged or married within the Hindu faith wear their heads covered so as to not draw attention to themselves. Can’t win can I?

Another first, yesterday was our first Friday field trip through school. Yes yes, we get to take field trips like back in elementary school! We took two bus/van things out to a little city within the county of Jaipur known as Sanganer which is famous as a handicraft center in Rajasthan. They make blue pottery, handmade paper, and block printed textiles following the same traditional ways of production that have been passed down for over 700 years. First we went inside the paper making factory. The paper starts out as left over scraps of cloth from tailors, clothing production, and other random odds and ends. It is cleaned and the color removed. Then, using natural dyes, the cloth is boiled with some enzymes to help break it down. The pulp is then passed through a screen where various color is added and flecks of dried flowers, gold strings, bits of other colored paper, or anything one could ever want is hand mixed in as the water is pressed out. It is then run through a little hand crank machine that flattens the paper piece by piece, dried further, and then hand cut and made into cards, stationary, boxes, journals, notebooks…. It’s much like what is done at the many paper mills in Wisconsin only on a much more micro scale. Everything is done by hand. The pulp is walked from one bin to the next. Two men lift up the screen by hand and press out the water. Women and men sit on the ground cutting each piece to fill orders that get shipped all over the world. Another difference is the use of completely natural dyes. I have no idea how they get such vibrant colors but they showed us different spices, flowers, minerals, and seeds that in combination somehow result beautiful reds, turquoise, greens, purples, yellows and so on. They really do strive to keep things really ecologically sensitive by using recycled products, natural dyes, and reusing their water which I always think is really interesting to hear about it. Sorry, but they wouldn’t let us take pictures inside the factory.

The next stop was at the blue pottery shop. The method is loosely based around Persian pottery and isn’t made on a wheel. Instead, ground up quartz, obsidian, a couple gum pastes from various trees, and a few other minerals are blended together with water to make a dough that feels much like bread dough after it’s risen for some time. Men push the dough into various molds where it is baked, cooled, sanded, hand painted, and re-baked before it is finished. It’s completely gorgeous. They make everything from pots and vases to turtle shaped candle holders, earrings, ashtrays, and pulls for fans.

The same family that owns the small pottery shop (and it has for the past 200 years) also owns and runs the block printing textile shop. Various states around India are famous for different types of textiles, but Rajasthan is known for its block printing. You have maybe seen a screen printed version of this back in the states as it is currently “all the rage” with the bohemian fashion hipsters but this is amazingly more beautiful. A small elderly man gave us a demonstration as he worked to finish a table cloth that would take him at least 9 more hours before completion. Each block is hand carved, and dipped in ink before every application. The man places it on the fabric and strikes it with the back of his hand, re-dips it in the ink, places it on the fabric and repeats over and over again. We were told that the art is in the placement and we were able to each hit the block to make a print. After the first layer of black is applied, a second layer of a different color is stamped on, and then another and another. Some pieces require 5 or more applications of color. The factory specializes in the base color for the fabric. The cloth for each piece starts out as white, but then they grind up old used horse shoes into a powder and use it to dye the fabric a warm yellowy color. Each color used for printing, much like the dyes for the paper, comes from herbs, flowers, and spices. After all the work put into each piece, they still only sell for around 500 rupees or about $10 for a table cloth or bed covering. I’m torn in that respect as there is so much effort and history woven into each textile but it still goes for mere pennies compared with similar efforts in America.

I think that’s enough of my silly rantings for a while. I’m going to do a “day in the life of Krista” sometime this week where I’ll take a bunch of pictures documenting what my day really does look like. I hope you’re enjoying the cold because I kind of do miss the snow a little…. I miss you all so much! Thank you for being wonderful.

Much love!!