I’ve been thinking about culture shock lately. Before we left for India I asked a lot of people what culture shock was like, and it didn’t ever seem like anyone was able to give me a straightforward answer. The response was always different, and vague. There wasn’t any concrete sign of it, it seemed, that […]
Diwali Mubarak!
Diwali Mubarak! Happy Diwali! Though this post is a bit belated, “crackers” (fireworks) still continue occasionally during the days, making me think that this post is not so late after all. Diwali is a celebration of light (not unlike other autumn/winter holidays), a homecoming for Lakshmi, and a week (or two) of fireworks. Diwali is […]
Host Family
For my first week in Banaras, I stayed with a host family in the neighborhood of Lanka. They were a family of four who welcomed me kindly into their home. Ruchika and Sandeep were my host parents and Pari and Khushi, my host sisters. It was my first time having a host family so I […]
Life, Interrupted
“Because I was alone, however, the mundane seemed charged with meaning.” The following phrase was taken from Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction piece Into the Wild, a book highly recommended to me by multiple friends, and that I had told myself over and over again to read but the suggestion would always slip my mind. On some mild […]
Diwali Mubarak!
Diwali Mubarak! Happy Diwali! Though this post is a bit belated, “crackers” (fireworks) still continue occasionally during the days, making me think that this post is not so late after all. Diwali is a celebration of light (not unlike other autumn/winter holidays), a homecoming for Lakshmi, and a week (or two) of fireworks. Diwali is […]