As we prepare to go our separate ways here within the next week, many of us are growing painfully nostalgic and reflecting on the adventures that we’ve shared. I, for one, have done more personal reflection than anything else. It seems that my peers on this journey have fostered some very beautiful, deep, long lasting […]
Varanasi
In Banaras, different neighborhoods of the city encompass different kinds of trades, businesses, and art forms. Since my arrival in Banaras, I was told that the musician’s quarters were in a neighborhood called Kabir Chaura, in the north of the city. Since I am a musician and am studying Hindustani gharana sitar, I was more […]
Sweet Moments
Coming up with only one moment, feeling or experience to write about for the Varanasi portion of the program has been a really challenging task. This has easily been my favorite stop that the program itself has made. Despite the warnings that we received about how dirty, busy, crazy Varanasi, (Banaras as we learned to […]
Bodhgaya
Last week, our group took our final long bus ride of the program to the city of Bodhgaya. Bodhgaya is about 6 hours via bus from Varanasi, and it seemed to take forever to get out of the city traffic that morning. We finally arrived in late afternoon, and were bussed through the touristy streets […]
Varanasi
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 […]