One More Festival

Yesterday was another festival. This one is only celebrated by married women, it's especially popular in the Punjabi caste. All of the married women at school were wearing nice saris and many of the had mehendi (henna) on their hands. Wives fasted all day yesterday and in the evening they did pooja and prayed for their husband's health, happiness, longevity, prosperity, and faithfulness. At one of the hotels in town, thousands of women got together and spent two hours praying. When the moon was out and clearly visible, a ceremony was preformed. For the ceremony, you have to face a certain direction even if it means standing in the street. After that, they could have dinner. Some people have really big family gatherings at night.
Shruti and I went to visit her old apartment building for dinner. We saw their old apartment and then had dinner with the couple across the hall. Shruti grew up with them living across the hall and she would go across and visit them as soon as she could walk, they are like her second parents. They were really nice and the wife was so excited to meet me.

Yesterday, on the bus, I talked to a kid on the school bus who asked me what country I was from. When I I told him I was from the U.S. he told me his sister went to college there, at a school in a really small school on the Canadian border called Dartmouth. I told him that was basically where I lived. The other younger kids on the bus were confused because they thought I was from Boston since when I explain where I'm from, I usually say "My state is Vermont, it's sort of near Boston." I wish I had a map of America that I could carry around in my pocket to show people where I'm actually from. I could also show people where other places they ask about are in relation to where I live. Some people assume that places like California are near to me even though I try to explain that I'm all the way on the other coast and that the Canada border it REALLY long, all the way across the top of the country.

Rotary, Rotary, Rotary

This weekend was very busy. Saturday after school, we went to one last garba. It was a big celebration for all of the Rotary clubs in the city. An even t like this really gives you a perspective for the size of the Rotary community in the city. There were vendors, food, dress contests, female club members and the wives of club members from each club had prepared dances and competed. There was also open garba when everyone got a chance to dance. The night lasted very late but was very fun!
Sunday, was the official District Governor's visit to my the club that my host father it president of. We had her and a few other important people over for breakfast where Shruti, Lata, and I severed and ate separately. We didn't interact with the Rotarians much until the evening when we went to the District Governor meeting. Many Rotarians were there and again, the evening went very late, almost later than the dance. It was a very busy weekend but I had a fun especially because I got to dress up in Indian clothes all weekend. I wore a sari on Saturday and Sunday night I wore one of my salwar suits.
I have school all six days this week but it's the last week before Diwali break which I am really looking forward to. It's supposed to be a very big festival.

Clothing

India is such a beautiful and vibrant country. The people have an ancient and colorful culture which is, perhaps, most obviously displayed through clothing.
Traditional Indian clothing varies from greatly across the country but almost everywhere, you'll find people wearing vibrant colors. On the streets of Indore, the city where I live, one will always find a medley of both  the colorful "traditionals" and "westerns." On the most part, the grown and married women wear saris, kurtis, or salwar suits. From what I've seen, younger women and girls tend to lean towards wearing "westerns" but there are still many younger people who wear the traditional clothing as well. Jeans and t-shirts are very common, so is a combination of traditional and western, jeans with a short kurti on top. Most of my friends and host sisters have told me they much prefer westerns. One of my past host sister's looked at me like I was crazy when I said I wanted to buy lots of traditionals. When girls wear westerns they aren't like those that we wear at home, pants or skirts should be a respectable length (skirts usually go only a little above the knee at the shortest) and shirts usually don't show shoulders or too much chest. During festivals, you see many more girls in traditionals, especially when there is a major public event involved. The only time I've seen a girl wearing shorts is around the hose and even then, the shorts are fairly long by our standards.
For things like birthday parties, girls often dress up in "one pieces" (dresses) it doesn't seen so common for a casual dress to be worn during the day.
Most men and boys seem to wear westerns more than traditionals. It's certainly more common, on the street to see males in pants and t-shirts or button downs. I have seen many, many playboy t-shirts on young men too. Most of the men I've met who wear traditonals regularly are much older, in both of my host families the grandfathers wear traditionals on a regular basis. Again, during special events of major holidays, you'll see many more men wearing kurtis or other traditionals but the percentage is still lower than the women wearing them.
Clothing to school is a totally different story, forget lots of bright colors. All schools below college have uniforms. At my school, we have jeans and a white polo t-shirt for boys and girls can wear that or a denim top and white bottom salwar suit. Other schools vary, at some the boys have to wear slacks and button downs and ties. Girl's uniforms differ more, there are salwar suits, pleated skirts and blouses, pleated dresses and blouses, and sometimes for younger girls a sailor style dress. On the way to school in the morning, I try to memorize which school has which uniforms because once you know that, you can tell what school anyone goes to. Schools also have very specific rule like, girls have to have their hair up preferably in braids, no nail polish, no dangle earring, no jewelry etc.
Traditional clothing is my favorite. For the nine days festival, I got to wear and see some spectacular patterns and clothing! The jewelry isn't so bad either....
People ask me what traditional clothes in the US look like and I usually say that we don't have them. I guess I could describe native american clothing, or colonial clothing but that's not the same. I am almost jealous of these people who still wear the same style clothing that they have been wearing for hundreds of years. I wish we had a cultural heritage that old that was still so alive. Plus the clothing here is just gorgeous.

The pictures I'm adding are what I could find in way of examples for the clothing. Some of the pictures might be ones I've used before, there are also probably good examples of traditional wear in other posts too.

At the garba on the night of Sebastian's birthday. Jordan (left) is wearing his kurti with jeans. I'm wearing a sari. Sebastian is wearing his "kurti pajamas," a traditional way for men to wear kurtis (the exchange student boys have a hard time getting used to wearing the close fitting pants). Hannah (right) is wearing lehenga.

Very often, women wear traditional clothing out while men tend to wear western clothes.

This night I was wearing lehenga and the others in this picture are all wearing saris.

One of my kurtis. A kurti is usually worn with leggings or jeans and a scarf called a "stole" or "dupatta."

This night I was wearing a salwar suit which is a kurti top with loose baggy pants and a scarf. The salwars are probably the most comfortable pants I have ever worn!

Sebastian's birthday. My host sister was wearing a sari. A sari has three parts: a blouse which can be long or short and the sleeve sizes vary, a plane colored petty-coat skirt on the bottom, and then a very big piece of cloth that is wrapped around and tuck into the skirt and the draped of the shoulder. A lehenga also has three parts: a blouse the same as with a sari, a long skirt that is patterned and usually matches the blouse, and a piece of fabric smaller than with a sari that is tucked in a little to the skirt draped of the opposite side shoulder and then pinned in front. In the first picture, you can see how Hannah's lehenga is set up.

We are each wearing a different style of traditional dress.

The baggy pants of a salwar suit are VERY comfortable!

An example of a school uniform, this was a school in Bhopal.

Another traditional outfit for men here modeled by this little boy. 

Happy Dussehra

The night after Sebastian's birthday, there wasn’t dance but instead, a group of singers came and preformed and people danced to the music a little. For dinner, we went to the India equivalent of a baby shower. It was a HUGE function held in honor of a newborn baby boy. The mother and father sat on a stage receiving gifts and congratulations while a sister took care of the baby. There were hundreds of people there and it was a big, grand catered event. We wore our traditional clothing. 

After that we stopped by the dance area and listened to a few songs. A few of my friends were there and we danced some. There were hundred of marigolds that people grabbed handfuls of and pulled the petals off then through in the air or at people while they were dancing. I also received large handfuls thrown into my hair upon arrival (teach the foreigner the traditions the hard way... : )...). It was very cool to step back and see the group of people dancing in a storm of yellow rain. It was another one of those instances that I wished I’d had my camera. 

Friday was the last night of dance so it went pretty late. The little kids got all dressed up and did a costumed contest, there were also some small skits or songs to go with some of the contuses. The kids dressed up as everything from and ping-pong player and Beckham to Kishna and Rama.

Saturday after school we were able to just relax. Shruti had some friends over. There was a ceremony and some unofficial dancing but we didn't go. I could see and hear the music out my room window until late at night.

Saturday was the last day of Navaratri but Sunday was a whole new festival. Last night we celebrated Dussehra which is a holiday when evil is dispelled by the burning of idols of the ten headed devil, Ravana. All of the city both small and massive statues were built and burned all over the city and fireworks are were set off all evening. We went to see a massive one burnt down, it was in an area where thousands of people gathered. They started with fireworks and sparklers sort of sporadically set off. Approaching the climax though, the fireworks became more of a show worthy of the Fourth of July. The major event was the lighting of the idol. It was lit by a firework shot into it’s stomach and a few sparklers in it’s feet. The materials soon caught on fire and as the idol began to burn, hundreds more fireworks hidden inside the construction were set off. Seconds after it was lit, we could feel the heat from where we were, sitting on the roof of a third floor building way across the street. The construction it's self was probably taller than the building we were on. It was spectacular, really loud, and pretty awe-inspiring. In the neck of the giant Ravana there was a whole, huge box of fireworks which took several minutes to finish off.

Today (Monday) was a state holiday but my school decided to have a working day instead. We were one of the only schools to be in session today. On the way to school, I saw only one other school's bus when we usually see dozens of different schools picking up their students.

Just adding a note that I was mis-informed, the festival that ended on Saturday was not Diwali, someone had told me it was (I'm not saying who) so I wrote it wrongly on here. The festivals that just happened were only a taste of what Diwali (one of the most popular Hindu festivals) will be like.

Dance Pictures

Last night before going to dance we had a bunch of people over for dinner. They were all Rotary or exchange related people. It was Sebastian, from Colombia's birthday so we had a cake and passed around chocolate. We were taught some of the birthday traditions that I had not known. For example, you should always try to leave one candle burning because that represents your life. They also taught us the extra verses to "Happy Birthday." We learned the proper way to cut and feed others the cakes.
 We all went over to the dance area and Hannah and I danced while the boys watched. We were all in traditional clothing and people took lots of pictures with us. When open garba came, the boys were very hesitant to dace but they did anyways. I had a great night last night but again, it was very late.
Tonight's dance is just open garba all night so I my host mother says  I should not go so I can give my ankle a rest. We may go for a little bit because there will be some singing and so we can socialize.

The "diya" dance with the small ceramic candles (the ones I'm using are electric). I'm in the center and my host sister is just behind me.

My friend Shweta with her "dundee," the sticks we use for the garba dances.

My host sister and I in the center of the hard packed dance area. 

My host mother, Lata, and sister, Shruti.

My friend, Deepa, receiving her prize for that evening's "Best Dance Style."  She's a very good dancer. 

My friend, the old woman who is really everyone's friends. She comes every night to the practices and actual dances but rarely daces. She helped me fix my sari one night and is always ready with a smile.

Again, not very good at taking my own picture. This is as I was getting ready last night.

Several of my friends preformed a special dance last night, They had to dance with those pots on their heads which was no easy feat (I tried one time). They were all really nervous but did super well. 

This is a picture of me dancing that Sebastian took last night.