After such a sensory-overloaded weekend in Mumbai, I thought for a moment that maybe I had had enough...of the Ganpati festival at least, maybe even festivals in general. Silly me! That thought has proven to be naive, as the festival is still going full force in Hyderabad. I've completely recovered emotionally and physically and am ready to leap back into the dizzying array of colors, smells, sounds and tastes.
I hung around campus the last few days, partly because the monsoon finally decided to arrive and to go outside would be to take a shower with your clothes on, only more successful considering the low-pressure shower heads at Tagore. I was also catching up on sleep lost during our two 16 hour train rides 2 days apart. Last night, during sitar practice, we heard drums and explosions coming from right outside the hostel, so naturally we leapt up to see what the commotion was. Outside the front door was an enormous Ganesh statue on wheels, and around 30 dancing Indians throwing orange powder into the air and shouting, "ganpati bappa moriya!" Alas, we couldn't join in the celebration because we were learning a tricky song, but honestly how many times can one say they missed one ganpati festival procession because they were at sitar practice?? I got over it pretty quick. Later, in the cab on the way to the karaoke bar, we couldn't drive half a mile without seeing another ganesh idol accompanied by adoring devotees dancing around it and celebrating.
As some of you might know, Ramazan (Ramadan) also began last Sunday. It's no secret that the Muslims and Hindus of India don't always see eye to eye, so I was curious if the two overlapping holidays were the source of conflict. I asked my Islamic Culture in India teacher, and she just rolled her eyes and said, "of course, it's all very political..." She went on to describe the different ways in which the Muslims and Hindus tried to irritate each other...like playing their shrine music very loud at the exact time of the Muslim call to end the fast for the day, and conducting chaotic processions down the road during prayer time. Both sides are guilty, of course. I haven't seen or heard of any violence happening this year, and let's hope that it doesn't. Honestly.....why can't we all just get along?