SO, so , so… back from Mussorie! For two weeks I have dreaded coming back to Banaras- the heat, the crowds, the sounds really are overwhelming- however I am extremely happy to finally be home. It is not the greatest living in a hotel room for two weeks with another person. It is nice to be back in my room. I am starting a photbucket account (so pictures can be seen).
Mussorie was so amazing and wonderful respite from the plains. It as I have said before was cold and foggy. Cloud cover and rain could descend at any moment, and somedays we were all stuck for hours in the hotel waiting for the freezing rain to pass.
My Hindi has become perceptibly better and everyday I learn more. I am amazed by the amount I can understand now! It took me three months to get this far in German—I am so excited come April when I am really confident with my Hindi (practice practice practice).
What was great about Mussoorie was to be surrounded by people and to always have company- our group really began forming a great dynamic. We bonded over our shared intense sexual frustration, our Hindi, our interest in India, our love of sweets chai momos samosas and Kasmiri embroidery. What to was great about Mussoorie was our everyday interactions with locals, how two weeks there we recognized shop keepers and people on the street. I loved how routine and relaxed our lives became in Mussoorie. I too loved the beauty of the place—the stunning mountain views, the sunlight, the crisp air, the fog. I loved how green and how blue the place was- a stark difference from the brown, red , and yellows of Banaras.
To reach home it required a 32 hour train ride. The normal 24 hour ride was extended due to the spectral fear of riot in Lucknow and other Uttar Pradeshi cities regarding the Ayodhya Court decision
(Several years ago in the early nineties (?) Hindu fundamentalist razed a Mughali Mosque The Babri masjid claiming the mosque stood upon and desecrated the birthplace of the Lord Ram- a Hindu deity and avatar of the god Vishnu. The destruction of the Babri Masjid sparked intense communal violence much of it directed against Muslims in Muslim ghettos in big cities -Mumbai, Lucknow, Delhi- by Hindu fundamentalist groups under the auspices of the Shiv Sena and political party of the BJP- a right wing conservative group espousing a HINDU INDIA. Now the case has come to trial about which religion the space belongs to. And the verdict came out the day of train trip home—thus the delay. We were safe no fears and the judgment very fair).
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