Don’t worry, I’m still alive

So, you’d think that now that I’m in India I’d actually have something exciting to write about!  I guess I do, but all those things are slowly becoming everyday life.  The cows in the lane, the goats eating beside them, the neighbourhood game of cricket that takes place on most days after kids get off school.  This is just life now and there are times when I can’t even imagine what November in Vancouver is like even though I’ve experienced it every year except those years when I was either in the Philippines or elsewhere.  Varanasi has wiped it all away and replaced it with sweltering heat, salwar suits, aloo chaarts, and colourful and confusing festivals.

Varanasi, and maybe India in general, is a strange place.  It’s a land of contradictions.  There are times when it feels like there are no rules, yet when it comes to tradition and ritual, people are very strict.  Some people fast every Monday, others wear their clothes a certain way, and many people hold on to a way of thinking that may have served a purpose at one point but seems detached from the realities of life now.

I’ve had an interesting time trying to find my place here.  Sometimes I’m on the outside while other times I’m comfortable with my place and feel very much part of life here.  I’m having a time here, neither good or bad, just is and I look forward to what the next 3 months have in store for me.