After a while

I guess it is time to end my blog boycott and start writing again. I have three days left in Pen and then my program is over. I will slowly say goodbye to all of the friends that I have made here and then fly to Delhi on the 13th.

For the past nine or ten days the whole state of Maharastra has been having a celebration for Ganesh. The people here get a statue of Ganesh and put it in their home treating it as an honored guest, giving it the best food, inviting other guests over to see the statue etc. Yesterday the celebration culminated with a procession through the streets with Ganesh all decked out in flowers and sitting in a cart that is pushed along the street as people dance, light fireworks and pound on drums. We followed this procession through the winding streets of Pen for a good three hours dancing in the rain and waving flags.Periodically someone will shout out the phrase, "Ganpati bappa!!" and the rest of the crowd replies by shouting "Morya!" at the top of their lungs. A pretty exhausting, but very cool thing. The march ended at the lake which is at the center of town. The lake is surrounded by a walkway and there are steps going down into the water. Ganesh is floated out to the middle on an inner tube and then dumped into the water where he is left to dissolve. Next we all headed to the nearest temple and sat down to drink spicy tea.

Lately I have been feeling very at home in India, and a half months I finally feel that being here is comfortable and normal. Just in time to move on. I guess thats how it goes. I can already tell that I will miss India when I leave. There are so many parts of my experience here that are completely beyond description. Sometime I look back at past posts that I have done and they just do not come close to conveying what it is like to be here.

I am excited for the next leg of my trip. The idea of spending the next month traveling in Nepal and India is intimidating but after my time here I feel more confident that I can handle it. I am most excited to see the Himalayas. As long as I don't get laid out by the altitude sickness I am planning on a five day trek through the mountains near the Darjeeling. Three days to go.