Cold Spaghetti

In simplest terms, it’s a triumph of good over evil.  This particular version of that iconic theme go like this: the Demon King of Lanka, Ravana, gets ticked off at the royal family and steals away the princess.  Her husband, Rama, and his brother, Lakshmana, go off and rescue her in a huge battle involving earth, water, and sky.   This battle is celebrated by Hindus (and non-Hindus alike) in many countries as the 10-day Navaratri festival.  The culmination of it all is Dasara, a big night of dancing and music, with marigold-draped cars (and horses!) drawing platforms of festively-decorated deities through streets, passengers tossing brightly colored fistfuls of dust into the crowd as they pass.

This particular holiday was last night.  We arrived in Mumbai right at the height of the evenings’ festivities.  Now that we know what, exactly, was going on, we feel awfully badly for our driver missing out on it all to retrieve our sorry selves from the airport!  From the terminal, we wove through the streets, appreciating the celebration even if we did not yet appreciate the context.  My memorized Hindi phrases and words don’t lend themselves to conversations around Hindu festivals and even if I could truly converse in Hindi, understanding the ins and outs of the Ramayana requires the accompaniment of family charts, maps, timeline histories, and full-color illustrations.

We’re in India for my new job.  I have students completing semester long field placements in Mumbai, based out of a Social Justice program at a partner University based in the city.  The last time I’d seen India was 8 years ago, but there was never any doubt that we would all go again.  If you’re open to adventure and willing to be tested, India is unlimited in its opportunities.

The timing of a hundred things coincided perfectly to support and justify this trip.  We’re in Mumbai for a week with the students and the University (we’re staying on campus in the lovely guesthouse) and then will move on to North India, flying to Delhi to visit friends and do sight-seeing up north.  In total, the trip is just under 4 weeks.  In one of the beautiful synergies that formed in the planning for this trip, a few days before we left, a colleague from India flew into town to teach a course in the School of Social Work.  She is living in our home while we travel, scheduled to depart on the very day we get back.

We’ve been in the country for less than 24 hours and are slowly adjusting to being almost exactly on the other side of the earth.  More to come as our trip unfolds…