Leela Beach

On weekends, we try to get out of the city for a little while.  This is the nearest nice beach, which is about 7 miles away, a 40 minute drive.  The local women generally don't swim and never wear swim suits at the beach, but since this is a tourist area, we pull the ignorant tourist card and wear ours anyway.  The men, on the other hand, just strip down to their skivies if they want to get wet.  Sorry, no photos of that for you.

Not In Kansas Anymore

Sometimes we can feel so at home here that we almost forget we are in India.  But the feeling doesn't last long before something brings us back to reality.  This weekend, it was a Hindu festival.  I'm not sure of all the details, but this is it in a nutshell.  Friday and Saturday were the designated days for students to put their school books before the Hindu goddess of wisdom and do a special puja asking the goddess to bless their studies, offering sacrifices to the idol.  Because none of the Hindu students have their books, the schools and universities all shut down, even the catholic ones.  It is also this weekend that factories shut down to do a puja for the machines, offering sacrifices and marking the machines (and weapons and other things) with sandalwood paste, the same stuff that goes on their foreheads.  Incense could be smelled all over the city and loud music was played from the temples, as well as indidual people's homes.  Last night, the music was so loud that we had trouble hearing each other in our flat with the windows shut.  It went on till 10:30pm and started up again at 4:15 this morning.  Yep!  Life in India, our new normal.