Sorry, that I haven’t made any posts in quite a while now. It’s been a really busy week for us students here in Pondy. Thursday, the school had arranged a so called “India Day” at the study center where we were supposed to dress up in traditional Indian clothes. For us girls this meant that we had to wear sarees. A saree is basically a long piece of fabric that you wrap around your body in a certain way. I got my saree at the Indian Bazaar in Pondy where they have a whole section with only sarees. Shopping for sarees at the Indian Bazaar is quite an experience, I must say. I remember stepping into the saree section and immediately I was approaches by eager sales(wo)men calling, “madam, madam. You want saree, madam?” with the most authentic Indian accent. I was then presented with a wide choice of sarees of different colors and patterns, it was all very confusing, and the women kept bringing in more sarees that I could choose from. In the end, I picked a blue saree because I thought the color complimented my blue eyes and blond hair. But Anyways, enough about sarees, let’s get back to the topic of this post; the India Day. After taking the group photo, we were accompanied to a small stage that had been built for the occasion where an Indian dancer performed a traditional Indian dance for us. The dance was supposed to tell a story about some Indian deities but I must say I couldn’t really see the connection. Afterwards we had lunch on the floor – this is the way Indians traditionally ate/eat. The food was served on a banana leaf. At first, I found it very hard not to spill the rice all over my saree but after a while I found the right technique with help from one of my Bengali classmates. What you do is you put the rice in your palm and then scoop it into your mouth with your thumb. It actually works really well, you should try it! After the lunch the India Day was over and we went home a little more enlightened about Indian culture.

Enjoy the photos and stay tuned for my next post about the trip to Auroville!