Aaaaand we're done....

As the title suggests, our project here is over.  The client company has elected to not continue with the project, so we have begun our process to cycle back home.  Saturday we leave for good.  For obvious reasons, I don't/won't talk here about what's gone on with this situation, but if you'd like to hear about it some time, buy me a beer and prepare to be amazed.

Things I'll miss about being here:

• The food:  I've been exposed to so many different things here that I've enjoyed, and will continue to seek them out or make them myself when I get home
• The friends I've made
• Learning about the culture
• Tea/coffee/snacks delivered to me while in the office:  this is sort of a common thing here, as most offices of any size seem to have someone that does this all day.
• Grocery service.  Seriously, WHY DON'T WE HAVE THIS???  I can get on the store's website, choose the things I want, pick a 2 hour delivery window, and a guy brings it all to me, for FREE.  They even text me when the delivery person leaves the store with my stuff. 

Who wants a cookie?

Rickshaw madness!

Things I WON'T miss about being here:

• The weather.  Hot/humid is not for me, and it is consistently both of those things here.
• The soul-crushing poverty
• Getting sick from unsafe food/water.  I've had 4 stomach infections in as many months, the last of which set me back pretty good, and required that I see a doctor.  This is unpleasant.
• The traffic and associated noise
• All of my friends and loved ones back at home
• Being STARED at by strangers.  

This guy stared at us like that for several minutes

 It's been interesting being a minority here.  For the most part you can just ignore it, until you get the situation pictured above.  If you ever took an intro level psych class in college, they may have had you do these silly exercises that challenged social norms, like riding in an elevator while facing the other passengers.  Well, that has happened to me here. Several times I've been on an elevator, and I've looked up to see that others that live here have turned to face me and are just staring, the entire time, and not saying anything.  It's weird.  It also gives me a new appreciation for people that come to my country, or are in the minority, although in the back of my mind the whole time I know that my situation is still far better than most, especially considering that I have the ability to just pick up and leave.  

 As far as the poverty here goes, I've talked about it some on this blog, but I purposefully haven't posted many pictures that depict it.  It just seems disrespectful to people that have it hard enough without having some comparatively wealthy person doing a poverty tour, taking pictures.  The above picture is a pretty accurate representation of what you see everywhere here. As far as I can tell, that's literally all that person has in the entire world.  She's actually better off than some, considering that she has shoes.  A lot of them don't.  

 Meanwhile there's been a lot of celebrations, holidays, and festivals here lately.  At the end of August they celebrated Raksha Bandhan which celebrates brother/sister relationships.  Shops poped up all over to sell the string and bead bracelets (Rakhi) that they give each other.  I bought a bunch to give out when I get home, even though that's really not how they're intended to be gifted.  

Last week was the Krishna Janmashtami, otherwise known as the celebration of the birth of the god Krishna.  In this state the most notable event during this celebration is called Dahi Handi.  It's basically a contest, where teams of young men build human pyramids to try to reach and break an earthen pot that is suspended in the air.

Throughout the day leading up to this, we'd see big trucks full of the team members driving around, and throughout the night they were running all over the neighborhood acting like rowdy boys, yelling and cheering.  As you can imagine, people sometimes get injured when these things don't work out as intended, to the point where the courts got involved this year to try to limit the height to which they'd try to reach.  This caused major consternation amongst the populace, with some teams electing not to participate at all as a result.

We're just going to miss the Ganesh Chaturthi, which is the festival held in honor of the god Ganesha.  In preparation vendors have popped up that sell all sizes of Ganesh idols, which people either take into their homes to worship, or build public shrines of various sizes for this purpose, called Pandals.  They're building this one near where my tabla instructor lives:

Part of the festival involves carrying these idols into the sea/lakes/rivers, representing the cycle of creation and dissolution in nature.  The idols used to be made of plaster of paris, but this practice was causing enough pollution in the waterways that they mostly make them of clay now.  

Other random tidbits:

I was able to attend a small performance that my tabla instructor gave last weekend.  She brought over a Sitar player from Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta), and set up a small stage in her parent's apartment not far from where I live. It was a real privilege to be able to see this.  Here's a short clip of them playing:

I was finally able to catch one of the BEST buses on the street.  As I think I've said before, they have these horns that are just the squeeze bulb kind that they operate with their hands, which they seem to do continuously.  You always know when one of these things is nearby, and the horns always crack me up.  They're really loud...enough so that I can hear them all the way up here on the 10th floor in my apartment. They remind me of a honking goose:

The rest of our time here is going to be spent packing up all our things, and tying up the loose ends, closing our bank accounts, and filling out random paperwork.  Next week will be a whirlwind, since we'll be closing on a house, moving into it, and returning to my old job.  I also have to buy a car, since I sold mine before coming over here.  

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, and enjoying my favorite season in Ohio.  I'll see you soon!