I'm so behind on my journaling. So much has happened since my last post.
On January 13th, one of our cousin-sisters husbands put on a huge program in Udupi. There is a dance drama art form from Karnataka called Yakshagana. It's a bit like a folkloric style of Katakali, which is a classical dance form. It's only performed by men. The productions tell the stories from the Maha Bharata and Bagavad Gita. This particular production told the story of how the Goddess Kali destroys the demons that are reeking havoc in the heavens and on Earth. It's really a beautiful story, which I have read but not seen performed all the way through. My Sasu managed to stay for the entire program which lasted from about 5pm (when we met at the temple and paraded the Goddess statue from the temple to the place of the program) till about 6:00am the next morning. I only made it to midnight. This event was huge. It looked like all of Udupi came out for it. People were vending balloons and snacks out front, it was so big.
On January 16th we boarded the train to Mumbai. We were trying to get 2 tier A/C seats but we ended up in 3 tier instead. That means there were 6 beds in the compartment. With all of our luggage and 6 people it was a pretty tight fit. I was struck by how people here don't think anything about playing music from their phones very loudly without earplugs. Apparently it's not a big deal, but when you're trying to sleep it's pretty annoying. Anyhow, we survived the train trip and arrived in Mumbai early in the morning. I was shocked at how little traffic congestion there was on the road. They have made a lot of improvements in the roads in Mumbai since last time I was here. It was quite a pleasant surprise.
We spent a day with our niece Priya and her husband and son. We had quite a nice time with them. She made saag tofu and peas pulao for Jasmine that was really good. It turns out that her neighbor across the hall is an amazing henna artist. She did incredible henna for me and Jasmine. People everywhere we went were commenting on how good it was. There will definitely be pics of that.
Stayed tuned for the next chapter of this saga where DeAnna arrives in India and we make it to Pushkar......
On January 13th, one of our cousin-sisters husbands put on a huge program in Udupi. There is a dance drama art form from Karnataka called Yakshagana. It's a bit like a folkloric style of Katakali, which is a classical dance form. It's only performed by men. The productions tell the stories from the Maha Bharata and Bagavad Gita. This particular production told the story of how the Goddess Kali destroys the demons that are reeking havoc in the heavens and on Earth. It's really a beautiful story, which I have read but not seen performed all the way through. My Sasu managed to stay for the entire program which lasted from about 5pm (when we met at the temple and paraded the Goddess statue from the temple to the place of the program) till about 6:00am the next morning. I only made it to midnight. This event was huge. It looked like all of Udupi came out for it. People were vending balloons and snacks out front, it was so big.
On January 16th we boarded the train to Mumbai. We were trying to get 2 tier A/C seats but we ended up in 3 tier instead. That means there were 6 beds in the compartment. With all of our luggage and 6 people it was a pretty tight fit. I was struck by how people here don't think anything about playing music from their phones very loudly without earplugs. Apparently it's not a big deal, but when you're trying to sleep it's pretty annoying. Anyhow, we survived the train trip and arrived in Mumbai early in the morning. I was shocked at how little traffic congestion there was on the road. They have made a lot of improvements in the roads in Mumbai since last time I was here. It was quite a pleasant surprise.
We spent a day with our niece Priya and her husband and son. We had quite a nice time with them. She made saag tofu and peas pulao for Jasmine that was really good. It turns out that her neighbor across the hall is an amazing henna artist. She did incredible henna for me and Jasmine. People everywhere we went were commenting on how good it was. There will definitely be pics of that.
Stayed tuned for the next chapter of this saga where DeAnna arrives in India and we make it to Pushkar......
