Hi guys.
I don't really know where to start with this blog. There are some exciting and interesting that I've done and found out but there are also a lot of things that have made me feel out of place. So this blog, as my mind currently is, is going to be a mix of emotions, a mix of ups and downs.
So training is still rigorous. I'm learning a choreography called Natesha Kavutwam. I started it briefly back in England. Here I'm expected to pick it up much quicker than I am back home. I'm also expected to spend every breathing moment reading over the song, learning the words and meanings off by heart, keeping the beat and rhythm and doing all of the moves. Or at least I feel as if that is what is expected of me. I often feel that every minute I'm not doing something dance related I'll come under attack. I often have to tell myself, that I chose to come here, I paid to come here and therefore technically the final decision on how much I do is with me.
Yesterday morning though I got to meet a male student of Kalamandalam. A guy called Sandip (or Shondip if you're Bengali), he's obviously studying Bharatanatyam but he told me he had studied Kathak for 5 years when he was younger. It was nice to talk to someone nearer my age, but he wouldn't have said a word if I hadn't smiled at him first. I'm learning that about Indians, or at least here, they tend to wait for you to make the first move. I also bought two nalla's, which are like drawstrings that you put into trousers and a lungi. A lungi is basically a loincloth. It's worn by men in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan to name a few. In Kolkata it's generally worn by Muslims and poor people in public, but apparently a lot of Bengali men across the city wear it at home. Traditionally they're blue or green and are printed with a checked pattern, but being English that design reminds me far too much of a tea towel, so I got a more modern design. I actually wanted one to wear after taking a shower because there are no shower cubicles here, you just shower in the bathroom with a bucket and jug and the water goes down a drain, which means the floor is always soaked so putting on trousers is a pain, hence the lungi.
When I say I bought, I mean Ilina bought them for me. Ilina is the other student that lives here with Aunty. She's been here for 7 years. I have no idea how old she is but I'd guess early twenties, when I first got here she was quite quiet but now we often chat. We always speak Hindi because she speaks it very well and I feel more comfortable conversing in it here than English. Anyway, whenever I want to buy something and she's with me, she never lets me pay. When I asked her why she said that when she came to my country then I could pay. After the lungi and nalla shopping me and Ilina went to buy some fruit, during which the banana vendor insisted on giving me a free banana. On the way back she kept grabbing my arm when we crossed the road and when I pointed out that I had by now crossed the roads in Kolkata by myself countless times, she said that even so she was scared of anything happening to me because I was her brother. N'awww.
I also get to learn some cultural things from Ilina. Whenever I walk anywhere with here there are times when she touches her forehead and then heart three times in succession. I knew that when walking past a shrine Hindus did this as a way of paying their respects to the shrine without out physically stopping to offer a prayer and I knew that Hindus also did it whenever they passed a funeral procession for similar reasons but the other day Ilina did whilst walking past a beggar, so I asked why and the answer was really quite beautiful. She said that by doing that it was a way of saying to the beggar, that she had nothing to give, a plea almost to the beggar not to ask because she couldn't give. It's like three-way conversation between you, the beggar and a sense of spirituality, really quite beautiful I thought.
Some things though are still hard to deal with here. I sometimes feel that I am outstaying my welcome at Aunty's, which with all due respect seems ridiculous because I am paying. She prefers me to go to Ekdalia, where all of my things are instead of sit at her house, which is where I sleep. The thing is that although the bedroom at Ekdalia is perfectly adequate, it's unbearably lonely. You just sit there with two empty dance classrooms, a smelly, poor excuse for a kitchen, a usable but dirty bathroom and the quite pretty bedroom. So if Aunty has got it in her head that once I'm more settled I'll move back there, she might well be very wrong. I need human interaction to survive here.
I have also realised that I'm living in a dance cocoon. I go from Aunty's house to dance class, to Aunty's house to dance class. I don't get to see much of Kolkata at the moment. It's quite surreal really to be in a world where Bharatanatyam is the utmost norm. I watch 2 or more classes almost everyday, I practice everyday, I hear about and talk about Bhartanatyam all day long. In many ways I'm loving this little dance world in the middle of a Bengali city but there are times when I feel I'd like to see a bit further. So I've organised with Ilina to go shopping in the week or so break that we get in December, we'll go with Aunty's daughter-in-law, who is lovely and apparently a sari expert. I feel I need to go shopping, to experience a bit of the fun of India I've always dreamt of.
Lastly I thought I'd tell you about taxis and auto-rickshaws. I have now experienced both. Taxis are more expensive, expect to pay a minimum of Rs. 25 (roughly 25p) for a journey. They work the same way taxis in London do. I have to say they're not as crazy as many people would have you believe, in this part of Kolkata drivers generally do stick to a civilised road manner, or maybe I've just become used to it! I have however found that taxis here, the famous Kolkata yellow taxis, are dreadfully uncomfortable. Auto-rickshaws however are my new love. They generally cost a minimum of Rs. 7 (roughly 7p) and they work like buses. They can take up to 4 people and much like buses, if you're already in the rickshaw then another 3 people can also get in along the way. The also have stops just like buses, so they won't take you door to door. The reason I love them is because other than the roof there aren't really any sides, they're completely open and they dart in and out of the traffic. I feel like I lose myself in the hustle and bustle of the city and get a 5 minute pause of anonymity and freedom in a rickshaw, it's almost like flying in my opinion.
I'm sure there is much more I could write but for now I'm going to bed because despite the fact that tomorrow I don't have class, Aunty still wants me to get up in the morning and spend the morning at Ekdalia not here. So I do still need to attempt to get some sleep!
I shall leave you with some photos of the Gariahat campus :)
I don't really know where to start with this blog. There are some exciting and interesting that I've done and found out but there are also a lot of things that have made me feel out of place. So this blog, as my mind currently is, is going to be a mix of emotions, a mix of ups and downs.
So training is still rigorous. I'm learning a choreography called Natesha Kavutwam. I started it briefly back in England. Here I'm expected to pick it up much quicker than I am back home. I'm also expected to spend every breathing moment reading over the song, learning the words and meanings off by heart, keeping the beat and rhythm and doing all of the moves. Or at least I feel as if that is what is expected of me. I often feel that every minute I'm not doing something dance related I'll come under attack. I often have to tell myself, that I chose to come here, I paid to come here and therefore technically the final decision on how much I do is with me.
Yesterday morning though I got to meet a male student of Kalamandalam. A guy called Sandip (or Shondip if you're Bengali), he's obviously studying Bharatanatyam but he told me he had studied Kathak for 5 years when he was younger. It was nice to talk to someone nearer my age, but he wouldn't have said a word if I hadn't smiled at him first. I'm learning that about Indians, or at least here, they tend to wait for you to make the first move. I also bought two nalla's, which are like drawstrings that you put into trousers and a lungi. A lungi is basically a loincloth. It's worn by men in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan to name a few. In Kolkata it's generally worn by Muslims and poor people in public, but apparently a lot of Bengali men across the city wear it at home. Traditionally they're blue or green and are printed with a checked pattern, but being English that design reminds me far too much of a tea towel, so I got a more modern design. I actually wanted one to wear after taking a shower because there are no shower cubicles here, you just shower in the bathroom with a bucket and jug and the water goes down a drain, which means the floor is always soaked so putting on trousers is a pain, hence the lungi.
my lungi :)
When I say I bought, I mean Ilina bought them for me. Ilina is the other student that lives here with Aunty. She's been here for 7 years. I have no idea how old she is but I'd guess early twenties, when I first got here she was quite quiet but now we often chat. We always speak Hindi because she speaks it very well and I feel more comfortable conversing in it here than English. Anyway, whenever I want to buy something and she's with me, she never lets me pay. When I asked her why she said that when she came to my country then I could pay. After the lungi and nalla shopping me and Ilina went to buy some fruit, during which the banana vendor insisted on giving me a free banana. On the way back she kept grabbing my arm when we crossed the road and when I pointed out that I had by now crossed the roads in Kolkata by myself countless times, she said that even so she was scared of anything happening to me because I was her brother. N'awww.
I also get to learn some cultural things from Ilina. Whenever I walk anywhere with here there are times when she touches her forehead and then heart three times in succession. I knew that when walking past a shrine Hindus did this as a way of paying their respects to the shrine without out physically stopping to offer a prayer and I knew that Hindus also did it whenever they passed a funeral procession for similar reasons but the other day Ilina did whilst walking past a beggar, so I asked why and the answer was really quite beautiful. She said that by doing that it was a way of saying to the beggar, that she had nothing to give, a plea almost to the beggar not to ask because she couldn't give. It's like three-way conversation between you, the beggar and a sense of spirituality, really quite beautiful I thought.
Some things though are still hard to deal with here. I sometimes feel that I am outstaying my welcome at Aunty's, which with all due respect seems ridiculous because I am paying. She prefers me to go to Ekdalia, where all of my things are instead of sit at her house, which is where I sleep. The thing is that although the bedroom at Ekdalia is perfectly adequate, it's unbearably lonely. You just sit there with two empty dance classrooms, a smelly, poor excuse for a kitchen, a usable but dirty bathroom and the quite pretty bedroom. So if Aunty has got it in her head that once I'm more settled I'll move back there, she might well be very wrong. I need human interaction to survive here.
I have also realised that I'm living in a dance cocoon. I go from Aunty's house to dance class, to Aunty's house to dance class. I don't get to see much of Kolkata at the moment. It's quite surreal really to be in a world where Bharatanatyam is the utmost norm. I watch 2 or more classes almost everyday, I practice everyday, I hear about and talk about Bhartanatyam all day long. In many ways I'm loving this little dance world in the middle of a Bengali city but there are times when I feel I'd like to see a bit further. So I've organised with Ilina to go shopping in the week or so break that we get in December, we'll go with Aunty's daughter-in-law, who is lovely and apparently a sari expert. I feel I need to go shopping, to experience a bit of the fun of India I've always dreamt of.
Lastly I thought I'd tell you about taxis and auto-rickshaws. I have now experienced both. Taxis are more expensive, expect to pay a minimum of Rs. 25 (roughly 25p) for a journey. They work the same way taxis in London do. I have to say they're not as crazy as many people would have you believe, in this part of Kolkata drivers generally do stick to a civilised road manner, or maybe I've just become used to it! I have however found that taxis here, the famous Kolkata yellow taxis, are dreadfully uncomfortable. Auto-rickshaws however are my new love. They generally cost a minimum of Rs. 7 (roughly 7p) and they work like buses. They can take up to 4 people and much like buses, if you're already in the rickshaw then another 3 people can also get in along the way. The also have stops just like buses, so they won't take you door to door. The reason I love them is because other than the roof there aren't really any sides, they're completely open and they dart in and out of the traffic. I feel like I lose myself in the hustle and bustle of the city and get a 5 minute pause of anonymity and freedom in a rickshaw, it's almost like flying in my opinion.
I'm sure there is much more I could write but for now I'm going to bed because despite the fact that tomorrow I don't have class, Aunty still wants me to get up in the morning and spend the morning at Ekdalia not here. So I do still need to attempt to get some sleep!
I shall leave you with some photos of the Gariahat campus :)
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