Hey everyone!
Ok so today was another eventful day,
It's Kali Pujo today which is a festival dedicated to Goddess Kali. The story goes, or so I was told, that Kali was in love with Lord Shiva but her father hated Shiva because he was a hermit and wandered around without a home or a profession. He tried to force Kali into marriage with someone of his choice. She instead went to Lord Shiva. Her father then insulted Shiva in front of a large number of nobles which sent Kali into a furious rage. The only way to stop her rage was for Shiva himself to place himself under her foot so that she trod on him, only then, feeling terrible for having tried to crush her love, was her rage ended. So because of the festival my dance school was closed today, meaning no training! But I still had to practice so I walked to Ballygunge campus with my teacher's son. This was my first time walking anywhere in Kolkata and it was so much fun! The sights and sounds in India are just the way people describe them; never ending. Wherever you look there is something new and exciting and totally different from England. We passed all kinds of stalls and shops. I also experience crossing the road in India first hand!
At Ballygunge I practiced for half an hour, my unfit, unhealthy body can't yet cope with more than that. At the moment my thighs just burn all the time from having to sit in a half-sitting position called araimandi all the time whilst dancing. Then when I was finished at Ballygunge we went to buy some henna cones because tomorrow it's Diwali and I wanted to have a little mehndi for it. Of course there are hundreds of street henna artists, all male I should add, set up for Kali Pujo and Diwali but if you didn't already know, I'm also a henna artist so I wanted to do it myself. I got two cones for Rs. 40, that's about 40p. They're £1 each in England, if not more. After my first Kolkata purchase I was shown around the shopping area in Ballygunge/South Kolkata. We looked at the hundreds of sari stalls and shops, the abundance of kurta shops and of course the chapal shops! There are also loads of stalls selling handmade candle holders aka diyas for the festivals. Walking around was amazing not just because these are all the kind of shops I've dreamt of visiting for years but also because it was the first time I've actually walked around Kolkata and seen how life functions. We also walked past an ashram.
So for Kali Pujo all over Kolkata there are huge and small shrines set up, on literally every street corner with a huge idol of Goddess Kali stepping on Lord Shiva. Me, Aunty and a relative of hers, went around and looked at some of the biggest and best shrines in South Kolkata and I also took photos of all the smaller ones from the car, our driver, stopped every time for me to take a photo! Later we went to a firework display that was technically in celebration of Kali Pujo but since Diwali is tomorrow it was kind of an all in one event. The fireworks were of course amazing, there really is nowhere like India when it comes to Diwali. It's midnight and the fireworks haven't stopped yet! The display was held at DKS Sports Complex and after the fireworks we went upstairs to a large balcony type area overlooking a swimming pool with my teacher's son and his wife.
Tomorrow the school is still closed so I don't really know what's in store but today was a really great Kali Pujo experience and I now can't wait to start shopping! For now I need to sleep because it's past midnight here.
So I leave you with some photos...
Ok so today was another eventful day,
It's Kali Pujo today which is a festival dedicated to Goddess Kali. The story goes, or so I was told, that Kali was in love with Lord Shiva but her father hated Shiva because he was a hermit and wandered around without a home or a profession. He tried to force Kali into marriage with someone of his choice. She instead went to Lord Shiva. Her father then insulted Shiva in front of a large number of nobles which sent Kali into a furious rage. The only way to stop her rage was for Shiva himself to place himself under her foot so that she trod on him, only then, feeling terrible for having tried to crush her love, was her rage ended. So because of the festival my dance school was closed today, meaning no training! But I still had to practice so I walked to Ballygunge campus with my teacher's son. This was my first time walking anywhere in Kolkata and it was so much fun! The sights and sounds in India are just the way people describe them; never ending. Wherever you look there is something new and exciting and totally different from England. We passed all kinds of stalls and shops. I also experience crossing the road in India first hand!
At Ballygunge I practiced for half an hour, my unfit, unhealthy body can't yet cope with more than that. At the moment my thighs just burn all the time from having to sit in a half-sitting position called araimandi all the time whilst dancing. Then when I was finished at Ballygunge we went to buy some henna cones because tomorrow it's Diwali and I wanted to have a little mehndi for it. Of course there are hundreds of street henna artists, all male I should add, set up for Kali Pujo and Diwali but if you didn't already know, I'm also a henna artist so I wanted to do it myself. I got two cones for Rs. 40, that's about 40p. They're £1 each in England, if not more. After my first Kolkata purchase I was shown around the shopping area in Ballygunge/South Kolkata. We looked at the hundreds of sari stalls and shops, the abundance of kurta shops and of course the chapal shops! There are also loads of stalls selling handmade candle holders aka diyas for the festivals. Walking around was amazing not just because these are all the kind of shops I've dreamt of visiting for years but also because it was the first time I've actually walked around Kolkata and seen how life functions. We also walked past an ashram.
My Henna :)
The cones I bought
So for Kali Pujo all over Kolkata there are huge and small shrines set up, on literally every street corner with a huge idol of Goddess Kali stepping on Lord Shiva. Me, Aunty and a relative of hers, went around and looked at some of the biggest and best shrines in South Kolkata and I also took photos of all the smaller ones from the car, our driver, stopped every time for me to take a photo! Later we went to a firework display that was technically in celebration of Kali Pujo but since Diwali is tomorrow it was kind of an all in one event. The fireworks were of course amazing, there really is nowhere like India when it comes to Diwali. It's midnight and the fireworks haven't stopped yet! The display was held at DKS Sports Complex and after the fireworks we went upstairs to a large balcony type area overlooking a swimming pool with my teacher's son and his wife.
Tomorrow the school is still closed so I don't really know what's in store but today was a really great Kali Pujo experience and I now can't wait to start shopping! For now I need to sleep because it's past midnight here.
So I leave you with some photos...
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