So again sorry for not writing more often, I haven't forgotten about the blog, so expect a new post once a week coming out during the weekend.

Not much has changed since last time.  I'm settling into a routine and my health is improving some.  I'm taking breakfast in the University with the teachers now and am trying to snack more, and I think I'm putting some weight back on.  I'm still not sleeping much but I'm starting to get used to it.  I can function fine on 5 1/2 or 6 hours of sleep, but I drink a cup of coffee right when I get up and have tea throughout the day.

I started going to Belur Math almost everyday to salute President Maharaj.  When you go for pranams, he sits in a chair behind this little barrier and he's flanked by his secretaries.  The second time I went, one of his secretaries pulled me around the barrier and brought me right up next to him.  This secretary asked me who I was and relayed it to President Maharaj.  Pres. MJ never said anything to me directly but it seems like after the first time I went he asked them to bring me around the next time I came.  After I made my pranam he dropped a bunch of candy in my hands and I left.  Now they all know me and when I go Pres. MJ stares at me pretty much the whole time I'm in there.  One of the secretaries always makes a point to give me some candy.

Anyhow so I'm doing better, there's other stuff I could write about but I don't want to freak anyone out, so just know that I'm safe and happy.

Dear Friends and Family,

Please forgive me for my long silence, my schedule has gotten very busy and I was waiting until I had photos to show you before I made a new post.

My school is more or less in full swing, I only have four classes but they are a handfull.  I'm more or less enjoying all my studies at this point, the only thing is I'm suffering from lack of sleep and from the food.  Vice Chancellor Maharaj has arranged for me to take a snack at 1 O'clock in the University, which is helping a lot because the students normally don't eat from 9:30 AM to 4 PM, and then Dinner is at 9.  But there isn't much I can do about sleep, the first year Sanskrit kids are in class 12 1/2 hours a day.  I'm not with them in their classes but nevertheless I pretty much follow that same schedule.  We get to sleep around 11, sometimes later but sometimes around 10:30, and we get up at 5:15.  This is very taxing but whenever it gets to be too much I go and take a nap.

The food is also an uphill battle, but I expected that.  The snack helps, but the students food times are weird, we don't get anything besides a cup of tea and four biscuits between 5:15 and 9:30.  I don't like the food at all, I've skipped a couple meals lately and just eaten nuts I brought from the US.

But all these materialistic things aside India is a great place.  I'm defiantly not bored and there's no possible way that the material comforts of the West out way the benefits of this experience.

So don't worry about me any who are inclined too, if I really wasn't getting enough food, I would just make noises about it and VC Maharaj would manifest something I would eat out of Howrah.

The long awaited pictures have come, sorry for the wait and thanks for the few of you who keep checking this.

Hostel Bedroom

This is my corner, I rolled up my bed, but if you notice it isn't much more than a foam pad on a board.  It actually isn't bad though.  My mosquito net is rolled up in this, you have to have it on when you sleep or you're in trouble. 

 One hallway of upstairs hostel floor.

 Bathroom, it branches off into little rooms with toilets and showers.  I still haven't seen any toilet paper since I've been here and there's no soap anywhere, I started carrying my own.

 The Taj MaHostel

 Courtyard

 Palashda (Da is a suffix added to the end of the name of someone older than yourself.  It indicates respect and translates like older brother, there's lots of stuff like that built into Indian culture)

 Our ping-pong table

 English teacher Ayon Maharaj.  He's an American Bengali, PHD from Berkeley, joined here a couple years ago.

 Arupeshananda Maharaj with our cows.

 The VU cows.  I guess in villages if a driver accidentally kills a cow, the villagers will kill the driver.

Thanks for reading, just everyone know that I'm happy and I think its better to be here starving and tired than slouching around some City College.

So the University was founded on the 4th of July and yesterday they had the foundation day and convocation for the graduating students.  The Minister of Education, and Mamata Banerjee, who's the Chief Minister of West Bengal was there.  Banerjee is like the Governor of the state, and she's famous for ousting the Communists out of power a couple of years ago, so it was cool to see her.  So you can see how big of a deal the Ramakrishna Mission is here, there's over 91 million people in West Bengal, and they can get the Chief Minister to come to some convocation.  But pretty much the entire the program, except for a little at the beginning and bits and pieces here and there, was in Bengali, so everyone was clapping and laughing and stuff at parts, and I had no idea what was going on.

Sorry for my silence.

I am settled in the hostel and my classes are starting to trickle in.  Vice Chancellor Maharaj has set me up with good teachers and slowly I should develop a nice class schedule.  For now though I could almost be chasing butterflies all over West Bengal and as long as I came to meals noone would bat an eye.  But by the end of the week I should have three legitamate classes and my ongoing Sanskrit studies, directed and observed lightly by Nischal Maharaj.
The three classes are,

1. "Indian Spiritual Heritage" with Ramakrishna Maharaj.  He's a published author in India who wrote a best-selling novel "Tiya", a Vedantic fable about a parrot.
2. "Vivekachudamani (Crest Jewel of Discrimination)" with Swami Durgananda.
3. "God Knows What" with Ayon Maharaj.  Ayon MJ was born and raised in the USA, his parents are from Bengal.  He has a PHD in English from Berkley, he's a Sanskrit scholar knows like 6 languages and is teaching himself 2 more.  He specialised in German philosophy, so he'll be teaching me English, critical thinking, philosophy, and god knows what else in god knows what order.

I'm learning a lot already, I enjoy my studies and I'm very happy here.  I'm only hoping my program becomes more developed soon, but I know it will.  This school can give it's own degrees, and VC Maharaj seems to have a grand plan behind my education.  I have excellent teachers here, and with the private tutoring I think I have a great opportunity for intellectual growth.

The Bengalis in the Hostel are all sweet hearts.  They all speak some English I think, but only a few of them can really converse.  So I've taken up learning Bengali and am picking up words fast.  Everyday the kids teach me something, and in turn their English is being improved by my presence there.  My room-mate Paloush speaks pretty good English.  We talked for almost an hour last night about stuff.  He tells me to correct his pronunciation and told me his English is going to be improved by my presence there.

These kids are from a different universe than I am.  For instance Paloush is from a rural West Bengali village and his father is a farmer.  The Brahman (Priest-Caste) boys walk around wearing their sacred threads (a thread worn around the shoulder to mark a Brahman) and never take them off.  But what really comes across with them is their simplicity and innocence, I don't recall seeing boys like these anywhere in the US.  They typically know 3 or 4 languages and have really good habits.  We don't sleep much in the hostel, 51/2 or 6 hours a night, and the boys study pretty much all day round all year round.  One was shocked to learn that we get 3 months off of school in the USA. 

I moved into the hostel today, it's a bit cramped but I'm with guys who do speak decent English and they are all very nice.

I can keep up the blog and emails to some extent.  Skype will be no problem, and I can still go to Belur Math frequently, I just don't have freedom like I've had this last week.

The hostels aren't that bad, from an objective American standpoint they aren't at all impressive, but considering what's around I'm in "Fat City".  And the boys are all sweet (not at all like American teenagers), they're making me feel right at home.


I should be able to put pics up real soon.

Kamal