Hey Everyone,

Sorry for the long delay.

A lot has changed since my last post.  Shortly after coming here I decided that after I finished my program here I was going to pursue further studies in the United States.  After that I did a lot of research and determined I would have to leave India a in Nov. 2013 to finish a few classes and take the SAT so I could go on to a four year school in the US.  Once that was settled I worked out a program for the rest of my time here so that I could get the most out of what Vivekananda University has to offer.  However, the difficulties of living in India have finally caught up with me and I've had enough.  I don't have any excuse for leaving, I tried for some time to adjust and keep up my enthusiasm, but it's just too much for me to handle.  So I have purchased my ticket for January 1st 2013.  I'll fly out of Kolkata and stop in Australia for a month to visit family on my way back to the US.

But besides all that a lot of cool stuff is going on.  It's Durga Puja at Belur Math and I've been taking prasad with the public everyday.  They feed tens of thousands of people everyday and it's total chaos standing in line and trying to navigate it all.  But it's kind of cool in it's own way.  The Puja has also been cool, the Math set up this massive stage on one of the lawns where they have this huge image of Durga and the worship goes on practically all day.  Also, next week I'm going to leave the university and spend a month seeing some different parts of north India.  I'm really looking forward to having some free time to explore and really get a feel for the country.

So that's it, I'm doing well, but staying here is no joke.  By the end I will have been here 6 months, which is a decent amount of time.  I'll be back in the US sometime in early February.  Thanks a lot to everyone who supported me and for all the love and encouragement I got, I'll make sure to post lots of  pictures of my trip.

Ripkyn

Hey Everybody,

So everything's going fine, the last week has been really fun.

Swami Ganganandaji, Myself, and Rolo

Visvakarma Puja 2012

Visvakarma is the divine engineer of the universe, therefore anyone who makes a living from a machine or from building things, offers worship to him once a year.  For instance, taxi drivers, rickshaw wallahs, and construction workers decorate their cars, rickshaws, and tools with garlands of marigolds.  Visvakarma Puja is a big deal at the University because we are building a new building.  The construction workers turned part of the unfinished building into this shrine over night, and then took the day off to play ridiculously loud music starting at 6 AM and dance around throughout the night in the abandoned warehouse where they live.  It's a little weird seeing cement mixers, cars, and computers decorated with garlands, but it's only another example of just how religious the Indian people are.  They will spiritualize everything, and find someway to bring God into every aspect of life.  It takes weird forms sometimes, but at the end of the day I think it's charming.

Rolo checking out the shrine, notice the rest of the building around it.

 Another view, some of the workers watching a part of the worship.

The University building at night.

 Vidyarthi Homa Ceremony 2012, Narendrapur

A couple days ago was the Vidyarthi Homa ceremony, which is the formal initiation of new students into student life.  It's done with a ritualistic worship followed by a Vedic fire sacrifice called a "homa."  We got up at 4AM and crossed Kolkata to go to the city of Narendrapur, which is outside of the big  city in a more rural setting.  The Ramakrishna Mission center sits on a huge piece of land with various schools, hostels, and other buildings scattered throughout.  This ceremony was only for the first year Vivekananda University kids though.

The Narendrapur Temple, where the ceremony was performed.

Homa Fire

Can you spot me looking stoked that I get to sit on the floor.

In this photo you'll notice separation of the sexes in action.  India's incredibly conservative, I've talked to maybe 4 or 5 Indian ladies since I got here 3 months ago.

VC Maharaj, he's the more prominent looking monk on the left.

Bus ride home!

 Shivam Maharaj (from Argentina) and I after the homa.

VU students, this is a typical shot of what the hostel kids look like.  I live with these guys all the time and I know the names of like 5 students at this school owing to the fact that we don't speak the same language.

 Vivekananda University's Narendrapur Campus (I'm at the main campus at Belur Math)

Myself, Ayon Maharaj, and a Narendrapur brahmachari (junior monk) waiting for lunch.

Strictly the homies, notice Palash sitting in the middle looking hard.

The servants of the main VU campus who were for some inexplicable reason given the day off and brought to the ceremony so they could hang around.  These are the guys that serve tea, clean, and garden around the school.  I had to snap this pic because these guys are awesome.

After lunch some of the monks and I broke away from the group and went to explore Narendrapur.  This is the cow-shed.

Abhushek Maharaj, Ayon Maharaj, and Shivam Maharaj eyeing a cow.

Shivam Maharaj having a moment with a pregnant buffalo.

The kids on the bus ride home.

That's all for now, sorry for the delay.

Sorry for the week delay, I've been busy.

So I've gone into Kolkata 3 or 4 times since I last posted.  Kolkata is kind of like a mix between a Vietnam War movie and a zombie apocalypse.  There are no traffic rules or clearly marked sidewalks and around 5 million people with a population density of 63,000 people per square mile (compare to 4,541 people per square mile in Santa Barbara).  As you drive at maybe 20 mph max through the city the road is just a strip of asphalt between two walls of people on either side.  It gives the impression of a huge city where the government has lost control and the people are amassing into the streets.  The combination of the massive amount of people and the sheer lawlessness of it give it the impression of being the epicenter of a zombie apocalypse.  The Vietnam War movie element comes from the tropical scenery and the noise and confusion, the fireworks also add to the war zone ambiance.  Anyway when I got here Arupeshananda Maharaj told me that the world is wrong calling the US the land of the free, because India is really the land of the free, you can do whatever you want here.

 I really like going into the city, it's like a trip into someones subconscious, you never know what your going to see or how its going to make you feel.  But it's not something you want to do until you've spent some time settling in.  The amount of poverty, suffering, and decay happening here is shocking, and driving around you really get in the midst of it.  I'm starting to get used to it in one sense, but it's wearing me down in another.

Anyhow so far I've visited Narendrapur, Swamiji's House, Institute of Culture, Dakshineswar, Udbodhan, Balaram Mandir, Kathamrita Bhavan, Kankurgachi, Cossipore, and an apple repair shop.  My favorite place by far has been Dakshineswar, followed by Balaram Mandir, with Udbodhan pulling in at third.  I hope to get another trip to see some other centers planned in the next couple months, but we'll see what happens.

Sorry for the delay, I've been terrible about getting pictures taken, I can try to pull something together.

So this week went on as last week, Palash-Da is in Chennai and my health is better even though it seems like there's always some little thing wrong.  But I'm getting more used to the food and sitting on the floor and it looks like VC Maharaj is sending me into Kolkata this week with the VU Brahmacharis to visit some of the places associated with Ramakrishna's life.

So just know that everything is fine, and I'll close with some pictures.

Pet monkey of a truck driver who was delivering construction materials to the university.  He lives on the truck tied with a chain that slides on of those bars you can see at the top of the truck.  

Prakash Maharaj, hostel manager, at the bottom corner.

Trying some American pistachios. 

I forgot to send this out over the weekend but now I'm getting to it.

Basically nothing has changed, I got a cold and recovered, and now I'm just trying to take the random health problems in stride.

I plan on posting some more pictures of the VU property in the next few days.

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.