Host family!

Last week, we moved back to Nirman after spending two and a half weeks living with host families. Cathy and I lived together with a family in Kabir Choura, a musicians’ neighborhood in Varanasi. For over a hundred years, our family has lived in the same house and passed along the trade of musicianship. This meant we got to enjoy some great tabla, sitar and violin performances - and even have an introductory sitar lesson from our host father. Our three teenage host brothers (along with the many other somehow-related-to-the-family cousins who were always hanging around) spent a lot of time with Cathy and I, and we learned so much about what it means to grow up here. Our host mother didn’t speak English, but we communicated with her more and more throughout our stay. She made wonderful food for us everyday - a favorite was the sweet-filled meeti puri, which she taught us to make on our last night. Our host grandparents also lived with the family. Our host grandmother spoke no English, but was very sweet to us and told us (through a translator) that we looked like fairies. Our host grandfather had severe dementia. It was really wonderful to see the entire family pitch in to care for him, including the teenage brothers who took turns sleeping with him during the night. My experience with my host family brought into focus so many large and small differences between life in the U.S. and life in India - from the normal dinner time of 11:00pm to the joint family structure, in which several generations live in the same home. Cathy and I are looking forward to seeing our family again next week, as they’ve promised to take us to the best kebab restaurant in Varanasi!

Pictures: The meeti puri we made! Our host father playing his sitar. Our host mom showing us how to make meeti puri. Cathy and I with our host mom. Our host brothers as we often found them, playing "Chicken Space Invaders" on the computer. Host brothers Abishek and Guloo.