I will sit and just spend hours sitting, or lying, on the roof, listening to music, writing, reading, thinking, and then when it gets dark, I'll go for a late night walk.
It's a strange existence knowing that things are coming to an end, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.
Here's a few pictures of daily Tagore life. Only in India will you find:
students learning/practicing Hindi on the back porch
Students learning sitar on the front porch
clothes hang drying and students talking and watching the sunset while listening to sitar students
There have been 3 girls to shave their heads here - it's weird, because the only times Indians shave their heads are when they are babies and their parents sacrifice their hair, they are widowed, or they are Buddhists. People don't just shave their heads.
2 out of 3 were ok - the most recent girl to shave her head has a horrible combination of skinhead/concentration camp look. I am not sure she is aware of this, but I would find it hard not to.
And it isn't funny in the least - it looks really bad, and it's incredibly sad that is the vision she creates when we look at her. The shaving of a woman's head is not a happy time in India.
Women here believe that their hair is their most beautiful feature.
So naturally, I find it sad that women shave their heads when their husband dies - they don't want to seem attractive to other men, so they make themselves ugly. I find it very sad.
It they don't shave their head, they will burn themselves at their funeral. It's called "sati" and it is widow burning, and I have a hard time finding more heartbreaking scenarios than women who commit suicide because they are expected to only live for their husband.
I've spent a good time doing some research on a man named Baba Amte - he was a lawyer turned activist when he once walked past a man infected with leprosy. The man was so bad off that his eyes had rotted out, and while he was still alive, he had maggots in his eye sockets.
So Baba Amte created a safe haven, a leprosy colony, for those with leprosy to come and get care. And then build their pride by giving them jobs. It took a while for it to catch on, because lepers are the absolute lowest in the caste system - but after help and dedication, Baba Amte created an area where lepers ran their own city. They were their own cooks, gardeners, teachers, students, receptionists, lawyers, etc. They were completely self-sustained.
How amazing is that.
The place - Anandwan. I want to visit.
Not to gawk, but they invite people to come visit. They want people to come see what these victims of leprosy - without eyes, hands, feet, etc - can accomplish when they are given the chance and not discarded for have a disease. I truly appreciate that.
Hyderabad has been in turmoil for a few days. On Saturday afternoon, Hyderabad's Old City was set on fire - Muslim/Hindu conflict. I just learned about some of this in my Contemp. India class. At one point after Independence, there was so much conflict, so many riots and massacres between Muslims and Hindus, that when the opponent would invade a town or city, the women and children were forced to jump down wells and commit suicide so they wouldn't be killed, to retain pride.
That isn't what happened here in the city, but it is always hard to know the truth. From talking with different people, the news is incredibly corrupt in India - politicians and others pay the newspapers to say what they want them to say. So, the papers only say that there were communal clashes and stone throwing...
But, Hindus wanted to erect religious flags in Muslim mosques. And then there was stone pelting, and burning of the Old City. It keeps on going. The local hospital is overflowing with patients.
We can't leave Tagore.
HCU campus is also under turmoil. Classes on Monday were canceled due to the beating of 3 students that are part of the campus Marxist group with bike chains by student Nationalists.
The level of violence in India is appalling. Sometimes, I can't believe people come here to find peace of mind and self through far-fetched concepts of India. Peace does not exist here. The idea that India is a beautiful holistically healing place is overrated, and misunderstood.
People will commit suicide, will attack others, will burn places of worship and the government is so corrupt that nothing happens. Nothing changes. Life continues to be violent.
In terms of corruptness, our Mr. Das was telling us about how the newspapers and railway stations will lie about deaths during derailings, etc.
Apparently the railway company has to give money to the families of those that die during railway crashes. Instead of doing so, people that are severely injured will be killed on the spot and then labeled as "missing" so the railways don't have to pay the families.
How people know this and don't raise hell about it blows my mind.
It's disappointing.
But it isn't just India.
I am slightly addicted to BBC for it is incredibly informative - the world sometimes seems like a horrible place to be. I never find anything happy to read.
Miss America-ish perhaps.
But really. I would like world peace.
