Sunday  August 5

Yesterday afternoon we went to Sarnath.  This is the sight where Buddha gave his first sermon after his training and enlightenment. We began in what I think was the city of Sarnath, first visiting a Tibetan College of Buddhism that people come from worldwide to study at. We enjoyed a presentation by a monk on the practices of Buddhism then and now as well as the meaning of a free Tibet for Buddhists. Sadly based on other study I have done at the UW, I don't think there will ever be a free Tibet.  It would be nice if that were a misconception.  We then visited a museum which had many Buddhas from the 3rd century forward. My former students might know how exciting this was for me, as I show them a presentation on how Buddha changed as he traveled, in his life and after.  They always like the chubby Chinese Buddha.  These were the slim Indian Buddhas. 

Then we went to Sarnath and the Buddha deer park.  Actually, there was more of a sense of "where Buddha walked" at the Krishnamurti School which was relatively undeveloped and natural.  You could see and feel the Buddha there.  I have not been to most of the Christian Holy Land,  though I have certainly visualized places where Jesus has walked.  At Ephesus in modern day Turkey I could feel myself listening to Paul give his sermons from The Corinthians.  It feels amazing to be in a place such as that and being where Buddha spoke is a similar feeling of wonder and awe, and of course of our own short moments in time.

What did I feel at Sarnath?  I felt the presence of the great elephant warrior Asoka of the Mauryan Dynasty in a very big and grand way.  You should study Asoka (also spelled Ashoka) if you haven't and decide if he was "great or not so great".  My former students will remember him well and won't need me to spell things out.  Why did I feel Asoka's presence?  He built stupa after stupa at Sarnath as monuments to Buddhism and I guess built 83,000 other stupas in South and Southeast Asia after his conversion to Buddhism.  I actually have to fact check that at home when I have more than thirty minutes of Internet.  The stupas were later destroyed and are now being recreated.  We also saw one of his lion pillars at the museum and the space at Sarnath itself where it had once stood.  Very cool.

Today, fortunately a day off, as yet again I have spent twenty-four hours with fever and chills and hugging the porcelain goddess.  I can tell you right now that these hotels have lovely plumbing.  We did learn about our posh hotels though.  We get a very good budget rate because NOBODY in India travels at this time of year.  Winter and early spring are the travel months.  What can I say.  Who knows why I keep getting sick. We've all dropped like flies at one time or another.  I think it might be heat and dehydration as it has been near 100 degrees and we've been out walking around.  I am not made for that whereas the guy from Virginia goes and sits out in the sun.  I think you've already gathered there could be many triggers here; food, virus, bacteria, allergies.  Who knows.  I am drinking a cup of tea now, ate a small muffin and am hoping it remains with me.  I need to be up and at it tomorrow to fly back to Delhi - last domestic flight!

Today I was going to do two things, visit an NGO for abandoned girls and go to a movie.  My roommate Catherine went to the NGO and brought me its story.  We met a woman at our sitar, tabla and flute concert last night who regularly volunteers at the NGO which was started and run by her sister-in-law.  It is called Little Stars School and can be liked on Facebook or contacted by email: littlestarsaghor@yahoo.com.  This school was started as an act of love and it is not a famous NGO like the one we visited in Kolkata.  our Chicagoan teacher/lawyer spent a good deal of time with the founder today showing her how to find funding grants online.  They basically depend totally on individual donations.  This area is very poor and the need is desperate. 

First there is the school for 600 children from the streets of Varanasi who are given an education to break the cycle of child labor.  Most are making it through the school and on for further training.  Then there is the boarding facility for girls that Catherine and Dennis visited.  These are girls who have been dropped off at train stations by fathers; doctors, lawyers, merchants, peasants...you name it.  Dowry may be an issue.  The girls family can't provide the dowry the husbands family asks for and the family gets rid of the girl to save face.  Yes, in remote areas that might mean the girls death.  Dowry is a hot topic.  Our guide Sanjeev will have an arranged marriage in two years which he looks forward to.  He does not want to ask for dowry and his brother didn't either.  He thinks dowry is wrong.  He says it may happen anyway if his relatives insist upon it.  It is often the older women of the family that do so as a matter of "family honor".

Little Stars takes about thirty of these girls into a home.  It becomes their home.  Catherine said there is even a three year old girl there they all take care of.  They go to school and live at the house.  Catherine says the founder looks exhausted as she lives there around the clock.  As we've found with many women, they volunteer at NGO's even when they have careers, because the need is so great. Catherine and Dennis enjoyed their visit and Catherine had her hairstyled in a four chair salon in the home.  The girls come with lice, and we saw that at the Rainbow School in Kolkata too - closely shaved heads.  No lice today though.  I was sorry to have missed the visit, but was moved by the story and I will follow this NGO.  Catherine said that in going there they went down one of the worst streets she has seen in India.  All of the children were naked and just living that way.  We have seen that previously, but not on the scale she described.  This state (maybe Utter Pradesh?) and Behar are apparently very poor and improvements are not being made.  These stories mean digging deep into the social and political structure of each state.  The Times of India is the best newspaper and the India Today app is reasonably good for the iPad and is a free source.  

When we were at the Krishnamurti School and I was visiting with three girls and a boy I asked them if they had questions for me.  A darling girl asked me if we liked girls in our country, because in her country girls were not really important.  When I told her that we loved girls in our country and that I loved meeting girls like her the joy that showed on her face was unmeasurable. Did my heart break, yes, that time there was a major tear.  Do we love girls in our country as much as we should?  I know many of us do.  Do we love the girls of the world enough?  How do we accomplish that?  I have to get on the stick with this in my own life.  I have pondered with some special young women including my daughter these challenging questions. It is time for me to be part of the change in at least a small way beyond my own sphere.  

Okay, my lovely roommate is having soup, crackers and mango ice cream sent up to me.  That sounds good! I am on the mend.  Tomorrow the day will be spent traveling to Delhi.  You can think of me there indulging in some selfish pursuits with a few of my "girlfriends".  We have been pretty frugal travelers, not even using our dinner allowance most days.  Time for a little celebration of our accomplishments of five weeks of travel together. Adam, USIEF executive director who came to college in Varanasi in 1988 and who has lived and worked in Delhi the last ten years sad he couldn't keep up the pace our program required.  Of course that includes both shock and awe.  We are going to have pedicures, we think our feet deserve it.  I had my first pedicure last month thanks to my mother and now my feet are crying out to me.  We are also going to have a small meal at Iron Chef Morimoto's restaurant at our Delhi Hotel.  Many of you probably don't know that I cook to relax and I've been a scholar of food and food preparation for a long time.  Cookbooks have been a main source of international education for me since my first trip abroad to Italy way back in the day.

Then I will take my toes and satisfied belly to Agra via bus to see artifacts from the height of the Mughal Empire, and to visit Shah Jahan's Taj Mahal.  Great finale!  I will blog about my time at Agra the evening of August 7th or the morning of the 8th.