Durga Puja in Chittaranjan Park

I recently got to experience the magic of Durga Puja, an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates the Hindu goddess Durga. It's also the most significant socio-cultural event of the year in Bengali Hindu society. It just so happens that I live in a neighborhood of South Delhi called Chittaranjan Park (or CR Park), home to a large Bengali community with many Kolkata-style street-food stalls, Bengali sweet shops, fish markets, temples and cultural centers.

 

Interestingly, CR Park was established in the early 1960s under the name EPDP Colony or East Pakistan Displaced Persons Colony, and later renamed after a prominent freedom fighter named Chittaranjan Das who was a leading figure in Bengal during the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1919-1922.

 

During the holiday, many enormous pavilion-like structures called pandals are constructed to house elaborate sculptures of the goddess Durga. From what I could tell, there appeared to be a pandal nearly every block! Apparently, planning committees work all year to design and build unique depictions of the Goddess and there is a friendly competition to see which sculpture is the most creative, unusual or beautiful. There is also plenty of good eating, including all sorts of delicious Bengali sweets!

 

I had a fantastic time wandering from pandal to pandal and taking in the sights, sounds and smells of the festival. Being one of the only foreigners, I got a lot of curious looks, but I was never excluded or made to feel uncomfortable. It was also impressive to see families dressed in their finest attire and women wearing stunningly ornate and beautifully tailored saris. Only downside was traffic, which went from bad to worse! Now on to the biggest holiday of the year, Diwali, which starts in a few weeks!

Welcome to India

After an extremely satisfying, but very grueling month teaching in the Middle East, I really needed to go back home and decompress, but no...I flew directly to India! I have been in Delhi, my new home base, for just over one month now. At first it was difficult, because I was exhausted from the previous month and I had no energy at all to venture out into my new surroundings. And for anyone who has been to India, you know from experience that it takes a lot of adjustment at first!

Auto rickshaw ride with my cello to my first lesson

So you might be wondering, why? How? What?...India? Very good question. As a recipient of a 2016-2017 Fulbright grant, I moved to Delhi to study Hindustani music and to explore musical and educational intersections between North Indian and Western classical music traditions. This is a process that started a year and a half ago when I first decided to apply for a Fulbright. I first became fascinated by North Indian classical music while teaching music and living in Kabul. Afghanistan's musical heritage is deeply linked to India, and the two cultures study many of the same classical instruments including sitar, sarod and tabla. One of my ultimate goals while I'm here is to develop a cross-cultural pedagogical method for strings, with a special focus on improvisation. I will also be working with a number of different NGOs that offer music classes to children from underprivileged backgrounds who would never have access otherwise.
 

Honoring the Gods

I imagine that every blogger who has ever moved to India has written about the FRRO. The FRRO is a government office where foreigners must go (within weeks of arriving in the country) to register their presence as a foreigner in India. I spent much of my first month trying to satisfy the employees of this office. Ultimately, it took four visits, each visit more bewildering than the last, to succeed. The Fulbright office in Delhi did everything they could to prepare me for this process, but it still wasn't enough. We were all scratching our heads by the end, contemplating the mysteries of Indian bureaucracy.

Delhi streets

Celebrating Ganesh on his birthday

After finally getting registered at the FRRO, my next responsibilities included setting up a bank account, figuring out to pay my bills, where to shop, and how to get around. Luckily I live in a really lively, bustling area of South Delhi where I can find practically anything within steps of the apartment. But everything takes patience, practice and sense of humor and often the most basic errands can turn into accidental adventures or perplexing ordeals.

Concert of Hindustani vocal music

Very few foreigners live in my neighborhood, so I tend to get a lot of curious looks, especially when I have my bright blue cello case on my back! I've nearly caused a dozen car accidents as drivers will stare at my cello as they drive by. Here's a funny story--a few weeks ago I was waiting by the side of the road for a cab, when a wandering cow approached me. I didn't know what to do, so I just stood there waiting for the cow to make a "move" (sorry, I had to). After a brief moment of inspecting my cello case, the cow came closer and gave my case a long, slobbery lick! Luckily, my cab showed up right then to rescue me.

Humayun's Tomb through the trees

Being absorbed into the flow of life in Delhi is truly an experience. While confusing and difficult at times, it is far more often unexpectedly charming. And the combination of complete cultural engagement with the study of this unique musical tradition, provides a fascinating context in which to immerse myself. I look forward to sharing more with you as my journey unfolds!