By nandan on March 1, 2010
Holika is a festival which is celebrated on the Holi eve. It was on the 28th of Feb. this year but I could not attend it. This festival has a very interesting story behind it. It is said that there were two brothers named Hiranyakashyapu and Hirnakchya. Both of them were evil souls and [...]
Posted in Hindu culture, Varanasi | Tagged hindu festivals, holi, holika, Varanasi
By nandan on February 23, 2010
I have been doing something for the past two months that I had not done before. I am working as a Hindi teacher with the students at Centro Risorse India center. I am giving walking classes which is very interesting and fun but sometimes it is really boring when I meet someone who is really [...]
Posted in Studies in India | Tagged Hindi classes varanasi, hindi lesson varanasi, hindi teacher varanasi
By nandan on February 18, 2010
I finally got my passport and believe me it took more than eleven months. I had applied for it last year in February and got it this year in January. I went through all the crazy bureaucracy and corruption. The whole process starting from buying the application to getting the passport in hand was full [...]
Posted in Corruption, terrorism | Tagged Corruption, indian passport, terrorism in India
By nandan on February 15, 2010
I am working with a musician named Josh Massad on a project called world through music which is about teaching music and other subjects through music. Josh travels all over the world and teach music to kids. When he works in the US, he teaches African and Indian music to American kids, when he is [...]
Posted in Business, Varanasi | Tagged education program varanasi, music varanasi, translator, translator varanasi, volunteer varanasi
By nandan on February 13, 2010
It was Shivratri on the 12th and I was super excited for it. Shivratri is the biggest festival of Benares. Actually it is celebrated because it is wedding anniversary of Lord Shiva. There are more than six thousand temples in Varanasi but 11 out of them organize a wedding parade of Lord Shiva. The parade [...]
Posted in Hindu culture, Varanasi | Tagged bhang, bhang lassi, bhang thandai, mahashivratri, shiva, shivratri, Varanasi
By nandan on February 5, 2010
I hosted a couple from San Fransisco for three weeks at my guest house. They arrived in Varanasi five weeks ago and stayed at a guest house near Assi ghat for two weeks but were not happy there as the bed in their room did not seem comfortable to them. They came to know about [...]
Posted in Groovy Ganges Guest House | Tagged guest house varanasi, Hindi classes varanasi, music classes varanasi, Varanasi
By nandan on February 2, 2010
I was watching news on India TV news channel today and it made remember of my best video of the day prize I had won on India TV three years ago. Actually once I and Lane went to see the untreated sewage discharge in Nagwa, Varanasi and Lane had a digital camera and used his [...]
Posted in Corruption | Tagged best video of the day, corruption in india, india tv, Indian police, sansui
By nandan on January 27, 2010
I have joined Italian language course. I have always wanted to learn any foreign language but there was not much opportunity for me in Varanasi as BHU and Sampoornanand Sanskrit Universitiy were the only two places in Varanasi teaching foreign languages and BHU did not allow outers and going to Sampooranand was just like waste [...]
Posted in Studies in India | Tagged italian language course, Varanasi
By nandan on January 22, 2010
I have gotten my driving license about 8 years ago but I thought to write my experience at the RTO (Road Transport Office) office today. Actually my friend was talking about applying for a driving license today and it made me remember my experience and I decided to write about it. I was 20 years [...]
Posted in Corruption | Tagged corruption india, driving license in India, Varanasi
By nandan on January 18, 2010
I have always been interested in different religions, particularly in Islam and finally I got an opportunity to learn something about it. I shared the apartment with a Muslim guy named Sana in Gwalior during my tour guide training and now we are very good friends. We shared the apartment for 6 weeks in Gwalior [...]
Posted in Travel | Tagged namaz, taj mahal
