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 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 1, 2010
I finally got my tour guide license on the 30th after three years of wait because I had applied for it in the year 2006. I started preparing for the entrance exam after applying for the license in 2006 and continued it for a few months but finally I stopped because the tour guide association [...]
Posted in Business, Studies in India | Tagged tour guide india, tour guide varanasi, tour india, tour varanasi, Varanasi
By nandan on December 15, 2009
It was my cousin’s wedding on the 12th of December and I was so excited for it but fortunately I could not attend it as I had to be Gwalior for my written exam and interview for tour guide training. The wedding was on the 12th and it was my exam on the 13th, the [...]
Posted in Craziness | Tagged indian wedding, Varanasi
By nandan on November 1, 2009
There is a Yadav family lives next door. There are six members in the family- three girls, their parents and grandma but none of them work. Grandma is a retired nurse and gets pension and they have rented a few rooms in their house which is the source of income for them. I don’t think [...]
Posted in Craziness | Tagged exorcists, ghosts, Varanasi
By nandan on October 25, 2009
I came in contact with a Hungarian guy, Attila, who is a computer engineer in Hungary and volunteers for a Hungarian NGO (www.afroaid.hu). This NGO runs a child sponsorship program in Africa. Attila wanted to volunteer in Varanasi. He wanted to come to India next year with his wife for a year and was interested [...]
Posted in Business, Varanasi | Tagged bonded laborers, child adaptation india, child laborers, chlid adaptation in varanasi, Varanasi, volunteer
By nandan on October 15, 2009
I am hosting a FulBright scholar, Megan, who is doing her research from University of Pittsburgh. Her research topic is tawayaf culture. She has rented a whole flat and will stay till June 2010. We discussed a few things about tawayaf culture in Varanasi. I already knew that Lucknow was the most famous place of [...]
Posted in Groovy Ganges Guest House, Hindu culture | Tagged red light district varanasi, Tawayaf, Varanasi
By nandan on October 1, 2009
After completing the classroom teaching and orientation tour, now I am supposed to do field work for two months in my local town. I wanted to choose the subject LGBT tourism because nobody has done it before in India and it was a good opportunity for me to relate my NGO and the research I [...]
Posted in Business, Studies in India, Varanasi | Tagged tour guide varanasi, tour varanasi, Varanasi