::Sacred Cows and the Pagan Priestess::
















Greetings dear friend!  *ahhhhh* yes.  As you may or may not already know, James and I left lovely
Seattle for a journey to the east. We arrived in Thailand on the 24th and spent 3 leisurely days in
Bangkok strolling along the river and sipping Singhas.  Good thing we took it easy.

We arrived in Kolkata, India in the dead of night and our  taxi drivers took full advantage of the darkness
to drive us through the most poverty-ridden parts of town.  By the time we arrived at our hotel I was fairly
sure that India's situation was worse than I could have every imagined in my worst nightmares. And the
taxi driver tried to play on our fear to get us to double pay... but when James busted out his hindi and I
busted out my Lonely Planet they knew their gig was up. James and I are a good team that way...

When the light (and our friend Deepayan) arrived in the morning, things were a little less chaotic.  I emphasize a
LITTLE. We ran all over town gathering stuff needed for Deepayan and Gina's wedding.  I found two beautiful Saris
and nearly had a heart attack three times over when leaving the shop-- if you've been to India, you know.  If you
haven't, well, lemme just say-- crossing the road as a pedestrian in India continues to be a life-affirming experience
for me. That is, it makes me realize how happy I am to be alive when I reach the other side unharmed.  Not to
worry though, despite the seeming chaos of the road systems here, Deepayan has assured me that in his entire life
he has never seen a car accident or a pedestrian hit.  He likened the indian style of driving to an extreme sport and
was half joking when he told us that this is the reason there are no roller coasters in India.  heh.  The adrenaline
rush is five times that of any fun park ride I've ever experienced. I imagine one could get addicted to it after awhile...

Anywho, we set out one day after arriving in Kolkata
for Siligury, a 12-hour train ride.  Siligury was
described as a 'small', crazy town in NE India where
the wedding was to take place.  Deepayan helped us get
our stuff into our 3rd tier sleeper car and we quickly
realized that 3rd tier AC, while extremely economical,
was going to be uncomfortable to say the least.  3
tier means that there are 3 tiers of beds in the
berth-- and my ticket was the top bunk.  ummmm. maybe
it would have been fine if we had been in India for a
month or so and were used to a lack of personal
space... but squishing three people per side on a seat
was looking to be a little too intense for our first
train ride.  But my little travel angel (and Deepayan)
was looking over us... Deepayan came from his first class berth and said there had been a cancellation in
his berth...  and that we could at least keep our stuff there and one of us could sleep there.  As it turned out,
there were actually two extra seats in that particular first class sleeper-- one for each of us.  We got lucky,
because the rest of the train was totally packed... gotta give props to that travel angel.

We arrived in Siligury to more chaos... but at least we got to enjoy it from the comfort of our air-conditioned
hotel room.  Gina (the bride) was a bit stressed out but our arrival lessened her burden a bit.  Gina, in case
you don't know the story, is an American woman who is marrying Deepayan, a Bengali man who lives in Seattle.
The are legally married already in the US, but Deepayan's family is very traditional and insisted upon a large,
full-fledged Indian wedding...

So Gina was freaking out when we arrived. We all went
for beers and a long lunch at a nice hotel and then
the boys were whisked off for lunch at the groom's
house.  That left us ladies in town to do a whirlwind
of shopping.  I tell you, if I ever get married it
will not be in a developing country where I don't
speak the language...   we ran around the central
bazaar like hens with our heads cut off, squaking at
the tailor and the florist and the goats and the shop
owner and the beggars...  I was exhasted by the end of
the day, but I was even more exhausted when I learned
that Gina had been enduring 7 days straight of this by
herself.  ugh.


 That night, Gina and Deepayan and I were talking about the ceremonies that would commence the following day.
Gina had done so much work fighting the traditional tendancies of the decorators and florists and make-up artists
and beauticians that she had just conceded to let all the rituals flow in the  traditional Bengalistyle.  But Deepayan
didn't feel quite right about that, and neither did Gina and neither did I... though Gina had no energy or time left
to coordinate anything new.  Deepayan really believed that Gina should do something to represent her belief system
in the rituals.  Gina is a semi-nonpractising self-taught witch/pagan/wiccan.  So they looked at me and I looked at
me and at that moment I became Gina's priestess,imported from the United States.  heheh.  Oh you can only
imagine what comes next... this is where it gets really juicy... but I think that's enough for you to chew on for now.
I'll give you the good stuff in the next installment.  tee hee.

dusty roads and kali pujas,
Alli