Sarah Visits/ Durga Puja

After I'd been in Allahabad for a few weeks Sarah came to visit from Gwalior. She had a lot to talk about after being trapped in a fire at the orphanage where she volunteers, and having to deal with the politics and sexism inherent in that organisation. On the Saturday evening Swarup, one of the students from the particle physics group, kindly offered to take us into town to see the durga puja celebrations. As you all know Durga is a Hindu Goddess and Durga Puja is a 9 days celebration in October. Temporary temples are built with shrines depicting a standard scene (see first photo). On the final day these are chucked in the river. Lots of lights also go up in town and music is played from speakers. I hope the second photo captures some of the activity that goes on in the town. We travelled around and views four of these temporary temples. I enjoyed the lights and music in the streets (unlike the Diwali music, see future post!). We then went for dinner to the connoisseur restaurant in town, where the waiters spent around an hour arguing with an irate woman (the rest of the time they watched the cricket). Sarah was desperate for non-Indian food. I shared some Indian food with Swarup, but as it was veg it wasn't that far away from what we get in the mess every day!