Hanging out in Gujarat

Hello again! I know I haven't posted in a while. In all brutal honesty, I haven't been up to that much in the past week. After my sister left, my parents and I flew down to Gujarat.

First, we attended the last day of the 86th birthday celebrations of Pramukh Swami Maharaj. I think BAPS might be one of only a handful of organizations that can successfully throw a birthday party and ignore the birthday part. The celebrations were a collection of excellent spiritual discourses and an amazing cultural program. In the entire 3 hour program they mentioned Pramukh Swami's name once...

After that, though, we just hung out at my aunt's house. My mother crammed in a little more shopping (though there wasn't any room in the bags to put it), and I managed to get in some sleep. Soon, my parents left. I was sad to see them go - I hope I get to see them again soon! After that, I just bummed around at my aunt's house for a couple of days with my cousin.

Then the Brazilians came. In waves. All in all, 8 showed up over 3 days. And they were early. Their program with AIESEC (which my cousin works for) doesn't start until the 15th, and so they needed something to do! So I took them to Pavagadh - an Ayers Rock-type formation that is definitely out of place in the flat plains of eastern Gujarat. The climb was enjoyable and I shared with them a bit about what I know about Hinduism and have learned over the past few months. The highlight was trying to teach them how to order food in Gujarati. Eventually, Lira managed to order a few pieces of naan, though all were quick to discover that pointing at something then holding the appropriate number of fingers worked just as well. All eight of us stuffed ourselves silly for $11.

I love India.