Navratri

[raven]

So, I am in the Midwest, where it is a good ten degrees warmer than it was in New York, and I am feeling a little at sea; it's interesting that I've lost a lot of my anxieties - I mean, for the first time in weeks I have slept ten hours two nights running - and gained a lot of new old ones, because my relations here are kind and loving and acres more conservative than my own parents. The net result is for me to miss home desperately - not the UK in general, not my boy and my books, but the house I grew up, my parents, our way of doing things, food, religion and culture, which is of course better in every respect. Every.

And also, my aunt, who is very kind, she calls me tu and I don't like it. My mother does, sometimes. My grandmother does. But she does all the time, and for some reason it makes my hackles rise, from my aunt. This is a very petty complaint. I shall stop making it now.

But I make things sound dreadful. They are not. I made it here on Sunday after a long journey but with no delays and no issues about my carry-on baggage, and that was after my lovely weekend stayed entirely lovely; on Saturday night I watched Star Trek and ate popcorn with thingswithwings, livrelibre and eruthros and had lots of fannish fun, which has been sadly lacking in my life recently.

And now I am trying to catch up on a little of my work, and have some rest, and tonight is the fifth night of Navratri. Here they go in for organised religion a great deal, and as the mandir for the area serves a lot of people and traditions, they celebrate every festival with the enthusiasm of the group of Hindus who celebrate it with the most enthusiasm, which is... startling. Garba, a tradition that reminds me irreverently of dancing at the Taruithorn Banquet, is a Gujurati thing - no Gujurati blood in me, but we all set to dancing with a will. I had a lot more fun than I let anyone know, for fear of being made to dance at a later date. Still. Lots of colours, and dancing around in circles, and dandia, a tradition where each person carries two thick sticks, and if you do it right you should bang neatly on your partner's sticks in rhythm, and not, for example, your partner's head, or their very shiny dupatta, or the space of air where the small child was just swiftly removed from.

Also, Diwali is soon and I am vaguely torn. Flying here for it is an option - it's a Friday, so I wouldn't miss class and there is a six am flight out of Ithaca, but for all I'd be able to celebrate it with some of my family I'm sure I would merely miss home horribly. At the same time, if I stayed in Ithaca I might just mope even more, and my parents would be in India, where the ten-hour time difference would probably mean I wouldn't even speak to them on Diwali itself.

(Not to mention the airfare. Er. Um, it might be a justifiable expense for a weekend if the alternative is sitting at home feeling like I am the only Hindu in the world - really, this isn't true - but. Okay, to think about later.)

In ten days Shim will be here! This is exciting. In the meantime I potter on and try and get things done.

Oh, and! I am reading the first of the novels that I got from the booksale. The Left Hand of Darkness is surprising me; while I love Le Guin, mostly Earthsea, Western Shore and the short stories. I'd read "Coming of Age in Karhide", the short story about Gethen, before I read this. And while I keep thinking it's boring - very ground in politics rather than the SF setting, and while the prose has the occasional flash of Le Guin's limpidity of vision, it can be quite (by artifice, I'm sure) workmanlike - and yet I keep picking it up again, and wondering what's going to happen in it in odd moments.

Onwards, as ever.

Comments

[marymac]

Oh dear, aunts. They will do things like that.

Have you seen the introduction to The Birthday of the World, where she says when she wrote Left Hand between Estraven being deeply reserved as a character, and the huge amount of plot happening, she never got to play properly with it? One of my cousins read Left Hand of Darkness before 'Coming of age in Karhide' and says that the short story changed the way he saw the book totally.

(Of course, I dive head first into the politics, so it never really struck me as slow)

[gavagai]

the house I grew up, my parents, our way of doing things, food, religion and culture, which is of course better in every respect. Every.
Obv. How can you even feel the need to spell out such an indubitable truth?

Happy semi-belated Navratri! I mean to email you cos I was reminded of it over the weekend (two of lil-sis's friends were celebrating and off the meat) and I felt like a crap friend. Then I wasn't sure if you had mentioned it before and maybe it was celebrated by some other group of Hindus and and then I would be a crap friend AND poss racist. So I thought I would wait and see if you posted about it. I am so cunning. *hits you affectionately with two ceremonial sticks*

I do apologise to everyone save Iona who had to witness that comment.

[raven]

Yeah! I think part of the problem is pronouns - you don't get the impact of the gender variance if everyone is referred to as "he", and in the short story that doesn't happen. I really love that story, actually; I wish my copy weren't too far away to re-read!

[raven]

*grins* I heart you, you know. It's not one of the ones my own parents make a lot of noise over, which is surprising because it's definitely a Bengali thing, and my mum has lots of stories about celebrating it when small. But equally it's not very much fun without about twelve hundred people to celebrate it with, which here in Indiana they do have, so maybe that's the explanation.

...anyway. Thank you, my dear! A happy Navratri to you as well, if that is meaningful. The food is good, you would like it. :P

[gavagai]

http://www.indianfoodforever.com/holiday-recipes/navratri/singhare-ke-pakore.html http://www.indianfoodforever.com/holiday-recipes/navratri/sukhi-arbi.html
If you really loved me, you'd find somewhere in New York that served this. That is what you would do.

[raven]

We could totally make those ourselves!

...okay, not soon.

But we could. I mean, nothing we have cooked together has ever gone comedically wrong and that is totally not a total lie.

[gavagai]

Actually I can't think of anything off the top of my head that went comedically wrong! though not everything could live up to baked peach'n'mango surprise. (THE SURPRISE IS THERE AREN'T ANY INGREDIENTS BUT PEACH AND MANGO)

[livrelibre]

I'm glad you got in OK and we will have more fun fannish times ahead! It was great to get to meet you in person. Happy Navratri as well and that sounds like so much fun. Also I'm pretty sure there's a Diwali celebration at school if you decide that the return to Indiana is a bit much.

[raven]

Ahahaha. I was thinking about the deep-fried tofu on the battery-operated hob, but that actually worked pretty well.

[raven]

Thank you, and thank you v. much for inviting me! It was lots of fun, and so lovely to meet all of you. :) Good to know about possibilities for Diwali at home, too; while being here has its points, I could do without flying again so soon.

[highfantastical.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid this comment will not be relevant to your actual post, because I suck, but I just have to tell you this:

a) Being awake until seven every morning means many empty hours.
b) I am filling said empty hours / stopping myself from being depressed by re-reading favourites from old fandoms.
c) Last night it was Due South.
d) I re-read "At the Time of Writing".
e) It was still AWESOME. Exceedingly so.
f) And it took me right back to all our intense S&A/DS squee in second year (mine) / third year (yours). Oh, happy days! (Well, in that respect, anyway.)
g) Now I'm craving a re-watch. Come baaaaaack.

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

It took me several tries to get into Left Hand for the first time; I found it very slow-moving too, and kind of hard to find a way into. But then there was a moment where suddenly I realized it had become TOTALLY AWESOME and beautiful and poignant, and I never looked back. It's probably my favorite scifi novel now.

I am sorry you're in the Midwest. :P

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

a) I entirely understand this;
b) this too;
c) approve of this mightily;
d) awww! *blush*
e) thank you, my dear!
f) and now me too! I remember that term so well, it was such fun. Jon and Lizzie ended up watching the first season all in one night, it was so awesome.
g) oh, I wish I could, I wish I could!

[deathbyshinies.livejournal.com]

I once did an LJ meme wherein you had to list the five fictional characters that you would most like to punch in the face. Genly Ai was right up at the top of the list (along with Mrs Bennett from Pride and Prejudice, Saleem Sinai and Bilbo Baggins, but that possibly says more about me than about the books involved).

I hope that you figure out the thing that will make you happiest re: Diwali and manage to do it. Holidays-at-a-distance are rough sometimes; more so when time differences and airfares are factored in. But hooray for getting a Shim in countable-days' time!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear it! I mean, I'm not going to stop reading it at this stage, I think, but it's the sort of book I want to love.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Baaah, holidays. Why doesn't everyone LIVE IN THE SAME PLACE. This is TOTALLY WORKABLE. :P

(I feel rather sorry for Genly Ai! But I am still only halfway through.)

[highfantastical.livejournal.com]

Consider yourself booked for your return. PAUL GROSS FOR US.

[highfantastical.livejournal.com]

...You have Guy Burgess there. In your icon. YAY FOR GUY.

(There are not enough people with Guy!icons.)

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

I recently bought The Left Hand of Darkness, but have yet to read it; hopefully the flashes of limpidity of vision will be enough for me.

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

I DO. I love Guy Burgess (historically and BBC-ified) like burning.

Yay Guy icons!

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

I adored Left Hand of Darkness; mostly I think I just loved the snowy landscapes.

[fyrdrakken]

I had that issue when I spent Xmas in London and my entire family was in Texas. I'd initially been planning to leave the UK in mid-December and then wound up deciding to stay until my visa ran out, and couldn't really swing the expense of a flight home for the holidays (or rather, had other trips I preferred to spend that money on). So I wound up being kindly invited to stay the week with a friend in the north of London, and called my family on Xmas Day (and possibly Xmas Eve as well, I can't quite recall nearly eleven years later). It was interesting, I enjoyed it, but I did get awfully homesick.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I must remember to write something about it when I've finished it! I am enjoying it properly, now.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

They're marvellous, aren't they? I especially love the throwaway comment about temperatures below freezing making for "a mild spring night"!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

In my case it's not quite that bad; when I was growing up we celebrated Diwali in a small way and Christmas not at all, but this time around I think I may feel the lack more than usual, if that makes sense. At the very worst I will hole up in my apartment with food and invite friends over to make the best of it. :)

[gavagai]

IIRC the tofu with fresh tomato and basil was quite nice! Though I repressed our other attempt.

God, that battery-operated hob. I suppose we should both be thankful that we never tried cooking meat in it, that might have been a bit deathy.

ETA: I was just looking through ThinkGeek to think of things to send for Diwali and lighted on this, thinking "oo, that sounds good". After a minute I remembered what jerky was. FAIL

[vkbar]

Would various friends chiping in shiny pennies make the flight more doable? I would certainly wave £10 in your direction if it would make for less homesickness.

[marymac]

Should you get desperate, I have a high-res camera with a text setting and an internet connection.

Also, battery operated hob, really?

[skipthedemon]

The Left Hand of Darkness is one of my favorite books ever. So few books have true introverts as a narrator - my love for Estraven knows no bounds. But yes, the book, quite on purpose I think, move slowly. They are on world half covered with glaciers.

[raven]

Oh, this is so kind! I think I am okay, for the time being, and will be able to manage if I do want to go. But I really appreciate you offering. :)

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

YES, THIS. The bit where they're traveling together across the endless white just made the book for me.

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's done with wonderful subtleness. (And having visited me at home in December, you'll understand why I identified with them!)

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

I know, I know. And you never would have thought something like that could be so fascinating.

[fyrdrakken]

Xmas isn't quite the big deal in my family that Thanksgiving is, especially since my cousins reached the age where they're marrying and having to spend time with their in-laws at holidays. But 1999 was the first time I was completely separated from my entire family on a day when I was used to a mob clustering at one of my grandparents' houses. (Especially since for Thanksgiving 1999 my mother, sister and grandmother all came to London for a week to visit with me. We had our Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant, but at least it was a family gathering.)

Now, last Xmas was really strange because my aunt has kind of taken over as family matriarch for Dad's side of the family, and what with my uncle and his family not being there and Dad having to work on Xmas Eve and Xmas Day, the overall effect was of my sister and grandfather and I being sort of peripheral guests as my aunt presided over holiday festivities for her children, children-in-law and grandchildren. It left me very thoughtful, since I've only got one grandparent left on each side of the family and when they're gone, the gatherings I'm used to having on those big family holidays are very likely to be stripped back to just my parents and sister (plus respective spouses and children or stepchildren). It'll save a lot of driving and gift-buying and juggling in terms of trying to visit four different households over the course of two days, but it'll still be sad.

[tau_sigma]

Diwali always makes me think of you, Iona. Admittedly, you are the only Hindu I know - but not the only one in the whole woooorld! No - but. It is the festival of light, yes? and light and brightness and happiness are certainly things I associate with you.

Also, I passed a card shop today that was advertising Diwali cards! I, coming from a small, small town and having gone to university in a small, small city, have never before seen such things. So I went in, and I was terribly unimpressed - they were not bright! I expected colour and bright things, and they were decidedly not so much - although they did have diyas on; but the final, ironic thing was that it told you what Diwali is on the back. Dudes, I thought, if you're buying a Diwali card for someone, they probably already know what it is. And if it's someone you like enough to buy a card, you should already know what it is, too. *sigh*

On le Guin; I liked A Wizard in Earthsea, and should probably read more of the series; I love her stories about the Ki'O, and "Coming of Age in Karhide", is that the one where they change genders throughout their fertile lives? If so, I loved that too; she explores gender and sexuality in very interesting ways. I am kind of on the look out for more.

[magic-doors.livejournal.com]

IT WAS SO GREAT. I have been spreading the love to Yorkshire, too.