I’ve gotten to know my host family
a little better in the past two weeks that we’ve been in Banaras. Madhu, the 16
year old sister, is really nice and always talks to me about things are fairly
relevant in my life (ie service placement pros and cons, university admissions,
wear to buy a nice sari, etc.). My host brother Deep, however, is much livelier
and wants to do less talking and more doing. When Dolly-ji first gave us our
homestay assignments she told me that my host brother was going to be a
handful, but I never really appreciated those words until he dragged me around
the house to play cards, video games, and set off firecrackers.
The first few nights I played cards
– namely ERS (a game where you slap cards), War, and Set (a game where you find
patterns in cards). I would normally win ERS and Set, but Deep will probably
never forget that I lost to him three times in a row in War. The whole time we
played cards Deep would ask (demand?) “After we play ‘Eyes Closed’ okay?”. At
the time I had not been sleeping well at night and I was barely conjuring
enough energy to play cards, let alone run around with my eyes closed and try
to catch Deep. Finally, after three days of avoiding the game and going to
sleep, I relented and played with him. I think we played about six rounds
before I called it quits (Madhu also played with us). I thought this would be
the end of Deep’s shenanigans of late night game play, but just as those days
were ending, he started up with a new request/demand.
“Tonight, we buy firecracker. Go to
roof and explode!” The coming of Dewali also means tons and tons of
firecrackers/fireworks being sold. Every night Deep implores me to walk with
him to the nearby store and get some. Some days we do, others I tell him I need
to sleep (which is true, I’m trying to get over an ear infection after all).
When we do procure firecrackers, Deep wastes no time in setting them all off.
In the alleyway by our house, on our roof, in the courtyard in front of a
nearby temple, everywhere. A small crowd of children inevitably joins us and
Deep never fails to remind me to “keep firecracker away from naughty childs.”
We use sticks of incents to light the firecrackers from a safe distance and
then Deep yells “Run! Run! Too dangerous!” even when I am already 15 feet from
the blast zone.
Last week I went with Deep to a
festival that occupied the main street near my house and I watched him get ice
cream and buy little toys to entertain himself. He proudly points out all of
his friends that he knows and brags about the money that his grandparents give
him to spend on whatever he likes (mostly firecrackers as far as I can tell).
Deep loves speaking broken English at a rapid-fire pace that is virtually
impossible to understand. Sometimes I can’t even tell if he’s speaking in Hindi
or English! Usually he tries to cover himself by ending his sentences with “No
more English. Sister translate. I’m very much tired” after which he continues
in speaking in broken English because he can’t go a minute without talking.
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