Varanasi--Day 2

I want to set the scene before I get into today mainly to make everyone jealous.

I am currently lounging in Vargha's beanbag chair on the 5th story balcony lawn surrounded by flowers in the sun. I can hear the yells of happy school children enjoying their recess down below.
Okay, stage set.

This morning I awoke at 6 as Vargha had asked me to wake him then so we could meet a few of his friends and take a sunrise boat out on the Ganges. This did not happen, man Vargha is a heavy sleeper--next time I throw water on him. I woke him up and then he realized we had changed our meeting time to 8:30 and at my advising returned to sleep. I took the time to relax and catch everyone up. When 9:30 rolled around Hamid greeted me and solved my water water issue so I was able to shower without hating the world--still bitter about that week of cold showers Korea. I ended up eating breakfast with Hamid and chatting with him for the next hour and a half or so between his phone calls; he is a popular man. Much of that stems from the lack of initiative from his staff as they do not do anything without his explicit directions. I can tell this is a source of much frustration for him. Even simply daily tasks he must remind them to do repeatedly.

I have more free time until 3:30 now, it is weird to just relax; I will figure out how to do it eventually. At 3:30 the school has a seminar for the parents of the students. These seminars take place once a month and are an attempt to help foster a more positive learning environment at home and to help both the kids and parents alike, with what I am not completel sure, I am participating in it tonight and hopefully next months as well. Tonight's topics are Idealism, Forgiveness and Trustworthiness. I wish more schools spent time discussing those topics or any virtues.
It is getting rather warm to be sitting in a beanbag chair now so I will take a break from my writing break.

I ended up having an nap, one of those awesome dark snoozes where everything is gone and it is nearly impossible to wake you. Guess I was more exhausted then I thought.

The group session was interesting, there was 70+ parents in two circles who attempted to discuss the topics. My group only managed to make it part way through forgiveness. Our group focused on how goals and determination is important to achieve success in life and how the parents can help their kids understand this. The group was fairly quiet with six people holding up the majority of the conversation and from those six vocal parents there was a split between how to best instill these in their children. Some where stead fast in the idea that since they have put the effort to lay the ground work their children should follow in their footsteps to be successful. One particular example springs to mind of a doctor who worked very hard to establish his practice here in Varanasi and his son wants to be DJ. While he wanted his son to be happy he was not prepared to embrace the occupation of a DJ as the main career of his son. I am probably not explaining this well, the topic was a strange one and the group lacked direction in their discussion which coupled with a lack of English made for an interesting experience. For the second topic they decided to switch predominately to Hindi which left me at a loss.

When the groups ended their children came and did various performances--mainly songs however their was a dance. Everything you would expect to see at an elementary school assembly including numerous sound issues that the children powered through like champions. The parents were however unaware that their children were going to perform, or at least the parents I spoke to. After the assembly I was speaking to a few of the parents, one of their mothers family owns four schools and she teachers at one herself. She was telling me how her six year old son had been at a Catholic school and hated it; after coming home crying on numerous occasions they switched to this school recently and now he is always excited to learn. On a few occasions asking to come on Saturday when the school is not open. I still have ye tot participate in the actual classes however I do get the impression that they are doing something right.

Vargha, Hamid and I had a snack with two of the teachers and then Vargha and I headed out. This time we traveled by car to visit a few German friends of his. We ended up having a few beer on his friend Simon's rooftop with a bonfire which they refused to accepted was simply a campfire and a friendly game of Charades. Vargha and his friends are far too good at Charades. When we parted ways with everyone after midnight Vargha and I headed back to his house and sat on the floor discussing religion and philosophy. Certainly now how I thought the day would shape up.

Vargha and his father alike are Baha'i which is a fairly new religion I believe it started around 1844. Given my free time I have started reading on the subject so I will be better informed when more discussions arise. I have already managed to finish the two books I brought with me and Vargha graciously offered up his library for me to explore. I will try to explain the faith a bit when I am better versed on the subject.