rajma and shortbread

I have a head cold. Nothing major, just a bit itchy eyes and nose, heavy head, stuffed up, that kind of thing. Finally getting settled in here. Funny how it takes awhile, but I guess thats natural. Little bit of culture shock goes a long way towards stretching your boundaries and inviting personal growth.
It is amazing to me that I can get internet, from the comfort of my bed, on my own laptop hoooked up to Nakul's cel phone, in the middle of northern India. What kind of crazy technology is that. I can even skype. wow.
It has been an interesting journey over the last week. Air China lost our luggage as most of you have already heard. So I am living with even less than I usually do. It is a little annoying. Mostly because i had two kinds of shortbread I had made tucked away in there. Funny how out of all the things in that bag, the shortbread is the one I am most missing.
Losing my baggage has turned out to be symbolic of me losing my cultural baggage as well. I recognize that a person's culture and socialization is what we use to get by in our worlds. Its what we use to survive in our worlds. And when you go to another world, that whole set of rules changes, completely. Values change, priorities change, everything changes.
My mom's friend Debra is in Calcutta. She is on a Christian mission trip and has been there for the past 6 months, never having been to India before. She is wearing a sari and learning Bengali (coincidentally the mother tongue of Nakul's family) and undergoing tremendous transformation from what i hear.
apparently culture shock can come in levels and layers, like an onion. Each translucent layer peeling off one by one.
I'm not gonna say this past week has been easy. The more i tried to apply my expectations and cultural judgements to the situation, the more it circled back and bit me on the ass. Pardon my french.
India never ceases to push you past your boundaries and beyond until you don't recognize yourself. To resist India is futile and will cause chaffing, to soften to her is to experience life with true warmth and joy.
Yesterday we made rajma. Rajma is kydney beans curry and Ritu, Nakul's sister in law, makes the best rajma. She has taken me under her wing and I am so grateful. She is patient and helpful and compassionate with the Canadian girl who knows hardly anything and except for knowing a few spice names, doesn't speak Hindi... yet. Ritu speaks enough English that we get by, with giggles, and she is fast becoming my best friend. She never ceases to amaze me with her gentleness and understanding of a situation. Slowly we are learning who eachother is as we watch eachother, and I think our love for eachother continues growing each day.
The food is amazing. Being in an Indian kitchen and seeing how it all goes down is like... wow! I can't even tell you the things we do in there. Making indian food is such a sophisticated process compared to any other kind of food i have ever made. Each dish is like a magical potion being brewed to seduce its consumer.
I will write more on this later.
and more on everything later. There is so much, but the power just went out so i need to go.
love to all
ang