Assault on the Senses - Revisit

Well, after 4-1/2 months here I still find myself unable to distill down what India IS better than I did my first week! What have I given? A list of nouns and adjectives that don't really say alot on their own. But these same few words speak VOLUMES to me now. Let me revisit just a few...

SIGHT -
Brightly colored saris in every shade + design imaginable - Words just can't describe the endless variety. You see them all around, out of the corners of your eyes, like beautiful butterflies. They make even the simple woman cleaning the filthy street appear elegant. It certainly makes a place feel much more exotic than somewhere where everyone's in simple, western attire.
Sacred cows, moving with the cars down busy city streets - How can this be? It just seems CRAZY! A herd of cattle may decide to park it in the middle of a busy intersection and people elect just to steer around them. They rule the roads.
Naked holymen painted white, their fierce eyes gleaming - These sadhus come in all types, but are usually recognizable by their orange sarong/longhi. From the little, white-bearded man plucking his one-stringed instrument and singing with a radiant smile to the frightening, warrior-like one with the human skull on the end of his staff. My advice - Give a friendly "Namaste!", but keep your distance.
Sunset fire ceremonies on the Ganges - Big, small or do-it-yourself, it's always beautiful + powerful, and Indians love it.

SOUND -
The chai sellers' call - An endless variety + regularity of which I never seem to tire.
Horns blaring ceaselessly - From scooters, to cars to buses. They're ear-piercingly loud and tirelessly used. We try and anticipate them and accordingly plug our ears, much to the amusement of Indians who get a good laugh at us and I presume are all DEAF!
Adults interrupting whatever you're doing to tirelessly ask the same string of questions - I've come to learn that Indians are CURIOUS. They stop and stare at anybody selling weird stuff on the street or anything out of the norm as a source of entertainment. This includes you, and as long as you're in their country you just have to resign yourself as fair game for their attention. This is REAL reality TV.
Laughter - Indians LOVE a good laugh and they laugh + smile more than any people I've ever encountered. What a refreshing break from our western sobriety! Darin's silliness has been proven to work exceedingly well :)

SMELL -
Freshly baked chapatti - It still makes my mouth water, even if I'm full.
Garbage everywhere - I've now experienced what I consider BEYOND the limits of acceptable human existence amidst filth, and I KNOW it gets alot worse. What do you do? Hold your breath and try not to think about it. The government here is so corrupt that there seems little hope of intervention. We have noticed a simple do-it-yourself approach where both home + storeowner's sweep it into a pile on the street and then later burn what the cows, dogs + goats don't eat. Sound bad? Trust me, it's something.
Flower offerings to the Gods - Indians are FANATICAL about their Gods, and have daily rituals for waking them up, bathing + feeding them, putting them on the altar, then retiring them to a separate bed at the end of the day. It's alot of work. Sometimes more than they appear to spend on their own homes. I'm not sure if even the most devout little, old Catholic grandmother spends that much time daily on religion. Very peculiar.

TASTE -
Perfectly ripened Alfonso mangoes - Mango season has come and gone, much to my chagrin. I truly got to appreciate them for the first time as I never thought I would. How types varied every few weeks based on what was ripening + by geography. At home we're lucky to get 2-3 varieties. Here, I've had the luxury to taste maybe 1-2 dozen and there are 200 in all. Seems like I've got lots of future taste-testing cut out for me!
Chai with the PERFECT amount of sugar + cardamom - STILL stops me in my tracks and elicits MUCH Mmmm-ing.
Chai with WAY to much sugar + cardamom - Just when I think I've got it down I'll forget to ask for it without. God, it's awful! I try to take it as a lesson for further appreciation of the really good ones.
Western Food (for a change) - We've basically given up expecting anything really good on this front. Pizza + Pasta that tastes like nothing close, veg burgers with pasty cream sauce atop instead of a bun... Forget it! We're just gonna have to wait until we can do it ourselves. Just more resolve, if we needed it, for pushing us onward towards our goal.

TOUCH -
Cool water on hot skin - Still find myself taking at least 3 cold showers a day. Also elicits lots of Mmmm-ing.
Cows hair - After you've seen so many of these beasts they kind of grow on you. I actually will pat the less scruffy-looking ones on the head now.
Stepping in soft cow dung - It comes in all consistencies from a liquid disaster of great diameter to an impressive mountain of dung and it's Flat, Out, Unavoidable.
Smooth, white marble - What a treat to hot, tired feet! And have I mentioned the Taj?! :)

Check the "link" for current photos from our past 3 weeks in Varanasi