the province of the brave

Hello, and "Shubho Nababarso!"- Today is Bengali New Year.
Maybe I will start you with a couple of photos:


Goodmorning Santospur. This one was taken really early; I love when I get to walk in Kolkata when it is too early to be loud, but not too early for the bustle to begin.


And here is my view as I approach the front steps of Kalighat. A beautfiul building it is.

I should tell you that I love Kolkata. I think I only truly love it because there are so many days that I hate it. I feel myself making a niche here as it is called; and I think just as soon as the niche is so perfectly molded to me, it will be time to pack up and leave.

I should explain that one time last week I got really irrationally upset at a taxi driver. I treated him as though he was every Indian man who had ever done something to irk me. Unfair. He charged us bedeshi girls too much for a taxi ride that we didn't want to take that came at the end of a very misfortunate 3hr transit home to the village.

I should also explain that it feels like the sisters at Kalighat are getting used to having us around and they have started to rely on us a bit. The slight closeness I feel with them is so rewarding and it is lovely just watching the way they work and find their space at Kalighat. Some of the ladies that live at Kalighat too, I think feel our presence is there. I don't know how much stabilty is in their lives as they lay on their beds; we are hoping to be a bit of that for them.

Also though, Kalighat sometimes seems impossible. A small house that is right in the middle of a busy, loud, overcrowded, token endowed road. Inside the house at Kalighat can become shocking and hard to look at, and gross to deal with. I think it has to be like that sometimes.

But I really can't forget, that I probably live with the best Indian family. It may take me a long time to get back to them at night, but I can wind down during the commute, and arrive home to an astonishingly delicious home-cooked meal. I can sit on the floor with my sisters and laugh about all that we've lost.

Same pattern feeling for the past handful of days. Karissa asked me a question this morning that summed it up a little bit. She asked me if I ever feel like I could just burst in this place. I answered, "of course".

thanks for reading,
all my love from way over yonder,

grant me singleness of purpose,
and some strength to lift a part of the burden,