"Asa Gohan" at Kumiko House!!

I am staying at Kumiko House, a Japanese guest house that not really a guest house, but more like a home. Kumikosan is a Japanese woman who came to Varanasi more than 30 years ago, fell in love and married an Indian man, Shantiji. Kumikosan was understandably lonely, so Shantiji went in search of Japanese tourists to bring to their home. Eventually they moved to a larger home and now "Kumiko House" has been operating for 30 years. Kumikosan and Shantiji live on the first floor. THey are old and grumpy and it's a bit difficult to imagine them in their prime, but they are wonderful souls and I am honored to stay in their home.

Kumiko House sits on the ghats (steps) overlooking Mother Ganga, though the Ganga here is a bit filthier than in Hrishikesh. (One of the other inmates at Kumiko House swims everyday and he occasionally encounters a dead human body. I am planning to swim in the Ganga at least once before I leave, but I am hoping not to encounter a dead human body.)

Kumikosan runs a tight ship. Breakfast is at 8am and is announced with a loud "ASA GOHAN" from the ground floor. That's when we all jump up and form a line on the stairs, to pass food up chain-style to the third floor. Dinner is same same. Since I arrived I've only been with Japanese people and the cultural divide is not insignificant. It is a very subtle culture, and it is very difficult for me to figure out how to behave. But I am just DEE-lighted to be speaking some Japanese, as well as singing in Japanese, and the break from Western people was just what the doctor ordered...

My friend Atsushi stays in the dormitory on the third floor, the common room where everyone eats and hangs out together. Our days look something like this: early morning yoga (if heat permits), washing, and breakfast. Then, when the electricity shuts off around 10am, we head to the insanity of the main market for (fresh! juicy! ripe! cheap! golden-red!!) mangoes and lychee fruits, followed by afternoon rest. Evening time we head down to the ghats, where we sing and play guitar until dinnertime at 7pm. We never venture out after dinner as it is a very dangerous place and curfew is 10pm.

Atsushi plays guitar and we both sing everything from Indian mantra to classic Beatles to Japanese hits. Song selection depends mostly on who 's in the audience, and the audience here in Varanasi ranges from Indian children to groups of older Indian men, a few Western tourists and many goats. We are planning to chant our first mala (108 prayer beads) on the ghat very soon now..

My first days here the heat was so oppressive that I couldn't think or move (40 degrees celcius), but today it is 33 degrees, so even though the humidity is very difficult, I feel strong and am managing well. After those first days, I am so grateful to have such cool weather!! I am not sure I could last in heat any higher than 40 degrees...the monsoon is approaching but, thanks in part to Global Warming (TM - America), nobody knows when it will arrive and predictions vary...

so many details! so many new experiences! so impossible to write them down!!!

until next time,
with big love from the holy city of Varanasi,
LMA

PS: Did I mention that I traded in my precious Hrishikesh sunset for a spectacular Benaras sunrise? I have to ask again...does it get any better than this???