Friendship, Feminism, and Test Results

Today I read a beautiful thing about friendship. In the Rig Veda Sambita, Vak, the goddess of speech, presides over the naming of objects in the universe which is seen as a process of befriending them. If you think about it, this can mean so many things. Friendship is then a sacred relation, an intrinsic imprint, something that epitomizes creativity and embodies affection. I think  that there is something in language and naming that goes even further, I feel like I am on the edge of some sort of koan, but maybe I am just excited that the power of language is so central to this story. Any time a professor or friend begins to speak about the importance of literature or words, I know that I have chosen to study the right thing. Though there is always a twinge of anxiety, given the tenuous relationship I currently hold with both language and thought, I am mostly filled with a kind of rippling warmth, a spilling over.  Tiny details become so important and beautiful and tragic, an emotion can be caught in the most surprising way, we are pulled to identify to empathize, to try to understand two opposing things at once and hold them in our head, turn them over, unclench our minds and just pay attention...and paying attention is really just loving.

We watched Mr. and Mrs. 55 yesterday in our Women's Studies class. It is a film that scorns the Hindu Code Bill and through comedy kind of shows the anxieties surrounding women's new right to divorce their husbands. Even as I winced when ominous music accompanied the entrance of the feminist characters in the film and when the young protagonist Anita spouted a completely misogynistic speech about a woman's duty as a wife and the happiness she will find in chores and children, I found myself secretly hoping that she would marry and swaying along to the love songs. I have to work on that romantic reflex of mine!

Anita and Pritam at the Registrar's Office

Now for some noteworthy events:

A few nights ago Manoj called to remind me that it was temple Tuesday. I felt honoured.

My friend John was in the Marathi paper yesterday! He wrote an article about the process of learning Marathi and it ended up on the front page.

John in the paper

I woke up this morning to a message from Huzaifa. Because he thinks I am very young, he always refers to me as 'baby doll' (he is a good person, so I just let it slide). I thought I should explain the term of endearment before just copying the message down: "Congrats baby doll- you topped Alternative, Rao Sir is terribly impressed." I think I owe my results to  the pomegranate Eliza had brought home for my pre-test breakfast.

In Le Plaisir cafe the other day I heard the luna song again that Viviana told me she loves. I couldn't make out the words very well, but she says that it is about how the moon wishes for a child. It is a song that makes me feel like writing so I have kept it playing as I write this entry.

La luna