We're on another holiday from lectures this week because Indians are celebrating arguably their biggest festival of the year - Diwali, or "The festival of lights." We will have observed two substantial breaks by the end of the semester, the first of which took place directly following exams for term one, and the second is beginning now for Diwali. Currently, I'm on a flight from Kathmandu, Nepal to New Delhi, India. My father was finishing up a three-week trek in Nepal just as our break began, so I flew to meet him and explore the city for a few days.

Kathmandu is a very mystical city, with temples and holy areas at every turn. Before meeting with my dad, I spent a day sightseeing on my own and was overwhelmed by the spirituality I encountered in the local people. I visited an area called Boudhanath, home to a very large white buddhist temple. The space was swarming with buddhist monks, tourists, and locals who were spinning prayer wheels, engaging in chants, and performing various prayer rituals

I also spent some time in Pashupati, a hindu holy ground with a hillside of miniature temples, hundreds of noisy monkeys, and a narrow river flowing through the center. To me, the scene was straight out of a National Geographic episode: watching from the opposite side of the tiny river, I saw rickety ambulances (four on this particular night) pull down the lane to deliver bodies to be cremated. Several men would unload the corpses, carry them to their respective cement block along the riverbed, and cremate them atop a small bonfire. Strangely enough, the situation did not disturb me in the least, as I would have predicted. Instead, there was an unexplainable calm and monotony about the whole process. This was simply the final chapter of the life cycle for the native people.

Once I met with my father, we spent a few days in Kathmandu sightseeing, shopping, and relaxing. Now, off to Delhi, where we'll begin the second leg of our trip!