Heather/John
c/o Jossi
N. 1/225
Nagwa, Varanasi-221005
Uttar Pradesh, India
We've just moved into our flat. It is enormous for the two of us who have little more than the clothing on our backs, and are loathe to accumulate much before we have to abandon it and return to our homeland. It is owned by a jolly and strange professor of astrology. He had me flip a coin to decide whether we would pay a deposit for the flat: heads, we won. Last night, after I asked for a hammer and his son ran and found me a very imposing rock, he told me, "You have conical nose--it means you have good mind. Your nose like father or mother? Father? Accha... it means you take after your father." John is now scheming to become a professor of astrology as well.
We have spent two days cleaning the cobwebs and dust off of shelves, windowsills, door tops. I've stuffed metal screen in each of the holes in the wall, in hope that the rat droppings will stop accumulating inside of the kitchen cupboards. It's not the first time I've shared kitchen space with a rat. Not even the third time. But you don't get used to verminous circumstances--you just become acutely aware. No one wants even the faintest smell of rat poop hanging about their cooking.
I find comfort in the mango tree that shades our balcony, and in the papaya that dangles its green fruit just beyond arm's reach. This afternoon, we will take chai with our landlady and -lord, both more generous than I could have hoped. Already they have loaned us a stove, a sewing machine, a bed. They've offered a TV, a fridge, a table, a computer. Tonight we will cook our first meal here in Varanasi. Slowly-slowly, this space will become ours. This coming week I will start writing a lesson plan that incorporates my favorite arts with learning the English language. And I will start collecting fabric for my quilting-circle-to-be. And I will meet weavers, finally. And we will make this place our home.
