Winding Down

We're nearing the bottom of the spiral now - time seems to be passing faster and faster with only 6 days left. Today is our last day of school, but no teaching, just photos, games, hugs, and smiles. Then packing: taking down the mosquito nets, donating clothes to lighten our suitcases, turning off the room fans for the last time. I'm counting on one more afternoon chai lounging in window seats before we depart for the overnight train at 5pm.

But I guess I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.

Saturday night was a hot and sticky blur of mango juice mixes and inside jokes, of dancing too much and staying up too late . . . needless to say Sunday was spent in quiet dining room rumination over final lesson plans and student evaluations. Cabin fever spurred a few of us to escape for dinner to someplace new. The Whistling Teal was a hideaway oasis; walk through looming marble passages that open to a quaint courtyard surrounded by low tables and couches with tents. It's all soft conversation over candlelight and hookah smoke, lovely and exotic.

Monday after school a few of us accompany Meenaji, our sweet and amazing cook, to her house for our very own private henna session. Seated on floor mats, we pour over her life's accumulation of photos while cool dark flowers and swirls squeeze out of corner-cut packets onto our skin. I've got a little bit of India stained from my thumb to my forearm, and I'm hoping it lasts long after I return home to remind me of all the beauty I see here daily.

Last night we finally donned our saris (with much help from Meenaji and Janki, an Indian volunteer), and stepped delicate into rickshaws that carried us to the rooftop of Jagat Niwas, the group favorite of the guesthouse/restaurants and the one the can most easily accomodate a long table for 25! I splurged on tandoori chicken, cheese nan, rich coffee, and a glass of Indian Chardonnay. It felt a bit like how an ending should, but yet not at all - our group just going out for another nice dinner, like we do every Friday/Saturday.

I get the feeling that it won't feel like it's ending until it's already ended. Until the train starts moving, until the plane takes off, until I fall back into my own bed.

~christiana