P.C. Little's lecture, SEWA, Huzarat Ganj shopping, A beer and Bhang Lassi (Day 11)

This morning, we headed down to the basement of our Inn to listen to one of the worst lectures I heard in a long time. Actually, it might have been good had we been informed of anything about Awadh prior to attending. Ah well. During the break, I went with two of the grad student girls and we talked about our trip and members, their studies and members, Indian, and etc. They gave me some manaqqa, which gave me a sort of light, relaxed high through which I remained very aware and conscious. From there, we went to a delicious lunch. After lunch, we went to SEWA, the Self Employed Woman's Association. UNICEF gave money to a group of women working in textiles to help raise their quality of life. The home, which is only for women, develops markets for Chikani products, and schooling and purpose for children and some adults. The whole story was very touching. The cultural contact, devoid of language, made for a lot of emotion and staring. In one room, two very attractive girls my age were looking at me, and I looked back, and the group continued to get semi-flirtatious in our eye contact. It was a memorable experience, anyway.

From there, we headed back home, then after a brief relaxing period, out to the Huzarat Ganj (for my first time). I bought a wallet, a flask, and about 25 manaqqa (more later, when I actually know what this is). Tony, Lee and I got a little rearranged, and ended up having to find our way home very quickly. We made one guy ride all 570 lbs of us down the main street to our hotel (for only Rs 30). When we got back, we were whisked away to dinner. The food was good, but our waiters were terrible...One kept asking if we wanted any more to eat, even up to the point as Lee left the room. At one point, as he was reading the dessert list to Lee and Lee was repeatedly responding he didn't want any, I turned to him and said "how about you take this bowl." He left pretty quickly after that.

After dinner, we stopped by the bar we had rented out for the private party. It was very narrow, and lined with mirrors on both sides. I had half a beer, then, feeling a little uncomfortable, headed back.

Upon our arrival back at the hotel, we found a large wedding celebration beginning. There was confetti, bright lights, a horse, a guy dressed like a king, and a lot of spectators. We started dancing around, and were actually invited to the wedding. Unfortunately, we had to ditch, because...

When we got back, a few of us mixed up bhang (marijuana derivative) into lassi (yogurt like sweet drink), and drank it. It was great.