January 14th

January 14th was Makar Sankranti, one of the biggest Hindu holidays. "Makar Sankranti is the day when the glorious Sun-God begins its ascendancy and entry into the Northern Hemisphere and thus it signifies an event wherein the Sun-God seems to remind their children that 'Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya'- may you go higher & higher, to more & more Light and never to Darkness," according to Wikipedia. 

In Rajasthan, the day is celebrated with music, dancing and an abundance of kites. People fly kites a lot here: you see little kids with strings and abandoned kites litter the streets and trees. However, on January 14th there were hundreds and hundreds of kites in the sky. (One of my friends remarked that it must be awfully confusing for the birds.) 

The day began with music at 6 am. We all woke up a bit later, and spent the day on the roof, flying kites, dancing to Hindi music and eating pakoora (a delicious fried treat made specially for the occasion). There was also an array of sweets, which were much too sweet for me. 

It was also Purnima's birthday -- she turned 20!

Me and Sophie

Kites in the sky!

Me and Purnima

Pranay working on the kites

Me learning how to fly a kite

Airborne! For about 10 seconds...

Many kites ended up stranded in trees or on neighbors' roofs 

#modelshot

Me and Rani

Me and Molly

Group photo! From Left to Right: Eva (The Netherlands), Molly (Australia), Hari (Australia), David (UK), Greta (Germany), Me, Rani (Brazil), Lauren (Canada), Marni (Canada), Michelle (Canada). Gabrielle (Brazil), Lauren (USA), Sophie (USA), Christina (Russia) and Elena (USA)

After dark, Pranay and Amita brought up fireworks, which we launched off the roof. They were beautiful, but terrifying. At one point, Pranay and a few of the volunteers who were wearing close-toed shoes played soccer with this whistling, fiery sparkler. They were kicking it all over the roof, and a few things caught on fire. At certain points it would fly under the chairs where we were sitting. But no one got burned and overall it was a wonderful evening. 

Sunset over Jaipur

Fireworks

Fireworks from the roof 

Lit a firework!

"It's like soccer...but with a ball that's on fire!" Said Hari

yeah.