what i learned today

The Victoria Memorial

i had such a lovely day off today.
Denise is in town and in addition to bringing most of my Christmas presents, amazing face stuff, fish oil pills, and buying us pizza i got to use her hotel room this morning. i took a hot shower, took a nap and watched a bit o' television.

then i had a coffee at barista with my usual chocolate chip muffin.

then met beth, ben (her brother) and avishek for lunch and then vent to the Victoria memorial. its this beautiful building built around 1o0 years ago as a monument to queen victoria.

Avishek is a history buff and i learned all these amazing amazing things about Kolkata and the culture.
like:

1. Where does the cast system come from?
They believe that there are three main Gods. The first God whose name i can't remember right now created us. They believe that out of different parts of the God's body different types of people were created....from the head....the brahmins. this is the highest cast and are the ones who are the bridge between God and man. Another cast came from the arms...they were the rulers, kings and warriors. Another cast came from stomach...these are the business men and farmers. then the last and lowest class came from the feet.....these do the menial task in society.

all the caste besides the brahmin could support themselves so they needed a way to support themselves so they created rituals that they had to be paid to do. in this way they were able to keep power.

2. How did the british take over India?
They took over the indian empire from the monguls. they defeated the french in the 100 years war and that made them able to have free reign to invade. They then, through using a deceitful man from the Mongol army, over took Bengal (that is the state i live in). Bengal was the richest state and by over taking Bengal they then were able to over take the entire country.

and there is so much more but it makes me a little sad the way humans treat each other and its a matter of power. i guess its what you do with that power that matters.
i still see some of the effects of kolkata's history today....but that is about 5 blog entries long and i don't want to be to much of a dork.

i love the office. i love that avishek is an amazing teacher and a good friend. i love that i am studying HIV and women's nutrition. i love that my mom is going to get the Victoria memorial tour from me...and i will have stuff to say. i love that in my life time our country hasn't known civil war or war on our own country. i love that Jesus call us to forgiveness so we can receive love and break the cycle of oppression and corruption in this world.