Munna Guest House

I'm leaving my guest house tomorrow, back to Dehradun and I've been meaning to write about it. I really don't spend that much time there but it is such a unique and special place that it just has to be described.
Munna guest house has no signs and there is no way to find it unless you know where it is. You would think that your just walking into someones home... except a very dirty one. We have our own pack of wild dogs! Beat that, it's like turf wars! Huh, are dogs will whoop yours! But seriously, we have a pack of dogs that lives, and shits all over the gust house. They also try to come into my room and cuddle with me! Munna is a nice guy who seems to like long term stayers who are students or musicians. I felt like I was living in a dorm or something this. Lately though, with the tourist season in full throttle I've come back to find 20 people hanging out right outside my room. Luckly, India has taught me how to sleep through anything. Munna guest house has the whole gamut of foreigners, jugglers, dancers, sitar and tabla players, kids working on their masters and lot's of dreads. Dread locks are the fashion for travelers in India!
My room is locked with a rigged chain and my door has a hole in it. I haven't measured it but I'd say my room is about 10 by 8. I have an old dirty mattress on the floor, a couple of bricks and a rock for a table and walls covered with past peoples art. It's perfect, I have two windows that look out on the Ganga river and the beautiful sunrise. It also means that my room has more mosquitos than you can imagine. They live in my room because there is no screen on the windows and my backpack and strewn clothes make perfect sleeping places for them during the day. Even with my misquito net I get shewed up and spit out by the nasty little bloodsuckers. I'm trying to remain equanimous and not kill, but they love the tops of my feet which always itch the worse!!! Grr!
I'm leaving Varanassi tomorrow! I'm going to miss this place, I've made so many friends, writing this means I'm missing two invitations by friends which I will osmehow juggle both this evening! I'm speaking hindi now at a conversational level, I bought my train ticket entirely in Hindi! I can't believe the change that it has caused. I feel so much a part of this place. I owe multiple food stalls money because they just tell me to come back later, between paying back people who I owe money too and doing avors for friends I could be totally busy all the time here. I don't want my visa to expire!! Yesterday I cleaned my favorite temple and hangout spot for a couple of hours with the Baba and today I pealed hundreds of peas and grated carrots for a feast that I hope to take part in as soon as I get off the computer. Every moment of my life here is amazing. I have no way to truly share it with anyone outside of the little bubble that I've created. I'm living simply, i have removed all pressures and I've just gone with the flow. The flow told me to learn Hindi, and wow, everything as changed, when I sit in conversation with only Indians and understand what is going on it is the best feeling. There is no way to understand a culture without understanding the language. The language reflects the culture and visa-versa, now that I have the key of language I'm like a kid in front of a wall of doors, opening one afterr another and marveling at what is on the other side. I could honestly write a guide to this city of all the best local places to eat. Becasue I've found almost all of them, the only one that I'm on aware of but haven't found is a 12 rupee Thali, but that's for next time. The easiest way to talk to people is to buy food from them, and thus I snack my way around this place talking with shopkeepers. Talk to everyone from another city!