No champagne, No ball drop-- India as usual

The Hindu Times posts festival listings daily on their back page. Every day, somewhere in India, there is a festival--- full of loud, ritualistic, garish ceremonies and celebration....but the week of western winter holiday's receives little hype. New year's eve arrived without a splash---and though I'm not one to don the high heels and indulge in the wild year end shannanigans, I did hope to mark the new year with more than an evening with my good friends, curry and korma. Good fortune found me enjoying an evening of classical music at the "International Music Center" (run by Freddie Prince's Indian double). The seven-act show delivered a night of melody and trance. After 5 hours of sitar, tabla, harmonium, and flute, I rang in the new year with a few local gurus, the best of the University of Benares' musicians, and a couple from Taiwan. We all sat on the futon covered floor of the florescent bulbed/ party-ballooned/nag champa-ed venue sipping ginger tea and soaking up the delicious performance.
This was one of several New Year's Concerts across the city, but the night itself was really no different than any other day here---Holy days/Holidays are pretty much an everyday experience---here, the "norm" mixes with the sublime, surreal, and mundane around the clock. Daily life in Varanasi does not change as the weeks and seasons shift. Seems the people find the time to be holy each day---So, on this day, for me and the "Varanasenos",----no football, no hangovers, no resolutions---just another day surrounded by marigold sales, chicken slaughters,tea brews, puja prep, rickshaw repair, blackouts, tabla tapping, ablutions, kite running, buffalo bathing,and tourist fleecing. Happy New Year.