Todd:Hello, Nitya. (Hi) How are you today? (Great) Now, Nitya, can you talk a little a bit about where are you from?

 

Nitya: OK, I'm from India, the Northern part of India, and from a very small city, but the oldest one in India. It's considered a very religious and holy city. It has a lot of temples and mosque and different things.

 

Todd: Wow, that's cool. What is your city's name?

 

Nitya: Varanasi

 

Todd: Varanasi.

 

Nitya: Yep.

 

Todd: And how do you spell Varanasi in English?

 

Nitya: Varanasi.

 

Todd: That's a cool name. Varanasi. And it's the oldest city...

 

Nitya: The oldest city in India.

 

Todd: Now you said it's a holy city. What kind of holy city? For what religion?

 

Nitya: Because that's the greatest part, that it has all the religions, buildings there are like mosques for muslims and it has temples and it has (gan) temples, different kind of, and buddhist temples. (Wow) It has a place where Buddha gave his first lecture (seriously) in the world, yeah, it's called Saranat. You ask any buddhist people and they know about it.

 

Todd: Saranat

 

Nitya: Yeah, Buddha gave his first lecture sitting under a tree, and the tree's been preserved there for ages.

 

Todd: Man, that's incredible. (Yep) Wow, now are you buddhist?

 

Nitya: NO.

 

Todd: Oh, what religion are you?

 

Nitya: I'm hindu.

 

Todd: Hindu, OK, and there's hindu temples naturally. (Yeah) OK, so what is the difference between say, a buddhist temple, in architecture, and a hindu temple, do they look the same?

 

Nitya: Not exactly because Buddhist temple, OK, it has Buddha basically, right, (right) Hindu temples have like 33,000 gods so you go in different temples and you find different, like different sculptures sitting there so it's...

 

Todd: Are there really 33,000 gods?

 

Nitya: There are really! There are 33,000 gods, but I think I know maybe not even 50 of them.

 

Todd: Oh, really.

 

Nitya: But, come on, it's basically just God.

 

Todd: Right, right.

 

Nitya: You just see them in different forms. That's it so.

 

Todd: Oh, OK, well of the different forms, which is a more popular one? Which is a very common one?

 

Nitya: I think Shiva because they say he's the, he created the earth so

 

Todd: Shiva.

 

Nitya: Yeah, Shiva.

 

Todd: Wow, interesting. OK, and is your town, is it big, is it small, is it medium-sized?

 

Nitya: I think, it's like medium, not very big, not very small.

 

Todd: OK, so sounds like a good place. Do you see yourself living there forever when you get older?

 

Nitya: I wish but I don't think so, I don't think that I will be there, for my life?

 

Todd: Oh, why.