India 101

3 times a charm

jdemers26 — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:57:00 GMT

so.. third time's the charm, eh? here i am again in mumbai and time is treading along agonizingly slowly.. i'm wasting the last of my money for no reason in particular.. buying things i don't particularly need, really.. but why not.. just trying to keep myself occupied, really..

i'm more than ready to be home, i think.. although i might not say the same once i've been home for a few months.. i might be looking forward to my next trip. but, i will be so grateful for a warm bed with my baby .. and the kitties .. and a hot shower.. and cooking my own food.. mmm.. speaking of which i bought a bunch of spices today.. about 1 kg worth for about 1200 rupees (so about 30 dollars).. really not a bad price although in delhi i would have got better.. but the couple in front of me paid 2500 rupees for about a third of what i got.. and yeah.. no thoughts worth having today, really.. last night though i wrote a nice couple of pages worth of the book. a new angle on the intro.. i like it much better.. okay.. enough meandering about the page i think.. wish me luck everyone with getting first class tomorrow ;) maybe i'll have to shave but i think that might leave an awkward tan line ;op so maybe just trim, eh? right.. like i said no thoughts worth having.

ciao

last day in Arambol

jdemers26 — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:38:00 GMT

So here it is.. last day in Arambol.. Greg left early this morning for Thailand via a 40 hour train to Kolkata. it's theoretically a 30-hour train but Indian time works differently than, say, Japanese time.. so i think more like 40.. and he has no ticket also, but as you well know that's not so much of a problem..

and yeah.. so here i am.. i'm going to eat a nice fish dinner.. take a nice shower.. and possibly play some drums with some Nepalis who play guitar.. otherwise just one more night on the beach with an early morning tomorrow for the 10 oclock train.. crazy.. 3 days and i'm on a plane.. what a trip, eh?

so i'll let you know what's up from Mumbai, then.. cheers

Goa..

jdemers26 — Fri, 7 Dec 2007 14:40:00 GMT

So here I am in Goa.

I spent a nice day actually in Mumbai before leaving.. I walked to the train station to try to get a ticket back from Goa -> Mumbai but no luck there.. But in the train station I met a girl who I talked to a couple times in Dharamsala.. It seems when you travel in India you run into the same people constantly.. And you meet new people too.. I went to waste some time by having a beer at the big tourist joint in Colaba.. 170 rupees for a beer, which.. although it's only about 4 dollars, is ridiculous.. it should be 60 and no more than 100.. anyhow I met an English couple where the girl was an NRI (Indian born not in India, or "non-resident Indian") and their friend who they'd just bumped into from Belgium.. So that made 3 hours disappear, talking politics and all that good stuff.. Strange to have my head return to "the real world" as it were, after all these weeks.. politics and academics and american television... (everyone else in the world gets american television but we don't get any of theirs.. )

Where I am in Goa (which apparently is quiet and peaceful, for Goa) is pretty much like being on the beach in any tourist resort.. There's cocktails available, though i'm not much for cocktails.. Sand, and chaise lounges (i think they're called.. the beach recliners). There's Bob Marley.. and hard trance seems to be the fashion here.. that and drum circles.. so i prefer the latter..

Last night there was a nice bonfire drum circle - straight outta Santa Cruz, really.. People dancing with firesticks and one Frenchman sort of leading the pack with African chanting and drumming.. good stuff. And this same Frenchman the other night was doing David Blaine-type magic tricks.. although he was explaining them in French to my friend and so I didn't get the words but i got the point.. and he's quite good..

And on the other side of the coin are these two girls i shared a taxi with from the train when i arrived.. from Wales and Scotland, and they represent the tourist population. just here to drink and have a good time..

But my favorite are the ex-pats.. the ones who've been in India for a long time (or rather, who keep coming back).. The dark tan, greying dreadlocks, and wisened eyes of those who really know India.. because you can't understand India until you understand yourself, really.. otherwise you only see as deep as you look. Me i only scratched the surface, really. and I know I'll come back here.. i just have some work to do before then. But in the meanwhile I'll see if I can't enjoy this last week.. knowing my train is booked for next wednesday.. knowing i'm coming home to less than 0*C and snowy New England.. and i can just sit on the beach and let all that go.. just sand sun wind water.. the four elements and me in the middle..

deja vu, eh?

jdemers26 — Mon, 3 Dec 2007 08:54:00 GMT

So... Mumbai again.. I'm just passing through this time but it's strange to be back where i started. Everything looks so different. It's hotter, cleaner, under construction, and the family that stayed under the hotel is probably kicked out as the sidewalk where they slept is under construction also.. Nice to see the sea, though..

Anyhow I only have about 15 min. so I'll try to sum up.. First of all, the bus from Pushkar to Udaipur was fun.. sleeping sitting up for 8 or 10 hours, i forget. But i met an Israeli kid who had been with me in the Trika Yoga class in Rishikesh.. so we were talking.. and then when we arrived, we (Batiste, me, the Israeli (Amir), and a kid from Iran). And then we all stayed in the same hotel and hung out together and it was funny.. we all laughed about the fact that this Iranian kid (Fab is his nickname) was sitting around a table and sharing a room with his country's supposed worst enemy(ies).. That's what india's all about.. France, USA, Israel, and Iran.. Sitting around a table eating chappati and dal and sabji.

Anyhow Udaipur was nice.. Very tourist-y. All the hotels play Octopussy, the old James Bond flick with Roger Moore, because part of it is set in Udaipur with the Monsoon Palace and all that jazz.. and we did the tourist thing and saw the monsoon palace, and the imitation village they set up for tourists.. and that good stuff.. We ate on the Lakeshore at a honeymooners place called, ironically, Lakeshore ;op.. and played guitar and watched Octopussy and had a general good time.. saw many weddings the night before i left, as it was an auspicious day by the stars and planets for weddings, so there were many.. including one which rented out the city palace (a huge building which used to be the raj's).. so yeah.. anyhow.. that's that.. Then the travel arrangements from Udaipur were ridiculously expensive.. the sleeper bus (which took almost 18 hours with traffic) was 1200 rupees, and the train ticket for tonight (with a very hefty commission) was nearly 800.. so overall 2000 rupees to get to Goa by tomorrow.. But.. it was worth it / necessary as my time is running out.

Danielle and I are trying to work out getting me on a flight.. Probably the 15th Dec. So.. with any luck i'll be back in the USSR.. ha.. Beatles.. the same day.. yeah.. usa.. anyways it's hot and i have to waste about 10 hours in mumbai so wish me luck.. Cheers!

leaving pushkar, leaving india

jdemers26 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:03:00 GMT

So.. since last time a lot has happened.. and not much at the same time. For one, the Brahma temple is quite powerful.. He stares at you with these eyes, these deep reflecting eyes.. Maybe i'll go back to see him tonight actually before we go.. Lea left for Delhi and soon for France.. Now Batiste and I are off to Udaipur tonight at midnight, and two days later i need to be on a bus to Mumbai with tickets for Goa in my hand, because...

getting out of India might be a bit of a problem.. (for some reason, flying standby, I seem to have no trouble getting there and all the trouble leaving...) Danielle tells me the 15th (which is a Sat. is pretty full so she's going to check before and after and let me know, although after is closer to Christmas so it may end up before). Unfortunately, I need to know cuz i want to book my train from Goa to Mumbai a week ahead of time so I positively have a ticket.. anyways we'll leave all that up to the universe to decide..

Anyways, I dont know if i mentioned this before, but after all that shopping in Delhi and sending 11kg home, and saying that was it, i'm done shopping for good. What do I do? I go and buy a 2 or 3kg statue of Siva that's huge and takes up a good deal of my backpack (my backpack which was so light and small and efficient for all of what, two days..). But oh well, I'll be carrying Siva on my back like a cross for the next week or two ;op

It's been difficult for me to be here in India.. to be present to what's going on here.. some of you know the reason why.. so maybe it's better that i come home sooner, and next time I come (and there will be a next time..) I'll have to stay for longer, and with fewer attachments to the past.. Found a good book with conversations between Krishnamurti and David Bohm (a physicist whose works i have been known to quote in academic papers) which I have decided to take with me from the hotel where we are staying.. I figure I've donated more than enough books to various guest houses throughout india to compensate for that..

Anyways I'm checking now for my train to Goa and there are 4 seats available as of right now so as soon as we get to Udaipur (after checking into a hotel, of course) I need to go book those tickets.. and preferably also the return ticket although that can be done in Mumbai itself without paying an extra commission for the travel agent.. but wow it's so strange to have so little time and to be pressed for time for that matter..

oh well i have much to do back in the US of A before I come back to India again so ... i'm just blathering on now so i'm going to take my leave..

shanti shanti

jdemers26 — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:51:00 GMT

So, it's a beautiful morning.. I had some nice dreams last night.. I woke up refreshed.. I did some yoga.. not much, as per usual i was interrupted (the whole thing takes 2 hours so it's pretty much inevitable) but slowly slowly.. and finally there's peace .. shanti ..

The camel mela was just wrapping up as we arrived so, we didn't really get a chance to see that a) because we were sick and b) because having just come from Delhi to get away from the massive throngs of people i just wanted some peace and quiet. And here it is.. very nice, very quiet.. and beautiful place.. so yeah, i eventually will make my way to Goa, which is about 36, 40 hours from here.. so i may have to make some stops on the way.. but slowly.. all in good time.. first there's some temples to check out - most notably the only Brahma temple in the world is here.. many temples for Visnu and Siva and Sarasvati and Ganesh and so on.. but only one for Brahma apparently and it's here.. so after breakfast maybe i go looking for him.

Other than that i hope everyone's Thanksgiving went well and i'm so grateful not to be hearing Christmas songs and dealing with holiday traffic and publicity (as the French would say) aka advertisements . And did i mention the weather.. so not looking forward to that when i get back.. oh well.. one day at a time..

au revoir.

pushkar

jdemers26 — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 12:52:00 GMT

So Delhi was intense.. a lot of pollution.. a lot of people.. a lot of craziness.. and we all got sick.. We (Lea and I) stayed in a hotel with all these French coming to stay there.. and one of them (Batiste) came with us to Pushkar.. he only just arrived 20 Nov in India so we took him with us to a more relaxed locale..

And yeah we all got sick.. On the 14 hour bus from Delhi first i had to hold my pee for like 3 hours and then when we finally stopped I pissed for maybe 5 minutes straight.. wow that felt good.. and then when we finally made it and found a hotel i had diarrhea all day.. but i didn't eat all day and now today i feel better.. but now today Lea is sick and Batiste is sick.. I think we're all sick from the food in Delhi which is prepared by lets just say less than hygienic standards.. So Lea went with one of the hotel people to the ayurvedic doctor, and I came here to internet and then I'm going to have a nice dinner for myself :) maybe i'll be nice and eat at the hotel but otherwise i'd eat at one of the many many restaurants here.. Pushkar is one of the tourist spots in India where all the Israelis go.. Wherever the Israelis go, consider it a tourist hang-out cuz soon enough tourist places will pop up, many of them with signs in Hebrew.. So Dharamsala, Manali, Pushkar, Goa.. all the places I've been and am going.. Anywot.. Hopefully tomorrow everyone feels better and meanwhile we've (well, I've) had a nice relaxing time and now i start to think about what's next.. I think I may head for Goa and just prepare to come home.. If i have two weeks' time in Goa I can really relax.. I can establish a routine of waking up and doing my two hours' yoga (which i haven't been able to do b/c it requires a certain space to accomplish which i haven't had lately).. and i can see about life, the universe, and everything.. but one day at a time.. this is inda, after all..

XMAS GIFTS

jdemers26 — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:47:00 GMT

sorry i forgot last time but tomorrow i'm going shopping for christmas presents and the day after i send them airmail to US.. via the post office probably, if i buy masalas.. otherwise by cheapest.. but we'll see.. anyways ..

IF YOU WANT SOMETHING SPECIAL FROM INDIA WRITE ME AN EMAIL TODAY AND I WILL LOOK TOMORROW MORNING.. otherwise then it may be too late.. or we'll see what i can round up in mumbai before i leave.. anyhoo.. that's all for today..

stories..

jdemers26 — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:17:00 GMT

so, last night we walked to connaught place to meet my friend KV (at the McDonalds.. actually one of two mcdonalds in connaught place) so we could go for dinner.. he took us to a South Indian restaurant (he is originally from Orissa - S. India.. but has been in Delhi for a while with studying and then immediately after he was fed into a company and now he works for another company doing marketing and how do you call PR or something like that..) anyhow he was actually taking a short break from a conference he was in that he had to be back at after.. he said that night he'd probably work til 1am.. they work hard in india, the business/IT/medical eschelon of Indian culture.. so far removed from most of India that i've seen so far, really.. such a contrast.. there we were in our scruffy clothes from tourist stores and there he was in shiny shoes and black pants and nice shirt and briefcase.. and it was good to see him.. maybe i'll try to meet him one more time before we go to pushkar..

and then today we changed hotels from a tourist-geared hotel that (at 300 after bargaining) wasn't really expensive and was full of all conveniences including rooftop restaurant, internet, snack bar, etc. but which had little atmosphere as it was full of israelis and the indians who are used to serving israelis aren't genuine and for good cause.. israelis dont seem to really view the staff as people.. so they just do same same.. but anyhow now we're in this cheap little hole in the wall for 120 / night with a shared indian style bath and all the ambience you could ask for.. and this afternoon i sat surrounded by french trying really hard to follow the conversation (almost exactly like trying to follow a conversation in hindi as my proficiency in both is about the same. except i speak less french than hindi, which is not saying much for my french). and met a crazy ex-pat who lives in cambodia (and speaks frehcn and english equally well by the way) the year round, with a hotel he owns i think.. and comes to india every 2 or 3 years.. those are some of the most interesting people to meet.. the ones who've been in india for a while..

after we spoke (just now actually) with a man who does marionette.. one of the biggest observations i get from indians who've travelled in europe (the ones who come back) is that people in the west are lonely.. separate.. as someone put it: india has little money but big heart. and the west has big money but no heart.. as a culture, that is.. not as individuals.. every individual is different.. but on the whole.. anyhow,, nice guys.. one more observation/story for you before i go -- this morning, lea talked to a "baba" (baba or sadhu are holy people, saints, theoretically.. but in practice you hardly meet a real one.. many imitations.. in agra we met a real baba.. i dont remember if i talked about him, but anyhow). he said he wanted to tell her something and she agreed and so i had to sit there and listen to him feed her basically bullshit.. he had a little power, though.. enough to get her to talk to him, and enough to get her to give him 150 rupe.. he read her palm, this and that. three things she had to do.. and maybe i'm wrong and he really had power but for me the kicker was - he asked for something nice for the kids.. music he preferred he said.. and lea has these necklaces she made in france of river stones and colored clay and beads.. and she offered him one and he had absolutely no interest whatsoever.. and she said but they are made with love, they're better than fancy or nice things from the market.. i laughed in his face many times.. and i told him to his face he was no baba.. but she had more patience with him and listened.. anyhow who knows.. maybe he was the real deal.. but the real deal wouldn't ask for money.. and wouldn't wear nice shiny leather shoes.. anyone can tell you you need to find god and meditate like this and so on and so forth.. but when lea gave the man from earlier - the marionettist or puppeteer - one of her necklaces, and one for his son whom he loved dearly you could tell.. his eyes lit up with real love.. the look of a real baba (baba also means grandfather). anyhow that's that.. i'm off to eat dinner.. hope all of that made some sense to everyone.. tikke cello..

shopping..

jdemers26 — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 13:14:00 GMT

so.. this morning i slept in and it was beautiful.. so nice.. about 11 we went for breakfast/lunch.. and after we walked up and down the main bazaar looking looking looking.. i didn't plan on buying anything but i ended up spending about 20 dollars on various things.. less than 20 actually.. maybe 650 rupia. for that i got a leather wallet, a small chess set, two bags for presents (like purses..), a pair of sunglasses, a small changepurse, a watch.. i think that's it.. my hindi number skills are coming along slowly slowly.. ek do teen char panch che saat at no das gyara baraa .. pandra .. bis . pachis . tais .. charis .. pachaas .. ekso doso teenso charso panchso etc.. yeah.. wow.. slowly slowly.. anyways there's a ton of tourists here it's amazing.. i forgot about foreigners in india .. but yeah there's plenty .. from all over. .

anyhow.. tonight (shortly) i'm going to call my friend i met in manali who lives in delhi.. he works in marketing or something of the sort.. and he has work in connaught place until 7 so at 7 i'll call him and we'll see about meeting him for dinner somewhere.. and then we can talk about whether he can take tomorrow part of the day to go sightseeing with us.. he's a very nice guy.. so i look forward to seeing him again..

i figured out how to call ISD to america the other day.. its cheap if you do via internet.. 2-5 rupees per minute.. so about 10-25 cents.. the problem with india is everywhere you go it's a different price.. sometimes you do well.. sometimes you get ripped off.. c'est la vie..

anyhow.. that's all for now..