Maya meets sunyata

Where the wild things are

interstatek — Sun, 1 Nov 2009 19:13:00 GMT

Hello everyone! Naomi and I just emerged from "the bush" last night, caked with grime and sweat. On October 21st, we joined a caravan in Chennai, and have been on a road/camping trip through Orissa, Eastern India ever since. Our caravan came with a very knowledgeable and respectful local guide who was adept in Oriya language, plus a local chef who made some dangerously delicious local specialties (wild mountain chicken stew, prawn curry, lemon coriander soup, and anything pakora-batterable and fryable, etc.). The caravan even came with a stocked bar! (F.Y.I., in India, it is illegal to drive with a closed container of alcohol in a vehicle. If one is caught traveling with a sealed container in the vehicle, stiff fines may be imposed. This is to prevent liquor trafficking between the cities, which each have individual liquor laws. ) Orissa is one of the poorest and most rural states of India. This might give one the impression that it is dirty and destitute, but it is not at all! The landscape rotated between densely green forests, rich, pastoral farming land, and rice terraces. The villages were very clean and tidy; the homes were skillfully made of dried manure, clay, and straw; and the villagers, men and women, were very muscular with thick, strong hands (we, silly city-people, might wonder how many hours at the gym these physiques might require). Unlike the Hindus, they kept chickens and goats for meat.... the villagers are Anamistic, meaning their religious practices pertain to the rhythms of the natural world. They appeared to be very healthy and free of the birth defects and poverty that often characterize Indian cities. Over the last 10 days we have been fortunate to camp in some villages and even participate in Animistic dancing with one of the tribes. It has been my personal duty to bring gifts for all of those gracious enough to let us camp on their land, or take photos of their lifestyle. One village even shared their fermented sego palm wine with us. I began this leg of the trip wondering if it was terribly exploitative to wander through tribal India looking for people and lifestyles different from our own.... Then one day, as we all had stopped near a lake to make some lunch, a group of 10+ local villagers came to watch us, which is not at all unusual. At one point, five village girls stood about 2 feet from Naomi, our friend Robert, and I and stared at us, unflinching. We were doing the same thing to them: staring, observing, wondering. This went on for almost 10 minutes, practically in silence. We were watching each others' movements and eying each others clothing. That is when the complete obvious hit me, that they were as curious about us as we were about them! Both parties are voyeurs and zoo animals to some degree. (In the end, the girls gave me some marigolds and I gave them some dates and nuts.) After this realization, it seemed silly to get very reclusive when the usual hoard of 30+ Indians ambushed us with questions or simply wanting to stare. I am attaching some photos to this email, please let me know if they display inadequately. Enjoy! 1 - A tribal women adorn in N. Indian garb. 2 - A village woman carrying clay down from the hills. 3 - A butcher who was very excited to get his picture taken. The chickens are covered in turmeric. 4- Dengeri ("hill dweller") woman grinning at supper. N and I bought and traded jewelry with this woman. 5 - A husband and wife harvesting sweet potatoes. 6- A family waving from the fields. 7 - Landscape 8 - Naomi laughing with some boys in front of their house. 9 - A pile of ginger! I hope you enjoy those. Tomorrow we leave again for Calcutta, then Western Bangladesh, then Darjeeling, etc. I will write more as I have the chance! love you all Kelleigh

Emptiness and Happiness

interstatek — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:09:00 GMT

Hello everyone!

   Yes, I am still alive! Thank you for your letters of concern, stories, reflections, and questions. If you are worried, be soothed. I am safe, very happy, and healthy (which is a miracle in itself! The food I have accepted should have given me dysentery by now! Really, next time I see you, ask me about what happened at the Golden Temple...)    ... quite honestly, the last two months have likely been the happiest continuum in my life (so far).

Of course, India is deeper and richer, more ludicrous and mystifying than what my feeble grasp on language can give justice to . The mind (my mind) is gripping onto this place like a Rubik's cube. I don't get it. I cant describe it. The only way I can explain it to myself is by assuming that 5,000 years of continuous religious ceremony (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Zoroastrian, Jain, Judaism, Christianity, etc.) and the heavily spiritual, superstitious population have generated vibrant energetic vigor (frequency, energy, magnetism, whatever you want to label it as) that cannot be thought about or conceptualized. It can only be felt. Call it hippie-gumbo if you must. As many of you know, I don't think of myself as a spiritual person - or even very sensitive - but in the 2 months I have been here, I have experienced and witnessed phenomenon which have left me breathless and bewildered. Ask me later and I will tell. Perhaps I will write more about these experiences at some point and post them on my myspace page and/or online journal (www.journals.worldnomads.com/interstatek/

At the moment, I am staying in Dharamsala, at 7000 ft, in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is an perplexing combination of tranquil Tibetan refugees (many are Buddhist monks, who walk around with these ecstatic yearbook-quality, full-faced grins that could bloom a rosebud in winter[!!]) and outlandishly loud Indians. This week is another holiday - Dewali, which lasts 4 days. This will be the 4th Indian holiday since arriving! Usually they last 4-11 days and involve either throwing idols into the sea, smashing fruit, offering biscuits and tea to the Gods, or all three). Apparently, it is also an auspicious time for Indian marriages, which involve middle-school-quality marching bands which play uninterrupted and loudly over the course of 2-4 days. Its like a 4-day rave of wind-up monkeys, clashing symbols over amplifiers. From the marriage I saw, the bride and groom looked miserable by the end of their wedding.

   My apologize to those who have tried to communicate with me recently. Over the last 10 days I have been staying in a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, taking a course on Tibetan Buddhism and meditation. As a precept to the course, I have been in silence and meditating for 3 to 6 hours per day, for the last 10 days. This is probably why my tone might seem flat and awkward, and it has taken me two hours to write this damn email ;). For our stay,we were assigned "karma chores." My karma chore was to teach mass sessions of yoga to 50 international, mixed level students. Ordinarily, I might have been freaking terrified (!) ....but given the circumstances - teaching to to students/ Buddhists who spend their time mediating on loving-kindness and compassion- I felt pretty good about it!! Also, It seemed like the practical step after having spent the previous month, 7 hours/day, studying yoga with 6 different highly technical Viniyoga teachers.

   As much as I would like to expand on the monastery, Shamanic Tibetan Buddhism, pink-butt monkeys, the Himalayas, Yogic superpowers, 4 1/2 hour clairvoyant massages, naked holy men, Emptiness, and tantric texts, I am exhausted and next few days are expected to be a circus around here. His holiness, the Dali Lama XIV, arrives tomorrow and will be here for the next week giving various talks relating to Buddhism, Emptiness, and Happiness. Get this: to see the Dali Lama speak through the week, one must bring only 2 passport photos and the equivalent of .25 ! Hot dawg! For the locals, it is not too extraordinary, though. Dharamsala has been his home since fleeing Tibet in 1959.

   On the 18th, I fly back to Chennai to begin a 28-day semi-camping trip up the East coast of India and into the rural, tribal communities. It may be difficult for me to access a computer after this time, but I will post and reply as I can. Kindly disregard whatever vast grammatical errors or nonsensical phrases appear throughout this email! haw!

Much love ya'll!

   Kelleigh )

Gallery: Week one

interstatek — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:36:00 GMT

West coast pride, yo.

Jain says

interstatek — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:55:00 GMT

Hey everybody!

   I am sorry that it has been so long since I have written or called. I hope you have not been too worried about me. You shouldn't be....the people here are extraordinarily friendly, watchful, and curious . The constant, unashamed, long, long stares are good for some form of protection at least. Older women seem especially vigilant about ensuring the safety of young, solo girls....when they stare, they do so with a smile. At times, I feel more at risk of choking on my own puke than being attacked. hawhaw :) jk.

As I am writing this, I am in Mangalore. Today I board a train to Chennai, and will be at my "apartment" by tomorrow evening. If there is a telephone there, I will send you all the number. I hope there is. It is awfully hard to make telephone calls because of the time difference, Ganepati bapa chaturthi (festival of Ganesh), and Ramadan. Oh well, it is all part of the package, no?

Since arriving I have intermittently met other travelers to bum around with. One fellow and I paid a cabbie to take us around for a day. We stopped at a few immaculate temples, polluted beaches, and imperial Raj monuments. I found the Jain temple to be among the most interesting and comforting. The Jains strongly believe in alleviating suffering for all forms of life: they wear dust masks to keep from inhaling insects, refuse to eat root vegetables or travel long distances, and operate mobile animal rehabilitation centers. Actually, the city I am in right now, Mangalore, has a large Jain community. It is the hands-down cleanest city I have been in yet. Not one diseased, crusty dog in sight! The Jains even have their own irrigation services!

   We also visited a small Islamic enshrined relic where wheel barrel-loads of fruit were being offered to Allah to symbolize the initiation of Ramadan. Without exclusion, I was ushered into a small womans' stall where it was implied that I should pray. Initially, it seemed awkward that I was the only woman without a hajid...but then I realized that nobody was paying attention to me! It was great! And so I sat with them and prayed/ meditated for 10 minutes or so.

   That same night, as I was sneaking a peak at a mandala (a stooped shrine carrying a deity) dedicated to Ganesh, a few passer-bys noticed my curiosity and urged me to enter and give puja (prayer/devotion) ("go!go! it is good to do!"). So I bowed before the jolly, elephant-headed God, remover of obstacles and bestower of good fortune, and mimicked the devotees before him ( as a side note, the Hindus believe that Ganesh will grant you a wish on Ganepati chaturthi..wahoo! ). Upon exit, I was given a lump of auspicious sweets to eat to seal my luck.

   Two days later, I met another group of travelers in Goa. They graciously invited me to join them on moped to a distant spice plantation for a tour and elephant ride. And so, for the minor equivalent of $4/ day, we rented mopeds and rode 2 hours away - only to find that the gates were locked and the plantation was closed! A sign on the locked gate read "closed for Ganesh festival-God of good fortune" ! HAW! Oh, the irony was unbelievable. :)

   Digestively speaking, however, Ganesh appears to be on my side. I have eaten at a few stalls which could have liquefied my intestinal obstacles! hawhaw! Sorry, that's gross! In all seriousness, however, the seedier places are consistently phenomenal- and cheap! On three separate occasions yesterday, and twice today, the little me-in-my-head exploded "Holy Macaroni! Best ever! What in God's good name is this??" (or "Gods' " depending on the religion I guess)...

   Well, that is all for now. I'll be sending photos soon. Maybe today!

Love you all,

kelleigh

Touchdown: Mumbai!

interstatek — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:51:00 GMT

Namaskar!

   Yes, i am safe, still healthy, and in Mumbai, India. Going through a little bit of shock, but keeping my sanity.

(Side note: as I write this email, there is a fellow looking over my shoulder reading this email. Not that i really care or anything...I began abolishing spacial boudaries when the plane landed. Just thought id let you all know)

Hmmmm....The flight was fantastic! I had 3 large, cooooosh seats to myself, plus (get this) blankets and pillows! Most airlines stopped giving out blankets and pillows due to flu transmission concerns....even though Continental flies to many areas in Asia and S/C America, apparently Swine Flu is less of a concern than comfort. Regardless, I was excited to see them. Like Frontier, each seat had a personal television, but unlike Frontier each touch screen television was loaded with 355 movies, 65 television shows, 16 video games, a remote control for the video games, and music. The served breakfast, dinner, and snacks, which we had a choice of spicey (very sniffley nose spicey, actually) vegetarian India food or "American food." And the meals were seriously delicious. really wierd.

Between the airport and New Bengal Hotel (an Islamic Bangledeshi hotel where I am staying), the cab drove through a few shanti towns and along side encampments of those not fortunate enough to have found the materials/space to join the shanti town. People were sleeping everywhere: on the highway medians, in traffic lanes, and on top of eachother in piles. Anywhere walkable is sleepable. From where I am staying and what I have seen, the poverty and trash is inescapable. The air is thick and the aromas are curious and hard to describe. Definitely an overwhelmingly musky amalgam of incense, sweat, fried food, and traffic. 180 degrees from the fragrances costa rica. The food, however, is incredible. I dont think I will be loosing weight at all. i have dined at two restaurants thus far, and have paid about 3.50 for both meals combined. Both menus had between 75-125 items on them, most of which were completely mysterious to me. I can not tell you what I had at the first "hotel" (restaurants are mostly labeled as "hotels" here),other than it was a very spicey and colorful mixture of vegetables with hot, pickled mango. At the second, for breakfast, I had Idli Vada- which is a mash of fermented lentils and rice that is either steamed or fried in the shape of a doughnut and served with sambar and coconut chutney- and an Uttapam dosa- which was a rice flour pancake- and 3 cups of chai (each cup measured about 1/4 cup).
The food is the incontestable highlight.

   As for the rest of the day, I will be taking a ferry to Elephanta island which is an island of caves and carvings of Shiva (god of destruction) dating back to 600 A.D., then visiting the Taj Palace and Taj Presidente Hotels . i seemed to arrive near a holiday called Ganesha Chatipurthi or something. I guess they create large effigies to Ganesha, the remover of obstacles and blesser of journies, give offerings and recieve darshan (blessings) from the pot-bellied elephant god, then dump the effigies into the ocean.

   I love you all. Mom, Dad, and Cody, I will call when I unearth the puzzle to doing so. Due to the difference in time zones, this will be either very late at night or very early in the morning, as India is 12:50 hours ahead of Mountain time and 15:30 hours ahead of Hawaiian time.

Khuda Hafiz (goodbye in urdu)
Namaskaar (in hindi)

xoxoxoxoxoxo
Kell