India 101

3 times a charm

jdemers26 — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:57:00 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 22:38:00 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 — Sat, 8 Dec 2007 01:40:00 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 19:54:00 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 23:03:00 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 17:51:00 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 23:52:00 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 — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:47:00 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 — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 02:17:00 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 — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:14:00 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..

new delhi,, round 2

jdemers26 — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:43:00 GMT

so i'm going to run through this as quickly as possible.. cuz i'm tired and hungry..

we took the train from varanasi to agra nd there were many many tourists.. it's funny i forget how to talk to western people sometimes.. or maybe sometimes i'm just not interested.. talking confusedly with indians is so much more fun/interesting.. anyways these were very green to india candians who were in their own little tourist world and i forget how easy it is to remain secluded from the real india if you stay in the nice tourist hotels with all services provided, etc.. and you just don't talk to anyone but foreigners.. that's how israelis live in india .. and there are tons of israelis.. and they suck for the most part.. they set up their own little areas with their own restaurants and hotels and such where the indians learn hebrew better than english and the signs are in hebrew and they just stick to themselves and travel in packs and dont say please or thank you.. but anyhow i digress..

we arrived in agra in the mornig and left our bags at this hotel which was recomended by the hotel we stayed in varanasi.. they had said the restaurant was kind of expensive but actually it was ridiculously expensive.. 15 rupe for toast plus an extra 15 for butter.. bullshit.. and so i ordered butterles toast and we left for the taj.. and the taj is 750 rupe to get in for foreigners.. and only 20 for indians.. so we decided beforehand we weren't going in.. if we had, we would have waited in line for maybe an hour or so.. been patted down by security and not allowed to bring anything in except maybe a camera.. and so on and so forth.. next time i'll do it when i can go for sunrise when there's no one there and the pictures will be beautiful.. but this time instead we just walked around it to the backside by the yamuna river and sat there for an hour or so.. got the good pictures of the taj and everything.. saw it's majesty.. and it really is majestic.. a perfect building if there ever was one.. a mandala of marble.. built for love.. and at the equivalent of maybe 70 million dollars.. anyways we walked along the riverbank and took more pictures.. and -- this part is really fucked up -- these indian tourists yelled at us and we posed so they could take a picture of us along the river and they from inside the walls of the taj.. and this evening when we arrived in delhi and were sitting waiting for the local metro train from nizamuddin to new delhi station they came up to us and said "excuse me, look we took your picture" and whaddya know there we were posing along the river on their phone.. what a world to be living in, eh?

anyways after chilling next to the taj for an hour or two in various spots.. we went back and visited a small siva temple next door, where this baba/sadhu had invited us before we went for the river walk.. and we talked with him for an hour or so.. good times. good man.. he invited us next time we come to agra to come with him to his village along the same river except there it's called kalendri.. i think another name for parvati but i'm not sure.. anyhow that was very nice.. babas in india have it good.. they can smoke ganja, drink whiskey, ride the trains for free, and receive donations and respect.. of course there are some fake sadhus for that reason but this one was the real deal.. good times..

anyways after that we collected our bags.. went to the train station.. got a second class unreserved ticket with the intention of upgrading to sleeper class reserved on the train itself.. but by the time we made it to the platform, the first train (chattisgarh express) was leaving as we got to it.. and lea for some reason jumped on.. but it was the pantry/dining car.. personally i would have waited for a nice sleeper car and if worst came to worst we could have caught the next train as well.. the unreserved ticket goes for any train going to delhi.. but whatever we were there and were standing/sitting as best as possible.. and soon we were in the area reserved theoretically for dining.. but more like reserved for the chai wallahs to hang out and chat.. 17 year old kids you know.. and next thing you know this ashole conductor is asking us for 600 rupees "penalty" for being there without having upgraded.. which is obviously bullshit considering the most expensive tickets agra to delhi probably wouldn't have cost as much.. so we pretty much told him to fuck off but meanwhile got kicked out of where we were sitting and were back to standing in the narrow doorway area.. and yeah.. that's that.. we arrived in nizamuddin and the story from above with the kids from the taj and then here we are.. now we're going to get food and sleep well.. so goodnithe

tired..

jdemers26 — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 17:34:00 GMT

so i'm running on 1 hr of sleep if that right now.. i couldn't sleep last night and then we woke up at 4am.. or more accurately lea woke me up although it felt like i hadn't fallen asleep at all.. anyhow we went (with no electricity by the way) along the ganga to see the mornign puja and then took a boat trip up and down the river.. lots of movies as it was too dark for pictures.. and now we're killing time before our 5pm train to agra for the taj.. and that's that..

i feel like i just worked a bad overnight at armstrong except that i'm sleepwalking through india . good times. let me just say that most americans in india are pretty annoying.. but oh well c'est la vie.. not much different from americans in america i guess.. except they travel in packs and well.. nevermind i'm probably mostly annoyed on account of the no sleep.. so i'll go now.. k namaste

asdf

jdemers26 — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:45:00 GMT

so quickly as i have only 5 min. left on the hour for internet. but it must be our good karma that everywhere we go we meet nice helpful people to show us around.. there's a big ceremony tonight on the ganga with thousands upon thousands of women praying to the sun for the sake of their son(s). for 2 or 3 hours tonight and again tomorrow morning.. so that's tonight and tomorrow and then tomorrow afteroon we catch the train to agra. and sunday morning we'll be staring at the taj mahal.. preferably around sunrise wheen there are very few people.. then that same afternoon on to delhi.. and on and on.. moving movin moving for these next 2 or 3 weeks. anyways just wanted to tell all im safe and well and until next time.

varanasi

jdemers26 — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 21:38:00 GMT

it's good to be travelling again.. i was stagnant for far too long in khajuraho.. yesterday we left khajuraho for satna to catch the train to varanasi.. i wasn't feeling too well i've been having stomach pain from too much chappati, sabji, dal, etc. at the patni family abode. chappati paratha etc is very thick and heavy.. and boiling the vegetables takes a lot of the minerals out.. so i think my problem is i was left with intestines full of just heaviness.. and indian family custom is to fill the guest until he can't possibly eat anymore.. multiply that by 12 days and you know how i felt.. so slowly slowly i am trying to replace that with lighter fare.. anyhow on account of that and other factors we took a taxi (which wasn't too expensive) rather than the bus to satna.. then from satna to varanasi we were on the waiting list - nos 46 and 47.. and our chances of getting seats weren't very good.. but this is india and slowly i am learning its ways.. for example without any ticket at all one can board almost any train in india so long as one doesn't mind sleeping / sitting on the floor or crumpled into a ball on a small seat with 4 or 5 other people.. so we picked a cab (S5 in this case) and just sort of pushed our way in.. the TTE / conductor asked us if we were really in S5 and i said yes we were.. and that was that.. didn't show him a ticket the whole time (10 hours) and he was sitting there the whole time.. sometimes from what i hear it requires a little baksheesh .. maybe 10 or 20 rupia for indians.. maybe 50 or 100 for tourists.. but in this case we just sort of made our way on and this thing was packed.. it says max 72 people.. i think we had 150 in one cab.. (lea says she counted 27 people in one compartment intended for 8 - including the small children)and first we were standing, looking for a place to sit.. next lea was sitting with a small indian boy on her lap.. then all of a sudden our bags were taken care of under the seat and i was sitting on the floor .. and so on and so forth.. moving around.. everyone sitting leaning sleeping on everyone else.. eventually from 1am to 5am i slept marvellously on the floor with my legs under the seat atop the luggage and my head on my blanket.. and talking with everyone as best we could with our limited hindi skills..

then when we arrived varanasi we met a nice man who took us to a nice, cheap hotel by the ganga.. and the hotel provided a guide who took us to the river and showed us the cremation ghats where i saw one body burning and another being prepared for the same.. very regal looking.. and peaceful he was.. anyhow the guide was free b/c he led us to a silk shawl dealer but we didn't buy anything so c'est la vie.. although one piece would make a nice table decoration so i might go back for it if he reconsiders his price.. anyhow tonight there is a ceremony on the ganga and also tomorrow morning.. so we must go soon.. and tomorrow morning a boat ride at 5.30 am.. anywot.. cheers all and all my love..

happy diwali everyone

jdemers26 — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 01:03:00 GMT

So i'm still in Khajuraho for a couple days more. i meant to leave this morning but didn't sleep well last night with stomach pain.. and also this morning i was in a lot of pain.. so i was going to go tomorrow but instead i think will leave day after tomorrow with lea the french girl i've been staying with and with papan.. but papan goes to mumbai to take care of some things.. and lea and i will do the whole varanasi agra delhi rajasthan trip before she goes back via delhi and i go on to goa.. at least that's the plan.

diwali was a lot of fun.. the biggest festival of all of hindustan and millions of millions of dollars (or crores of rupia) are spent every year on firecrackers and presents and everything.. since it's lakshmi and ganesh it's the best time of year to do all your big purchasing.. and also to gather together all your possessions and place them before the altar.. and the family we've been hanging out with did the whole ceremony and well.. i'll just say it was very nice.. a good party.

other than that i donno i'll keep you updated once i'm moving again..

hello

jdemers26 — Wed, 7 Nov 2007 23:24:00 GMT

So, it's nice to hear everyone else's updates :) Hope Halloween was good all around. i'm still in khajuraho and trying to get all my pictures off my camera and onto CD.. problem is i have 1700 pictures and the computers here are not the quickest in the world. so i may be here for a while.

problem is i don't have much to say. i've run out of words for this week i think.. for the next who knows how long, actually.. i filled up my one journal and i jam-packed the online journal and now i think my mind needs to introvert for a little while. so i'll probably just keep checking in to let you know i'm good.. but until maybe varanasi or agra or delhi i probably won't say much.. who knows.. day by day.

in the meanwhile.. however i have a lot of time to kill here waiting for these pictures.. :|

Khajuraho

jdemers26 — Tue, 6 Nov 2007 15:12:00 GMT

So, welcome to Khajuraho.. where i am almost out of room on my camera b/c there are 22 temples here and they all have hundreds if not thousands of little intricate details.. and the temple "guards" are more than eager to point out what they think everyone has come to see, which is, amidst the hundreds of other scenes depicting normal village life, processions, hunting parties, other sorts of parties, etc. there are the occasional "kama sutra" images. one in particular seemed quite enthusiastic to show us "here horse with woman" "here woman with pig" "here horse with man" etc etc. i have pictures of most of these so i'll demonstrate later..

i need to find a place to unload all these pictures but unfortunately that would mean 3 CD-R and i don't feel like buying and/or carrying 3 when i could instead find place that makes DVDs and make my life much simpler. sooo..

Here we've been mainly hanging out in Papan's "brother"'s house where we eat, drink, hang out.. in between visiting temples and waterfalls and other assorted tourist attractions. tourists seem to come here in throngs.. massive groups of french or korean or what-have-you.. and therefore all the locals if they want to make money learn languages.. that's why papan knows 7 (japanese, korean, french, spanish, italian, english, hindi). and they guide these massive tour groups around the temples which are world famous / infamous..

anyhow diwali's coming soon.. the 9th Nov. is the big party and they've bought me a khoda pyjama outfit (like what Gandhi wore apparently). After that i'm on my own again which will be nice and not nice at the same time.. mostly b/c i'm going to Varanasi for a couple days and from what i hear it's a vicious city to take on. but Mumbai and Delhi were ok so i should be allright..

I feel completely like i'm at the halfway.. Denouement.. And now what to do..? except see what happens.. so until next time..

hard work

jdemers26 — Thu, 1 Nov 2007 01:33:00 GMT

so now that the glow's settled down it seems i have a lot of work to do yet. my body's sore all over but i have to keep going to yoga and pushing it,, eventually it will fix itself..

i have all the tools i need right now. i'll go once more to learn one more asana.. and those 10 asanas will be enough for now. tomorrow also we go to see about the kriya yoga "sri" - if he's arrived.. i'd like to take initiation but i think that's a 3 day process and i leave friday a.m. or at least i have train tickets and plans theretowards.

the lecture tonight was the yama called satyam. speaking the truth. very challenging as you can imagine.. for what is truth, really? if we all perceive through the veil of maya which obscures the TRUTH.. and if Lao Tsu said the truth is that which cannot be written. and that which can be written is not truth. then what do i write here? ;op

so on that note.. i'm going to go practice relativity of morals by eating some chicken in Rishikesh..

sorry..

jdemers26 — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 03:26:00 GMT

for those of you that read my crazy intense ramblings i posted last time, congratulations.. otherwise i've taken it offline for the moment.. mostly as i don't entirely feel way anymore.. there's still a part of me that does, but for the past week it was supplanted by something else.. something certain.. and felt amazing.. i mean beyond anything i could ever describe.. in fact the whole of last week is beyond anything i can sort through in any sort of rational way.. and nothing exceptional happened on the outside.. except that everyone who saw me looked at me with this completely different attitude (probly cuz i was glowing on the outside as much as i was on the inside.. i certainly couldn't stop smiling much.. )

maybe i found what i'm looking for.. a first step.. maybe not.. it doesn't really matter.. but friday we go to khajuraho and after that maybe i'll sort it all out.. maybe not.. maybe i'll never bother "sorting things out" ever again.. who knows..

that's that..

so a nice 6am train ride friday morning to jhansi and 12-14 hours later a bus or taxi to khajuraho. then we'll stay until dewali is over 9 Nov. and i'll prob. go Varanasi. in the meanwhile i'll have managed to shuck half of my 'belongings'. gave my first aid stuff to Ashli from Boulder who's volunteering at a local hospital / ashram. giving my clothes away to the village people in Khajuraho. my shoes and extra sandals.. i really should have come with the clothes on my back and an empty backpack, save the camera ipod etc.. next time...

so i'll keep y'all posted. hope all is well.. red sox won the world series.. whaddya know.. figures.. i watched all year cuz i had a feeling they would. now it doesn't seem all that important. but yay anyway. tikke. namaste. :))

much belated update

jdemers26 — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:38:00 GMT

So.. there's a bunch to catch y'all up on, but i only have 20 minutes, so i'll do my best..

I got myself backwards somehow for about three days, and at the behest of a friend i am going to post (when i have it on me) from my journal what i wrote to myself on sunday cuz it eloquates my thoughts fairly well (relative to my normal stream of thought writings).. But anyways by backwards i mean that i was unable to sleep for about three nights until 4.30, 5.30, 6.30am.. and consequently i didn't make any of the morning lectures - the sunday introductory one i skipped, but my neighbor went and filled me in on what i missed.. and the monday and tuesday mornings i missed but the afternoons i went to and i was hooked after the first day. it's not like iyengar or ashtanga or any of the 'gymnastic' yogas - it's firmly rooted in the esoteric traditions, and the first four days (up to today) have been jampacked full of esoteric information i had already accumulated over the years from various sources.. but then the first day i did it it worked.. i was amazed.. of course as these things tend to do, when you're on the right path, the first day was amazing, and then following that every day i've had to work at it and have come nothing close.. but i know that's just how it goes.. so believe it or not i've been waking up early (relatively) and walking down from high bank to ram jhula (about 2.5km) and taking the morning class AND the afternoon class.. and getting out usually around 9.30.. today the lectures are finally easing up and i should be done by 7.30 from the 6.30 lecture i have to be at in 20 min.

high bank was nice,, secluded,, met a lot of tourists - esp. a couple S. Africans who are travelling together (sort of.. splitting up now and again).. and a Swiss girl who speaks Italian.. may have mentioned her.. and so yeah.. just a few evenings there hanging out and talking to people.. and today I moved to Ram Jhula. theoretically i have a room to go to later tonight.. but mostly yoga.. and i think i'll do 2 weeks of the intensive 1 month class (i considered doing the whole month but i only have so much time and already i think i'll have to push back my departure a few days to about the 18 or 20 of Dec.. which is the middle of the week anyway and betters my chances at a good seat).

Rishikesh is very nice and very tourist-friendly.. (Amanda i'm putting together a list of places to go in India where you wouldn't find it too hard.. so get ready cuz i'm going back :p) my friend Papan says to write about him - he is travelling as well.. but is from Khajuraho, which i'm going to at some point.. and very nice.. very good people. it's actually his room i'm taking over tonight.. anyways Rishikesh - lot of Israelis.. and i'm assumed to be Israeli automatically (by Indians and Israelis alike) which is funny. Sfortunamente i don't speak Hebrew.. todah.. that's the extent of it. :)

Mom btw i have to apologize profusely for missing your birthday but i gather you're having a good time in Italia.. i find it great that we're both travelling concurrently. we can share stories and wot.. though i don't have your blog you should email it to me (unless you want everyone who reads my comments to read it also).

Everyone else i apologize that it's been 5 days and no word. i promise to gather together my thoughts and reflections and to bring my other journal with me next time i internet (right now it's packed up w/ my stuff in Tamal's room).

I'm trying to ditch half of my stuff here. i'm going to give away my clothes to Papan probably after i buy new ones.. he says he can give to some villagers/farmers. rishikesh has enough tourist' stuff & $$. but there are quite a few hospitals here and i'm going to see if i can unload 3/4 or more of my 'pharmacy' that i brought with me on them.. as i haven't needed any of it, and everywhere in india there's a pharmacy where you can get anything from antidepressants to antidiarrhea to antibiotics.. only things i'll keep are cipro, tylenol, and ibuprofen (and malarone, my malaria pills, though i'm debating whether to keep taking them as i dont like taking pills unnecessarily and there's virtually no malaria up here.. it's mostly in the south and middle.. so when i go that way maybe i'll start taking again (and maybe not).

anywot - with that i'm off for now.. 'til next time. ciao.