our trip to mount abu was generally quite painless (and with only one hour delay), so after a bit of bargaining wityh the jeep-man at abu road train station we made it through what was a crazy, hair-raising ride up to the mountain range.
4 nights in a pretty hotel belonging to some long-gone maharaja did miracles in curing our intense home sickness. even though our first dinner experience (bleeding, oozing uncooked chicken and what not) was stuff of nightmares, our next few days and our frequent visits at hotel hillok's awesome restaurant, were refreshingly serene, hassle-free and lakeside perfect.
mt. abu is a hill resort frequented mainly by rajasthani and gujarati locals, but also hosts the occasional tourist looking for a breather. many things reminded me of valtournenche; the altitude for one, the smells, the up and down walks and the mountainous breeze. however, instead of pine trees and rock formations, we were greeted by a tropical treat of palm trees and monkeys. mt. abu is also the home to nakki lake (literally the lake of nails, for legend has it some god used his nails to make a hole in the ground when trying to escape from some demon - and it later filled with water). it reminded us of an indian stlye haphazard, yet still charming, lake como.
our days generally flew by with a light read and a lazy stroll round the polo ground. the first three days in fact were a real ode to the chillout, where we sat for hours on our comfy chaise long on our bay-window with a spectacular view of the tropical hills. our fourth day was on the other hand a tad more active, in that we met up with 25 year old charles; a trekking guide with one goal in life: to reach nirvana...oh, and of course, to make enough money to open 'mt. abu treks' with stables, bungalow accomodation in the hills and tourists paying over a grand a night....this briefly summarises the confused young and old boy that is charles.
he took us into the wildlife reserve and for an hour climbed higher and higher in silence. we even lost sight of him a few times and bumped into the solitary buffalo. we climbed past an alligator lake and a bunch of caves - undoubtedly the nigth lairs of leopards and bears. eventually and unsuspectingly we arrived at a beautiful opening above green fields inhabited by village folk and a carpet of green grass. in this breezy post we got to know - but didnt fully understand - the likes (and dislikes) of charles.
charles is indian , but he doesnt much like his country. he is a hindu buddhist and lives off the teachings of his guru. he believes that he is currently in his fifth life and that previously he was (amongst other things) an african man and a french chemical engineer.
he also confessed his boredom for life and thus his strife for the peace of nirvana. he mentioned his disappointent in people and their selfish attitudes and was convinced that life is all and only about suffering. he explained that to achieve such a big honour (that is, to finally stop reincarnating), one must master the art of compassion. yet, for now, he was somewhat judgemental of everything around him - so perhaps he still has a way to go.
he also told us how he feels much closer to the western way of life. however, his way of describing our customs and our difficulties led me to think that unfortunately his is an idolised conception of being a 'westerner' and moreover, that though he yearns nirvana, in reality his true goal is to live this fantasy life.
his confusion was apparent to us when after discussing his desire to rid himself of all human futilities, he planned a future of wealth, of travelling and of seeing technology, to own material possessions and to succeed in becoming the opposite of nirvana.
one minute he explained the importance of inner peace and meditation and how life is not about money or the present, and the next moment he discussed his career and life plans, shedding life on another charles. one who talks about income, tax revenue, his dell laptop and his soon-to-be wifi connection, his plans to see japan and his trying to buy my camera off me. this charles is one who lives very much in the present, one who spoke about love with indifference. one who respects and helps his parents because to have good karma one must carry on filial duties. he spoke of love in terms of women with a cynical take, saying that he quickly tires of a woman and that he has no desire to be kind or gentle and thus will never find love. this charles turned a little bitter adn looked at us with envious eyes, with the eyes of a child who thinks his neighbour has a better bike. and it is true, we do have a better bike. poverty in the west is nothing like what we have seen in india, but it is also true that charles' image of our bike is that of a ferrari. but not everyone lives the life of a tourist, and even the toursit himself, when he returns home, leads a very differnent life to that of his holiday.
at first he appeared a little odd and cold to me, but the more he spoke, the more i seemed to understand the reasons for his split ideals.
he quit school and started working at the age of 8, when he learnt from his teacher that his dream to be a pilot would never come true. even with the highest results he would need to make what is known as a donation (but really a bribe), in order to be admitted to the course. not onbly this, but at the time of exams, further 'donations' would have to be made.
he changed his dream, he wanted to work for a secret agency, but here too, dispropportionate amounts of bribe money would be needed. his father, a woodchooper cum alcoholic and his mother, a house wife, could not afford the luxury of such dreams, or further education.
instead, charles lives with his parents in a 3by3 bedroom with a small electric burner.
all this i learnt through snippets of conversation, harsh words and even sterner eyes. we were sitting with a guy not much older than us, but with so many more years of accumulated anger and disappointment that lef him to hoping for ultimate peace through death.
we left charles and mt. abu the following day with lots of questions about life, death and the fairness of it all. charles, who at first had seemed life a happy-go-lucky young and passionate trekking dude, with excellent english, western clothes and a busy job (he was always fully booked), and an apparent aura of satisfaction, is in fact, living on the edge like everyone else. he is yet another product of the 'indian' dream; a boy who grew into a man too quickly and though working towards a dream, also striving to end his vital suffering. a boy who dreams of having a cook who will make him scrambled eggs on toast (for as of right now he can afford one egg a week only), but whose reality is a peice of chapati and a small vegetable masala curry, every single day of his life...
we left mt.abu on a smelly bus whose centre of gravity was in the piut of our stomach to go to the beautiful udaipur.
