Later, India! or Bring On The Guilt

Had a full on finish in bombay before catching my plane out. Very very nice to be able to spend so much time with new and old friends. You may have heard me harp on before about how i meet such awesome people, but it's TRUE. i'm a very lucky boy.

A lot of people have asked me what i think of India/Indians, and this time around i was really struck by people's generosity. SO many people have been SO helpful and SO generous with their time, money, food, and homes. And half the time, it's coming from people who are like WAY lower than me on the economic scale.

"i don't want tourists to have a bad eperience in India," said a young student who refused to let me pay my busfare and rode with me to my destination. Um, does that happen in Canada?

Also, I should make particular mention of Vinit and his family who were super gracious hosts for the end of my trip, and got me totally loaded up on goodies before i split town. I sometimes wonder what i've done to deserve so much from the universe and its creatures.

Well at least i've learned how to graciously accept things and be happy. i seriously didn't know how to before. But now i feel the pressure and responsibility to pass such generosity on. This is the good side of Keeping Up With the Joneses, ain't it?

Push Push, In the ... Rush...?

Sue me if you don't like the post title.

Here's a comment i made to a few Indians. "Love India. Love the people. But don't like all the pushing and shoving on the trains. Well ok, I kinda like it, but not everyday."

Yep, it's worse than Beijing. In rush hour you won't catch your train if you don't get your elbows up. Although last night a friend said, "No I just stand right in front of the door and then everyone behind me pushes me on." Skills, dude. I did catch a train or 2, hanging out the doorway, and it didn't feel too unsafe, but i wouldn't want to pull that shit on a daily basis.

But anyhow, it's WAY more dangerous than BJ. Mainly 'cause the doorways have no doors. Sure i love to stand in the doorway for the great view and breeze like everyone else does, but people DO fall out, and falling out is often fatal. Hell, last night, my friend's wife sent him a eerie txt that a woman in her train car had just fainted and fallen out the door. You may recall my mention of the daily railway casualties. Scary stuff.

And yes, when it's super packed, people will resort to climbing on the roof, and nobody installed the seatbelts up there.

Also, there's rumours of theft on the trains. A nigerian dude told me he's lost 3 cell phones. I always felt pretty safe, but you all know how naive i can be, right?

well, it's easy to bitch about the Bombay transit system, but to keep things in perspective, in India it's one of the best. Frequency is good. Express trains. Lots of buses. I guess it's hard to expect any system to cope with a massively dense population like Bombay's.

The Taj Mirage

After my vipassana course, i unexpectedly had a couple days to kill so i went to Aurangabad to see the Ellora and Ajanta caves. 9 years ago when i came to india, i only had ONE thing on my agenda that i really wanted to do. See the Ajanta caves. But it wasn't in the stars. So this time around i was stoked to catch them. Except that the caves are closed on Mondays. So it wasn't in the stars.

but i did see the Ellora caves (which some say are more impressive). And trust me: pictures can't do the place justice. There's this epic monumental feeling like yr on the set of an Indiana Jones flick. Very powerful to be there.

well for the good ones, anyways. There;s 30 caves, and after 12 or so i was kinda caved out. So no great sadness to miss Ajanta.

Also, as pictured up top, i went to see Bibi Ka Maqbara, the poor man's Taj. A Salman Rushdie essay completely sold me on the need to see the Taj Mahal, but he never mentioned Bibi K M, for good reason. Save your $2.50.

Course #6 Under the Belt

Just finished another Vipassana course this morning. Well, sorta. Technically i dropped out of the 10 day course on day 6, left to see a Dr, then did a part-time course. Had some gut muscle issues, and whipped bk into Bombay to see a Dr, grab some drugs, and then whipped bk in time for the evening discourse.

That's the short version. The long version has some more philosophical flavour to it, which i could pbly handle talking about in person.

Anyhow.

On the one hand, i'm a touch disappointed that i didn't get any big "new" experiences or lessons this course. 75% of the time i do. My head was surprisingly scattered and off on tangents, this course. I don't blame the pot. But on the whole i felt like i did a good job clearing thru sankaras from the past (attachments, aversions, cravings).

But even today, coming out of 10 days of purification, i've still got way more negativity in my head than i'd like. For now, i'll chalk it up to sleep dep and crankiness.

You Do the Litterbug (snap snap snap)

Put aside the fact that the western world throws tonnes of carbon emissions into the planet's air.

Put aside the fact that we have happily and intentionally sunk tonnes of toxic waste into the bottoms of the oceans.

Put aside the fact that we have done the same unintentionally also.

Put aside the fact that we send so much toxic ewaste to 3rd world countries for "recycling."

Put aside the fact that because we produce more garbage than we can deal with we often ship it to our 3rd world friends homes.

But.

Shit, does it ever bug me here in India and in China to see people throwing their gupta wrappers into the gutter, styrofoam plates out the train windows, and chopstick wrappers on the sidewalk.

What, you people got no ethics?

Yanks

Here in Goa i'm having a smashing time.
Met a couple very very cool guys from Dallas.
We've been checkin out the area, cruising around and exploring on their rented scooters.
Lots of rain here, but today was quite dry.
Checked out Old Goa, where lots of old Portugeuese architecture and cathedrals were amazing.
Last night we got lost driving in circles on dirt trails in a bloody forest
looking for a beach bar which we finally found.
Got quite drunk.
Also got the puff fix i was looking for from some other patrons
(now good for the next couple years).
And we had mad rad conversation.
Good shit.
Tomorrow i will split for my course at the world's largest Vipassana centre.

Sai Yonara

Well that was kind of an anticlimactic visit to the man whom many equate w/ God.

But oddly enough, it's almost exactly what i thought would happen.

To sum up. Visiting the Sai Baba ashram was kinda weird for the following reasons.

• Sai Baba is now in a wheel chair
• thus he doesn't mix up w/ the People so much anymore
• if he comes out at all
• and sometimes he comes out in a car
• ( a modest one)
• and people get all focussed on the car like the paparazzi
• that feels weird
• But mostly life there requires a LOT of waiting
• because he MIGHT come out
• no books or entertainments allowed
• you must practice your patience
• or meditate
• 4 + hours of sitting around/day
• Mulitiplied by the 4000 (by my estimate) expectant individuals
• = a lot of wating

Patience is important, yes. But i was seriously thinking about other ways we could all be using our time.

But still, i stayed there for 4 days and feel good about it. Why? 'Cause:

• it felt right
• i didn't have many mindblowing connections w/ anyone, but i did have a few good conversations
• with other former skeptics
• who concurred about "the feeling" they weirdly got to lay eyes on Mr Sai Baba
• but mostly it felt right

Ok it wasn't at all the crazy mind evolution that it was the 1st time i went, but i didn't expect it to be. i just wanted to pop in and say "hello" and i did.

Somebody there gave me a Sai Baba book w/ the cheezy title Master the Mind and Be a Mastermind, which isn't a great read or anything, but it does make me feel a wee bit guilty about my intentions of toking at Goa. Ah well, you win some you lose some.

Saiiiiiii

Take 2 on the world of Sathya Sai Baba.

i came to see him 9 yrs ago and it was a pivotal moment in my life, when my logical rational mind was reluctantly but necessarily giving up my Faith in Atheism.

9 yrs ago, i came to his ashram and had mind-blowing conversations with almost everyone i bumped into, and even with Sai Baba himself i had experiences which went beyond Newtonian physics.

This time around, i come to see him with no real purpose except to pay my respects. I haven't seen him in a long time, and maybe will never have the chance again.

I feel that seeing him is comparable to seeing Jesus Christ when he walked the earth.

But this time around, my experience has been rather boring. Haven't had any wild connections, and not too much mind-bending conversation. Also, there's a LOT of waiting around for him, and he appears a lot less than he used to.

As i told one man this morning, "I feel ok. Good even, like Sai Baba is saying that I don't need anything from him right now."
"But what if he specifically called you here for some reason?"
"Well, then I'm still waiting to see it. Maybe in 20 minutes or tomorrow i'll see why he called me here. And that'd be great. Or maybe i won't. And that'd be great too."
i don't know if he dug my response so much.

The Matrimandir

I feel very lucky that i was able to get inside the Matrimandir structure, which wasn't even listed as an option on the tour day itinerary. But Jackie pulled some strings, since we were rattling on about meditation already. But i didn't really get what it was about 'til i got inside of it.

i actually think it looks kinda tacky from the outside, but inside it's another world. 1st you walk up this ramp into the bottom 1/2 of the sphere. Everything is white. you take white socks out of a compartment and don them. The whole place is so f'ing quiet and pristine i was afraid to touch anything.

Two spiral walkways wind up through the globe to the top room. Refracted sunlight lights up the walls with glowing pink. It's weird, there's no way to identify which side of the sphere the sun is on. I felt like i was in some zen sort of Epcot Centre.

Then we went into the top room. I couldn't believe it. The temperature was weirdly cool. There was a strange echoey quiet. The only light source was a sharp shaft of light piercing down from the top of the sphere, into a crystal sphere in the centre of the room, after which it proceeded down through the bottom of the structure to the ground. Meditation spots were spaciously arranged. Cylindrical pillars stretched up into the spherical space.

Sorry, you'll never get the feel of the place from this description, but it was totally INTENSE. Everything was so meticulously arranged and so pristine. I was afraid to sit down. Never before have i ever been in such a powerful architectural space before. This place really inspired a sense of awe and perfection.

The closest thing i've seen might be Daniel Libeskind's Holocaust Tower. That was also quite powerful, but a lot more depressing. Therefore, i vote for Matrimandir.

Auroville: intentionality and experimentation, and definitely a work in progress

Now i know i'm usually all against tours, but this one kinda fell into my lap, and it was perfect. Basically i spent 8 hrs with a man who'd spent 30 yrs in Auroville, and he was totally cool, and we did whatever i/we felt like, and he answered all my questions, and we waxed philosophical quite often.

9 yrs ago i met a couple peeps who came from Auroville, and i was fascinated to learn of this experimental community where people were living in treehouses, trying to live without money, yadda yadda.

The town is named after Shri Aurobindo, an Indian guru, who along with The Mother, conceptualized and created Auroville.

Their charter explains it a lot better than i do:

• Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville, one must be the willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness.
• Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages.
• Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations.
• Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual Human Unity.

Ha, but talk is cheap! Where's Auroville really at?

Jackie (my middle aged French tour guide) talked at length about the huge changes and growth which Auroville has seen in the last few decades.

About the people:
I asked him what percentage of people here are aware of the writings/teachings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. He looks at me in surprise. "100%! Why would anyone live here if they don't believe in these ideas? They might visit, but they would never stay."

What about the money? "I am French, i love cheese, so now they make cheese here, and i love it. But you must have money." He considers how people need to make a living, and money itself is not so bad. But his most poignent comment is about how before, Auroville was a few people who couldn't fathom the limits, eager to work, help, in any way possible. "We had no money, no motorcycles or cars, no houses. Now we have all of these things, but we are less happy."

Another gem: "Before there were two camps in Auroville, on opposite sides of town. People had to make the trek by bike or foot to reach the other camp. But if something happened, we all would know in one hour. We knew everything that was happening. Now we have motorcycles, phones, radio, internet. But if your neighbour dies, you might not learn it for days."

Anyhow we got on super well, and i got to milk him for details on taxation, population control, education, environmental issues, decision making policies, citizenship, life after Auroville, food production, trade, and much much more. All in all a very edjookayshnil time.

So is Auroville a...success? Hard to say. It does offer a lot, and Jackie comments that people who leave Auroville often return. It's not a bubble, nor does it try to be. But it is definitely a little microcosm of a town with unique problems and issues. The shared spiritual focus unites people in many ways, but sure doesn't eliminate differences in opinion. I do feel that Auroville is a powerful example to the world in many ways, though i am curious to find that i have no desire to join it. I kinda feel like we all live in the full-sized Auroville, though most of us don't know it.

The Perils of Mumbai Transit

I forgot to mention this before, but here's the mad fact for the day. In Mumbai, roughly TEN people are killed by trains EVERY DAY. Yes, that's what i said. "More maybe," said my friend. Disbelieving i checked Wickiedia. 3500/yr, they report.

This is a major issue in causing train schedule delays.

But you often see people hanging out the doors. Sometimes on top. i couldn't believe it when my train pulled into the end station and a whole crowd of people disembarked, and jumped down into the adjacent tracks, to climb out on the other side. It was pretty hilarious. So long as a train doesn't pull in and smash in people's skulls.

In my favorite book of all time A Fine Balance, a train rider says, "Why does everybody have to choose the railway tracks only for dying? No consideration for people like us. Murder, suicide, terrorist killing, police-custody death-- everything ends up delaying the trains. What is wrong with poison or tall buildings or knives?"

If you haven't read it yet, i strongly recommend it. When you pick it up, it's hard to put down. i'm rereading it now, which is pretty crazy while in India, and all the richness and tragedy is in yr face.

It's Getting Hot In Here

Low's of 27.
Highs of 37.
Hardly a cloud in sight.
Shit, so much for monsoon season.

But it's not so bad. It was worse baking in the train to Chennai, where the seats and walls were busy toasting bread.

Don't Get Married Indian Style

After a 28 hr train ride, where i struggled with Indian names and faces and relations, passed out from 37 degree heat, and accidentally dropped my glasses down the toilet (but luckily (veeery luckily) the train was stopped at that moment, so i just grabbed them out of my own shit from under the train); we arrived in Mumbai at 5am.

Wedding preps and events began that morning, starting with an engagement ceremony. The couple weren't officially engaged yet, apparently, 'cause this swami dude needs to be involved. The couple had only been in each other's presence for 15 minutes previous to this day, though they'd talked on the phone at length. Arranged marriages are still more popular than i'd thought.

I was able to talk about things w/ the groom at length on the train ride over, and it was cool to hear his view about fate, compromise, and the importance of family relations.

Much to my surprise, indian Jain weddings aren't the same as western weddings. Here's some things i noted.

• people don't pay much attention to whatever words of song the holy man is leading with. People wander in and out, have a smoke or a nap, kids crawl on and off the stage, even the groom or bride have side conversations in the midst of things.
  
• if 600 people come to the wedding, there is no need to meet everyone. The wedding isn't to make the couple happy, it's to make the families happy. Weirdly, what this means is that more than 1/2 of the attendees only attend the buffet meal part of the wedding and pbly don't even see the bride or groom. This is considered normal. Seriously.
• no drinking
  
• The vast majority of people will leave before the actual wedding. If 600 people came to this wedding, maybe 60 stayed to see the "wedding". Maybe 30 stayed to the end of the ceremony (myself included). Why, you ask? Please see the itinerary below.

1. Engagement ceremony. The man stands around for a long time. Eventually a group of women come, holding a veil before the bride's face. They stand around for a long time. Eventually they shuffle to the stage. Traditional/symbolic gifts are given from each family. Holy man guy sings some songs and says some stuff that nobody can hear. It all takes a long time.

2. Veg meal #1. People in India will also complain about the food.

3. nap time.

4. the Party. The groom is decked out like a maharajah. He sits on a white horse. A band of drummers, horns, keyboard and singer bust out some traditional and bollywood style tracks. People are coaxed to dance. Money is waved in the air over dancers. The procession goes down the street to another hall. i bust out the only Bollywood dance moves i know, which were very well-received.

5. the Arrival. Everyone stands around for a long time. Then we go to a hall where the bride is waiting. Some people on stage talk (nothing is miked), and then maybe 2 hrs worth of photos are taken, w/ different groups lining up with the conjugal couple.

6. Dinner, as served by friends and family on the bride side. This is after 23:00, btw. Some servers are shockingly pushy trying to literally shove sweets into the mouths of the guests.

7. After midight: the wedding. The holyman talks and sings a bunch. He lights a fire on the stage. Smoke proceeds to irritate everyone's eyes and lungs. The couple walks around the fire 7 times, each time symbolic of something like, "I will always respect your family" or "I will always give you all of my money." Apparently not all vows are kept.

8. It's not over yet, because... the bride has stolen the groom's shoes! And he must negotiate to get them back. This monetary issue can be a real headache at some weddings. This time around they came bk for roughly $75 CDN.

9. Bed time. Everyone's completely knackered. It is now 4 am. The marital couple will not likely consummate their wedding this night, but will wait until they are more comfortable with each other.

Everyone slept for about 1 hr before heading off bk to the train for Mumbai, this time including the bride. She will now embark on a new life, in a new city, living with her husband's family, looking for a new job.

I was rather touched by the courage with which people accept the mores of their culture and religion. I wish the newly weds much harmony and happiness.

But i am also touched by my friend's comment from 4am last night. "If there is one lesson you learn from all of this, it's don't get married Indian style!"

The Streets of Mumbai

A word of advice.
When someone asks you if you want to ride in the car or on the back of a motorcycle, you might want to take the car.

But if you want to spend 20 minutes squeezing between trucks and buses and autorickshaws, trying not to crap your pants, worrying about how yr pbly participating in a "dangerous activity" which would forfeit your health insurance, and recalling the story a friend told you about how much blood was on the road when a motorcyclist wearing shorts hit the ground... then the choice is clear!

Note: Vinit assured me he was driving much more safely than he usually does. "When i'm alone, i'm a bit dangerous."

I'm Not Frothing, It's Toothpaste

After posting yesterday i researched rabies.

1. Many dogs in India have rabies
2. More than 1/2 of world wide rabies deaths are in India
3. Rabies has no cure
4. If bitten you must take action immediately

Thusly, i freaked out, and ran looking for the nearest hospital. Which was (coincidentally) right across the street. i got a shot, some immunization booster pills (i had rabies shots when i was a kid), antibiotics, and ointment.

Good thing i got insurance or else i could be $12 out of pocket!