Blog For Free!
Archives
Home
2004 June
2004 May
2004 April
2004 March
2004 February
My Links
Karen's blog
Brett's blog
Julie's blog
tBlog
My Profile
Send tMail
My tFriends
My Images
Sponsored
Blog
|
| To Manali and back.... |
| 05.11.04 (10:36 am) [edit] |
...
So I am back from Manali.
The 12 hour busride on the gov't bus was a rickety open door and window dusty bouncy ride up and down and through even more enormous mountains. Indians packed into the bus with no room to move and stood for hours - I could feel what is barely a pain for them anymore, even though I luckily had a window seat which afforded a little bit of comfort. I was happy for the change and had crooked neck dreams, but slept somewhat soundly convincing myself that the bus' constant horn blaring was some bird I didn't mind...
It grew dark and mid way to Manali, many more Indians needed to take the bus- it must be the only one in hours and they look like they are on their way home from work because - many Indians even climbed on the roof and held tight for their lives just to get home around the mountain road's sharp curves the bus plunged on through ....
We arrived at 330 in the morning, half awake, unaware, rubbing the eyes...We drank some hot Chai from a dirty street vendor cart and waited for a mototaxi to come by and take us to a home. We were dropped off in New Manali, which turned out to be a smaller Dehli, dirty and chaos, and many faces grilling you all the time...
We stayed in a local village called Vasith. It'smain feature is a natural hot springs, which we later witnessed as a public bath and kitchen sink and laundry mat for all of the locals and tourists get in on it too...
Out of New Manali and into Vasith Village ... riding in a little tuk tuk like taxi moto thing...I think my mouth dropped, trying to stand and imitate the gaping immense gray mountain walls of the Himalayas against the midnight blew sky mts gaping drawing me towards them, sparkling a crisp light from its snowy top edges in reflection of the moon and stars slowly swirling around, and then the thrashing sound of the powerful Beas River raging on the raodway to Vasith...
We hiked up quite a while into the mountain of Vasith and reached this little guesthouse that offered an elevated view of the great mts we would later only get to scale a small amount of...they are surreal and when you get into the 40th km of a 2500 km height, you begin to realize how just touching the pine forests and some cliffs are about as good as you can get in a one day's climb... and try a 3 day climb with camping to touch the snow's beginning...
As I was with my Indian friend, i visited many Hindu temples... they are odd and formless nonluxurious seeming things. In comparison to the Buddhist displays at the temples that I have seen throughout Asia, the Hindu temples are pale, yet dark and they pray to some faceless formless god shrines that just begin to explain the eeriness and mystery behind the Hindu religion and rituals.
Ofcourse there are the Shiva, Ganesh, and other gods faces and statues at some temples- but as I have been reading about Hinduism - doesn't it make more sense that God have no real face or form - I mean I know I am used to seeing a happy Buddha belly or a peace Jesus face to feel close to and understand God- but the Hindus - they have got some other kind of understanding of it all and as I unravel it all it deepens my understanding of Gods and nature and Indians and man in general...
So imagine people chanting and praying unintelligible things to my ears ( I am beginning to learn) with namaste hands and 3rd eyes gleaming to these lumps of some thing of a space meaning God I can't stare at long enough to figure incense burning smoke forms around offerings, coconuts and puffed sweet rice and colored tinseled garlands and clothes - AND maybe you can begin to feel the eeriness and wonder underlying one's spiritual journey through India.... even though I learn more in depth each day, there is still something India has to show the world aboput God that not many ever knew, or may ever know in their entire life...
And well the nature ALONE is testament enough to prove the existence of God in every single thing - the god of the powerful winds rushing down the mountain side, the thrash of the river - meditative sounds that put you closer whether you tap into it deep enough or not...
We walked 5 k to Old Manali and found the Israeli take over, revving their motocycle engines and smoking hashish in the streets like they owned the place... amidst old ladies carrying huge bundles of braches and hay on their heads and backs up the mt doing their daily duties...many indian tourists and village children- check out the pictures someday...
We hiked 5 k back to our village and then rested....
The next day we headed up into the mt to a beautiful waterfall that fell from maybe 100 feet high down down doewn- a vein running from melted snow caps carved the rock face and produced a powerful loud steady pound... I found a grassy spot on the mnt side sitting in buttercups honey and the boastful dance of millions of violet and white butterflies closed my eyes and internalized it all for a while only to open my image of it all baked under the crust of my eyelids- eyes open more illuminated the towering immense snowybacked beasts and the rocks edges that seriously shimmer a bronze gold and silver and crystal glow they naturally are always give off...I never saw stones like these...
We hiked another 7 k to New Manali following the powerful Beasto buy our ticket home after the 3 days we spent there, and this time by daylight I realized how the govt bus really took most of the sharp curves of the mt road our wheels no doubt at times suspended in air hanging off the the disappearing steep rick cliff shoulders feeling like I was practically above the raging Beas river that surely looked hungry for 4 hours running along it until night fell...
I arrived in Dharamsala and then went to a negihboring village of Bagksu where I spent the night and morning-
I was eager to get back to yoga and teaching and the strong Tibetan influence in Mcleod Ganj town and so I made my wat there where I am now.
I am continuing my yoga class and am now taking up an Indian painting class and am teaching a group of monks English. Today we had an amazing conversation about eating disorders, religion and compared East and West cultures and the students are wonderful and I feel settled again in a place I know well now...
I do miss home but I don't miss the many things i know are of excess and unneccesarry there. I am shedding my need for things, for luxuries like hot showers and western pillpopping medicine and am eager to see what my next 3 weeks here will bring...
Greg now will not be able to meet me in Europe, and so I can not go alone financially, and so I have changed my ticket for no stop time in London, direct flight, Bombay to London to NY on June 7th and will spend the extra 10 days here...
The Dalai Lama has arrived yesterday from his travels in the US and Canada and so I am sure to get to meet him at a public hearing he is surely soon to have...
many tyhings on the way but for now some sleeep is in order....
much love and peace to you all... hope you are well... keep connected... Andrea
|
|
|
| |
| ACrossss Cultures.... |
| 05.05.04 (10:13 am) [edit] |
What up people....?
So I have figured out who the Indian version of Santa Claus is. He's a BaBa they say...
When I first stepped into the Himalayas in a sleepy state after a 12 hour busride from Dehli- I spotted him climbing the mountain and thought --
WHAT Planet Am I on? Where am I entering? His orange robes and bright white hair and long beard and hooked back and dark skin and walking stick...??)(*^%## like I do with many scenes here...
The Spaniards and I on the back of the bus had quieted the crazy giddy laughing fits caused by the bumpy ride -
and now sleep started calling us all-
the windy climb up the mountain roads didn't help my feelings on my first sight of a BaBA...
Soo, while I was hanging out with my yoga teacher and his friends - playing chess, listening to some bugged out Indian music, laughing, drinking some of the local wine-- out of nowhere I bring up the Indian version of Santa Claus I have been dying to know about- they all busted out laughing at me and I can imagine that they realize what a trip it is to be here! It was funny.
Hari told me he is a Baba, a roaming religious man. I saw his young son also- and what a character he was.
My Indian friends call me Chetna, which in Hindi means
Positive Life Energy Force. They like to paint a bindi on my forehead because they think i look Indian-- which is not a surprise--- In Korea and other parts of Asia many have asked me if I am Indian... I also have been hearing people say that I look like an Israeli a lot here as well...That's funny I go to India and they now call me an Israeli? Sooo- What is a bindi? Its your 3rd eye opener/marker, the dot on the forehead.... A beautiful concept-- as we all should remember that we are capable of seeing things in this life with a deeper eye other than our 2 physical ones....
I am still working on my Hindi, Sanskrit and Tibetan and walk around, hiking, and then tripping over the street dogs and garbage eating cows -
I have noticed how the dogs gaurd the city at night and fall completely asleep most of the day- its pretty interesting!...
My yoga teacher has headed to meet his teacher called a sadhu- or guru, up in the mountains in a cave... For 10 days he will sit and fast and meditate- I can not even imagine...He owns a couple of pieces of land on these mountains as he has been raised here and brought me up to the foundation he has laid for a huge new yoga centre on top of these mountains- Let me tell you it really takes only special people to climb and reach it--- It is a rough 2 hour trek up there and you gotta be fit among other things!! I was breathless, speechless... sucking air in hard in disbelief at the view and the climb and the type of person who can achieve these heights and practice yoga and know the peace that exists up there and within... Hari is like this benevolent king that everyone in the community knows and deeply respects. They all embrace him and want to give things to him. They all come to help him and he has achieved his status by his kindness, and love and spiritual significance in the community. Hari has proven to be a really great teacher and friend... the connections I have made with people- invite me to come back and enjoy things for half price if not free--
anybody up for a trip to India to do some yoga and sip Chai?
I am however ready for a change...
Tomorrow I am taking a 12 hour bus further north into a city named Manali- deeper into the Himalayas...
It turns out that even though Hari is gone, his best friend that he grew up with mentioned today he has been wanting to get away to hike as well-- and so as fate would have it- I am heading up there with a friend....
I have now figured out a strategy for dealing with the numerous beggars that pull on you on the streets-
They are not your ordinary beggars-
and a cruel American made street rat baseball game is nothing I could ever imagine ok to play with them...
Its like they are beggars who know that its part of their fated caste position-- and so an acceptance of their position and begging as a means for everything makes them an interesting bunch for the way they ask you, move their hands to their mouths, cling on you -
My strategy is that-- I talk to them, say a namaste and listen to what they ask for-- and if they are soo persistant and I haven't given to anyone that day yet- every day I buy a fruit for at least one of the regulars I see, with enough space in between so they won't fully remember me- or at least leave me alone for a while until they forget me... sometimes I have to ignore them, but there is a time to lsiten to them, becasue their request is reasonable and only costs you dime... milk for their baby, a fruit, some bandages...
Every year on his birthday Hari takes a beggar and buys him everything he needs- .. otherwise Hari is always buying them new bandages for their gangreening limbs and buying them fruit or flipping a coin at them... but you really can't give to all - but for some reason they don't stress me out as much as the beggars in Cambodia....
In Cambodia I felt extreme pain and need coming from the people and the children and it hurt so much I'd cry alone about it often. - But here - its like they do get what they need somehow- as it is their occupation to beg and they are not aspiring for too much more than their caste permits...
One clever young boy with good manners in Dehli told me he liked my shoes. Then asked me if I wanted some Chai= ofcourse I knew I was paying but why not - no harm in hearing his story, his energy sparked my interest... Then we start talking- my ears are waiting for the punchline- the boy wants me to buy him a dictionary... he speaks quite eloquently and burns with curiousity- genuine intelligent questions - I took a liking to him- we talked for an hour and then he told me that he needs an English dictionary...being a school teacher and a softy--- I walked over to the bookstore, bought the book for 5 dollars and then sat him down--
I said "ok kid-
you are quite clever, and you will go very far --but now tell me why should I give you this book when you will go sell it back for the money- what is it you really need?"
Politely he said," no Mam, that I would never do- for me that is bad karma"--
I agreed and gave it to him-- ONLY after I totally defaced the book, tore the cover off and painted it with artwork - I personalized it and now the kid owns an unsellable dictionary whether he intended to use it or not- he'll use it or not but the experience I don't think he'll soon forget...
so what else...
Well today was nice....The Tibetans and Indians don't understand each other really yet they have to coexist- BUT they don't intermingle unless they HAVE to...BUT today I had my Indian friend meet my Tibetan friend and we hung out together and it felt good- because I have heard both sides talking shit about the other - misconceptions and walls for intentional ignorance of the other sides need to break around here-
I am growing too sleepy--- write more from Manali---
Much love and peace to all-- hope you all are wellllllllllllll...
|
|
|
| |
| UpDate from La India.... |
| 05.03.04 (7:25 am) [edit] |
Hellloooo out there.
So Yes I am staying in India for a month.
This is soo crazy....
Right now I am in Dharamsala, Northern India.. the name of the actual city is called McLeod Ganj. I have changed guesthouses many times but I now live in a place called the Hotel Lotus Leaf on Jogibara Rd.
My little room gives me the most beautiful view of the little Himalayas and all the little villages cropping up in the mountains… In my old place I didn't have a bathroom and I have to walk 3 floors down to a rickety one that offers bone cracking cold showers and its pretty cold up in these mountains, but I just remedy that by, eww- not showering too often.
I got a better place for a dollar more! Now I pay 3 dollars a night I have the most breathtaking view of the mountians with snow at the top.
My DAYsssss
I wake up and do yoga on the school's roof top watching the mountains every day at 7 or 9 in the morning.
Then I get some lunch and read or write a little.
Then I hike up the mountains with one of my friends
IT is soooo hard to hike up these mountains- everywhere you go you are walking up steep mountains - It makes you feel so alive!!- its a surprise the cars make it up but they do!!.. They make their houses out of this sliver stone cut out of the mountains.
I have met many goodhearted people.
Today I hiked to the Dalai Lama's Buddhist temple in the morning with a Tibetan friend-- Then ate lunch and then hiked to the top of the mountain to a Hindu temple-
I went the highest I have ever been and the view from up their was beautiful--We played with goats that live in the mountain and they have restaurants all up the mountains for you to drink this great sweet tea called Chai or water or food. Then you keep going up and up...
Today I also went to this beautiful waterfall in Bagksu.
So I hike the mountains and sip tea and get exercise all day- then I go back by my hotel and down the street and sleep so nicely...
I am teaching English to a lovely Tibetan woman named Llamu Dolma, which means gold in Tibetan, and I am learning Tibetan language from this broad face pure soul and pure hearted innocent Tibetan boy I met at the Momo Cafeי named Tenzen Tashi which means "Oceans of Love" he exhaled sweetly to me the day I met him.
What an interesting language, listen to just the meaning of the names and you might see why…
I soon enough found an amazing Reiki Master to teach me the art of positive energy love healing through the palms of my very hands- and YOGA
As always I send all of you this knowledge and love and peace, for you all are me, me you, as I animate your spirits and what you have taught me and mean to me each second. Thank you.
Email is crazy slow and I have been far away from such things lately…
My Reiki Master’s name is Hari Rishi. He has incredible spiritual power and has taught me many things, slowly…as I can not relate all the details of the intense experiences I have been having- the reason why he is teaching me slowly is the same reason why I can come only close to explaining some of what has been happening to me by asking you to recall what happens when you try to look at the midday sun…
Many things here I hope I can soon sit and tell you slowly often give me this something out of my seat, almost unnerving yet harmless and necessary flutter in my chest – a feeling like a Could this be? blindness yet seeing a glimpse of all while looking into the lights manifest in the people and things around me. So what up people? Sorry for all this deep shit, oh you know me. Its still me…
I am still teaching, my passion, I am still hiking in nature, another, I am still chilling out with Spaniards, people from all over the world and practicing my mother’s native tongue as well as other languages- and laughing and loving and keeping my head and my shit together feet on the ground, just growing roots deeper into is all ….aight!!!
My teacher Hari has brought me to visit his family and they are such nice people. I helped them cook fresh Indian bread called chipati on an open fireplace that reminded me of PA and my beautiful family. Even though I don’t understand Hindi, I understood when they laughed at me for my lack of chipati rolling skills, and I am learning some Hindi and some sanskrit which is very difficult and slow going- but a great exchange for my teaching English, you know. Hari has showed me the great face Westerners often can not see on the Indian people, by showing me family life and introducing me to his friends who work around here. no other words for now- I am speechlesssss............
For now I have to run more later!!
Much love and peace to you all! Andrea
|
|
|
| |
|
|
