Last days in India

India has been amazing, i seem to lack the vocabulary to describe it, i always seem to come back to amazing. But it truly is. Like nothing else i have seen and i can't imagine ever seeing anywhere else, if there is somewhere crazier, weirder or more beautiful i want to know where it is and i want a one way ticket. i spent the last ten days in the himalayas, in Dharamassla where the Dalai Lama lives. It was a really great way to end one big part of my trip. I spent my days walking up and down the hills leading to various villages, temples, waterfalls and tea house's. i lived on a diet of veggie momo's and spent my nights playing cards with anyone who could sit through the half hour of training to play Kobe. I had met a guy, a good bloke from England in Amritsar and we had travelled together here finding relative comfort in  a affordable guest house that took sometime for the staff to talk us into. It required going through an alley that looked like it was half construction site and half rape alley. But my room was neat and out my window if you looked through the phone cables you could see a towering peak.

No shower, had to use the ol bucket technique but the water was hot. I loved it here, the days were warm and the nights were perfect for sleeping. Had my mattress been better i might have gotten more of it. I still can't believe a town like this exists. A town full of refugees all because of there religion. i know there are plenty of places like this in the world but it had been my first to see. Its a completely different India. 

It had been much harder for me to meet people in India, everyone seemed to be heading in a different direction. i had travelled almost five weeks without much in the way of a friend but it was incredible none the less. I am back in Delhi now, waiting for my time to fly out-ta here and i can't believe its over. I remember touching down here and thinking this might be the longest legs of my trip, six weeks, how would i fill it? did i want to fill it with India, do i even want to be here?. But its just gone by in a blink of the eye and i would never take it back, i could have done without Nam, but here, never.If your looking for the amazing, the head turning, the heart beating, soul testing, the eyes bopping sort of experience, India is your place.

Those are teeth being sold on the side of the road, also looks like he does cheap repairs, where else but India? I could stay here another month or two, maybe a life time. But i have the Greeks to study next and i heard they were pretty smart, if not just good with marble work. You all still have time to make plans to come out and join me. I have been told many times in India, "Looking is free" so look at some pictures of Europe, i have also been told "thinking is bad for your health" so don't think to much just book it.

It took me five months to grow this thing, i shaved the day i left home with the goal of making it through India without cutting it, well i did it. I am quite proud of it, it took a lot of hard work to do nothing and let it grow. I have had every manner of particle, food or otherwise stuck in it but it was always there to make sure i didn't spill on my shirt. One more saying that I have heard often, "long hair, long life" so let it grow! but truthfully I can't wait for a shave, just need to scare Carol first. I might be out of time on this trip to India but our story together is not done. I am sure that i will come back India, to see all the rest that i have missed and to bask in your cultural sun once more.

sending much love from this side of the world, miss you all a lot.

Jake 

Set Up Like A Bowling Pin

The short of it: i was robbed

The long of it: i survived, in fact i didn't see the man, woman or grandmother that robbed me. No, this Indian was cleaver, a regular Houdini apparently. I went to a very busy Delhi train station and did what i never do, i separated my small bag from my body. I let it sit unguarded on the upper berth of the sleeper train for on maybe 30 seconds, at most. Well they they grow up so fast and mine grew legs. I had the normal mental breakdown after realizing and made a mad dash in, well, i had to pic a direction, i chose, i found nothing. i ran for the entrance but my train was leaving and for all i know they went into another cabin or train or... the station was huge. I sat back on my berth, ready to kill someone, angry at myself for being so careless cursing the gods for creating people who felt the need to steal, hating the fact that i could do nothing about it. I was wishing i could turn the clocks back, like I have many times recently about a lot of things, by just five minutes. Was that too much to ask? just a rewind button, just this once. But no, there would be no wishing it back onto my berth, there is only learning from my mistakes and also jiu jitsu so when i do find that thief of a grandmother i can take out my anger properly.  I have two bags and one has all the useless replaceable, cloths, toiletries spare book, jacket, all that sort of stuff and the other, the other has, had, everything that was either valuable in a monetary way or valuable like i can never replace, part of my heart, a portion of my soul was in that bag. Like every picture i ever too in India, also the camera, the new camera i just got. Like my journal, thank goodness i have this blog but still i lost a lot of contacts, stories and insights from the bumpy road i have been on the last four months and the few years proceeding. Its a journal not a diary,  just to be clear. It was a long, long, long, horrible night.Sitting amongst those who had set me up and had dealt the blow. Who knows who they were. I kept having the same unrealistic day dream, sleep did not come easy. I kept playing the scenario over in my head, i caught the five finger bandit and beat the ever living *&^% out of them. (My mother asked me not to swear so much on this thing, so i am trying the old switcheroo on for size. doesn't have the same kick). Needless to say i arrived in Amristar in a horrible mood. Lost really, deep in thought about the night before. I came here to see the Golden Temple of the Sikhs. Gilded out of 750kgs of gold set in a reflecting pool. So that's what i did, nowhere else to go at 4:30 am. So i arrived took off my shoes placed them in the free lockup i walked through the streets to the temple. which was a dirty walk, placed my bag, my one remaining, in a separate free lock up and dipped my feet in the cleaning pool. Unlike there neighbors, the Hindus, the Skihs are incredibly clean and there is a full time staff of volunteers cleaning the huge complex non stop. I sat by the pool, lulled into meditations from the constant prayer being broadcast through out its walls. It never stops, they sing from their holy book and beat the drums 24 hours a day and its a magical sound. The sight is even more magical, this amazing temple, well you can tell for yourself, look it up. Golden Temple of Amritsar. I sat there for maybe two hours watching the sun come up and hit the gold like a gift from the heavens. It was truly something. It was the perfect place to reflect and try to come to grips with what had transpired. I then walked to another building where they give free food to the masses, all maned and paid for by the faithful. I just jumped in, washing dishes. There were so many, i washed for two hours and their was no stopping the tide. I hadn't eaten since lunch the day before, all my food, banana's and peanuts, were in the bag and i was working up quite the appetite. I decided to join the throngs lining up for free food, pass the huge caldron's and vegetable chopping area, pass the free chai tea station and into a warehouse looking building where i climbed the stairs, plate bowl and spoon in hand and sat on the floor in a line. I was given as much food as i could eat, between not feeling well emotionally and the heat i didn't eat that much but what i did have was really good. it was an amazing experience and just what i needed to keep going. It took me a long time to find a guesthouse, my guidebook was in my bag, gone, being read by some goon or used as much needed toilet paper somewhere. But i did, i feel better by the hour and i hope to come out of this more wise and diligent. more aware and alert. unfortunately that translates into less trusting and with less creature comforts as well. But, I'm not going to let it ruin my good time, right Chuck? But no matter how long, no matter how far, i will find you, bag. Or maybe just buy a replacement as soon as i can, whatevers easyier.

Jake

The death of a faithful friend

It was a good shirt, reliable, comfortable and polyester, perfect for sweating in and sure, sure it did have a few holes but it was a good friend and faithful to the end. All in all it was a warrior and one of only three shirts i posses... I arrived in Pushkar on the 6th, after a 5 hour bus ride during which I had five people, crammed in our row of three seats. I don't know how it happened but i started with only two neighbors but by the middle there was five and my share of the three seats dwindling rapidly. I got there safely however my only casualty was my right cheek. I wound up at a guest house at the base of a hill on which sat a really neat Hindu temple. I watched sunset that night from the top: Mystic wind side shot

  i got lucky and i had a decent room with a semi decent double wide mattress. my only complaint being that there was a single sized sheet on it. Go figure, but the fan worked and my bathroom had a toilet seat so i was happy. I walked into town, the very small town and at first the thing that hit me was the amount of backpackers and the shops that acompany them. Beyond the main street is where i got this tasty morsel for 40 cents and i found a...

 beautiful lake surrounded completely with Ghats, or temples, each with its own bathing section in the lake. it was a magical place to stop and sit and read a book or take in all that is India. Sunset lake shot:

On the banks of the lake lays one of the only remaining Brahman temples in the world and blessing are done to the faithful through quite a long prayer/ process by the water. It consists of repeating everything the priest says, getting color on your forehead along with rice. You also hold a coconut with flowers and string on top of it and repeat a lot more words that are really hard to say as the priest sprinkles some of the lake water on it all. The whole process ends with a donation which took a little of the "wow" away from the whole thing but they have to eat too, i figure. I had heard about Pushkar from another traveler and had two weeks previous, to my arrival, decided to go and i had booked a ticket. I was not aware until a few days before making landfall that i would be in Pushkar during one of its most famous of dates, Holi. The Holi festival is a sight to behold and its held between February and March depending when the full moon will be. Its a festival of a different sort, there is a break down between castes and on Holi everyone is free to be one, free of the social implications of associating with those outside your caste. On Holi everyone is, just, Indian. Loud music is allowed and part of the street is covered into a Indian trance party. This isn't your everyday India trance party, everyone is armed. Armed with a water bottle full of water and color or a fist full of dry color, these are the colors:

I showed up to Holi not completely understanding what it was going to be like. I got a feel for it right quick i tell ya. Watch this so you can get a feel for what i was walking into. WATCH VIDEO during the video you might notice a clothes line, covered in clothes, it hangs from the middle of the dance floor. My shirt would wind up there, ripped from my body, torn into shreds, and thrown up there by 5 Indians right before they did this to me.

 

We danced and wiped color on each other, bear hugs where given and screams where shouted. We got down like you do only once you are completely covered in sweat, dust and a large amount of powerful color dye, the toxicity of which has never been tested. It was the death of one of my favorite shirts but if i know it as well as i think i do, it would have wanted to go out that way. Down to two, and they also have holes in them.

till next time, be well all you guys and girls out there, i miss you all a ton

Notes on India

Staring.
Indians love to stare. Often for a good 3-5 minutes of just standing or sitting, looking at you. They drive, stop their bikes and stare. Often their stare is accompanied with giggles or big surprised faces or picture taking. Most of the time no words are spoken while they stand and stare. i have recently decided to stare back. Its one of the more awkward feelings i have ever felt, i have to restrain my head from instinctively turning to look away, my skin crawls as the moments pass in excruciating slowness. Back home such a stare down would result in one of the two "whatchu looking at bud?" or "can i help you?". Often the result of staring in such a away results in fisticuffs. Not here, not India. You just stare. Sometime words are spoken once they build up the nerve to ask you a question or to tell you about a friend they have in California, New York or Florida, almost always those three states. when the inevitable question comes, "what state?" as in which one are you from. I say Vermont and they almost always ask again, confused about my answer. They never, not once, have heard of it. i end up saying "its next to New York" which makes me angry. Once the inquisitive gentleman, and they are always male, moves on, it takes about 20 second to find the next possible stare down. This can happen all day. there is always someone staring, trying to... well that's actually what i want to know, what is going on up there? what type of things are they thinking about, their faces give away no clues.

Lines.
There are no lines in India. There is not one orderly way to go about anything that requires waiting for a turn. It really makes no difference if you had been waiting for three hours, if someone can get a little elbow room in on you, your done. I have more appreciation for those who have the ability to take a large stance. Its not aggression or impatience, its simply that they just have never heard of a line. or waiting ones turn, i can imagine that in their mind the question arises "if i can get in front of this person, why would i not? i know i don't want to wait" When buying a ticket for the train or bus, there is a little hole in the class with which to speak to the attended  much in the same way that we have in the states. But if you don't have that little opening boxed off, sealed from all angles, somehow there will be three or four hands wedged in there right around you. If you want to get off a full bus you have to push through the people who are staying on and the 15 that are getting on or trying to get on. The idea that if they let you out first, there would be more room for them and also a whole heck of a lot easier on everyone, never comes to mind. Its just scramble, scramble for that open door or that small space in the ticket window hole. I was trying to get out of a bus the other day and i had of course two backpacks on and i am being pushed from behind and urged on by the hordes of eager Indian craving the outside to keep going. All the while an equal or greater force was repelling me, pushing me back into the bus. I felt like the rope in a tug of war. When the man behind exasperated by my lack of forward momentum, said "you just have to push!". I responded "i'm trying. if you could tell them in hindi to wait for us to get out that would help". "this is India" was the only response. i said "oh yeah? this is India huh, all right, look out, I'm crushing skulls" i pushed and wiggled, squeezed and prodded but it wasn't until all the new passengers where on that i was able to get off. I need practice and a more helpful coach.

The Head Wobble.
As in every country i have tons of questions. questions from "where is the bathroom" to "how much for the grass to feed the cow"? The universal response is the signature Indian head wobble. its a side to side motion. Ones head moves like a grandfather clock pendulum. it can mean many things, not all of which are apparent at its use. a) no problem or your welcome b)yes or its possible c) sorry or no d) OK, with reluctance. its often times very hard to understand and context is huge of course but even then often times i want to rip that pendulum off the grandfather clock and yell  at it "what the hell does that mean!? i asked you if you had a room"!! i don't, but i sure want to sometimes. Really as with the lines, it just really takes a deep breath and a new approach at the same questions, usually with hand signals.

Cows
Holy Cow. It was Gandhi who said that they were the mother of all man kind or something to that effect and they seem to agree. They do and go pretty much as they please. laying down in the middle of a large intersection is not only normal and excepted but i bet its happening in half of all the intersections in the whole of India at this very moment. they are just everywhere, hundreds of them, chewing cud, lazin around, or stampeding down the street on the rare occasion that something spooks them. cars, people and other animals seem to be ignored in uniformity by every cow on every street. Indians pay little mind to them or what they leave for us as presents to walk in, dodge or slip through. But they are beautiful beasts, the best fed lot in India. You can pay to feed them, which like half the things you do in India gives you good luck and Karma. i should have enough for a few rebirths worth at this point. The cows here eat pretty much anything, like goats and pigs which there are also lots off but king of the street animals is the cow. With its huge horns and often drool and or foam near the mouth its a formidable opponent on a street about as wide as the beast itself. There really is nothing left to do but move out of the way... god bless the cow.

I have only two more weeks left here and there is still so much to do. I head to the desert tomorrow morning, i have decided to ride a camel for a few days and see just how much they actually spit. Talk with you all soon. big hugs.     

Photo Catch Up

VARANASI

Hitting the Ganges before sun up. My beetle nut chewing rower doing his best to beat the hordes. Right at this moment i am the only one out here.

In the morning, all the fateful come to wash there closes and bath in the Ganges. The Ganges is very polluted, visual trash, floating. But no one seems to pay any attention to it. I decided against my own dunk.

i love when stuff is so old that the trees start to take it back, wouldn't you love this to be your door way?

a life that has not changed for who knows how long. Its amazing, the new buildings here are the same age as our old building.

david. he had been here a month but only made it out to the river on a handful of occasions he was what you would call a shut in. a very interesting shut in.

AGRA

The infamous Taj. Sunrise. i couldn't tell what i was taking pictures of with my broken camera but they come out ok eh? look at this thing!

This is taken from the giant Agra fort. My favorite stop of the day. one immense hall after another, one giant courtyard proceeding the next. Its so amazing to think of it all being someones. One Maharaja, one had reign over all of it.

the size its what boggles my mind. empty pools once full of water and concubines... that would be a sight
this concludes Agra. I am now about four cities behind, i think i might skip some. I am in Jodhpur now but i head to the desert tomorrow for some camel time. they almost bit the guy next to me the other day and they are notorious spitters. Be well all aright? 

Agra and Jaipur

Getting to Agra at 2:00 am wasn't that great, but i had been lucky. i had awoke just 4 minutes before the stop. There are many many stops and none of them are announced. I spent a good three hours waiting in the train station before i went to the Taj Mahal for sun up. I was the first one there. Security at the Taj is pretty tight, no tripods, no video recorders, no food of any kind, explosives orrrrrr playing cards. that's how i lost my Grateful Dead deck, i don't know, truly i don't, he didn't seem to know either but made me feel like a criminal. Monkeys hang around on the eve above looking for the guards to throw up some of the confiscated food while people are frisked and freed of there prohibited items. Seeing the Taj at first was underwhelming, fog and a horde of people took a little away from it all. But as soon as the sun really started to hit that white marble. wow. the Indians have a right to be proud. I left feeling tired, i had been up since 2AM and it was close to lunch. I had all of my things, minus my playing cards and having a difficult time finding a hotel with my budget. I was led for at least 3 blocks the way i had just come on the promise of a 200 rupees room only to find out it was three hundred by the time i got there. I did find a spot and it was excellent. tucked away from the street a courtyard was surrounded by rooms. I never saw another soul there, i am pretty sure i was the only one. I was made dinner for a very good price in the courtyard and served my first beer in two weeks. Beer and alcohol in general is odd here. In some towns people come up to you pushing beer likes its meth, hushed tones, looking over their backs, they assure me they could get me the beer i wanted, with smiles that made you want to hide your children. So when my guesthouse owner leaned in to talk with me i had an idea what he was going to ask, "yes please" i said,  "big or small?" he replied with a smile. "big" and there i sat listening to mystic drum beats and prayers pouring over the walls, sitting in the courtyard alone, with my feet up toasting the stars and catching big whiffs of my dinner rolling out of the kitchen. I felt like a sultan, though i am pretty sure a sultan would have kept his slaves in a room like the one i had, none the less i took a deep breath and admired the India night. The next day i had plenty of time to seek out the other place Agra is known for, The Red Fort" this place was amazing and to be honest more up my alley then the Taj. It was huge and elaborate, brilliantly carved and ornate. I sat on the throne slab of old and imagined what it was like to have armies marching at my behest, defending the walls against invaders then after the seige was broken i would throw a victory party in the halls of the huge inner palace. Music and dancing, wild boars roasted over spits, large casts of beer twice the size of a man. Lavish lounge gear and the flicker of a thousand candles painting the victorious army and the DJ's in warm dark hues. After my day dreaming, i spent the majority of my afternoon there and i was offered access to a closed off portion of the palace so i could take pictures for a bribe of 100 ruppees. After i declined it wasn't more than 1 hr later and i was sitting when a guard approached me and sat close by after talking for about 15 minutes he leans in and says "Tip". I said "no thank you" and got up and walked away. Sometimes its best to pretend their English is so terrible and you have completely misunderstood them. They don't know enough to explain further. its gotten me out a few awkward encounters, "who? john? no, i don't know him, ill look for him now, see ya!" that's one of my favorites. I can now check Agra off the list.


Jaipur and the Pink City,
Jaipur (the old city, the pink city) was painted pink to welcome great Brittan's something or whoever at one point in time. Its now a color of peace. Since, there is a mandate to keep it that way it has overcome the centuries. It's pretty neat but i would actually call it peach. I have spent 4 days in Jaipur, making my trip in India two weeks old. I have over a month to go and am already worried about leaving. Its really something here. There is a huge wow, at one point everyday here. When you think you have seen it all, just spend one more day in India and you will change your mind most certainly. I really love it. It gets tiring at times for sure. Everyone and their brother wants to talk with you and the same questions usually arise, "your good name"? "where you from"? "obama"? "married"? "no"? "why not"? then "how many girlfriends do you have"?. Always how many, not "do you have one", but "how many do you have"? Jaipur has a charm, there are so many people here touts and wallas don't hassle you so much. There isn't that many people around, white people i mean. Most of those that come to India seem to be on bus tours with large groups and they take most the attention off me. The wallahs are smart and know who will bring in the most cash and who looks ripe for a rip off. The gem scams of Jaipur are well known. Selling fake everything in India but particularly gems in Jaipur. I bought a few because i met a really trusty guy with a horse voice, dark leather skin and teeth that would make any dentist shutter attached to a smile that looked like a dangerous machine (i stole that from tom clancy). Ok i didn't buy gems from that guy he was my guesthouse owner. All and all Jaipur had a lot of great stuff, the Amber fort was amazing, i took a autorickshaw and was able to stop off at the water palace after that which was good for a photo, its an amazing building in the middle of a lake, the government has sold it and it will soon be a hotel, so no one can go inside. its sad really. I had my first lassi in Jaipur, it was amazing its in between a milk shake and a Greek yogurt that you drink cold. Its amazing and i had since had a few none as good as the famous Lassi Walla in Jaipur. I wish i had a picture but i was being rushed by my tuk tuk driver. i hate them like i like going to the bathroom, necessary but distasteful. (also stolen from Tom Clancy) i am addicted its my forth TC book and my 10 over all, not bad for four months. Its a testament to how much time i spend in a bus or train, or waiting on them both. Anyway, miss you all and will try to catch up a bit, it makes for better stories as i am having a hard time remembering those small odd things that happened to me a week and a half ago.

love you all tons, miss you all more.

Jake