Monday, August 30, 2010
Sounds
The best was to describe India is not in her sights (which admittedly are aweing) nor in her smells (overpowering) but in her Sounds. I have never in my 20 years been somewhere where there are so many sounds. At any given time you have temple bells claniking in praise of any number of gods, you have muslim calls to prayer, you have the screams of street children playing in garbage, you have the cacophony of thousands and thousands of bells and horns. While in America we use our horns to drawn attention to danger or to assert ourself occasioanlly, Indians use their horns at all times, for any reason, to let their prescene be known. The only times sounds stop is around 3 in the morning. It can be very draining (especially when you are sick and right outside your window at 11.00pm construction work begins) but it makes for a reall exciting place
Bleeehhh
So India has kicked my ass. Kicked my ass and it is not fun. It makes me homesick. I was told culture shock will hit you the first two weeks in and it will dissapate after a month. It has begun, culture shock has set in. we have all begun to complain about this great country. I am still in love I am however just pissed off, weak, dehydrated, crouching over a toilet, and having a restless sleep.
It all began two days ago when we wandered the back allies of centrral Banaras, which was so cool-- they unfold forever and are very much like a spireweb in all the directions they go. Every space is packed with a shop the size of a closet and in some places you are forced to walk im single file. The whole day I had spent laying and reading in the program house. and to be assualted with so many sights and SOUNDS after such peace was assualting. Upon returning I slept for two hours and after that I got sick.
I want jump in a swimming pool (something we will do this weekend- we can spend 5 bucks and have accsess to a pool all day at a nice hotel) or go to the queitest lake in the world.
It all began two days ago when we wandered the back allies of centrral Banaras, which was so cool-- they unfold forever and are very much like a spireweb in all the directions they go. Every space is packed with a shop the size of a closet and in some places you are forced to walk im single file. The whole day I had spent laying and reading in the program house. and to be assualted with so many sights and SOUNDS after such peace was assualting. Upon returning I slept for two hours and after that I got sick.
I want jump in a swimming pool (something we will do this weekend- we can spend 5 bucks and have accsess to a pool all day at a nice hotel) or go to the queitest lake in the world.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Now that that is done....
What have I been up to?
Everything and Nothing. I arrived on the 20th lost track of time, thought Friday was Saturday and became hopelessly lost. But you can never be lost, you can only be misplaced. Several times I have become lost and rather then panic I just continue to become more and more misplaced. I have been in Banaras for 2 days so far and it is entirely different the Delhi. It is more India, more loud, more dirty, more chaotic, more jumbled, more confusing, and more better. Actually my balcony overlooks the small garden of a temple-- my drying clothes pay homage to Lord Shiva all day!
Being in India is like being forced to look at millions of pictures being flashed before your eyes at high speed, at speed speed or coke speed. There is so much to see and only two eyes with which to see everything.
I have found a house, an awesome flat that over looks a little garden. My friend Max and I will be sharing not a room but two rooms out of four of a central courtyard. It has a squat toilet ( a toilet that is way better then its America counterpart) there is a shared kitchen, a lovely common area, it is quiet clean (a maid and a bathroom cleaner comes every week to tidy up) and is in the middle of EVERYTHING. I wish you could see it. I wish you all could see this place.
I don't even know how to describe this, when I download my pictures you will begin to see.
Everything and Nothing. I arrived on the 20th lost track of time, thought Friday was Saturday and became hopelessly lost. But you can never be lost, you can only be misplaced. Several times I have become lost and rather then panic I just continue to become more and more misplaced. I have been in Banaras for 2 days so far and it is entirely different the Delhi. It is more India, more loud, more dirty, more chaotic, more jumbled, more confusing, and more better. Actually my balcony overlooks the small garden of a temple-- my drying clothes pay homage to Lord Shiva all day!
Being in India is like being forced to look at millions of pictures being flashed before your eyes at high speed, at speed speed or coke speed. There is so much to see and only two eyes with which to see everything.
I have found a house, an awesome flat that over looks a little garden. My friend Max and I will be sharing not a room but two rooms out of four of a central courtyard. It has a squat toilet ( a toilet that is way better then its America counterpart) there is a shared kitchen, a lovely common area, it is quiet clean (a maid and a bathroom cleaner comes every week to tidy up) and is in the middle of EVERYTHING. I wish you could see it. I wish you all could see this place.
I don't even know how to describe this, when I download my pictures you will begin to see.
Thoughts on India
India. India. India. It is funny becasue when we say the name a totally different image from reality comes to mind, a twofold image. On one hand INDIA comes to means opulence, splendor, the terrible mystery of the Orient. We think of the Taj Mahal and lavish saris. We think of incense and carpets and harems. We think of sadhu and mystery. One the opposite hand we think of grinding abject poverty. Starving children and emaciated mothers. And while the actual India (Bharat) may be close to the later then the former, to understand India as a cesspit of human misery is a an egregious error.
I have only been here a week, but it feels like it has been forever. I feel immediately at home. I feel safe and a I feel happy and I feel pregnant with possibility. This country far from being the "armpit of the world," is by far the most amazing and exciting place I have ever been in. Walking across the street becomes a fight for one's life (hyperbole) and the crush of humans, animals, bikes, rickshaws, cars, buses etc can, at times be extremely overwhelming. But I think it beyond AWESOME.
There is far more to India then meets the eye and maybe it is that I am callow and can't see the true sadness of this place, but I have not been phased by the poverty or the filth or the smells or the Crush. I look at it as an inevitable part of Indian society, of life. I find it pointless to dwell on the sadness of the situation, because pity breeds only stagnation. Instead I focus on the energy and vibrancy of life here. I love this country. This country on crack. This "Wounded Civilization."
I have only been here a week, but it feels like it has been forever. I feel immediately at home. I feel safe and a I feel happy and I feel pregnant with possibility. This country far from being the "armpit of the world," is by far the most amazing and exciting place I have ever been in. Walking across the street becomes a fight for one's life (hyperbole) and the crush of humans, animals, bikes, rickshaws, cars, buses etc can, at times be extremely overwhelming. But I think it beyond AWESOME.
There is far more to India then meets the eye and maybe it is that I am callow and can't see the true sadness of this place, but I have not been phased by the poverty or the filth or the smells or the Crush. I look at it as an inevitable part of Indian society, of life. I find it pointless to dwell on the sadness of the situation, because pity breeds only stagnation. Instead I focus on the energy and vibrancy of life here. I love this country. This country on crack. This "Wounded Civilization."
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