india journal

Thangka

Thanka painting is traditional art form which dates back to the around the 7th Century. It was originally based on Indian religious art, but it has also incorportated Chinese, Nepalese and Kashmiri styles. Many Thangka paintings feature the Buddha or other dieties or demons.

Thangka is very precise in it the propotions of figures. Those studying this art form spend three years learning these proportions before they even pick up a paint brush.

I got to join a group of students from my old university as they skipped the three year introduction, and got down to painting. The outline of the picture had already been drawn, as is the tradition. The painting deliberately omitted a deity, as it would bring bad luck to paint such a piece incorrectly. This was the result of my 5 hours of effort.

Me at Triund

Proof that I really was in the Himalayas!

South to Ahmadabad

I left McLeod Ganj on Tuesday night. I made the mistake of taking the "deluxe" bus, and it ended up being a cold, bumpy, sleepless night. Then I discovered that the key to my friend Mark's house (where I was to stay) had gone AWOL. Eventually I tracked it down, and had a good night's rest. Thursday night I took the night train (which was four hours late) to Ahmadabad.

My friend Babu has been talking to me about Ahmadabad for several years, so I decided it would be a good stopping point on my way South. Babu gave me the name and number of his cousin, Mr. Mahesh Patel. When we spoke on the phone, Mr. Patel said that I should come to his house upon arrival.

I arrived close to five hours late, and the Patels were wondering what had happened to me. Mr. Patel organized a car through his friends to pick me up at the train station and bring me back to their wonderful house. They live in the winding streets in the heart of old Ahmadabad. Immediately I felt at home.

Mrs. Patel, Krisna, studied philosophy, and we had some discussions of Plato and Aristotle. She also plays sitar. Both nights that I was there, I perched myself on a stool in the kitchen to watch her cook. She is an excellent cook, and I wanted to learn her recipes. I also want to say that Gujurati chai is the best I've had anywhere.

Their daughter, Mansi, is a fiesty tenth grader who wants to be a fashion designer. We bonded on Hindi films...though we disagreed on who the best actors are.

Among other things I was taken to the Gandhi Ashram, where Gandhi settled after returning from South Africa. On Sunday morning, Mr. Patel and I went on a heritage walk through old Ahmadabad, which showed us some amazing architecture (pictures later), and beautiful temples.

The hightlight, however, came on Sunday evening, when he took me up to the roof of their house. Everywhere on rooftops were people flying kites, and the sky was filled with their bright colors. i stood slowly turning to watch them, then stopped to watch the sunset. There is a Kite Festival on January 14th every year, and in the month or so leading up to it, more and more people climb up to their roof and take part. It was a beautiful sight, which I can't quite capture here.

Briefly in Bombay

From Ahmadabad I headed to Bombay to meet two friends, Kyle and Maryanne. They were flying in to spend 11 days travelling with me. I was excited to have somebody to share my experiences with: to be able to point and say, "wow, look at that!"

When I arrived at the hotel early in the morning, I didn't know that they had already checked in, so I took a room and waited for them. I then went and wandered the area around the hotel, which is in an area of the city called 'Colaba'.

The feel of the city here was much more American or European. Auto rickshaws are not allowed into the city, and this made traffic seem much more sane. Streets were laid out on a grid. There were actual sidewalks. A young kid selling maps latched onto me, and ended up showing me around the area. I managed to not buy a map, but instead took him to the restaurant of his choice for a meal: MacDonald's. So, yes, the first time I've eaten at MacDonald's in probably 15 years was in Bombay.

I finally discovered that Kyle and Maryanne were in the hotel late in the afternoon. We had dinner and then turned in early. The next day we walked to the India Gate, a huge Arc-de-Triumph-style monument, to commemorate the arrival of the King and Queen of England in India. From there we caught a 2 1/2 hour ferry to Elephanta Island. Bombay is on a peninsula, and between it and the mainland are numerous small islands. Elephanta is famous for the cave temples which were carved out of the rock over 1000 years ago. The caves are quite large, and it was hard to imagine people excavating them with only hand tools. There are several beautiful sculptures in the main cave. Sadly, many of the caves have been 'restored' using reinforced concrete, so you are not actually seeing the cave, but a recreation thereof.

I had been warned about the monkeys on the island. The were said to steal food from tourists, and lived up to their reputation. Maryanne bought an ear of corn to eat on the walk up the hill to the caves. A monkey tried to grab her corn. She managed to avoid it, but while it had her distracted, another came up from behind and grabbed the corn.

Mysore and Bandipur

I'm in culture shock! As much as Bombay felt like a different country from northern India, Mysore is even more of a change. Every corner has a traffic light, and pedestrians actually wait for the walk signal to cross the street in most places.

Most importantly, I have arrived in the land of good coffee! Coffee here is much like New Orleans coffee, with chicory and lots of milk. On the first morning in Mysore, we had large cups of coffee brought to our room. It was delicious, and not too sweet. For those of you who know what a coffee person I am in the morning, you will know how happy this made me.

Highlights of the day included the 1912 palace of the local Raja. It had an interesting blend of traditional Indian handicraft work, and Victorian English style. There would be an ornate, Hindu themed frame around a picture of small cherubs.

Our guide books recommended a temple on the top of a hill a few kilometers South of town. We took the bus, which afforded beautiful views of the agricultural valley, and red-tiled roofs of villages. The temple was beautiful, but we were not given much of a chance to enjoy it. We were grabbed buy a boy when we dropped off our shoes, and were thrown into the business machine of the people who make a living off the temple. We here rushed through the temple by the kid. Small statues and flowers were forced on Kyle and Maryanne. When dragged outside everybody demanded money for the things they had shoved into their hands. It was not much of a spiritual event.

The next morning we caught the bus to Bandipur national park, where we had booked a room. The park is a refuge for tigers and elephants. The only way to venture out into the woods is in a mini bus. We took a late afternoon safari and saw lots of deer, guar (similar to elk) and wild boar. At the end of the ride we saw an elephant, and then realized that it was chained to a tree, and not wild. In the evening we watched a nature film, which we expected to be about the animals in the park. Instead it was a "Crocodile Hunter"-like Australian nature show. The next moring Kyle and Maryanne went on another safari while i slept. They did manage to see a small group of wild elephants, including a large bull that guarded the others.

I did manage to see a wild elephant on our bus ride out in the morning.

The Backwaters of Kerala

There is a broad expanse of land which parallels the coast of Kerala for at least 100 miles that is criss-crossed with canals connecting lakes and rivers. Here the traditional mode of transport is of course boat, and one can take day or overnight cruises.

We arrived in Kottayam, which sits on the backwaters on Sunday. We took a room at a little guest house in the middle of nowhere. We wandered up and down the little rural road, and soon had a crowd of kids following us. They showed us the way to the shore of the lake. Then, since it is almost Christmas, they asked that we teach them a Christmas carol. Maryanne taught them "Jingle Bells", and it was fun listening to the kids sing about snow in a place that probably hasn't seen snow since the last ice age.

Kyle wanted very much to go for an overnight trip, and luckily our guest house owners had one available. The next day, which happened to be Kyle's birthday, we headed out onto the backwaters of Kerala. The boat was very comfortable, and had two bedrooms and an open porch. We had three crew members to take care of us.
Our first stop was in the middle of a large lake. Here we went for a swim, and the crew scooped up handfuls of clams from the bottom. Here we were served lunch, and then we started sailing down large canals. Behind the walls that contained them were bright green rice paddies. It appears that the land here has been reclaimed much like in Holland.

That night we tied up at the corner of two canals, where a couple had a small store (and a cow to provide milk). Several other boats tied up next to us. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset, a delicious dinner and then went to bed.

Unfortunately, I became violently ill in the night. I was sick for all the next day, but managed the bus ride from the dock to Allepey, where we took a hotel room. In the end, it took me 2 1/2 days to fully recover, but I seem to be better now.

Around Kottayam

I am staying with the family of my friend Raj, whom I met in Dharamsala. He came down for Christmas, and brought a group of friends with him. His family is Catholic, and there is a small christmas tree in the living room. This area is very heavily Christian. Christianity here dates back to the first Century. The legend has it that the Apostle Thomas brought it here. The original Syrian Christians here still conduct their services in a dialect of Aramaic.

Most of the houses here have brightly colored stars on their porches for the holidays. At night they become lanterns, and make it feel like Christmas, even if it is close to 90 degrees.

On Friday we went for a tour of the are, which included several churches. One of the churches dates from 355 A.D! Raj's father owns a small piece of land which was a coffee plantation, and we made a stop there. He grows his own coffee -- which I have happily tasted. Also on the same plot of land are pepper vines, papaya trees, banana tress, ginger and tumeric. At the house there is a passionfruit vine, a 'butter fruit' tree, guava tree, coconut trees and more papayas.

Pineapples are also in season now, and cost 10 rupees each. I plan to eat myself sick on them.

Buddhists at the Beach

On Sunday, we came down to the beach in a place called Varkala. Overlooking the beach are red cliffs, atop which are perched a series of small hotels, restaurants and and shops. At any given time there are 4-5 eagles riding the air currents above the cliffs. The water is the perfect temperature, and I spent about three hours in the surf.

In the group are Lee (an American Doctor), Pema (my meditation teacher in Dharamsala), Champa (another Tibetan friend) and Marc (a British student of Buddhism). On the second day we all walked down to go for a swim together, and discovered a fish washed up on shore. Pema put him back in the water. Then we noticed lots of small jellyfish lying on the beach, and Pema began to scoop them up in hand-fulls of sand and shuttle them to the water. He told me a story about a man who finds thousands of fish washed up on the beach. He begins to throw them back into the water. Another man tells him that it won't make any difference, since there are so many. The first man picks up another fish and puts it in the water and says, "for that fish I made a difference."

At the end of my second day swimming, my ear became plugged with water. It hadn't cleared by morning, so I decided to go to the hospital. Our hotel manager gave me the name of an ear, nose and throat doctor, and Lee and I headed off to the hospital. When we arrived, I was led by a young man to the registration area, where I was taken to a side door, thus skipping a long line. Next I was whisked away to the doctor's office. The doctor was waiting for me, and looked at my ear immediately. He wore a reflecting mirror on his head to give him light. He told me that it was blocked with wax, and sent me to another building. Here I was told to wait outside a door marked "Operating Theatre". Minutes later I was brought in and placed on a table. With the help of five nurses, he began to scrape away the wax in my ear. It took about 10 minutes, but in the end I could hear. He sent me home with eardrops to ensure against infection.

Kerala Christmas

Christmas Eve was filled with fireworks. In between barrages, one could hear carrolers going door to door. Later in the evening, our gang went for a walk to look at the decorations on houses in the neighborhood. We walked among a sea of stars, lights and nativity scenes, with fireworks exploding overhead.

In contrast, Christmas day was very quiet and relaxed. All the guests got up late, and then sat on the porch drinking coffee. Even in the morning it was quite warm, certainly the warmest Christmas I've had.

When Raj's parents got back from Mass we opened presents. Each of us got a Mundhu (Sp?) -- 4 meters of white cloth with colorful borders that are wrapped around the waist like a long skirt. This is the traditional clothing for the men here in South India. They are very comfortable in the heat.

In true Christmas fashion we were fed lots of food. Raj and I almost ate ourselves sick on steamed coconut cake.

Back to the Beach

Starting Christmas night people began to leave. Marc, Pema and Champa headed out to Chennai, where they were hoping to catch a boat to the Andaman Islands. I decided to stick around until the 27th, but couldn't make up my mind where to go, but was feeling like being on my own for awhile.

On the day after Christmas, Raj, Lee and I caught a bus up to the Periyar Wildlife Park. There is a large lake, and we were hoping to take a boat ride. Unfortunately, hoards of other tourists had the same idea, and we came a bit late. Luckily we had a local contact who arranged a short hike in the park. We had a ranger (who was from one of the local mountain tribes) to guide us. To start, we pulled ourselves accross part of the lake on a bamboo raft. The air smelled fresh. As we hiked we could hear what sounded like trees breaking, and knew there were elephants around. We managed to spot two of them accross the small valley.

We left Lee in the mountains and came back to Raj's house. Finally I decided where I would go, and the next day headed back to Varkala and the beach. I was sent off with lots of coffee and pepper from the family estate. And promised to visit them when I returned to Kerala.

I was immediately happy that I had returned to Varkala. The first evening I met a film maker from Delhi. He was sitting with a young shop owner playing guitar. I sat with them for several hours as they took turns strumming, and then a couple of us went to eat dinner. We walked past the big tourist restaurants and found a little hut further down the cliff. Here we had dosas (large, crispy crepes filled with potato curry) which were cooked on a wood fired grill. It was one of the best meals I've had in India.

I have also met two Tibetans through Champa. They run a small Tibetan shop. I offered to tutor them in English. Last night they invited me to dinner, so I have gotten my Tibetan food fix.

After two days staying at a hotel on the cliff, I met a Canadian who was looking for a place further out. I walked with him and we found a little guest house with six rooms facing the water about 80 feet from the beach. I moved there yesterday, and woke up this morning to the sound of the surf.