There's a travellers' cliche about home stays in India, for sure. It's said it's supposed to be a very enriching and deep experience, even if nobody knows what exactly it's meant to be.
And then there was a nice village in the middle of nowhere and I really liked it and I decided to have my piece of home stay in India and for sure it was intense. HOWEVER:
- The owner of the house was a drunkard
(Well he had a broken leg in a plaster, and he was really bored, he said he needed the alcohol for digestion since he could not go to work -- ?, anyhow at the end of the day after 2 litres of a hellish artisan liquor he was quite pissed, and I had to have dinner with him and it was annoying, even worse with his limited english).
- The friends of the owner of the house also enjoyed drinking
(Even if they could and had to go to work. One evening I prepared dinner for them, and they got so drunk, and when we ate and they liked the food so much, the conversation got so bad about me being so nice to cook for them and about eternal friendship and about god in the tribal kinnauri views - and it implied me drinking the undrinkable, at least a bit, whenever they got more enthusiastic).
- And I got a marriage proposal
(Actually the 1st evening the owner asked me if I was married and then he started talking about his land and the dowry, if I liked any of his 2 daughters. And I tell you it did not feel good, not at all, I nearly felt like vomiting, even if it was a stupid reaction and I only had to say no).
- And women in India are treated like shit
(Myself trying to make the point, e.g. helping the daughters at the kitchen or bringing the plates back and forth, was stupid and hopeless. Women are nothing in India, at least in rural India, they're treated as servants).
- And there were nice and warm moments but I wonder
(I wonder what did we actually share, what was the cultural exchange. They're just supposed to treat guests as half gods, thus they make you feel good. Traditions may look nice, you might feel curiosity, but mixed with annoyance and pity about the things you don't like or that are unfair - I had lots of pity for the girls, but how honest it was?. And what are their perspectives, their possibilities, their choices? - are these people really interesting?).
- And I got some bugs as a good bye present
(Which were biting me all around, and took me 3 days to remove after nearly striping my skin, and all my body was still itchy for a couple of weeks).
As a positive note, I guess experiencing is the best antidote for naivety. And it was a perfect nadaist activity, since I did nothing in those 3 days.
Well there's travellers' cliches and so many ways of travelling and nobody seems to like being called a tourist. Maybe we should start an anonymous club and introduce ourselves to each other saying something like "my name is Lorenzo and I am a tourist". And then we could start saying the truth about the trip, since it is not always so fantastic...
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Disappointed guru
For a number of reasons I've stayed in Shimla for nearly 2 weeks. It's a city closed to the Himalayas but not yet there, altitude 2000m. There's lots of tourists that pass by for a couple of days on their way to the deeper valleys. They come, chat a bit, and leave in a hurry even if there's so much rain and landslides - the tourist agents call it "adventure".
But there's also people that stay, some days ago I met a german girl, quite young, who told me she had found a very spiritual person who was helping her a lot, who was exactly what she was looking for, the reason she came to India. She looked really happy.
Then yesterday I met an israeli girl at a coffeeshop and it was raining so much and she was bored and wanted to do something and we ended up going together to one of the sights in the city. At a certain point we talked about nadaism, of course, and she said in a way she wanted to leave everything and go travelling for a while, but on the other hand she was happy with her life in Jerusalem and with her job and she did not want to risk all that. She was in a big doubt for the short term as well, not sure about what to do for her 2 weeks left in India.
The israeli girl had some pain in her back and wanted to get a massage, but a good masseur was not so easy to find. There was a guy, male, that somebody told us about, and we went to visit him together. This guy did not look so interested in the massage itself, and starting talking "spiritually". He said he was a very intuitive person and wanted to prove it, he made some amazing guesses, at least with me, he told me I'm afraid of water, (which is more or less true, I was very much when I was a child, now I can swim but still feel it is not my element), he said I look at everything with the stomach, as soon as there is tension or worries it goes there, (just true), and finally that I have had a lot of problems with women, (well this one was not so difficult, just looking at my face I'd say, and also it is quite a common issue). Anyhow, he tried some guesses with the israeli girl and I don't know how right he got but she was all the time asking for more. The guy was repeating here and there that he would be able to help her, that she was doubting a lot about her life, not sure which way to take, and she needed some balance in her mind.
I honestly don't know how genuine was the guy, but I really think that he's been able to help to a lot of people, the ones that believe in him. The german girl that I met a couple of weeks ago was still visiting him, and she was so happy.
Anyway I don't know what people are looking for when they come to India.
The day after, i.e. today, the israeli girl left Shimla and headed to Rishikesh - one of her friends was sick but feeling better this morning. By chance I met the guru again and I was having a coffee and he joined me. The conversation was quite disordered, discontinuous, he was looking at people, observing them, (potential clients?), smiling to anything I'd say, but not really interested on more guesses or deeper conversation with me, (maybe he saw using his intuition that I had no intention on hiring his services, but only a lot of curiosity). From time to time he was talking about the israeli girl and saying that he knew she was going to leave but he would have liked to help her. Finally I asked him if he was disappointed because she was gone.
- No!, he said, how can I be disappointed, I'm the happiest person in the world!.
- Well, I said, maybe it was a bad choice of words, but it looks to me you really wanted to help her.
I did not tell him to look for the meaning of the word in the dictionary. The guy left after a while, I had to insist a bit so that he would let me pay his coffee. I didn't change my mind about him, I'm sure he helps people. He lives a good life as well, thanks to the "donations". Any good tout has a reasonable good life.
Only I don't see why a teacher should not be disappointed sometimes.
But there's also people that stay, some days ago I met a german girl, quite young, who told me she had found a very spiritual person who was helping her a lot, who was exactly what she was looking for, the reason she came to India. She looked really happy.
Then yesterday I met an israeli girl at a coffeeshop and it was raining so much and she was bored and wanted to do something and we ended up going together to one of the sights in the city. At a certain point we talked about nadaism, of course, and she said in a way she wanted to leave everything and go travelling for a while, but on the other hand she was happy with her life in Jerusalem and with her job and she did not want to risk all that. She was in a big doubt for the short term as well, not sure about what to do for her 2 weeks left in India.
The israeli girl had some pain in her back and wanted to get a massage, but a good masseur was not so easy to find. There was a guy, male, that somebody told us about, and we went to visit him together. This guy did not look so interested in the massage itself, and starting talking "spiritually". He said he was a very intuitive person and wanted to prove it, he made some amazing guesses, at least with me, he told me I'm afraid of water, (which is more or less true, I was very much when I was a child, now I can swim but still feel it is not my element), he said I look at everything with the stomach, as soon as there is tension or worries it goes there, (just true), and finally that I have had a lot of problems with women, (well this one was not so difficult, just looking at my face I'd say, and also it is quite a common issue). Anyhow, he tried some guesses with the israeli girl and I don't know how right he got but she was all the time asking for more. The guy was repeating here and there that he would be able to help her, that she was doubting a lot about her life, not sure which way to take, and she needed some balance in her mind.
I honestly don't know how genuine was the guy, but I really think that he's been able to help to a lot of people, the ones that believe in him. The german girl that I met a couple of weeks ago was still visiting him, and she was so happy.
Anyway I don't know what people are looking for when they come to India.
The day after, i.e. today, the israeli girl left Shimla and headed to Rishikesh - one of her friends was sick but feeling better this morning. By chance I met the guru again and I was having a coffee and he joined me. The conversation was quite disordered, discontinuous, he was looking at people, observing them, (potential clients?), smiling to anything I'd say, but not really interested on more guesses or deeper conversation with me, (maybe he saw using his intuition that I had no intention on hiring his services, but only a lot of curiosity). From time to time he was talking about the israeli girl and saying that he knew she was going to leave but he would have liked to help her. Finally I asked him if he was disappointed because she was gone.
- No!, he said, how can I be disappointed, I'm the happiest person in the world!.
- Well, I said, maybe it was a bad choice of words, but it looks to me you really wanted to help her.
I did not tell him to look for the meaning of the word in the dictionary. The guy left after a while, I had to insist a bit so that he would let me pay his coffee. I didn't change my mind about him, I'm sure he helps people. He lives a good life as well, thanks to the "donations". Any good tout has a reasonable good life.
Only I don't see why a teacher should not be disappointed sometimes.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
They call us pinkus
The deeper I get into the Himalayas the more difficult is going to be to get access to the Internet - good excuse for eventual lack of updates.
Now I'm in Shimla, a very popular hill station, lots of indian tourists but also some whites, (we're are just everywhere). I was hanging around lost and I found some locals getting drunk in a kind of picnic place, it was a good-bye party. They invited me to join and in the heat of the conversation they told me they call us pinkus, "the pink foreigners".
One of them in particular was amazing. Doing nothing for a living (he has some land), a drunkard, in favor of the Palestine cause in such an extreme way that you could say that he's a neo-nazi, but also very very spiritual.
At sunset there was a beautiful view and the birds were singing. He told me if I could feel god in that beauty. I answered that I saw it was beautiful but there is beauty in a way in my hometown as well and I never felt god there, so why here. He agreed, that's exactly the problem with all the western people, he said, looking for something which actually they will not find in India but only on "their perception".
For me this guy could be the archetype of indian spirituality, (maybe not the one of the enlightened, but of the common folk).
Now I'm in Shimla, a very popular hill station, lots of indian tourists but also some whites, (we're are just everywhere). I was hanging around lost and I found some locals getting drunk in a kind of picnic place, it was a good-bye party. They invited me to join and in the heat of the conversation they told me they call us pinkus, "the pink foreigners".
One of them in particular was amazing. Doing nothing for a living (he has some land), a drunkard, in favor of the Palestine cause in such an extreme way that you could say that he's a neo-nazi, but also very very spiritual.
At sunset there was a beautiful view and the birds were singing. He told me if I could feel god in that beauty. I answered that I saw it was beautiful but there is beauty in a way in my hometown as well and I never felt god there, so why here. He agreed, that's exactly the problem with all the western people, he said, looking for something which actually they will not find in India but only on "their perception".
For me this guy could be the archetype of indian spirituality, (maybe not the one of the enlightened, but of the common folk).
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Ropes tied everywhere
My apologies for this 1-month kind of break in which I havent updated the blog.
It's not that I'm looking for an excuse, but I was in a mess with some ropes (see below). Anyhow, I am in India now, back here once again, and I really think this is the place for doing nothing, thus I will also have more time to talk about anything.
There's this old personal image that I have about myself. Since I started working I became a nomad in a way, wondering around. It was nice, I made good friends here and there, but it was also tough, since I left my family and my old friends in the first place, and I had to start again from scratch every now and then. And I kept making it worse since when I managed to make good new friends I turned them into old when I left and I moved somewhere new.
For the image, I picture myself really big size walking on the earth globe, and there is a rope tied to my ankles, the other end strapped to the places I've been to, linked to the people there. Eventually it gets impossible to move, since the ropes get into a net and then into a mess, and I get stuck and I cannot move. However, when it happens, I'm not in the place that I would like to be at, but I'm just in the middle of nowhere, in the place in which by chance all the ropes got messed and stopped me.
I must say I like the image because it describes the way I feel about it. These nadaist months, after the wondering around in Europe, I went to my parents' and I visited old friends and the feeling of the ropes suddenly came back and it made everything very hard.
One could wonder what are the ropes. Or what make them tied. Being in India maybe it would be easy to put an "elightened" kind of answer to that question. But there's a point that comes first. It's a bit obvious, (these obvious points that don't help at all unless you realise them yourself, in whatever the way). I can look at the image at any moment e.g. right now and see that it makes it for the explanation and, even if it is exagerated, it is accurate - but I can regard it coldly and not feel any sadness or anything. And there are these other times, (e.g. the weekend before the flight to Delhi), in which the image overtakes me and dominates me and makes me feel anguish, but it is not because it becomes more correct, or less acurate, it is just because it has just triggered the fear, in a way.
So the image is a thought which is always right, and which generates a torment but only sometimes. When it does hurt and when it does not is a mistery to me, but I'm thinking maybe that's the whole (obvious) point.
It's not that I'm looking for an excuse, but I was in a mess with some ropes (see below). Anyhow, I am in India now, back here once again, and I really think this is the place for doing nothing, thus I will also have more time to talk about anything.
There's this old personal image that I have about myself. Since I started working I became a nomad in a way, wondering around. It was nice, I made good friends here and there, but it was also tough, since I left my family and my old friends in the first place, and I had to start again from scratch every now and then. And I kept making it worse since when I managed to make good new friends I turned them into old when I left and I moved somewhere new.
For the image, I picture myself really big size walking on the earth globe, and there is a rope tied to my ankles, the other end strapped to the places I've been to, linked to the people there. Eventually it gets impossible to move, since the ropes get into a net and then into a mess, and I get stuck and I cannot move. However, when it happens, I'm not in the place that I would like to be at, but I'm just in the middle of nowhere, in the place in which by chance all the ropes got messed and stopped me.
I must say I like the image because it describes the way I feel about it. These nadaist months, after the wondering around in Europe, I went to my parents' and I visited old friends and the feeling of the ropes suddenly came back and it made everything very hard.
One could wonder what are the ropes. Or what make them tied. Being in India maybe it would be easy to put an "elightened" kind of answer to that question. But there's a point that comes first. It's a bit obvious, (these obvious points that don't help at all unless you realise them yourself, in whatever the way). I can look at the image at any moment e.g. right now and see that it makes it for the explanation and, even if it is exagerated, it is accurate - but I can regard it coldly and not feel any sadness or anything. And there are these other times, (e.g. the weekend before the flight to Delhi), in which the image overtakes me and dominates me and makes me feel anguish, but it is not because it becomes more correct, or less acurate, it is just because it has just triggered the fear, in a way.
So the image is a thought which is always right, and which generates a torment but only sometimes. When it does hurt and when it does not is a mistery to me, but I'm thinking maybe that's the whole (obvious) point.
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