kicked out of the India experience

When I was in the comfy cozy international village of Arambol I felt ambivalent about jumping into the “India experience”. But I trusted myself to be able to do it. And when people asked me where I was going after Arambol and I told them I was going to Ahmedabad the reactions I received affected me. At first the quizzical looks on their faces and the bursts of “WHY?” made me feel nervous and even question myself even though my decision was a sound one. I was compelled to go to this unpopular location for some unknown reason. After a day or two of ambivalence from traveler inquiry of my onward travels I had a shift. I began approaching the subject in a Tom Sawyer-esque way. Suddenly other travelers’ interest in traveling to Ahmedabad was piqued. By adding mystery & allure to a place often associated as a pit of a place no one would ever want to go to, I was able to transcend my apprehension and get pretty psyched. And it not only paid off but Ahmedabad walked my talk.

Ahmedabad was the largest and most developed city in India in pre-British occupation. The British elevated cities like Bombay and New Delhi into their cosmopolitan status of recent years. So what made Ahmedabad so pleasing is that it held its own and had some really nice history. Wandering through the old part of the city was sweet. The people of Ahmedabad are so gentle and friendly. I never once felt harassed like I often do in other locations in India. I was able to stop and chat with local people and there were no other tourists anywhere to be seen. Not only that, I was gastronomically ecstatic. Ahmedabad is the foodie capital of India. I ate at probably the most amazing restaurant I’ve ever been to in my life. The meal is well over my budget but I think it is really a shame to miss out on an occasional splurge while traveling for the sake of the experience. I mean seriously…I was at a beautifully white tiled mosaic seat and table covered with rose petals with classical Indian music playing and a seemingly never ending offering of more courses of traditional Gujarati dishes, all made organically and with locally grown produce brought to me by a wait staff coming from local villages.

I was able to geek out on Gandhi, one of my biggest heroes, by visiting the former Gujarat native’s homestead on the banks of the river. While there I noticed an American consulate program set up with banners, a podium and chairs and wondered what was going on. The next day I read in the paper that Martin Luther King III had visited the same spot just hours after I did!

This season in India I am trying to avoid booking anything in advance so I can be as “in the flow” as possible. So it was only a few hours before I left Ahmedabad I decided to leave on a train without a ticket. You see, it’s totally cool to do that sort of thing in India. You just board a train and when the conductor comes you pay him and he finds you a seat. So anyway I’m sitting there in what ended up being an air conditioned car…and drinks and food starts showing up without any payment asked for. It didn’t occur to me that anything was too odd there…plus I was hungry and I just ripped into my samosa and chai without a care in the world as I let the nearby conversation in Hindi drift into white noise as I gazed out of the tinted window out onto fields filled with buffalos slowly chewing hay. I assumed when the conductor walked away from me with little comment and not asking me for money that there was an unfortunate language barrier and he just assumed I had a ticket and would leave me alone. Some delusional fantasy became my reality and I believed I was going to ride what ended up as being a luxury Rajdhani train for FREE! Sweet!
We arrived to our first stop right on time, one hour after our initial departure. I was so comfortable and happy after my meal and hot chai. And then the conductor came over just as the train slowed to a stop and waved me over to the door and said “you leave now”.
Yep, I got kicked off the train and found myself at some random village in northern Gujarat.

It didn’t bother me much because another train going the same way was coming in 30 minutes…and I was actually enjoying the adventurous curveballs life was throwing me.

The next train showed up and I went into the lowest class available, Class II. If I can describe it in a word to give you an idea of the scene: sardines. Part of the time I was standing and the other time I half leaned on my upright backpack. Everything was a seat for people in this car: the actual seats, the floors, the window sills, other people’s laps, the luggage racks, etc. Anywhere you could put a person, there one was. So the friendly and gentle Gujarati people were there with me up close and personal. Entire families squished together, an elderly man picking his toes up high in the luggage rack, two young boys sexually fondling each other to my left and an old man who lovingly played with his baby granddaughter, shaking her up to make her laugh and turning to me to say “in India, children are god.”



Then, just 30 minutes before my train reached my destination I got the cherry on the cake…an Indian transvestite clad in a beautiful mirrored sari made his way through the car, man by man, extorting money by intimidating each one into giving him-her money by caressing his hair or ultimately sexually fondling the more hesitant and stingy ones. Ultimately though, each man coughed up 5-10 rupees.


Next stop the hill station of Mt Abu in southern Rajasthan.What a gorgeous place! High atop a “mountain” is a lake and an ideal tourist destination for Indians from Ahmedabad, Gujarat and Mumbai. It was pretty cool to see a tourist destination where there were barely any international types like myself. 95% of the people in Mt Abu were Indians. This was perfect in my post Goa plan of getting more into the Indian experience. This past weekend Mt Abu was teeming with more vacationing Indians than usual because it was a three day weekend for the Maha Shivaratri holiday. My noncommittal reply to my guesthouse manager about how long I’d stay ended up biting me in the ass. Getting ready to settle in to my 2nd night there my hotel room phone rang and the manager told me I had to leave the next morning. Yep, now I got kicked out of my hotel room to make room for a high paying upper middle class Indian family.

I was cool with this too. I hadn’t gotten to visit the Dewari Temple but I also wasn’t attached to staying or leaving Mt Abu. And other than getting a nice stroll around Nakki Lake, I was able to experience the super kitschy Spiritual Museum put together by the Brahma Kumaris. Although it was only 5 minutes into the English version of the “Meditation Laser Show Experience” before about 40 Indian came into the theater loudly talking as they waited impatiently to view the Hindi version. So in a sense I was kicked out of that too. But again I was cool with that. 5 minutes of the meditation laser show was enough of an experience for me anyway.

I arrived to Pushkar last night and was pretty sad to see that Pushkar Lake is a puddle surrounded by mountains of dirt and mud being pushed around by a team of loudly churning and banging bulldozers. My first night I was in my favorite hotel here that is butted right up to the lake…er, correction: work area. I decided to stay there anyway. The blaring Shivaratri music carried across the lake throughout the night was no problem at all…I slept right through it. But being awakened at 7am by the banging of the bulldozers I knew immediately I had to change my scenery.

Now I am back at my other favorite place in Pushkar: Shiva Guesthouse, with the cheap room rates, good location, nice travelers and cucumber munching turtles in the courtyard…and my bag is fully unpacked. I am at home.

Photos:
Ahmedabad
Mt Abu

freedom

I just spent 6 weeks in Arambol.

There are so many ways I can interpret or judge or analyze my or anyone else’s experience based on one sentence. Upon arrival back in January I absolutely never thought and definitely did not plan to be there for so long. Committing to 3 weeks when I arrived was daunting enough back then. And yet 6 weeks later as I departed yesterday it was a sweet melancholy…realizing that I had some sadness in saying goodbye. A sadness only a flickering moment as I cleared myself to a shift in perspective of absolute gratefulness and love. Sticking around and staying the course…not running away when I feel antsy out of fear of getting too close…which is fear of getting hurt…fear fear fear.

I have been traveling for years but I feel like it has been ages since I let myself just rest in one place. To rest my fears, agitation, awkwardness, rest my judgment, constant movement and seeking. Yes, rest this seeking.

This seeking! To be able to put it aside and just BE. I feel free.

The Great Freedom “12 Inquiries” course that I completed almost a week ago was a profound experience for me. It had been recommended to me last season in India but I felt hesitant at that time. The timing and logistics of the course I just completed were so absolutely convenient that the opportunity was staring me in the face and asking “SO. Are you going to do it or not? Huh? Because I’m right here in front of you.”

Initially I was frustrated with the class due to my aversion and judgment of the guru-seeking-spiritual-Disneyland many tourists come to find in India. Plus I am very keen as I notice each year the occasional traveler in India who has “lost the plot” so to speak…losing their mind or losing their identity. And that sure as hell wasn’t going to be me…and I was rigid and strong to prevent it.

However, the course was very intensive…sharing each of our deepest demons and fears amongst a class of 20 other people. Through exposing vulnerabilities my steely veneer softened and I was able to finally just open up and listen without so much judging and resistance.

But how this course is a profound experience is not in only the 2 weeks in the course through sharing and getting to know ~20 other amazing people…it is profound because I feel I finally have the tools I need and have been seeking for years to help navigate life.

My experience in Arambol this season has been so so sweet. I was more open and receiving and I was granted the fruit…and I took a bite. I made so amazing business connections!...so stoked to be carrying my friend Ori’s Aspire line of clothes. I deepened friendships with those I share my winters here every year. I made new friendships…so many and so lovely. I think I had a crush on about 20 people…so much beauty! So much creativity! So much love! Everywhere I went I just felt so much love for everyone that I was in constant crush mode.

My final two nights I was blissed and blessed. Culminating my friendships all together in a large Carnivale celebration on the beach I danced amongst hundreds in festive costumes and live music. And then my final night I kept it really chill by just sitting amongst friends in the living room (Piya’s guesthouse)…and how totally appropriate the collection of beautiful friends around me; friends from past years in Arambol, new friends from Piya’s, new friends from Great Freedom, friends from the creatrix fashion community, friends from home & the beginning of my journey (Morgan & Monika returned just in time for my Arambol closure) and Anjali (formerly known as Foxy) another friend from home showed up one more time too.

To be surrounded by so many people I love and each representing stages and arenas of where I’ve been and who I have become is just so appropriate and beautiful for my departure from Arambol. I give so much props to life and the universe for the constant gifts and also thanks that I have my eyes open for the awareness to see and receive.

Photos & videos http://www.flickr.com/photos/meredith415/sets/72157613384134939/

Great Freedom http://www.greatfreedom.org/

a few ditties

Tonight I decided to try to catch up on some emails that have been in my inbox for over a month. As I wrote some emails catching friends up on my life I realize there are some great little ditties from my life over here that I skipped in my previous blog which gave a 3 week sweeping overview of my trip in India thus far. But any traveler knows how action packed even a single day can be on the journey. So, in short, I skipped some true gems in my last blog.

First of all, before I even got to India, starting back on….oh, let’s say November 2nd… I was dreaming of where I would be to watch the live broadcast of Obama’s inauguration speech. Once I realized I would still be in Arambol for it, I was pretty psyched because of the several venues here which have satellite television connections. After scouring the town to see if any of them planned to show Barak’s speech, I wasn’t feeling so hopeful. Plus his inauguration was the same day as Piya’s 50th birthday. Piya is the owner of the living room (also known as Arkan Bar) and mother to all of us who live in this neighborhood in Arambol. It is an event every year but this one was a big one because she turned 50. The party was an easy distraction from lamenting missing Obama’s speech. In the midst of it all, djs, dancing, fireworks, a full house of amazing travelers from around the world, I had honestly forgotten about the inauguration speech. Getting up from chair to hula hoop a few to some blasting remix of Johnny Cash, I returned to my chair to find some cute Israeli guy in my chair. I took the opportunity to say hello, cuz well…he was someone I had never seen before and he was pretty hot. He gave up the chair and we stood together transfixed in our connection and conversation. Finally I asked, “by the way, what is your name anyway?”. And he answered “Barak”. I was like, dude, what did you say?? And he repeated “Barak”. Then I got the whole spacey blissed out hippy stance and was like “WOAH. Dude. What time is it??” and he reached into his bag and pulled out a large face digital clock with a light up screen reading the exact time (with the time change factored in) of Barack Obama’s inauguration speech!! WOAH
Anyway, that’s the end of that story…no smooch or dirt or anything.

Ok, next…
There is a somewhat annoying phenomenon in the traveler scene in India. People come traveling by themselves and I guess they feel lonely and need an outlet for nurturing and being nurtured. Plus they see all the strife and poor conditions all around India. And this strife goes particularly so for dogs, which lead a pretty rough life over here. Anyway, you put it all together and then here comes a cute little puppy and, voila…you get this typical lonely traveler adopting a pet. Yeah it’s cute, and the dog gets fed and whatever. But what usually happens is that the end of the 6 month visa comes around the traveler goes home and Fido (or little Siddhartha perhaps) is left high and dry with no one to take care of it anymore. So the dog is now reliant on being taken care of and is now left to the whims of life in India, including the people, the other dogs, the big trucks, the starvation, etc… Anyway, it is something that a first time traveler may not recognize as being so totally unsustainable. It is frustrating to me but there’s nothing I can do about it so I let it pass.

Anyway, a new twist this season is this guy…let’s call him “rat man”…ok so maybe that gives it away. But anyway, this dude has adopted a rat. The situation is quirky and interesting and I am sure he gets a lot of attention for it. So rat man walks around with this white rat sitting on his shoulder and with a musical instrument in hand.
I decided one night to attend a late night jam session where, as it turns out, rat man was part of the ensemble. As I sat enjoying the soft jamming of drums and guitars and the nice company…the hot chai cooling on the table…rat man wanted to be more free to make music so dropped the rat off to hang out on our table. Shortly after the rat arrived, we realized the rat is blind. So initially it was pretty comical because we would wave our hands in front of his face and he would sniff around oblivious…oblivious, you see, because he CAN’T see. Ha Ha…yes this is so amusing! Hee hee! But the longer we watched him as he wandered around our table, the stranger it became to have a rat ON OUR TABLE at a restaurant. The blind bugger would poke around slowly and blindly but as soon as the plate with cake on it was placed down, he scurried freakin fast. And that’s when it just got really creepy.
But he was really clean…in fact half the time he was blundering around blindly but then as if the aimless ramble became boring, he’d stop to wash himself for a long time. So I was like, “hey well he’s a clean little fellow. Perhaps I should transcend my prior opinion that rats are dirty disgusting animals”. So I tried it. But then I watched him licking the condensation off of my water bottle and that just felt weird. And maybe you are wondering how I can so boldly continue to refer to him as a HE? Well, because of his disproportionately massive balls. Ok, that’s it, get this frickin critter off the table!

Yeah,so transcending conditioning….
That’s what I’m working on in this course I’m taking. I’ve had three days so far and I am keeping one foot steadily and solidly planted in realityland while the rest of me is open to this mysterious new and “life changing” approach to life. The vague messages and constant repetition has me all cynical as hell and my brainwash radar is blinking… anyway, I am being cautious yet open. I’m not supposed to talk to others in the class about what goes on in there so to maintain a sense of “quiet” in the teachings. But I ended up at a restaurant during a lunch break with these two brothers from Toronto who are also in the course with me. Within moments we were gushing about all sorts of stuff about the class…ooh, such a big no no! It’s refreshing though! And the laughs we get from making light of what appears inane is so fun and refreshing.
Tonight we each put 50 rupees in on a bet to guess who will be the first person to quit the class. Winner takes all. I chose the Australian guy with the puppy.