Friday, January 27, 2006

Mumbai

I stayed one day in Diu - a very nice place - and came to Mumbai yesterday with Nitzan and five other people: Jess from Australia, Dal from Israel, Nate from Canada and Robert from Germany. It's so much better to be travelling in a group in India. We will be touring the city today and tomorrow. I will try to come to the internet place in the evening to write about my impressions of the last few days. Now I just wanted to send a quick note to give my location for anyone concerned. Mumbai aka Bombai seems to be a fascinating city.

Monday, January 23, 2006

Leaving for Diu

I am boarding the bus bound for Diu - an island south of Jamnagar, on the south coast of Gujarat. According to the schedule it should arrive at it's destination at 8 pm so, realistically speaking, I will get there sometime around midnight. Nitzan, the Israeli whom I met in Kathmandu, is staying at the Super Silver hotel so I asked him to tell the reception person his Israeli friend is coming and wants the Israeli rate. Isrealis are known to bargain hard for everything so they get very favourable rates for rooms, money exchange, etc. In Kathmandu Nitzan got Nikki, Farhaan and I the special rate when we first got there. When we went to the Israeli restaurant Nitzan would tell us: "you don't have to give a big tip, nobody expects it here." We had a lot of fun regarding Nitzan being and Isreali, him included. So now Nitzan is in Diu and I am going to join him and see if he maybe also goes along my route - it would be better for me to travel with a male companion to avoid all the street harrasment from men. A lone female tourist has a very hard time travelling in India. I don't mind when someone tells me I am beautiful, or stares at me as if I was a Virgin Mary, or wants to talk to me for a few minutes as it happened in other places I visited, but here men "glue" themselves to me, follow me, or even try to grab my arms or my hair. It's very unpleasant... Diu was a Portuguese colony so if I find the beaches and architecture nice, and if Nitzan wants the job of my bodyguard, I will stay there for a few days and I will write more from there.

Jaipur, Udaipur and Jamnagar

Jaipur is called the pink city because many of its buildings are painted pink. I got a tour there to see the city in one day. Among the tourists in my group there were two nice girls from Australia, one of Indian descend - she was visiting her uncle who lives in Jaipur and was also part of the group - very nice people. We went to see the famous astronomical observatory built by some Maharana, the city palace, and the Amber Palace located on a hill. A huge structure. Must have been beautiful in its time of glory but now it looks very neglected. The whole city looks neglected. It has some nice parks and wide streets so one day, if it is renovated, it will be beautiful again. The best part of my stay in Jaipur was a meeting with an elephant and with monkeys (different species than the one I saw before). The elephant was waiting for passangers to carry them up the hill to the Amber Palace. He was dozing. I stood next to him, he opened his eyes, lifted his trunk and sniffed my hand, delicately touching with its soft ending. And then he looked at me and, of course, there was a whole universe in that gaze. He looked at me with curiosity, love, compassion, and playfullness. I patted his tusk... I wanted to tell him: lets leave all this tourist business and go somewhere where there's nature, away from this busy city. I felt so sorry for him, to be away from where he belonged. Of all the Hindu gods the one I like the most is Ganesh - the god with the elephant head. When you look into the eye of an elephant he is, indeed, divine. Everybody is, but he is divine effortlessly... The Ganesh I saw at the foot of the Amber Palace hill was the biggest elephant I have seen. I had no idea they could be this big. The monkeys were in the garden of the Amber Palace and it was their natural habitat - they just came from all over around to be entertained by tourists. I had some biscuits in my bag (my only food these days as my stomach is not tolerating the "freshly" prepared food...) and I gave them to a nice doggy and then to the monkeys and they came to get it one by one, without any rush and very politely and delicately. We exchanged smiles and head scratches.

Udaipur is considered a very romantic city and it truly is. There's a beautiful City Palace and many smaller palaces on the lake. Some of them are turned into hotels. I toured the main palace and the smaller ones, and the narrow streets of the old town. The outside architecture of the palace is beatiful but the inside is somewhat kitchy to my taste: a lot of filigree, minature paintings, lots of mirror tiles on walls, lots of garish colors... Eveybody has his or her preference. Mine is the art of the Chimu and Moche or Maya and Aztec cultures: rough form, one color, simplicity. The "Maharana" style is very elaborate... too elaborate for my taste. Also clothing and jewelry sold in stores and markets is very colorful, very rich in gold and precious stones. There's nothing I would want to take home from the state of Rajastan, no matter how aggressively the sellers would try to sell it to me...

With a short stop in Ahmadabad I arrived to Jamnigar today early morning. One thing which I really like in India is the institution of the "retiring rooms" at train stations. They have cheap (and quite clean) rooms and dormitories at each railway station so if one arrives in the middle of the night (due to train being delayed, for example) one can crush there instead of looking for a hotel at that impossible hour. They are so cheap that when the train is late 5 hours or late "indefinitely" it's worth taking it. I slept a few hours at the retiring room and went to see Dr. Baghel at the University of Ayurveda with whom I corresponded earlier regarding courses on Ayurveda. He greeted me warmly and introduced me to some of the professors. The state university is the only university in India which offers full 5,5 year program on Ayurveda to foreigners (in English). They also have an introductory 3-month course. The semester starts in July so I have time to think if I would like to stay here for the next 5,5 years. The city is close to water but it is nonetheless a desert city. It is winter now but it's still hot: about 30 degrees Celsius. In the summer it is above 40 degrees. The beasts of burder are camels here. The city is dusty and hot. There are some suculent shrubs and palm trees around but otherwise the vegetation is scarce. People seem to be very nice. I would say they also look happier than in the cities I visited before.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Agra, at last

I got to Agra after 17 hours on the train. I booked my ticket for Jaipur for tomorrow morning and today I am wondering around Taj Mahal. Now it is closed for lunch break and will re-open at 4 pm. Taj Mahal is as beautiful as the pictures show. The main building - the mausoleum made of white marble inlaid with stone of other colors - is really, indeed, an example of perfect balance. From the distance it looks beautiful, with the narrow pools with shallow water leading to it, and from up-close it is equally enchanting. I will have to find more information on it. I read some bits and pieces about it but my knowledge is fragementary (and I don't want to use a guide because I never do - their monotonous voice put me to sleep the few times I used a guide before in such places). The grounds are nicely kept - the surrounding garden consists of grass and some interesting shrubs and trees. Behind Taj Mahal flows a river but it is very badly polluted, like all rivers in India, I heard. I had breakfast in the morning at a restaurant close to Taj Mahal and observed the monkeys which are running everywhere in the city. It is amazing to me how their movements are similar to human movements. It's incredible. When I see a dog anywhere I talk to it and some of them respond and some don't but they respond in a "dog" way. The "monkey" way is so like human that it's almost freightening. I was sitting at a table and a monkey was outside, behind the glass window. I looked at her and pointed at her with my finger: "Hey you, how are you?" She looked me and then around herself: "You mean me?" said her eyes. "Yes, you." She scrathed her head, didn't know what to say, looked a bit embarassed by my attention, and slowly withdrew... In Kathmandu I went with Sanjeev to a park on the outskirts of the city. Sanjeev wanted to take a walk to the pond with fish and I decided to take a nap on the bench. Between my head and the bench I put a box of cookies. Just as Sanjeev was leaving a group of monkeys came and one of them quietly and skillfully, without touching me, took the cookies away. And then she, and all other monkeys started screaming and "laughing": "We got it! She didn't even notice it!" But at that time I did, and so did Sanjeev and a group of people passing by. We were looking at the "thief" how he opened the box carefully and took out the cookies one by one, from the first row of cookies, and ate them. Then they all left and Sanjeev told me that the thief would eat first and then share the rest with the other monkeys. Having all these monkeys around is like having another "type" of humans around. It's hard to treat them like animals because they so resemble us. Especially when mothers take care of their kids, play with them, breast-feed them. .. More about fauna and flora of India soon. I am going to go back to Taj Mahal and enjoy it's beauty until the sunset.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

India

On Sunday I said good bye to all my new friends in Kathmandu. I warmly parted with Dr. Fatima and promissed I will visit her sometime in the future - if I decide to study Chinese medicine I would love to do some acupuncture intership with her and closely observe her skillful hands. I parted with Sanjeev and his family and friends - wonderful people.

I left Kathmandu on Monday morning and got to the border with India at Sonoulie at 8 pm. The first bus I boarded broke mid-way and I was transferred to another one and then there were many checkpoints and we were further delayed by the thorough checks of the bus in search of Maoists and their weapons. So, instead of eight hours' ride it was twelve hours. At the border I met Ivan from Slovakia and Miki from Hungary. We eate dinner and crossed the border together. The Indian immigration office was the most modest I have seen so far: a long desk with three man sitting at it and a chair for the customer. The power was cut so we filled out the customs forms by the light of two candles. We got on the bus which took us to the nearest train station which was still three hours away. When we got there I felt too tired to be going any further and decided to spent the night at Borogpur (roughly - I don't rememger the spelling). I walked Ivan and Miki to the station to say good bye to them - they got on the train bound for Varanasi last minute and while the train was in motion Ivan was writing his e-mail for me... I turned back in search of a place to rest my bruised butt. I looked at four hotels opposite the station and in terms of standard they beat the Hotel Valparaiso in Santiago de Chile - I thought there could be nothing more shabby than Hotel Valparaiso so it was a shock... It's hard to describe how dirty a room can be... I finally found a place which had at least clean sheets. It looked like a bathroom because it was tiled the way a bathroom can be. I have no problem sleeping in the bathroom as long as it is clean... In the morning I went to the train station and it turned out that the reservation for the ticket has to be made at least 4 hours in advance - something they forgot to tell me at the information booth the previous evening. So I couldn't go directly to Agra as I planned ("because the computer doesn't pick up the booking any more" so technically there can be a seat but...) and instead had to first go to Lucnow at 1 pm and then catch a train to Agra at midnight. Well, all trains in India seem to be delayed so the first one was delayed 4 hours and the second 5 hours. When I got on the train at 5 am instead midnight I was so tired that I just crawled into my sleeping bag and fell asleep... and when I woke up a few hours later it turned out I was going east instead of west - the people at the tourist information place put me on the wrong train. If I got them into my hands when I learned this... They were telling me "Why don't you want to go to Varanasi?" and I kept saying "I don't want to go to Varanasi, I want to go to Agra." I think they just decided I cannot leave India without going to Varanasi... (I sniff sabotage here) and that's where I am now. However, I am so pissed, and so tired (also of gringo pullers who fell like voulters on me when I left the station, wanting to sell me all kinds of services I don't need) that I decided I will leave India without seeing Varanasi. I went to some posh hotel for tea and lassi and now I am at the internet cafe. The train to Agra leaves at 5 pm and I intend to take it. I went to a posh hotel to hide... from dirt, misery, beggers, crippled people, the overwhelming stench of urine and excrement, human and cow... This is the biggest culture shock I have experienced... I will get used to it in a few days but at the moment it's hard... I feel like running away... I was sitting yesterday in the restaurant connected to that only clean hotel with just bathrooms and saw a bus, double-decker Mercedes, full of western tourists and for the first time ever I wanted to be part of such organized trip, to see India hidden behind the glass, free from all the hassle of train tickets, street harrasment, filling out endless paperwork... The beurocracy exceeds that of the one in communist Poland by thousand times. When a guy came to me on the train asking to fill out a questionnaire about the tourist information services I explained what happened and told him to get out of my sight or else... poor guy... it was not his fault but I was just so annoyed... I rarely get mad but when I do I look like a charging bull. The guy disappeared in an instant. People in general are very nice. I enjoyed talking to them on the trains and in tiny restaurants. (The government workers do look like the workers in communist Poland though: as we said it then "they pretend they work and the government pretends it pays them salary." I think government workers are everywhere the same...). I talked to a group of men on the train to Lucnow and a few of them were trying to flirt with me, asking if I was married and if not, whether I would consider an Indian husband. "But can you cook, my dear? - I asked - "because I like to be employed and lead professional life outside of the house, you see, and I need a husband who can do the regular household chores, you know the washing, ironing, taking care of the kids, etc., and that on top of his regular job - no tolerance for wondering too much around, spending too much time with male friends and playing pool..." They looked at me blinking their eye-lids nervously and quickly changed the subject. I think, as a "man repelent", it works better than saying I am married or have a boyfriend. The situation of women in India seems very difficult, more difficult than in Nepal. In Nepal women seem to be raising their heads. New laws were passed a few years ago and women have more rights than before, for example they can keep half of property and goods if they get divorced; before all stayed with the ex-husband. I am reading a book about India now, to get more knowledge about the caste system and how Hinduism influences its followers. In Nepal I read articles how the government and various NGOs encourage inter-cast marriages and encourage women to study. I read articles explaining that the caste system doesn't have anything to do with religion, that it is rather a distortion of the religious thought and that the caste system is more a socio-economic system designed by those who benefit from it the most. I know that Mahatma Gandhi was very much against the notion of the untuchables - people having no rights whatsoever, whom the high caste people can abuse as much as they want. The hours I spent yesterday waiting for the delayed train I spent at the waiting room for "upper class" people... I had to sit somewhere so I went there and they didn't turn me back so I stayed. Most of the floor of the train station was occupied by sleeping people, many of them in rags... These must be the "low class" for whom no waiting room is provided... It's hard for me to swallow all this... I feel great compassion for the people. In South America people were poor and led simple life but didn't seem miserable. Here, so many seem at the end of their rope... I feel sorry for all these baggers I see but at the same time I know I can't possibly help them all... It's a frustrating feeling... very frustrating...

I will write more from Agra or Jamnipur... when I get there eventually...

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Charles Schultz

I would like to put something on the blog which I got from Yvonne (it's meant to be sent by e-mail but I like it so much that I will put it here as well):

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the"Peanuts" comic strip. You don't have to actually answer the questions. Just read the e-mail straight through, and you'll get the point.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winner for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do? The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are nosecond-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners. Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier? The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care. Pass this on to those people who have made a difference in your life. You are receiving this because you made a difference in mine.

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." (Charles Schultz)

I am spending the last few days in Kathmandu. On Saturday or Sunday I will be going to India. I did some research on Ayurvedic schools and I found Ayurvedic University in Jamnagar in Guyarat, University in Pune and then schools in southern India. So that will be my route. I want to try Ayurvedic treatment on myself (especially the purifying procedure called Pancha Karma) and possibly register for an introductory course in Ayurveda. I will be going by bus to the border with India and then travelling by trains.

Tomorrow I will go last time to Durbar Square in Patan - one of the districts of Kathmandu. It is a very old districts with beautiful Hindu temples. The first time I went there I went with my Reiki master who took our Reiki group to a lecture delivered by Jane Goodall, held at the museum in Durbar Square. I forgot to mention it before but it was one of highlights of my stay here. I was always fascinated by Jane Goodall and her research on chimpanzees. She founded Jane Goodall Institute (www.janegoodall.org) and is on tour lecturing about it and its purpose. I admire her and what she does immensly. She spent most of her life in the jungle with the chimpanzee family and got very attached to it but she also understands that if people kill chimpanzees and animals in general, making them endangered species, it's because they usually have no other choice to sustain themselves or make a living in their presently changed ecosystems. Her institute is devoted to protecting animals and the communities of people by helping them to create sustainable livelihoods in areas where they may be exploited or in which their natural habitat may be destroyed. The lecture was very interesting and it was hard to believe that the energetic lady who delivered it is 72 years old.

I have also seen a few movies about Tibet, all good ones: "The Himalayas", "Seven Years in Tibet" and a really good documentary entitled "Tibet. Cry of the Snow Lion." I wonder if it is pssible to rent the documentary in the West - I highly recommend it (if I have mentioned it before on the blog, forgive me, I don't remember if I have). It shows what Dalai Lama calls the "cultural genocide" in Tibet. I wonder if Tibet will ever become indpendent. China is growing into such superpower that no country will be able to press it to withdraw. When China invaded Tibet it was on their claim that they were freeing Tibetans from teocratic rule. It is true Mao believed that "religion is poison" but what always seems to be the true reason for a power to size foreign land is for resource and strategic purposes. Dalai Lama is a religious leader and Tibet was ruled by Tibetan priests. Religion was government in the case of Tibet. According to western civilization (and to communism in particular) the idea of religious system being govermental system (and feudal) may not be acceptable and many revolutions and uprisings happened to separate the church from the government but to Tibetans it was acceptable and desireable. Tibetans were a happy nation before the Chinese invasion. I talked to a few people in Lhasa and I talked to Tibetans living in Nepal. They don't welcome new roads, buildings, and companies built by the Chinese in Tibet. They value their tradition more than modernization and progress. I also talked to a few Chinese who settled in Lhasa (they get very favorable terms of employment and business incentives and they can have two kids if they move to Tibet, instead of one if they live in mainland China). They asked me if I thought Tibet was part of China "because some westerners thought it wasn't." I tried to wiggle out of these discussions for fear of being locked up (if governments of powerful countries are afraid of speaking up what I, an ordinary gray tourist, can do?) but what I really wanted to tell them is that Tibetans and Chinese have different language, different traditions, different lifestyle - they have very little in common - so no, I don't think Tibet is part of China in any possible way and the fact that Chinese killed two million of defensless Tibetans does not make them even good neighbors. What is so sad in this conflict is also the fact that so many Chinese are brainwashed to believe they have the right to be in Tibet. And, even though Dalai Lama calls for non-agression and no hostility toward the Chinese, many Tibetans develop hatred toward their oppressors. You may not see open hostility in Lhasa but the tension hangs in the air.

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Ayurveda and politics

First about Ayurveda:

I am reading books devoted to Ayurveda and Chinese medicine (I ruled out Tibetan medicine as inferior to these two). One of them is "Ayurveda and the Mind. The Healing of Consciousness" written by Dr. David Frawley who is a director of American Institute of Vedic Studies in Santa Fe, New Mexico. According to Ayurveda when treating psychological problems and mental diseases one must first heal consciousness. Remember my picture of the subconsious specialist? My idea was not far away from the Ayurvedic take on subconsious, except according to Ayurveda the subconsciousness is not hired by us but rather it is always a part of us but if we train our consciousness well it will have control of the subconsciousness or, basically, the subconsciousness will just keep quiet. What I read in that book explains how our mind works (according to Vedas and Vedic philosophy) and what to do to strengthen it so no mental imbalances ever trouble us. "Ayrveda does not look upon the human being as a limited set of biochemical processes. It views the human soul as pure awareness, linked with but not limited to the mind-body complex, which is its instrument of manifestation. " According to Ayurveda we should develop our awareness not only to prolong our lives and have better energy but because "our awareness is the only thing that we can take with us when we die." (That is, of course, when you believe the soul or the pure energy within us travels when our physical body dies). What I really like about the Ayurvedic approach is that it looks at every person (and every being for that matter) with compassion. The fact that a person is evil, angry, agressive, disonest, doesn't mean he or she has to be this way until he or she dies because that's his or her personality. All negative emotions can be changed into positive emotions, and compassion and selflessness can be developed in a person who doesn't show them initially. The book discusses the tools to help a person develop them. It requires much discipline and consistency but can definitely be done. Since body, mind and soul are connected, the Ayurvedic doctor works on all of them simultaneously. The body must be purified of toxins and the immune system must be strengthened (for this body clensing procedures are administered and physical exercise is to be done - yoga among them); the mind must be calmed down and emptied from wrong impressions and right intake of emotions must be cultivated (through meditation and other technigues); our interactions with other people have to be changed to be harmonious (as our compassion grows); we have to finally look at our soul and develop relationship with it - or develop "communion with the greater universe and the Divine powers at work within it." After our working hard on our body, mind, and soul we may come to the conclusion that the "ego is our sense of transient identity, that we are the creature of a particular life or body. The soul, on the other hand, is the sense that we are an immortal conscious being, an individualized portion of Divinity. " If we begin to feel we are "an individualized portion of Divinity" nothing can sadden us any longer; the feelings of inferiority, worthlessness, and being unloved will be lost. Ayurveda says that the most important relationship we have should be with ourself because all other relationships are temporary. When we develop this love for our Self (nothing to do with egoism - it's not love for Ego but for Self) we will feel happy and complete regardless of external circumstances. I would like to cite a few paragraphs from the book:

"There is a seeking for primary or lasting relationships. All our human relationships are secondary because they are bound by time and must pass away. They only become primary relationships when we see God within the other. Without a recognition of the eternal Being behind all relationships, there can be no fulfillment in any relationship. We are born alone and die alone and can never be one with another physically or mentally, except for brief moments.

Yet we are never really alone. Though we are born and die in a single body, there is within us the consciousness of the entire unvierse, should we choose to look within. We can find all worlds and all beings inside ourselves. Real relationship is to see the Devine in others and in all life. It requires that we relate to our real origin, our real parents, the Divine Father and Mother of the universe, and not just to external bodies and forms."

If anyone wonders about the usage of "God" in this excerpt here's the further explanation (and that is why I also like the Ayurvedic philosophy):

"Each of us possesses an inherent ethical sense, which we call "conscience" - a feeling that certain things are right and others are wrong. Our conscience causes us not to wish harm to any creature and to feel the pain of others as our own. Conscience is a major part of intelligence, which establishes how we value and treat other people.

Directed outwardly, intelligence creates morality, which may be little more than arbitrary customs of a particular society. Directed inwardly, intelligence creates universal ethics like non-violence, which transcend all cultural prejudices. Through our inner intelligence, we act ethically and humanely, not for the material or social gain, or even for heavenly reward, but for the good of all.

Organized religion, with its dogmas and institutions, is another product of the outward-oriented intelligence. It results in the clash of beliefs and their exclusive claims. It ties us to a particular church, book or savior as truth. On the other hand, directed inwardly, true intelligence creates spirituality or the quest for eternal truth beyond name and form. It leads to the truth or our own inner Being, our higher Self in which the insistence upon a belief, saviour or institution appears naive."

In yesterday's paper I read about the famous western neurologists' discovery of a protein which may be responsible for depression. The article said that so many people fall sick with this "debilitating disease" that more research has to be done so in the future a cure is found... Why do these western specialists not look into 5,000 old Ayurvedic practices? The cure for mental instability and diseases of the mind and soul (and "depression" among them) has been found. Not all who suffer instability or are depressed may want to use it but for those who do, it is out there waiting to be used. I have to say, though, that among the doctors I know psychiatrists are the doctors most rigid in their practice, most unflexible to "new" ideas or any health systems which were not thought at their medical schools. For this reason, I believe, instead of broadening their knowlege about the existing old types of treatment, they will work on developing Prozac 2, 3, and 4 (which already is called "vitamin P") and what a joy that will be to the pharmaceutical companies! I also read today an article in a magazine about anti-depressants and its "culture", how the author heard at a party two literary men discuss when to take it: "you take a Prozac pill just before you start writing and take it during the time of your working on the book/article, but if you are planning to spend an intimate evening with your wife (anti-depressants weaken the potency), you should stop taking it 24 hours before..." Prozac seems to be popular as much as Coca-cola and chewing gum. According to the article Prozac is ill-proscribed for 90% of people. I personally think it is so much better not to have to depend on anything, absolutely anything, for one's feeling of happiness and life-fulfillment. I don't know how many people statistically suffer from depression in India and China (Chinese medicine has similar view on mental diseases as Ayurveda). To work on your soul you must have your stomach relatively full and since in these parts of the world food is not so easily accessible as in the developed countries, the Chinese and Ayurvedic principles could be more effective there than here, paradoxically... But I don't know that really... I am just wondering about it and speculating...

About the political situation in Nepal: it is turbulent. The Kingdom of Nepal has a king who possesses all the power and lives comfortably in his palace in Kathmandu. The economy system is basically non-existent. The King has no mind for economy and doesn't care. He gets a lot of help from the governments of developed countries but not much of it filtrates to the people of Nepal (of course, that's how a dictatorship works). What gets to the Nepalis is help from all kinds of charitable and relief organizations. The people are fed up with the present state of affairs. In the countryside the Communist Party of Nepal operates (they are called the "Maoists") and it is in the state of war with the Royal Army. There are also 7 democratic parties organized in a 7-party alliance. Shortly before I came to Kathmandu the 7-party alliance and the kind signed some 12-point treaty to start changing the political system from monarchy to democracy. The Maoists proclaimed unilateral sease-fire to join in the talks. During my stay here I have been observing the turbulent situation: the democratic parties weakness in making the king adhere to the points; the king trying to wiggle out and "outsmart" the parties and secretly deploying the Royal Army in the countryside; the Maoists trying to stick to the proclaimed cease-firege but nonetheless getting involved in killing or capturing soldiers and villagers; villagers dying in the conflict, killed by the soldiers or the Maoists (some supporting the Maoists, some inocent people having nothing to do with the "insurgency" being killed "in error"). All the region surrounding Boughdeau is in the hands of the Maoists - there's no governmental authority there. The first time I went there (since I probably was the only turist venturing in these regions) I was thoroughly interrogated by a Maoist and had to proove I was not the agent of the CIA (my passport was checked in detail and the Chinese and Russian visa was inspected). I told him he is very proud if he thinks the US administration gives a damn about Nepal (I am sure G. W. Bush doesn't even know where it is located on the globe...). Communism is a thing of the past. Terrorism is a big thing now (and not any terrorism, the one directed at the US). And besides, Nepal doesn't have oil or anything of interest to them dudes. I haven't seen anything in the papers about US involvement in Nepalis struggles. I read about the EU pressuring the king to share his power with the democratic parties and to involve the communists as well to prevent the further bloodshed. Eventually, I think, the king will have to share or they will chase him out. The Maoists proclaimed the end of the cease-fire a few days ago and bombed a few buildings in the city of Pokhara (they took out all the people before they detonated the bombs, one person got hurt). Every day in the paper there's news of people being killed in the conflict. The UN posh SUV Toyotas are driving around Kathmandu monitoring the situation (I always wonder why they have to have such luxurious equipment...) and soldiers are stationed at all main intersections, barricaded with sandbags. A few years ago, I was told, bombs were detonated everywhwere, regardless of whether people were around or not. The situation got better since then but no one really knows how long it will take for the country to be stable. At the moment, it seems, all Nepalis would prefer to be somewhere else... People ask me if I can get them visa to go to the US or Europe. Whoever has enough education to get some business visa emigrates. The paper said that 90% of young doctors leave. Soon there will be no mind power to steer the country even if the king does become the representant of the country instead of being its head.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Nepali countryside

I got back from Boughdeau yesterday. I found a computer which seems to be working well so maybe now I will be able to post my experiences in the Nepali countryside.

I went to B on invitation of Sanjeev Thapa whom I befriended shortly after I came to Kathmandu and whose family lives in B and where he was born and raised. Now he lives in Thamel in Kathmandu and owns a store with his brother. He invited me to his cousin's wedding. I got the proper outfit for the ocassion: a knee-length, emroidered, long-sleeved shirt and narrow-legged pants. It is a traditional Nepali dress for women although the culture is so mixed here (Nepali, Tibetan and Indian) that many women wear sarees and typical Tibetan dresses also. We got to the village three days before the event. To get to the village we took a bus which took us 30 km east and then we got a jeep for the next 30 km since there is really no paved road up the mountains. We then walked the last few km to reach the village, taking a narrow path in the mountains. Another way to B is to walk up and down the hills for about 35 km and we took this path when going back to Kathmandu. The village is high in the mountains and from there one can see the whole Himalayan mountain range. It looks beautiful with the snow-capped mountain tops - very majestic. Nobody in the village could tell me exactly the altitude of the village but I would say it's about 3,000 km above the sea level judging by how I felt when I got there. There's no electricity there, no running water (but there's a nice clear-watered river in the valley and there are a few streams going through the village), no stoves except open fire in the house which people use for cooking and heating in the evening. The days are warm and sunny and the evenings and nights are colder but never more than maybe minus 1 or 2 Celsius. People live in clay and hay houses which are two story high: the ground floor is a room where the family eats and gathers for talks and warming up and the first floor is for sleeping. There's minimal amount of furniture (only beds really) and kitchen utensils. The family sits on mats spread out on earthen floor. The villagers farm the land on tarases and grow mainly wheat, corn, potatoes and beans. They also keep chickens, goats and buffalos - a huge, black, almost hairless cows. The diet is very simple and same most of the time: boiled corn flower, rice, potato cury and beans. There's also buffalo milk, milk curd, and cheese. Very rarely people eat meat. There are four tiny stores in the village (wood shacks) and the asortment of goods for sale is very limited. I mentioned it in one my previous blog entries. The stores also serve as cafes: people (mostly men) gather there in the evenings to drink milk tea (and play something which resembles pool). Life in the village follows rather strict rules. Women work in the house and take care of kids, food preparation, they carry wood to make the fire and water for cooking and cleaning the pots. They also take care of the farm animals. Men work the land. Like in Kathmandu the life of men and women seems to be running separate paths. Even in the evenings men stay together, walking around the village, visiting neighboors, playing pool... Women stay in the houses, during the day they visit each other. There's no close human contact such as kissing or hugging, even between parents and children. Even when the kids live in a city and come to visit their parents they don't hug them or kiss them to greet them or say good bye but only put their forheads to their parents' feet to show respect. Life in the village at first looks simple and peaceful, however... Having travelled a bit now I personally think that people are the same in their core everywhere in the world, that they are very social creatures and crave human touch and contact and that every strict set of cultural rules which forbids that contact have negative effect on them. When we got to the village Sanjeev told me: "Life is so peaceful here. People are so happy." But the more time I spent in the village the more it seemed to me like maybe it is a peaceful place but not so happy. Everyone wears the same clothing, the same jewerly, all women have holes in their left nostrils, the same safety pin attached to their neckleses... Marriages are arranged. Religious holidays and festivals must be obeyed. Everybody belongs to a specific caste. You have to follow a strict rule and all is well if you do. So in the end I thought that people are neither happy nor sad, they just follow the rules. To be happy you have to be able to make choices for yourself or be like the people in the Ecuadorian jungle where there are no rules to follow, no social or caste system. Sanjeev's family is big because his father had seven wives at the time where polygamy was legal. In Boughdeau there are many cousins, uncles and aunts and some family lives abroad as well. Sanjeev's father died 13 years ago and his mom now lives with a daughter in law and three kids of another brother who also died some time ago. Saros is 14, Sagar is 9 and Susmita is 10. They are wonderful kids. Since women and men worlds don't mix (in Kathmandu is becomes more popular for men to have women friends and vice versa but it is still impossible in the countryside) Sanjeev was spending time with his childhood male friends and I was spending time mostly with the family and specifically with the kids. We went to the water mill to mill the corn grain, to the river to hunt for stones of various shapes and colors, we walked on the slopes of the mountains with the goats, jumped on the river stones and looked for little fish and all kinds of plants and herbs (we found mint and made mint tea in the evening to everyone's delight). I felt really good in their company. [In general everywhere I go I feel best around kids (and dogs) - they are spontaneous, inventive, creative and know how to enjoy life. Grown-ups are, for the most part, such boring creatures in comparison...] They all speak English because English is compulsory at their village school. Also, when I went there the first time crowds of kids were following me everywhere I went because no tourists get to these regions and many of them didn't see a white person before. It was fun - I felt like a move star - but at times annoying when I wanted to pee (only few villagers have outside toilets so there are virtually no bathrooms or toilets there) and couldn't get rid of them to perform these hm... intimate acts. Peeing in haste is stressful... Because kids never get hugged or kissed here the three Thapa kids got close to me because I just couldn't help it - I had to hug them. I could see how they craved the wormth they never get from their family. Especially Susmita liked when I combed her hair, when we washed hands together holding a jar of water for each other, when I put some cream on her face burned by the sun... When I was leaving the first time I told the kids I would bring them some children's books and some crayons and paper for drawing (there's no libary and no toys of any kind in the village) and that's really why I wanted to go there for the New Year's Eve - to deliver what I promised I would bring them. So I got some books in Nepali and in English, color pencils, coloring books, etc. and we spent the afternoon of January 1st drawing, painting and reading a simplified version of "The Call of the Wild" (one of my favorite childhood books). I dramatized my reading of the book and the kids, along with neighbors' kids who came for the reading, listened with their mouths open about the great dog Buck and his adventures. I got very attached to the Thapa kids and I really hope that they study well and eventually go to high school in Kathmandu and have adventurous lives. I also had my "personal assistant" named Sunil, a boy of 8 years, who followed me everywhere and always wanted to carry my bag with toiletries when I went to take a bath in the river, who picked fruit for me, and wanted to be of service whenever his family didn't need him to do some farm work. For him I also got some paper and coloring materials and I think that a present made him believe in good witches who use some magic and bring presents to kids. It feels good to be a good witch... I was told Sunil skips school sometimes so I told him to attend it everyday and he promised he would.

I greeted the New Year with Saros, Sanjeev, his two friends Razan and Esbi (the rest of the family went to bed early since they don't celebrate the western New Year's Eve) and we toasted with milk tea to our dreams for 2006 to come true under the very dark sky with billions of stars in it. Esbi, being a good singer, sang some Nepali songs for us. We then got into the family room and talked until 1 am, sitting around the campfire. It was very nice. One of Sanjeev's uncles is a famous Shaman (his father and his grandfather and his grandfather were also Tibetan Shamans) and he did the future fortelling ceremony for me and said that my future is bright for 2006 so I welcomed the New Year especially warmly...

While in the village I also practiced reiki. Sanjeev's mom has arthritis in her hand and I did reiki for her (I also got some Ayurvedic oil for massage and aromatherapy) and she said it made her feel much better. I also treated a few other patients and one of them, an older uncle, whom I reikied in the morning came back in the evening saying he felt so good (he had pain in his shoulder from a fall) he wanted to be reikied again! It made me feel so good knowing my reiki power is growing! I am not ready yet to go to the second level of reiki - I need to reiki more patients - but I can feel myself that the healing energy is flowing.

About the Buddhist wedding. Buddhist and Hindu religions and traditions are mixed in the Himalaya mountains. The villages around B are of mixed population: Tibetan and Nepali. There are many mixed marriages (Sanjeev's mom is Tibetan and father was Nepali). Some weddings are Hindu and some are Buddhist. The Buddhist wedding of Sanjeev's cousin seemed to me a rather solemn affair in comparison to our Eastern European weddings where people eat and drink all night, and dance until they drop. The bride's family lives about 10 km away from B so we walked there early in the morning. We got there around 8 am and were given breakfast. The groom was sitting in front of the house, dressed in white, and there was some holy food displayed in front of him. The bride joined him, dressed in heavily embroidered red saree-type dress, around 11 am and then a Shaman performed all kinds of witchcraft to ensure their happy marriage. Then the family and friends wishes the couple all best and put sticky rice on their forheads. About 100 people, family and neighbors, were sitting in front of the house eating and talking, not really mingling with each other but sitting in small circles. Around 2 pm some of the people got on jeeps to be driven part of the way to B, to the groom's village and the rest of the people walked the 10 km. We walked because the jeeps were so overcrowded that I prefered to walk. When everyone got to B the whole ceremony was repeated. And after that everyone went back to the village of the bride and then came back again to B. Phew! Lots of walking instead of dancing! There was no music of any type during all the celebrations. It was interesting for me to see but I am so used to weddings with dancing and much enjoyment that I missed that part.

In the meantime, between my two visits to B, I found a great Tibetan woman who is practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine. Her name is Fatima and I was told she is about 80 years old but looks as if she was 50. I am taking acupuncture and it is different than the acupuncture I got in NY. She is so skillfull that it seems she puts all needles in half a minute. Amazing. It hurts a bit when she puts them but then, when I lie down with needles stuck in me and lamp above me, I am floating in some other world... The needles are put on my front and in the back I get the low current massage and afterwards the nurse massages my back with some nice-smelling oil. It's heaven. Especially after the treckking to and from B. To be as skilfull as Fatima one must have a lot a lot of experience.

In my next entry I will write about the political situation in Nepal.