A trip to the tip

The other day I had the opportunity to head down to the southern tip of India. Apparently it's one of the few places around that you can see the moon rise and the sunset over one ocean. Sounds nice enough, right? Wrong.
I learned two lessons from this trip. The first was the one I've had to learn time and time again - don't have expectations.

My idea of the trip was to be dropped off on the beach and then the other tourists do thier touring and I go out and paint. When it's time to go, I head back and we all head home.

The reality of the trip was completely opposite. It involved a big bus, full of a bunch of people being shuffled in and out going from one spot to the next. Our first destination was some waterfalls. The water falling was nice, but the acres and acres of concrete surrounding them really took away from the scene. After standing around doing nothing, we headed to a temple which didn't interest me too much, and then we went to breakfast. In the bus and then out of the bus then back in the bus.

Our next stop was to the very southern tip of India. There's a town there that I didn't bother to remember the name, because I know I'll never go back. We shuffle off the bus and this time we get shuffled onto a barge and head to this little rocky island with an enormous statue build on it.

The statue itself was amazing, but we didn't have much time to enjoy it since we had to get on another barge and head over to another rocky island to see a temple. After a quick scurry around this temple, it's back onto the barge, back onto land, then back on the bus.

The highlight of the island hop wasn't for me, but for the Indian's who wanted to have thier picture taken with a white guy. I was happy to oblige. Seeing the smiles on thier faces and enjoyment, took away from the dismal air hanging around my trip. Once one person saw that I didn't mind the photos, others came along and joined in the fun.

Now it's time for lunch. So the bus takes us to this cafeteria place and the food was delicious. We stayed here longer then we should have, which was odd since there wasn't anything there. I did enjoy a talk I had with this gardner there. He was teaching me hindi and I learned some important words and when I return to the states I told him I'd send him the picture I took of us and a pack of American writing pens.

After lunch we finally head to the beach. Alright, things are looking up I thought, but once again my expectations were dashed. The bus parked us on top of this hill and the beach was below us. "Whoo Hoo" I screamed as I headed down to the beach. (Well, not really, but in my head I was thinking that.) It didn't take long for me to realize that this wasn't a beach at all. It was a toilet. The stench was my first clue, the second was the all the dookie everywhere. If that wasn't enough of a clue, the man on the rocks doing his duty out in the open was my final clue.

Ok. No beach. No swimming. Fine, I'll go paint. Normally, I can paint anything anywhere. It's the beauty of not having a particular 'style.' This time, I was at a loss. The wind was blowing fierce and there were people eveywhere. The places where there wasn't someone selling, squating, or begging, only held garbage.

When I tell some people I'm heading to India, they get this expression on their face that says 'why?' The southern tip of India is what they are picturing in their mind. This was actually my first experience of this side of India, and boy did it stink. Lilterally.

As I'm wandering around to paint, I'm passing stall after stall of people selling junk. The junkiest of junk. Little plastic trinkets, key chains, broken plastic toys, and toys that will be broken shortly. It was so pitiful really. It made me think of our shopping in the west and at the heart of it, it's no different then this nonsense. Just a bunch of poor people buying useless junk.

After an hour of shuffling through crowds I find a restaurant that offers some respite. I sit with a few friends and we take in the air conditioning and watch the world go by from the security that comes from a window of glass.

Finally it's time to meet up at the bus. I'm thinking it's time to go, but nooooo. It's time to watch the sunset near the stinking, poopie beach. You may think that sounds nice, but it was cloudy. C'mon, you've got to be kidding me, can't we just leave? Nope. We are on a bus, and this bus has a schedule. Realizing my fate, I go sit on the bus and meditate while the flies land on my head and the cows eat the plastic wrappers on the street.

Now the sun is set. The cows have moved on and it's time to go home, right? Wrong. Now time to head to yet another temple. This temple was actually the most beautiful, but it was so late and I was so ready to head home. Once at the temple, we all shuffled off the bus and met a tour guide. Apparently we were a little behind schedule and the tour guide was ready to give us the summary tour of the place.

"Come, come, come. Look here. Krishna, statue, stars! Come, come, move one. Here we have some pillars that make noise. Come Come come, hurry we must go here.Look up, neat statue. Come, come, come."

As we follow around this maniac tour guide, we come to a place where the devout are supposed to climb some steps, wipe some stuff on their head, eat some prasad, and head on through. A long line of Indian men were waiting trying to offer their praise to their god before the temple closed. Instead of waiting in line, our tour guide, let us cut in front of the line and go through the process.

To me, this act was the crowning glory on an obnoxious day. Here were these people who truely belive in what they were doing, and they have to wait while these white, clown, tourists go through the process with no heart, and no belief? It was just as pathetic as the beach. I decided to wait for this circus elsewhere.

Finally after the longest day of my life (slight exageration) we get on the bus and head home. I fall asleep on the bus and I wake up to this horrible sound of crunching metal. The bus is going backwards down this steep hill. The guy in front of me is saying 'What is this driver doing? We've come all this way only to die as our bus falls into the lake." Ahhh... nothing like a relaxing day out of the Ashram.

Final Goodbyes

So today was the final morning being at the Ashram. After five weeks it was time to go. It was a good way to start the trip. It cleansed my body, mind and made me apprciate how much time really is in a day. There are times when I complain about not having enough time to do what I need to do, but I really should be complaining about my lack of time mangement skills.

This morning I woke at 4am to the sound of Ashlee's voice saying softly... "good moooorning." As I turned over, I saw that Ashlee was dead asleep. "Ewww... that's creepy," I thought and tried to fall back asleep as fast as possible. Then I heard it again and realized I made plans to hike up this mountain with Pau and Deep to watch the sunrise.

The hike was beautiful. The sunrise was mellow and nice and it was good to share time with friends on my last day there. As we're up there chatting and chilling, Koji came up. It was nice because those are the three people I would have chosen to spend my last day with anyway.

After a quick watercolor we headed down and went our seperate ways. One from Japan, one from Spain, one from India and one from the United States. (I have to say I'm from the States because if you say 'I'm from America' and you're talking to someone from South America, they sometimes get a little offended.) Hopefully I'll be able to see my new friends again in the future.

It's amazing how many cool people from all over the world I've met during my stay. It just gives me another reason for my next travels.

The Art Show

For a few weeks now, my friend Darush has been asking me to have an art show with him at the ashram. Always the procrastinator I wasn't really in the mood, but just like all my other art shows, it was the motivation of someonelse that got the ball rolling. Everytime we talked, he'd ask when the show was going to be. After it was all said and done I'm glad I did it though. There were many people who really appreciated seeing the works and I sold a few pieces so that will help with the travelling.

We had the show in one of the meditation halls and it was as basic as basic can be. The watercolors were just held up with clothes line and clothes pins. A small table for my sketch book and nothing else. No chairs, no wine, no cheese. Just some art and Darush and I sitting on the floor. I enjoyed the show's simplicity, it really fit my style.

Darush is from Iran and his work consisted of beautiful calligraphy drawings of poems by Rumi. I've never been into poetry really, but that Rumi guy is pretty intense. So the show was a partnership between American and Iranian artists. Our governments don't get along, but people are people wherever you go. And when it comes down to the basics, most people are alright.

More on Ashram Life

So things here are the same as they were the day I arrived. Not much changes in a place like this. The lotus flowers in the pond rise and fall, I skip meals and yoga to make sure they are painted. The sun makes it's daily march across the sky and the afternoon heat is oppressive. Nights aren't much better. Day in day out, the same routine. It's nice and makes life tranquil. Plus it's the longest I've stayed in one place since September.

A place like this is a nice place to visit, but I don't think it's a good place to stay. For the lifers here it seems to be a place to hide. A little refuge from the crazy messed up world in which we live. Hiding for a bit is fine. A little peace can help you reflect on yourself and what is good about you and what's lame about you, but if you come here and don't change and don't reflect and just be the same annoying person you were when you came in... it just defeats the whole puprose.

The place is run by a rather large man called Swami Maha-something or other. He has a rather pretentious air about him. Rumor has it, he drinks coffee in the morning. That sounds normal in your life, but here in the ashram caffine isn't allowed. It would seem best to set an example if you want people to listen to your advice. The idea is to live the way you believe. If you think one way and then do another there's no point to your thoughts or actions.

The next in charge is a doctor from South Africa called Swami - something or other. As you can tell, I really don't care about specifics. This guy is a cool cat. I like his style and he seems to believe in what he's doing. That goes a long way with me, but on the whole I don't know much about him since he's out doing things all the time.

After him are two interesting ladies. Wait, they aren't interesting at all. They are completely non-intersting. They are both about the same height, same frame, but one wears yellow, the other wears white. The white one is tough to get a read on, she doesn't interact with us peons. She just plays her bell and hides somewhere during most of the day.The one in yellow is just plain dismal. I've never seen such a permanently sour face on someone. She gives lectures at two o'clock that I stopped attending. She's one of these people that always has some negative comment. I don't jive well with those types of people.

The other day she stopped Ashlee and was asking her about massage. Ash was very friendly and told her that she was a massage therapist in the states and that led to this extremely long one sided conversation about the pain little Miss Dreary was having in her back.Since Ashlee is on the staff here, she has to attend a staff meeting every morning and wow, that sure sounds like fun. She fills me in on all the nonsense that goes on here. Like I said earlier, I assumed this place was a place to take stock of what is, but for some people it's just a place to power trip and I don't understand it. Egos abound here, but I thought that the whole reason to come here was to try and minimize the ego. I guess it all depends on who you are.

Advertising at the Beach

Yesterday I went the beach town of Kovalum. A nice place, a bit touristy, but nice nontheless. On the way to the town and in the town itself I noticed many similarities between the east and the west. One such example is advertising. It's everywhere over here and I found that odd at first. Huge billboards of decadent looking women wearing the latest in expensive jewelry stand tall above a man barely scraping buy selling bananas on the road. It's odd, but apparently you can make a living just selling bananas on the road. Sounds like the life to me though. Just hanging out with your fruit, chilling, watching the world go buy. There's no worries really since everyone needs food, and banannas are as good as the next fruit. Although, once your market learns that all they have to do is walk into the jungle a few feet and get their own banannas, then business is shot. I suppose that's like the oil companies hoping that people don't realize that there's other sources of free fuel out there. Wind, sun, lightning, etc.

The advertising over here is in your face and annoying and dirty and gross. It makes me think of the advertising in America as well. In the states the advertising is slick and sharp and makes you say, 'damn I need that.' But the essence is the same. When you strip away the fancy cover it's just redundant imagery playing on our base desires. That's why in America there are half naked women selling toothpaste.

Here's a test for you, don't watch TV for about a decade, then turn it on and tell me what you see.I guarantee that you'll be blown away with the amount of T&A you'll see. The language is even different. Today they can say words that I never would have dreamed possible in high school. (That's pretty much the last time I watched TV consistently)

I wonder what we'll be watching in twenty years from now? There will be a commerical showing a couple in the midst of some hot steamy action. Sweat dripping from their bodies which are in the most gymnastic of positions. Then after a minute and a half, the girl will look up and say, "Pepsi is delicious."

That's why TV is lame. The advertisers know what sells. The naked female body sells. Take the most gorgeous sunset,take any pretty mountain scene and most people will prefer to check out a nice rack.

The difference lies in the fact, that I have no interest seeing some chick on TV. I'll never see her, I'll never meet her and I'll never try her toothpaste. When I'm trying to watch some TV show about polar bears, I only get distracted by the commericials. One girl is too much too handle anyway. If you choose the right one the others seem dull and boring regardless of how much oil they coat her body in or what they're selling.

Ashram Life

So I've found myself staying at this Ashram near Neyar Dam. It wasn't till I arrived that I realized there was an actual dam near by. Things are pretty mellow up here. I'm in the jungle and quite ironically I'm staying in a tent. All the rooms were full, but there are some places for tents and here I am. Fortunately, I'm used to it, so I'm happy. In fact, the loud moldy rooms are far from what I want and if I could of had a choice. I would have chose this.

The daily routine is simple. I wake at five am to the clanging of a bell. Some days the bell ringer is mellow, some days it seems like his pants are on fire. At 6am, it's time to meditate. I never really thought about meditating before, but it's good for me. My brain is full of ideas and paintings and projects and all sorts of stuff, so it's good to give it a rest. It's like taking a vacation from myself.

The more I do it, the more I realize that I've meditated for years. When I paint, I'm basically doing the same thing, but at the end of the hour, I have something nice to look at. Yoga is at 8am and it's a two hour session. By the end of this month I'll have done more stretching then I have in my entire life. I'm actually doing pretty good with it, I never realized what having a dedicated one on one teacher all summer long would do. Having Ashlee around really helped me out and I didn't realize it till I came here.

10am: Breakfast. Vegetables every meal. No meat, just veggies and rice. You all would be so amazed at my eating habits. I know I am. The food is good here, although other people complain about the lack of variety. Since I lived off of pizza for nearly 10 years of my life, I can deal with the same food, so long as it's good food.

The afternoon is free and I'm usually out painting something or other. The are is pretty so the painting is going well. My watercolors improve with each piece. At 3:30 it's yoga time again. Another two hour session. This time in the hot, humid air. The afternoon class is brutal. Six o'clock and it's dinner time. More veggies, nothing else. Well there's some rice sometimes. After dinner it's guitar playing time. Actually it's free time, but someone here brought a guitar and is usually too busy to use it, so she let me keep it in my tent. It's been a savior. At 8:00, it's time to meditate again. Such repetition is bound to produce some results, but I can't tell you just what yet.

I'm in bed around 10, and the next day I repeat the same schedule as before. So all in all, things are mellow and good. My dreams have been intense and a little wacky. The people I'm surrounded by are some quality folks. I'll write more and post pictures some other day.

Same Same, but Different

I come to India to take a little vacation. A break from my hectic life as a vagabond. All this moving around and painting things and saying hello to friends and goodbye to friends was just too much. I needed to stay in one place and no do anything (apart from painting) for at least a month. Since September, I've been on the move so this is a nice change of place.

So of all the things that I could possibly be doing, what do I find myself doing? Excel spreadsheets. Can you belive that nonsense. I come here to chill out and instead I'm helping the people here with thier total backwards system of doing things. For hours today I'm helping this guy figure things out. It brings me back to my days of working with annoying clients in Virginia. All in all, it's quite humorous I guess. It's just my fate to be pulled into computers wherever I go. Fortunately it comes easy to me, since all programs are really the same whether you're making music, organizing schedules, making pictures, whatever - it's all the same functionality.

What is different between here and America is the thought process. The American corporate way of doing things is boring and annoying and leads to boring work lives, but it does get things done. Things are efficient and actually get done. In India, things are backwards a bit. They do things totally different cause they think different. Things aren't set up in a hiearchy. It's every man for himself. It sounds chaotic and it is, but it works. And it will work a lot longer then the American system will. America will go bust long before India will. I think it has something to do with the consolidation of power, but I'm not sure. I think when all the capital/power is in a few people's hands then those few people start making bad selfish decisions. It is that whole, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely thing. So don't always assume that people have your best interest in mind. Some do, most don't.

In India people aren't too concerned about their government, they make do with what they have and the government is just some abstraction far away in New Delhi. Speaking of New Delhi, I met a guy from there who works for Aetna insurance. He's the guy who decides if you get a claim or not. So if you break your leg and file your claim, Yogesh is the guy you'll talk to. The funny thing is that he's required to tell people he's working in Conneticut.