Yoga Fire

India.

I have been to Mumbai ("Take What You Can Get"), to Delhi ("Where Even The Policemen Lie"), to Agra (where after some consideration I finally concluded the existence of the Taj Mahal can be ethically justified) and to Jaipur (where everything is pink, where people are actually pretty decent, and where I finally had a very satisfying poop).

I have a lot to say, and really no time in which to say it, because an "internet cafe" is three old computers inside a "travel agency" which is basically a room with a guy in it-- but a really nice guy that I trust, which is more valuable than gold in this country. I am here with my good friend and fellow Dragon Brother Morgan Harris, older brother to the illustrious Adrian Harris (who has the distinction of being the first official schmoo, his conduct during said period revealing him most decisively to not be a schmoo at all), and his exceptional girlfriend Dunja, who taught me how to say "butt" in her native language of Croatian, but now I forget. Morgan provides the obstinacy that is required to get anything done here. Dunja is quite shrewd. I have the emotional energy to stay polite to everyone. Three people is a good amount for traveling in India, what with the amount of room in trains and cabs-- a personality alignment like this is recommended.

Also, bring toilet paper. And make your travel reservations beforehand. Ohh, make them beforehand. As we speak, I am doing my utmost to fight my way to a ticket to Amritsar and back, because that was the one place I was determined to visit, and I'm not going to leave India unless I do. The schmoo has been getting in my way, where by the schmoo I mean India and everyone in it. I do not want the first thing I say about India itself to be a condemnation but it must be stated: the word "Schmoo" loses its power here because everyone acts like a schmoo. Lurking, quietly staring, interrupting your conversations for very mysterious reasons (but probably just to practice their English). Is anything considered rude in India, besides women showing their legs? They've certainly reacted differently than the Japanese to a lack of personal space, but the climate may explain a lot. I am fortunate my Kyoto summer trained me for this weather.

From my perspective, the ideal way to sum up India as I have thus far experienced it comes, in fact, precisely through a contrast with Japan. My traveling here is a step up in challenge from my traveling there; obviously it is many steps up in all too many regards, but I mean of course in a personal manner, for while Japan provided both the social circumstance that would create an opportunity and reason for me to go and also was a place with which I had many unrelated personal connections, India is simply a place for which I had an opportunity to visit. I am fabricating a personal connection by being determined to visit Amritsar, and in this struggle I have been poleaxed frequently by wondering why exactly I am so set on it. At this point, I am simply refusing to give up after going so far, which is a very stupid reason to do anything. But perhaps I am simply more concerned with the narrative of my travel than the travel itself, in my odd mindset through these things -- it would make a far worse story if I failed here.

I went to the trouble of purchasing a soundtrack for this trip -- the soundtrack to "Drona", which is "India's biggest magical adventure" and the Bollywood movie my friends indulged me by seeing to escape the heat on our first day in Mumbai, it was amazing, and of course the new Bhangra Party Mix -- so it'd better make a good story.

Well, I'll be cutting it close. I'm getting back from Amritsar at 4:30 AM and the domestic flight I have to catch is at 10 AM. This means the train can be maximum four hours late. You'd think that would be a safe bet...

As I was saying: in Japan, what I found most engaging was, paradoxically, the palpable nihilism that spurred people on to such vibrant acts of individuation. In Japan, people cut themselves in half, thereby rendering themselves potentially unable to justify their own existence and thus able to live shadow lives. In India-- well, I cannot deny that I feel a certain mild disdain for those "spiritual seekers" who, obsessed with the power of the other, continue to otherize at the expense of experiencing sameness (that is, its equivalent humanity), but to my own surprise I believe I understand why India is considered to be such a spiritual place. This country is full of purpose. It may not be good purpose, and the obviousness of the meaningfulness of existence precludes a certain religious uncertainty that could prevent or soften the intense conflicts that can happen here. But nothing is trivial here. That is why the poorest of the poor will smile at me as I stand on a bridge overlooking them; that is why people rarely laugh, or seem to perceive absurdity. And though almost everyone is dishonest, the vast majority of people are sincere. When I unravel the scheme of a man seeking to cheat me, he will grin-- and unlike in Japan, when people grin at me, I think they mean it.

Man, I hope this train doesn't screw me over.