What I most love about Indian trains must definitely be the fact that I can release my stomach gas without any social embarrassment whatsoever. It is because a) everything smells shit anyways, b) everyone else does it and c) everybody are so used to bad smells they probably cannot tell it apart from other bad smells. My train from Gaya to Delhi took 18 hours, so only 3 hours late this time. I had the misfortune of sharing my sleeping planque with another guy. For some reason it was doublebooked. We were mostly communicating to each other with our gases, if anything. I did speak with my mouth to some engineer guy, and the family kids sitting next to me were all excited when I showed them my touchschreen Nokia and let them play some game there . I also met these two Lithuanese guys, who were on their way to Delhi. We spent the waiting time in Gaya together, exchanging information about our respective countries, but mostly we talked about how we want to get back home, since India is… different, and not always so good for us. When we reached Delhi, the boys continued their journey to Agra, meanwhile I found a lodging for meself – hotel Spot.
Now I’m back in Delhi, and I think I will spend a lot of money (the rest of it) on food, and I thought I would also see the Humayun’s tomb, which I missed last time. Also I would try to do some small shopping and do the worse thing I could imagine doing: taste McSpicy in McDonalds (OMG). We’ll see.
UPDATE:
The McSpicy was a little bit disappointing, although it was a new kind of thing to go for, for me. I was just astounded how expensive it was (McSpicy meal was 139 + 20% of 139, which totals in something like a bit under 3 euros), and still how many Indian youth could afford it as it was filled with Indian teens thinking this is the real living, the western style. Hopefully, we in western world start to realize how eating at McDonalds might not be the culmination of our progress as a society.
Oh well. I had some weird stomach pain (unlike anything I’ve had here) last night. I was really in pain for at least 30 minutes, but now in the morning it seems to have settled. Today I’ll just do last buying thingies, eat well and surf the Internet. Then, in the nighttime I will reach my final destination in India. Indira Gandhi International airport. Catch you la’ers!
keskiviikko 27. huhtikuuta 2011
sunnuntai 24. huhtikuuta 2011
Epilogue
No hurry, no worry, no chicken curry!
Shiiiiiiiit I just found out yesterday that I’ve lost somewhere around 5 kilograms here in India in only 3½ weeks time. I need to do some serious de-dieting back in Finland… Just goes to show how much my body is able to adjust to India.. and I’m not alone.
I have also started to think about this trip as a whole. What it has given me and how did I like it.
Once again, along the trip I have met several people that I really enjoy being with. These friendships are kind of “ad hoc”, but I feel there is more to it, since we always have the memories of sharing something special. And if we ever visit the country of one another, we would of course get together and do some cool stuff together - networking, good stuff! Also, I met a lot of Indian people, who, excluding the ones who are trying to sell something to you, were interested in me and showed deep respect and taught me a great deal about the customs and ways of Indian people. While speaking to Indian people I also have been able to understand how vastly different cultures are involved in the dialogue.
By talking to Indian people, by seeing how they live, by witnessing the cruel sides of the society, by eating the food, by seeing and hearing the buzz of the society and the lack of personal space of Indian people, by experiencing the climate, by witnessing the kindness of people, and by understanding how little it is the people are able to come by with, by seeing how western culture brings along changes in an age-old culture, both good and bad, by understanding the Indians’ attitude towards environment and sustainability, and much much more…. I can finally say India is a land of controversies compared to the western countries – at least here it is much more visible. It seems India made me sick: I had diarrhea multiple times and felt generally weak. Why does a country do that? Maybe it is the combination of heat, food and the lack of hygiene which does not suit a person accommodated to western lifestyle. I witnessed amazingly beautiful and historical monuments, beautiful lakes and mountains, annoying and lovely people, amazingly delicious food, and also food that made me sick. I saw people living their lives without knowing of anything better – I guess in many cases “knowledge adds pain”. How could they demand for something better if they have been living the way they do their whole lives?
I think India is in that phase of the development, where materialism is very much appreciated and even praised. It’s a bit like China, although in some way more unevolved in my opinion. External values are very important for Indian people, at least judging by the television and the way people seem to be interested in material goods. OK, it might also be only the different culture – I might be seeing things through my own cultural lense. When it comes to the women outlook, it is controversial. TV is filled with model-sized beautiful women advertising all kinds of beauty products.. while at least the older Indian women seem to appreciate being to some extent… large. It’s kinda like Europe in the beginning of 1900s: being big for a woman means wealth.
Indians do not seem to care that much about making things in a way that would last in long-term, neither do they seem to care about the environment. As long as they get what they want. It seems Indian are a bit impatient about things: they have to have what they want immediately. That is visible in restaurants, in traffic, and so on. At the same time they treat their guests as kings (or queens) and are always willing to help no matter what. It’s even hard to distinguish if someone is just being friendly by habit or if he’s trying to sell you something. Mostly though it is the latter option.
At some places and times I loved what India has to offer me. Many times I also hated the way people behave and how India made me sick, and how hot it was. This all forced me to contemplate my own views and how I see the world. Sometimes travelling India seemed more like a challenging experience, working if you will, than a place one would come for vacation. At least the locations I visited and with the budget I had. It can be an extremely teaching experience when travelling India in backpacker-mode, especially alone, since one is responsible for oneself and one’s own interests: being on time in places, getting to places you want to go to, tolerate a lot of pushy people, learn to be calm in difficult situations, learn how to bargain in a good way, communicate with people from multitude of backgrounds – essentially learn to be a “world citizen”. Mostly I think I learned a lot about myself: what kind of a person I am like, what things I appreciate and what things not so much. Above all, I think I now am able to appreciate so much more what I already have in Finland (and around the world), and I feel it gives me more perspective to lead a happy life, knowing there is so much more to life than what we as westerners are used to. I hope I will be able to live a life which is not bound to any set of ways, whilst at the same time I hope to come up with my own ways which I will happily pursue.
Shiiiiiiiit I just found out yesterday that I’ve lost somewhere around 5 kilograms here in India in only 3½ weeks time. I need to do some serious de-dieting back in Finland… Just goes to show how much my body is able to adjust to India.. and I’m not alone.
I have also started to think about this trip as a whole. What it has given me and how did I like it.
Once again, along the trip I have met several people that I really enjoy being with. These friendships are kind of “ad hoc”, but I feel there is more to it, since we always have the memories of sharing something special. And if we ever visit the country of one another, we would of course get together and do some cool stuff together - networking, good stuff! Also, I met a lot of Indian people, who, excluding the ones who are trying to sell something to you, were interested in me and showed deep respect and taught me a great deal about the customs and ways of Indian people. While speaking to Indian people I also have been able to understand how vastly different cultures are involved in the dialogue.
By talking to Indian people, by seeing how they live, by witnessing the cruel sides of the society, by eating the food, by seeing and hearing the buzz of the society and the lack of personal space of Indian people, by experiencing the climate, by witnessing the kindness of people, and by understanding how little it is the people are able to come by with, by seeing how western culture brings along changes in an age-old culture, both good and bad, by understanding the Indians’ attitude towards environment and sustainability, and much much more…. I can finally say India is a land of controversies compared to the western countries – at least here it is much more visible. It seems India made me sick: I had diarrhea multiple times and felt generally weak. Why does a country do that? Maybe it is the combination of heat, food and the lack of hygiene which does not suit a person accommodated to western lifestyle. I witnessed amazingly beautiful and historical monuments, beautiful lakes and mountains, annoying and lovely people, amazingly delicious food, and also food that made me sick. I saw people living their lives without knowing of anything better – I guess in many cases “knowledge adds pain”. How could they demand for something better if they have been living the way they do their whole lives?
I think India is in that phase of the development, where materialism is very much appreciated and even praised. It’s a bit like China, although in some way more unevolved in my opinion. External values are very important for Indian people, at least judging by the television and the way people seem to be interested in material goods. OK, it might also be only the different culture – I might be seeing things through my own cultural lense. When it comes to the women outlook, it is controversial. TV is filled with model-sized beautiful women advertising all kinds of beauty products.. while at least the older Indian women seem to appreciate being to some extent… large. It’s kinda like Europe in the beginning of 1900s: being big for a woman means wealth.
Indians do not seem to care that much about making things in a way that would last in long-term, neither do they seem to care about the environment. As long as they get what they want. It seems Indian are a bit impatient about things: they have to have what they want immediately. That is visible in restaurants, in traffic, and so on. At the same time they treat their guests as kings (or queens) and are always willing to help no matter what. It’s even hard to distinguish if someone is just being friendly by habit or if he’s trying to sell you something. Mostly though it is the latter option.
At some places and times I loved what India has to offer me. Many times I also hated the way people behave and how India made me sick, and how hot it was. This all forced me to contemplate my own views and how I see the world. Sometimes travelling India seemed more like a challenging experience, working if you will, than a place one would come for vacation. At least the locations I visited and with the budget I had. It can be an extremely teaching experience when travelling India in backpacker-mode, especially alone, since one is responsible for oneself and one’s own interests: being on time in places, getting to places you want to go to, tolerate a lot of pushy people, learn to be calm in difficult situations, learn how to bargain in a good way, communicate with people from multitude of backgrounds – essentially learn to be a “world citizen”. Mostly I think I learned a lot about myself: what kind of a person I am like, what things I appreciate and what things not so much. Above all, I think I now am able to appreciate so much more what I already have in Finland (and around the world), and I feel it gives me more perspective to lead a happy life, knowing there is so much more to life than what we as westerners are used to. I hope I will be able to live a life which is not bound to any set of ways, whilst at the same time I hope to come up with my own ways which I will happily pursue.
Bodh Gaya pt. II
I changed my place of accommodation to the central Bodh Gaya, since services (food, internet, stores, Japanese temple) are much nearer here. The only thing here bothering is the constant noise from the road, where horn is used nearly all the time by the Indian lot. Oh well, fortunately I have my earplugs. Zen-meditation has been really nice, I like the way the monk plays the bells and chants. It gives me a good reference point for concentration, although I must admit, my knees and back are killing me whilst meditating.
I also found my way to the international meditation centre. I spent there one afternoon stretching and resting, until I was told visitors are not allowed at this time (there was some ceremony starting). Today I went there to meditate, but the chief monk said that the mediation must be at least 5 days. I have only 3 days. So I decided to do meditation more or less on my own, either in my hostel room or then in the serene surroundings of the mahabodhi temple. It’s nice and relaxing here now, when there is no need to run around seeing stuff or something like that. I can just sleep late, watch movies, eat well, get better from the stuff that plagues me, meditate, have an ayurvedic massage, exercise, surf the internet, and so on.
In my routines here in Bodh Gaya my daily schedule seems to follow more or less this: I wake up at 8-9 a.m., I then listen to some music and maybe watch a movie or check out the latest news from BBC. Then I do a bit of exercise. In some cases I would also go downstairs to Om restaurant to have breakfast. Sometimes I just go straight for the lunch, as I did today: fruit salad and chocolate pancake. In the early afternoon I might do some meditation and maybe check out some movie . At 5-6 p.m. I attend the daily meditation session in the Japanese temple, where this monk chants and tells us about zen-meditation. Usually there are some new faces every day, with whom I conversate after the meditation session. Usually we end up eating at Om restaurant. Less surprisingly, usually these people are Japanese. Today there was also one Canadian girl.
Instead of Saturday early afternoon laziness, I went to this fantastic Ayurveda place, where I had the best massage I have had in India. The place is called AMDA Ayurvedic healthcare and is situated just the opposite of the Japanese temple. The place was nice and what’s most important, it did not have the all-too-well-sensed scammy feeling to it at all. The woman was all excited and talking about Ayurveda and I also asked her about chakras, which she later on demonstrated to me (actually she stimulated them by using her own energy). She massaged me with force unwitnessed earlier, and she did genuinely seem to know what she was doing with all the pressure point stuff and so on. After the 1h15min massage she “steamed” me with some kind of ayurvedic-mixture of boiling water. She said I would sweat more than usually for the next two days, but that I should not be worried – it’s supposedly the toxins coming out through my skin. I was happy to tip this lady. I felt soo relaxed after this treatment that I now know I wasn’t treated properly in Jaipur. Man, I really need to find more about this stuff and go to Kerala at some point!
I also found my way to the international meditation centre. I spent there one afternoon stretching and resting, until I was told visitors are not allowed at this time (there was some ceremony starting). Today I went there to meditate, but the chief monk said that the mediation must be at least 5 days. I have only 3 days. So I decided to do meditation more or less on my own, either in my hostel room or then in the serene surroundings of the mahabodhi temple. It’s nice and relaxing here now, when there is no need to run around seeing stuff or something like that. I can just sleep late, watch movies, eat well, get better from the stuff that plagues me, meditate, have an ayurvedic massage, exercise, surf the internet, and so on.
In my routines here in Bodh Gaya my daily schedule seems to follow more or less this: I wake up at 8-9 a.m., I then listen to some music and maybe watch a movie or check out the latest news from BBC. Then I do a bit of exercise. In some cases I would also go downstairs to Om restaurant to have breakfast. Sometimes I just go straight for the lunch, as I did today: fruit salad and chocolate pancake. In the early afternoon I might do some meditation and maybe check out some movie . At 5-6 p.m. I attend the daily meditation session in the Japanese temple, where this monk chants and tells us about zen-meditation. Usually there are some new faces every day, with whom I conversate after the meditation session. Usually we end up eating at Om restaurant. Less surprisingly, usually these people are Japanese. Today there was also one Canadian girl.
Instead of Saturday early afternoon laziness, I went to this fantastic Ayurveda place, where I had the best massage I have had in India. The place is called AMDA Ayurvedic healthcare and is situated just the opposite of the Japanese temple. The place was nice and what’s most important, it did not have the all-too-well-sensed scammy feeling to it at all. The woman was all excited and talking about Ayurveda and I also asked her about chakras, which she later on demonstrated to me (actually she stimulated them by using her own energy). She massaged me with force unwitnessed earlier, and she did genuinely seem to know what she was doing with all the pressure point stuff and so on. After the 1h15min massage she “steamed” me with some kind of ayurvedic-mixture of boiling water. She said I would sweat more than usually for the next two days, but that I should not be worried – it’s supposedly the toxins coming out through my skin. I was happy to tip this lady. I felt soo relaxed after this treatment that I now know I wasn’t treated properly in Jaipur. Man, I really need to find more about this stuff and go to Kerala at some point!
torstai 21. huhtikuuta 2011
VARANASI & BODH GAYA (20.4)
They say Varanasi is tout-filled, shit-smelling, and unsafe after dusk. I found none of these to be true.
After being offered Indian ladies back at Khajuraho by a local hotel owner I negotiated a good price (I never expected to get) for my tuktuk-trip to Khajuraho railway station. The tuktuk was packed with other tourists while the driver was accompanied with his friends. He was quite the rally-driver and played some groovy Indian music meanwhile. Arriving to the station I felt like sitting down. I saw a fellow backpacker, whose seat had some space beside it. For some reason I decided to sit there instead of the basic Finnish way of sitting somewhere where I could be alone. Maybe I felt like being close to someone. Needed someone to talk to. So I sat down asking if it was okay. It was. Later, I learned the man that I sat with was a German traveller (already for 6 weeks, 3rd time in India) Konstantin. This was a beginning of several nights of sharing a room.
We chatted some minutes with Konstantin getting to know each other agreeing on seeing at Varanasi junction station platform to find the hostel I had been recommended by Maria. Having travelled now with Konstantin, it seems we share a lot of basic traits and are in someway similar: while travelling, we are both careful and pre-emptive of anything. We both believe in punctual payback when it comes to money. We both don’t care if it’s 40 or 70 rupees if it’s a critical thing. We like computers, computer music, metal music, we like to learn about what we see as tourists, and we want to feel the atmosphere and the people of a place. We have both been good at school. We accept our parents giving financial support. We are at our 30s-ish. At some point we both started to dislike the majority of Indian food. We don’t care if a hotel room does not have any modern commodities as long as the price is right. Konstantin had a better camera than I do, he has a Jesus-like hair, had a beard which he cut away at one point. We both like to sleep long. Maybe I not so long. We discussed about politics, current monetary system and its flaws, religions, Buddhism, our own travels, and everything else. I spent in total four night with this guy. So, back to the train now (Khajuraho-Varanasi).
The overnight train was pleasant as I met again the two British ladies from the previous train (from Agra to Khajuraho). This time we talked a bit more. Solange and Jessie had met each other earlier, Solange having spent only 4 days in India, while Jessie several weeks. Jessie was able to speak Punjab as well, so she had the advantage of being able to understand what people were, more or less, saying about her. Solange was from the small 10,000 people village, Bornmouthe (or something like that), where there are sunny beaches in summer time. Jessie was from East End, London. Solange was this open and straightforward but happy person, very efficient in terms of having what she wanted, had some children back home and without a ring in the finger. Jessie was more like me, more of the silent-type, but considerate and very pretty :). We agreed to try and find the hostel I had been recommended by Maria.
When we got to Varanasi, some touts tried to scam us to pay too much for nothing in a rickshaw-ride. It was too dodgy at some point so we found a much better offer by this other guy, who not so surprisingly picked along the way his “brother” to accompany us four. The driver promised to take us quite near to the Varanasi ghats, the stairs residing beside Ganges. When we got there, me and Jessie followed the brother to find the recommended hotel (Alka). It took us quite a time and the walking was quite painful with the scorching weather and confusing alleyway jungle. Finally we reached it. No vacancy. Shit. We headed back and along the way noticed a hotel mentioned in one of our guidebooks (Ajay). Visited there and figured it would be maybe good enough. So we went back and told our driver we would take our business to this newly-found hotel. In the end, me and Konstantin settled for staying in the hotel since it was only 250 rupees per person for us. Simple enough room with private bathroom. Jessie and Solange ended up going to Alka hotel and one of its more upscale rooms.
That was quite a chore – to find a place to stay in Varanasi. We agreed with Jessie and Solange to meet them at the main ghat – Dasaswamedh at 6 p.m. So we did and watched the “puja” or religious ceremony (for the goddess of river Ganga (Ganges)) which was very.. nothing like I had ever witnessed. The atmosphere was essentially highly spiritual, with modern led-light controversy from the nearby stalls selling tourist junk. We went off for some tasty eating via the alleyways, which were actually very interesting and funnily enough easy to navigate, if one only could see the millions of painted signs on the walls. One had to watch out for scooters, cows and all kinds of junk and especially the droppings of any animal: they were plentiful. At the restaurant we listened to some classical Indian live music, played with sitar and some bongo-type drums. They played very well and it sounded very authentic.
Come next day we had agreed on waking up and meeting up our pre-arranged ferryman, or boat-rower, at 5 a.m. to take us to see what the locals were up to in the dawn-time The morning activities were diverse. At the ghats we witnessed: meditation, washing oneself, washing clothes, swimming, praying, and so on. The sunrise was absolutely stunning and was the highlight. To sense the whole city getting awake so early was something that can only be experienced. After the boat trip we went to the girls’ hotel to have some breakfast with riverside view.
In Varanasi we spent in total 2½ days with Konstantin. Girls, more or less the same. Jessie was headed to Darjeeling and Solange to Amritsar. Anyway, back to the story. After the morning boat-ride and breakfast we we boys and girls again our separate ways, agreeing on seeing at 6 p.m. at the main ghat to catch our boatman again for evening ride. The daytime was always exhaustingly burning hot, so we stayed in shade, surfing Internet and sleeping some back in our hotel. I’m disappointed I tried neither paan or bhang in Varanasi. I should have. Next time then. Anyways, at 6 p.m. it was time to see some corpses burning. Actually, we had already seen with Konstantin some dead stuff, when we went on foot to the main burning ghat. We witnessed there some piles of wood burning with the body inside burning, but could not see that much. The most dramatic thing we saw was when this man, grieving for his not-so-old-looking deceased wife, removed the decorative piece of cloth covering the corpse from her face. The man wanted to see his wife one last time. He started to cry and appeared to be in lot of pain. Later on we learned that people on this ghat are usually quite happy and seem to be minding their own business instead of focusing their attention to the burning corpses. The ghat was filled with huge piles of wood, had some cows walking along them and busy workers building new “ad hoc crematoriums”, since the stream of corpses was constant and quite plentiful. Just burning all the time. Pregnant corpses and child corpses were not burnt actually; instead they were just given to Ganga as such, to float around freely. The procedure for burning a corpse was as follows: the corpse is taken to the shore of Ganga, splashed some water on it, especially to the mouth, after which some of its decorative cloths are taken off. It is then placed on some between two layers of one pile of wood. It is then the spouses or oldest brother’s task to circle the pile of wood some five times doing some rituals. Then he lights the corpse on fire.
When we arrived to the burning ghat at nighttime with our boat, it was kinda magical. Our boat was accompanied with this Norwegian guy called Ken, who had kinda Scottish accent, and he was a photographer. Had been in the biz for quite a time, since he talked about the times of Soviet Union as well. He knew India very well and had been there many times, many years. He was just waving his head when he saw how commercialized Varanasi has become after his last visit. He was the only one on the boat to photograph the burning corpses, since he had a license for it. He knew to tell us that people are happy at the ghat, since the corpses are released from the eternal torment of reincarnation. The people who are buried here will go “straight away to heaven”. Beside the ghat is a pilgrimage home for people about to die. The procedure is.. quite hilarious but not so at all: people who go there have two weeks time to die after which they are burnt at the ghat. If they do not die in two weeks, they are kicked out.
After seeing the burning corpses we proceeded to see the daily puja from the river. The rituals some chosen ones (read: the rich ones) performed were very profound and had some kind of awe-inspiring spiritual-side to it. The feeling in the air was magical and filled with so much devotion. I mean, it is after all the number one tourist-place for any Indians. So there were lot of Indian tourists and funeral-attendees also present.
Ken taught us something useful about Indians: when you are able to lose the concept of personal space, the Indians will accept you and respect you. I have noticed many times it is quite a hard thing to do, actually. But I now try to be in close encounters with Indians :).
On the 3rd day we departed Varanasi with Konstantin in a train no more than 2 hours late in the end. So we got to Gaya, a city near to Bodh Gaya, at 3 a.m. It was a chore to find a hotel with vacancy, but somehow we managed, after many attempts, to find ourselves 250/250 rupee deal for a decent room. I was feeling very sick from the train travel and all the sicknesses I carried, so I just wanted to rest. We slept in the hotel until maybe 10 a.m., after which we bargained us a rickshaw to Bodh Gaya. We went to a hostel called Deep Guest House, which is a bit more expensive on the budget-side, but the cleanliness is outmatched by any I’ve seen so far in India. The first night we got off very cheaply for a proper room with TV. After laying down our biggest gear we set out for the town.
Bodh Gaya is known for its Mahabodhi temple, where Buddha received his enlightenment under a tree, whose supposed descendant still grows there. Bodh Gaya is also known for its variety of temples from different countries. Even Dalai Lama spends some of his time in Bodh Gaya. Bodh Gaya is situated in Bihar, said to be one of the most violent states in India. Actually I just read about two bodies having being found from Gaya the same day..
We spent most of the afternoon in the main attraction of Bodh Gaya: Mahabodhi temple and its surroundings. The place was filled with tourists, many of them seemingly Buddhists. A lot of actual monks were meditating under the tree where Buddha himself has been said to have received enlightenment. The atmosphere within the perimeter was relaxed and respectful, kind of meditative excluding some noisy Indian tourists. They can’t seem to be able to keep their mouths shut :).
Om restaurant catered our nutritional needs very well during the day. We visited some other places such as the big Buddha statue and some Japanese temple. The rest of the temples we would see tomorrow. So, it massive downfall of rain and thundering started when we were eating after the long day. We walked in the heavy rain back to our hostel, all soaked up but happy about the day. I fell asleep while watching “the Manchurian candidate” from the TV.
Today we’ve seen maaany temples: Bangladeshian, Tibetan, Japanese, Bhutanese, Thai, Chinese. While Konstantin had to hit the road towards Kolkata to catch a plane to Amritsar, I stayed in and will now start my chillout/meditation period. Already today I attended a one hour zen-meditation session in the Indosan Nipponji temple. It involved some monk chanting and playing some bells for the half of the session. It felt very good; after all travelling in India can be quite nerve-wrecking experience. I will continue to seek peace from here until Monday, when I will catch a train towards Delhi, where I will spend the last few days of my first trip here in India.
After being offered Indian ladies back at Khajuraho by a local hotel owner I negotiated a good price (I never expected to get) for my tuktuk-trip to Khajuraho railway station. The tuktuk was packed with other tourists while the driver was accompanied with his friends. He was quite the rally-driver and played some groovy Indian music meanwhile. Arriving to the station I felt like sitting down. I saw a fellow backpacker, whose seat had some space beside it. For some reason I decided to sit there instead of the basic Finnish way of sitting somewhere where I could be alone. Maybe I felt like being close to someone. Needed someone to talk to. So I sat down asking if it was okay. It was. Later, I learned the man that I sat with was a German traveller (already for 6 weeks, 3rd time in India) Konstantin. This was a beginning of several nights of sharing a room.
We chatted some minutes with Konstantin getting to know each other agreeing on seeing at Varanasi junction station platform to find the hostel I had been recommended by Maria. Having travelled now with Konstantin, it seems we share a lot of basic traits and are in someway similar: while travelling, we are both careful and pre-emptive of anything. We both believe in punctual payback when it comes to money. We both don’t care if it’s 40 or 70 rupees if it’s a critical thing. We like computers, computer music, metal music, we like to learn about what we see as tourists, and we want to feel the atmosphere and the people of a place. We have both been good at school. We accept our parents giving financial support. We are at our 30s-ish. At some point we both started to dislike the majority of Indian food. We don’t care if a hotel room does not have any modern commodities as long as the price is right. Konstantin had a better camera than I do, he has a Jesus-like hair, had a beard which he cut away at one point. We both like to sleep long. Maybe I not so long. We discussed about politics, current monetary system and its flaws, religions, Buddhism, our own travels, and everything else. I spent in total four night with this guy. So, back to the train now (Khajuraho-Varanasi).
The overnight train was pleasant as I met again the two British ladies from the previous train (from Agra to Khajuraho). This time we talked a bit more. Solange and Jessie had met each other earlier, Solange having spent only 4 days in India, while Jessie several weeks. Jessie was able to speak Punjab as well, so she had the advantage of being able to understand what people were, more or less, saying about her. Solange was from the small 10,000 people village, Bornmouthe (or something like that), where there are sunny beaches in summer time. Jessie was from East End, London. Solange was this open and straightforward but happy person, very efficient in terms of having what she wanted, had some children back home and without a ring in the finger. Jessie was more like me, more of the silent-type, but considerate and very pretty :). We agreed to try and find the hostel I had been recommended by Maria.
When we got to Varanasi, some touts tried to scam us to pay too much for nothing in a rickshaw-ride. It was too dodgy at some point so we found a much better offer by this other guy, who not so surprisingly picked along the way his “brother” to accompany us four. The driver promised to take us quite near to the Varanasi ghats, the stairs residing beside Ganges. When we got there, me and Jessie followed the brother to find the recommended hotel (Alka). It took us quite a time and the walking was quite painful with the scorching weather and confusing alleyway jungle. Finally we reached it. No vacancy. Shit. We headed back and along the way noticed a hotel mentioned in one of our guidebooks (Ajay). Visited there and figured it would be maybe good enough. So we went back and told our driver we would take our business to this newly-found hotel. In the end, me and Konstantin settled for staying in the hotel since it was only 250 rupees per person for us. Simple enough room with private bathroom. Jessie and Solange ended up going to Alka hotel and one of its more upscale rooms.
That was quite a chore – to find a place to stay in Varanasi. We agreed with Jessie and Solange to meet them at the main ghat – Dasaswamedh at 6 p.m. So we did and watched the “puja” or religious ceremony (for the goddess of river Ganga (Ganges)) which was very.. nothing like I had ever witnessed. The atmosphere was essentially highly spiritual, with modern led-light controversy from the nearby stalls selling tourist junk. We went off for some tasty eating via the alleyways, which were actually very interesting and funnily enough easy to navigate, if one only could see the millions of painted signs on the walls. One had to watch out for scooters, cows and all kinds of junk and especially the droppings of any animal: they were plentiful. At the restaurant we listened to some classical Indian live music, played with sitar and some bongo-type drums. They played very well and it sounded very authentic.
Come next day we had agreed on waking up and meeting up our pre-arranged ferryman, or boat-rower, at 5 a.m. to take us to see what the locals were up to in the dawn-time The morning activities were diverse. At the ghats we witnessed: meditation, washing oneself, washing clothes, swimming, praying, and so on. The sunrise was absolutely stunning and was the highlight. To sense the whole city getting awake so early was something that can only be experienced. After the boat trip we went to the girls’ hotel to have some breakfast with riverside view.
In Varanasi we spent in total 2½ days with Konstantin. Girls, more or less the same. Jessie was headed to Darjeeling and Solange to Amritsar. Anyway, back to the story. After the morning boat-ride and breakfast we we boys and girls again our separate ways, agreeing on seeing at 6 p.m. at the main ghat to catch our boatman again for evening ride. The daytime was always exhaustingly burning hot, so we stayed in shade, surfing Internet and sleeping some back in our hotel. I’m disappointed I tried neither paan or bhang in Varanasi. I should have. Next time then. Anyways, at 6 p.m. it was time to see some corpses burning. Actually, we had already seen with Konstantin some dead stuff, when we went on foot to the main burning ghat. We witnessed there some piles of wood burning with the body inside burning, but could not see that much. The most dramatic thing we saw was when this man, grieving for his not-so-old-looking deceased wife, removed the decorative piece of cloth covering the corpse from her face. The man wanted to see his wife one last time. He started to cry and appeared to be in lot of pain. Later on we learned that people on this ghat are usually quite happy and seem to be minding their own business instead of focusing their attention to the burning corpses. The ghat was filled with huge piles of wood, had some cows walking along them and busy workers building new “ad hoc crematoriums”, since the stream of corpses was constant and quite plentiful. Just burning all the time. Pregnant corpses and child corpses were not burnt actually; instead they were just given to Ganga as such, to float around freely. The procedure for burning a corpse was as follows: the corpse is taken to the shore of Ganga, splashed some water on it, especially to the mouth, after which some of its decorative cloths are taken off. It is then placed on some between two layers of one pile of wood. It is then the spouses or oldest brother’s task to circle the pile of wood some five times doing some rituals. Then he lights the corpse on fire.
When we arrived to the burning ghat at nighttime with our boat, it was kinda magical. Our boat was accompanied with this Norwegian guy called Ken, who had kinda Scottish accent, and he was a photographer. Had been in the biz for quite a time, since he talked about the times of Soviet Union as well. He knew India very well and had been there many times, many years. He was just waving his head when he saw how commercialized Varanasi has become after his last visit. He was the only one on the boat to photograph the burning corpses, since he had a license for it. He knew to tell us that people are happy at the ghat, since the corpses are released from the eternal torment of reincarnation. The people who are buried here will go “straight away to heaven”. Beside the ghat is a pilgrimage home for people about to die. The procedure is.. quite hilarious but not so at all: people who go there have two weeks time to die after which they are burnt at the ghat. If they do not die in two weeks, they are kicked out.
After seeing the burning corpses we proceeded to see the daily puja from the river. The rituals some chosen ones (read: the rich ones) performed were very profound and had some kind of awe-inspiring spiritual-side to it. The feeling in the air was magical and filled with so much devotion. I mean, it is after all the number one tourist-place for any Indians. So there were lot of Indian tourists and funeral-attendees also present.
Ken taught us something useful about Indians: when you are able to lose the concept of personal space, the Indians will accept you and respect you. I have noticed many times it is quite a hard thing to do, actually. But I now try to be in close encounters with Indians :).
On the 3rd day we departed Varanasi with Konstantin in a train no more than 2 hours late in the end. So we got to Gaya, a city near to Bodh Gaya, at 3 a.m. It was a chore to find a hotel with vacancy, but somehow we managed, after many attempts, to find ourselves 250/250 rupee deal for a decent room. I was feeling very sick from the train travel and all the sicknesses I carried, so I just wanted to rest. We slept in the hotel until maybe 10 a.m., after which we bargained us a rickshaw to Bodh Gaya. We went to a hostel called Deep Guest House, which is a bit more expensive on the budget-side, but the cleanliness is outmatched by any I’ve seen so far in India. The first night we got off very cheaply for a proper room with TV. After laying down our biggest gear we set out for the town.
Bodh Gaya is known for its Mahabodhi temple, where Buddha received his enlightenment under a tree, whose supposed descendant still grows there. Bodh Gaya is also known for its variety of temples from different countries. Even Dalai Lama spends some of his time in Bodh Gaya. Bodh Gaya is situated in Bihar, said to be one of the most violent states in India. Actually I just read about two bodies having being found from Gaya the same day..
We spent most of the afternoon in the main attraction of Bodh Gaya: Mahabodhi temple and its surroundings. The place was filled with tourists, many of them seemingly Buddhists. A lot of actual monks were meditating under the tree where Buddha himself has been said to have received enlightenment. The atmosphere within the perimeter was relaxed and respectful, kind of meditative excluding some noisy Indian tourists. They can’t seem to be able to keep their mouths shut :).
Om restaurant catered our nutritional needs very well during the day. We visited some other places such as the big Buddha statue and some Japanese temple. The rest of the temples we would see tomorrow. So, it massive downfall of rain and thundering started when we were eating after the long day. We walked in the heavy rain back to our hostel, all soaked up but happy about the day. I fell asleep while watching “the Manchurian candidate” from the TV.
Today we’ve seen maaany temples: Bangladeshian, Tibetan, Japanese, Bhutanese, Thai, Chinese. While Konstantin had to hit the road towards Kolkata to catch a plane to Amritsar, I stayed in and will now start my chillout/meditation period. Already today I attended a one hour zen-meditation session in the Indosan Nipponji temple. It involved some monk chanting and playing some bells for the half of the session. It felt very good; after all travelling in India can be quite nerve-wrecking experience. I will continue to seek peace from here until Monday, when I will catch a train towards Delhi, where I will spend the last few days of my first trip here in India.
keskiviikko 13. huhtikuuta 2011
Agra
Agra has been the most pleasant touristy-place I have yet encountered in India. Information is widely available, streets are guarded with special police forces, hotel was fairly easy to find and is well-priced. The staff is very helpful and I hear the rooftop-restaurant is nice – need to check it out next.
When I arrived to Agra the tuck-tuck driver was accompanied with this pleasant Indian man, who proposed to show me Agra the next day (today) for a price. He would take me to the major tourist sites and wait for me there. After long pondering about it I took the offer: we would meet 05.45 the next morning near Taj Mahal to embark on a trip filled with touristy-locations. I went to the other side of the river Yamuna to see Taj Mahal from the behind (although it was cloudy, so the Sun did not show the different colours of the Taj marble). Baby Taj was another location. Agra Fort the next. Some breakfast, walking at the Sadar Bazaar, which is a local-kind of bazaar (there I had the guts to taste wholesale ice-cream for the first time in India – it tasted superb; I hope I don’t get sick ), and the shittiest part was the visit to marble manufacturing factory, where it’s always apparently a custom to buy at least something, however small. I kindly refused, so the exit was quite cold, even though the man said many time “thank you sir, thank you sir”, you could still understand he was not happy about me not buying anything since he had used time and effort to introduce me to the marble craftsmanship.
Anywayyy, I think I will rest now for a while (I woke up at 5 a.m.) and then try to find a post office for some cards to be delivered, and then proceed to Taj Mahal to see how it is in the evening time. After that I thought it might be nice to chill out properly for the first time on this trip, since there is this hookah-bar on the street, where they have all kinds of “special” drinks :P.
Next stop is Khajuraho, where I will hopefully arrive in the early Friday morning. On the same evening I will hopefully depart for Varanasi, where I will witness people bathing and doing whatnot in the ghats.
UPDATE: Joney's place server reeally good and cheap food here. I think I'll pay them a visit again tomorrow!
When I arrived to Agra the tuck-tuck driver was accompanied with this pleasant Indian man, who proposed to show me Agra the next day (today) for a price. He would take me to the major tourist sites and wait for me there. After long pondering about it I took the offer: we would meet 05.45 the next morning near Taj Mahal to embark on a trip filled with touristy-locations. I went to the other side of the river Yamuna to see Taj Mahal from the behind (although it was cloudy, so the Sun did not show the different colours of the Taj marble). Baby Taj was another location. Agra Fort the next. Some breakfast, walking at the Sadar Bazaar, which is a local-kind of bazaar (there I had the guts to taste wholesale ice-cream for the first time in India – it tasted superb; I hope I don’t get sick ), and the shittiest part was the visit to marble manufacturing factory, where it’s always apparently a custom to buy at least something, however small. I kindly refused, so the exit was quite cold, even though the man said many time “thank you sir, thank you sir”, you could still understand he was not happy about me not buying anything since he had used time and effort to introduce me to the marble craftsmanship.
Anywayyy, I think I will rest now for a while (I woke up at 5 a.m.) and then try to find a post office for some cards to be delivered, and then proceed to Taj Mahal to see how it is in the evening time. After that I thought it might be nice to chill out properly for the first time on this trip, since there is this hookah-bar on the street, where they have all kinds of “special” drinks :P.
Next stop is Khajuraho, where I will hopefully arrive in the early Friday morning. On the same evening I will hopefully depart for Varanasi, where I will witness people bathing and doing whatnot in the ghats.
UPDATE: Joney's place server reeally good and cheap food here. I think I'll pay them a visit again tomorrow!
KASHMIR
The hospitality in the houseboat Maria and me found ourselves accommodating in is absolutely out of this world. Our room had wooden walls and ceiling, some surfaces coated with beautiful ornamental shapes. In the middle of the room there was this wood-heated stove, which was all the time filled by our faithful servants. Kashmir-food was stunningly good – not only because I had just started my healing process from my delhi belly, but because of the blend of spices they were using: saffron, cinnamon and cardamom. And the Kashmir tea.. dam!
Srinagar itself was very laid back place, which was just what we needed to escape the noise and other kind of pollution of the bigger cities down south. On the first day we both got some medicines for ourselves from a local pharmaceut. They seem to be working – at least I’m feeling a whole lot better than the days before. Still tired though and occasional nauseating moments, plus the basic liquid output from the rear division. But more and more infrequently.
Nara Nagh
We stayed at this awesomely friendly little village as guests in a gypsy house. The head honcho of the house was called something like Suber (or “Su bäär” in Finnish way of saying), and was this tall guy with smily face and loud voice, always asking “good?”. Then there were his wife and his 5 or 6 children, all girls save one. One of the daughters was married to our hiking guide, Nisar, who was a jolly guy with friendly grin on his face all the time. He would tell us stories about love and how things do not always go as is dictated by the holy book the Qu’ran. He also did some more iffy stuff for me and Maria by arranging a little smoking session in the midst of the last evening. Nisar didn’t like her wife that much, but that’s the way it many times goes in Islamic countries, where parents choose the spouses. But, as our wonderful caretaker Khaliq proved, sometimes this marriage can turn into real and deep love.
The hiking itself was not what we expected. It was more like day-tours and then returning to the base camp. We went different routes and different distances, usually accompanied by a couple of ponies carrying our excessive stuff, and maybe us tourists as well if we had not been well. Only rode the ponies once on the first day. Otherwise the serenity, the nature surrounding, the white-topped mountain scenery, the fresh air and the whole atmosphere was such relaxing that it felt wrong to do anything else than to hike by walking. Nara Nagh village is located 3000 meters above sea level, so we were quite high to begin with. One day we climbed up to 4000 meters on a mountain called Busheri. Its peak lies at 5000 meters. The only reason we did not go higher was that the snow started to reach our knees, which was really too much in those conditions and gears. But we did do some snow fights there, me and Nisar against Maria :) Fair game.
One night we slept in a ten outside the gypsy house and two nights in the gypsy house. Khaliq took such good care of us and told us about Kashmiri people, Kashmiri conflict, Islam and so on. It was all so interesting to learn, to understand the reality and how Islamic religion really is. The food Khaliq prepared for us was absolutely stunning! He taught us how to cook some of the stuff he made, and how to prepare the absolutely tasty Kashmiri tea. We were always treated as royalty and always were seated in very respectful places and so on.
Most I enjoyed this escape to nature in Kashmir, the good food and seeing how people live. Now I understand better how well people are treated as opposed to our own ways. I also noticed that I might not be as personable person as I would like to be. I am kind of shy, or unwilling to show too much interest in other people’s daily lives. Maybe I am selfish?
UPDATE:
I travelled from Jammu to Agra with a train in a AC3-class, where there’s three “beds” on each side of the “cabin”. I did not communicate a whole lot with them since they seemed unwilling and/or unable to speak English. However, at the end of the agonizing 19 hour trip I met this 9-headed family of Keralites (people from Kerala), who were very friendly and interested in me and Finland. We had good laughs about everything, especially dating and marriage, and the differences of them between western and Indian cultures. These guys were very well educated, or on their way to good education, so it was easy to communicate with them. They helped me to reach Agra and made certain I would get off at the right station. Which can be a chore when travelling in India, since no announcements are usually made when stopping at stations. Sometimes even the station names are not marked.
Another interesting person (or actually two persons) we met when we took a jeep ride from Srinagar to Jammu (agonizing 9 hours of travelling in a jeep) was this economics graduate student, who was on his way to Jammu back for studying after visiting his family in Srinagar. Indian hospitality is very deep indeed. They usually commit themselves to the fullest of extent, since we tourists are their guests. They always want to personally get involved, travel with us, or at least give us as much information as possible. This economics student said sorry many times for not being able to join me and Maria on our travels, since he has some exams to conclude. We promised we would come back to Kashmir in 5 years, and the guy promised to visit both Finland and Germany in a very serious tone, so I guess he really meant it. The Keralites said I should contact them whenever I would go to Kerala. They would arrange everything for me. Just like that. And all these people always offered to buy tea for us tourists, which is unheard of in Finland. That’s the way it is. Even more so weird it was when I was waiting for the train in the rainy Jammu train station. This homeless guru-looking guy, who slept in front of the station, walked past me with a tea cup in his hand. He then noticed me, smiled and offered me the tea. I was unsure whether I should take it (certainly at this point I had no idea he was a homeless guy), but I took it and thanked him. Later on I was talking to this phone booth operator boy, who told me that this old man is very friendly and good man. So he was. The boy also was helpful - he helped me find out my correct wagon and seat number. He also mentioned to me earlier that evening that I was actually sitting in an area full with pickpockets, which I kinda suspected from the behavior of these people, but he confirmed it. Fortunately I am always very careful with this sort of things, so nothing was lost. But it was very heart-aching sight to see how the poverty really hits the Indian people.. These people had a lot of children, and they were crying whilst I was sitting just next to them. Mother tried to comfort them. A legless guy came jumping to me and stood there for a while. I did not react (other than saying hello). A girl came to me smilingand reaching her hand with another hand holding a cup. I almost raised my hand to greet. Fortunately I did not guessing what she would do next. I guess they do not have things as good as we do in Finland. I also slept in 2nd class waiting hall unaware of any better places (the train was supposed to leave 23.45, instead it rescheduled to 01.30, which was not so nice). I trusted the common people are OK and not after my belongings, even though I slept with my head on my backpack and handbag safely tucked in my arms. The floor was dirty. A guy next to me tried to pick a fight with any Indian person that would come near him. He would suddenly rise up and start beating the floor with his hard-wood stick, shouting loudly. People just gazed at him and I could here silent laughter from the “audience”. Very hardcore evening this was.
Srinagar itself was very laid back place, which was just what we needed to escape the noise and other kind of pollution of the bigger cities down south. On the first day we both got some medicines for ourselves from a local pharmaceut. They seem to be working – at least I’m feeling a whole lot better than the days before. Still tired though and occasional nauseating moments, plus the basic liquid output from the rear division. But more and more infrequently.
Nara Nagh
We stayed at this awesomely friendly little village as guests in a gypsy house. The head honcho of the house was called something like Suber (or “Su bäär” in Finnish way of saying), and was this tall guy with smily face and loud voice, always asking “good?”. Then there were his wife and his 5 or 6 children, all girls save one. One of the daughters was married to our hiking guide, Nisar, who was a jolly guy with friendly grin on his face all the time. He would tell us stories about love and how things do not always go as is dictated by the holy book the Qu’ran. He also did some more iffy stuff for me and Maria by arranging a little smoking session in the midst of the last evening. Nisar didn’t like her wife that much, but that’s the way it many times goes in Islamic countries, where parents choose the spouses. But, as our wonderful caretaker Khaliq proved, sometimes this marriage can turn into real and deep love.
The hiking itself was not what we expected. It was more like day-tours and then returning to the base camp. We went different routes and different distances, usually accompanied by a couple of ponies carrying our excessive stuff, and maybe us tourists as well if we had not been well. Only rode the ponies once on the first day. Otherwise the serenity, the nature surrounding, the white-topped mountain scenery, the fresh air and the whole atmosphere was such relaxing that it felt wrong to do anything else than to hike by walking. Nara Nagh village is located 3000 meters above sea level, so we were quite high to begin with. One day we climbed up to 4000 meters on a mountain called Busheri. Its peak lies at 5000 meters. The only reason we did not go higher was that the snow started to reach our knees, which was really too much in those conditions and gears. But we did do some snow fights there, me and Nisar against Maria :) Fair game.
One night we slept in a ten outside the gypsy house and two nights in the gypsy house. Khaliq took such good care of us and told us about Kashmiri people, Kashmiri conflict, Islam and so on. It was all so interesting to learn, to understand the reality and how Islamic religion really is. The food Khaliq prepared for us was absolutely stunning! He taught us how to cook some of the stuff he made, and how to prepare the absolutely tasty Kashmiri tea. We were always treated as royalty and always were seated in very respectful places and so on.
Most I enjoyed this escape to nature in Kashmir, the good food and seeing how people live. Now I understand better how well people are treated as opposed to our own ways. I also noticed that I might not be as personable person as I would like to be. I am kind of shy, or unwilling to show too much interest in other people’s daily lives. Maybe I am selfish?
UPDATE:
I travelled from Jammu to Agra with a train in a AC3-class, where there’s three “beds” on each side of the “cabin”. I did not communicate a whole lot with them since they seemed unwilling and/or unable to speak English. However, at the end of the agonizing 19 hour trip I met this 9-headed family of Keralites (people from Kerala), who were very friendly and interested in me and Finland. We had good laughs about everything, especially dating and marriage, and the differences of them between western and Indian cultures. These guys were very well educated, or on their way to good education, so it was easy to communicate with them. They helped me to reach Agra and made certain I would get off at the right station. Which can be a chore when travelling in India, since no announcements are usually made when stopping at stations. Sometimes even the station names are not marked.
Another interesting person (or actually two persons) we met when we took a jeep ride from Srinagar to Jammu (agonizing 9 hours of travelling in a jeep) was this economics graduate student, who was on his way to Jammu back for studying after visiting his family in Srinagar. Indian hospitality is very deep indeed. They usually commit themselves to the fullest of extent, since we tourists are their guests. They always want to personally get involved, travel with us, or at least give us as much information as possible. This economics student said sorry many times for not being able to join me and Maria on our travels, since he has some exams to conclude. We promised we would come back to Kashmir in 5 years, and the guy promised to visit both Finland and Germany in a very serious tone, so I guess he really meant it. The Keralites said I should contact them whenever I would go to Kerala. They would arrange everything for me. Just like that. And all these people always offered to buy tea for us tourists, which is unheard of in Finland. That’s the way it is. Even more so weird it was when I was waiting for the train in the rainy Jammu train station. This homeless guru-looking guy, who slept in front of the station, walked past me with a tea cup in his hand. He then noticed me, smiled and offered me the tea. I was unsure whether I should take it (certainly at this point I had no idea he was a homeless guy), but I took it and thanked him. Later on I was talking to this phone booth operator boy, who told me that this old man is very friendly and good man. So he was. The boy also was helpful - he helped me find out my correct wagon and seat number. He also mentioned to me earlier that evening that I was actually sitting in an area full with pickpockets, which I kinda suspected from the behavior of these people, but he confirmed it. Fortunately I am always very careful with this sort of things, so nothing was lost. But it was very heart-aching sight to see how the poverty really hits the Indian people.. These people had a lot of children, and they were crying whilst I was sitting just next to them. Mother tried to comfort them. A legless guy came jumping to me and stood there for a while. I did not react (other than saying hello). A girl came to me smilingand reaching her hand with another hand holding a cup. I almost raised my hand to greet. Fortunately I did not guessing what she would do next. I guess they do not have things as good as we do in Finland. I also slept in 2nd class waiting hall unaware of any better places (the train was supposed to leave 23.45, instead it rescheduled to 01.30, which was not so nice). I trusted the common people are OK and not after my belongings, even though I slept with my head on my backpack and handbag safely tucked in my arms. The floor was dirty. A guy next to me tried to pick a fight with any Indian person that would come near him. He would suddenly rise up and start beating the floor with his hard-wood stick, shouting loudly. People just gazed at him and I could here silent laughter from the “audience”. Very hardcore evening this was.
sunnuntai 3. huhtikuuta 2011
Recent stuff (3.4.2011)
So far, India has offered me a lot. And by this I mean, once one gets to experience India, one will start to appreciate more and more her own (western) country. I have to stress this is only my own opinion, but I appreciate (as an engineer) when things are done properly, clearly and with honest heart. I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy situations, which do not involve any background thoughts related to money. Believe me, they have been extremely rare down here. This is not to say India is bad, it is just that as a tourist I have been forced to witness how far people have gone and will go to get money squeezed out from us westerners.
I am now in Jaipur in this fancy hotel called Amer View, which is located near to the fort called Amber Fort (pronounced “Amer”). Too fancy to my taste. It feels like a place for some helpless tourists who want to pay extra for having commodities such as good view, functional A/C, toilet with toilet paper, and so on. The reason I am staying in this place is because I made a packet deal with a (compared to many many other Indian salespersons) good guy called Shafi, to whom I was introduced in Delhi’s Paharganj Bazaar street. As usual, some guy stopped me while strolling in the crowded bazaar and asked me to “come inside and have a look at X”. So I stayed downstairs and gave him (this is rare for me) a chance to tell me what he has got. So after a while I was sure the guy did not have anything new to offer me, I was ready to continue my walk. He then proposed I should translate some texts from Finnish to English, which his friend had. I reluctantly agreed for this was a new kind of trick for me and I thought there might really be something funny in the texts. I ended up to this room with Shafi and a German girl (tourist as well) called Maria. I was unsure what the situation was about but I sat down and read some texts out aloud. After a while of listening what Shafi and Maria had been talking, I got semi-interested: they were talking about a trip to Jammu, or actually to Srinagar (more north), or somewhere there nearby, for a week long hiking trip at the Himalayas with gypsies, ponies, tents, food, everything one could possibly need taken care of. Plus Shafi would personally travel with us. In addition some lake 1.5 km above ground would offer us some great landscape and views to explore from an overnight boat at the lake. This sounded good, since I originally always wanted to go up north, but so far had been indecisive since it was so far from my planned route. Shafi as a witty businessman was able to make my doubts regarding the original timetable for the India trip go away by making a day-to-day-schedule for the rest of the trip for me. He was able to show that I could do my trip completely in April even though this week-long hiking was included. Okay, I don’t get to see Kolkata, but frankly speaking I feel Delhi is enough for me of the major cities in India, and I hear Kolkata is even more poor than Delhi, i.e. no thank you. I don’t mean to back out Kolkata just because they are poor but because I know I would not get anything new from there. I already know about the poverty in India, do I need to end up my trip with making myself feel down? Oh yes, the reason why I’m in this expensive hotel is because I was a bit too careless about arranging things with Shafi. You see, he agreed he would also arrange my transportation from (I had already bought a train ticket to Jaipur) and accommodation in Jaipur. I did not ask what they were like, since we negotiated a “lowered price” for the whole hiking thing beforehand and I thought he would give my some low-end stuff anyways. I was surprised to notice I got all this high-end stuff. Still, I’d prefer more simpler environment (or train, it is first class)since I don’t feel I fit in plus the prices are much more higher than in more basic lodgings. In addition this hotel is not in Jaipur, so I’m kinda cut off from the city if I wanted to find some cheap place e.g. for eating. That’s why I eat simply here – to cut the costs . I could not actually eat anything more than simple stuff, since I have been having the infamous delhi belly. Little by little I feel better, and I hope to get better when we fly to Shrinagar on Tuesday (from delhi). Today I went to have an ayurvedic massage and ayurvedic consultation, which was completely good shit and how I would want to spend my money here, if anything; best of it was this consult gave me some ayurvedic drugs for treating my brown liquid problem. I’m confident the will work. If not, well they were cheap as hell. Tomorrow I’ll go to another clinic to get a more extensive massage before setting my direction towards Delhi.
A loot of scammers here admittedly, but I always find it very cheerful when the Indian people smile at me. Even the scammers get happy and lower themselves down mentally when I talk to them about cricket or something as interesting for them. Yesterday India won the world championships in cricket, which I by the way watched, or at least the end of it (it was a basic 9 hour game at least). Man I heard a lot of firecrackers and fireworks when India sealed the deal with an awesome swing by one of the Indian players. I hope this somehow unifies India more and makes them feel better about themselves, to enable them to do things more conscientiously and with a pride of what they are capable of doing.
Indian women are small but beautiful. No denying there. They all dress themselves up like some queens or princesses. Men are short and are sure to glance me at least two times before looking somewhere else. The young boys in India are eager to talk to me and, of course, they want to be in the picture with me . As all the Indians, they talk to me with a “sir” and always shake hands and smile. It’s good. I give faces to Indian babies or adolescents, and they give me back one with a smile.
I arrived to Jaipur yesterday. The first thing I saw when I stepped down from my Shabatadi Express train was my pick-up guy, who had written my name, “Shuha” or “Shufa”, down. The next thing I saw was the another face of India: naked, all bones and skin, old man with a dirty look lying on the train platform and no one seemed to care. His privates was fully open for the public to admire or pity or whatever…
Today I saw practically everything Jaipur has to offer for tourists. The guy who picked me up from the railway station was showing me the city and gave me a lot of info about stuff. He was basically a good man with good intentions, but as we all, he too was after money. Not directly, but I could tell it by observing where he took me to eat, the fact he did not accompany me in any place which costs nor did he eat in the same place as I did, he insisted me to drink tee at one place, and they even brought me the tee in front of me after saying no thanks.. So, one just has to be firm and say no. That’s what I did, and he did get the message I think. These guys get commissions for bringing tourists to certain places so it’s no wonder he did what he did. Unfortunate, but it seems to be the name of the game. Good side was that I could be transported effortlessly to various monuments and sites with the luxury of a car. This was good, since in Jaipur the weather is smoking hot at this time. Over 40 at least. I did enough walking in Delhi.
I feel I will not have any more of these prearranged things. Now I see why most of the tourists consider travelling and tourism in general so expensive. They are guided by these “good men”, who are your friends and want what is best for you. Yeah, right. The problem always is, one never knows what is a reasonable price level since everything is up for bargaining, and one does not know what is the gap between the asked price and the real base level. That is what it is based on. We tourists pay incredibly big amounts of money for anything here, compared to the locals. In western countries it’s easier to compare prices as they are fixed. I’m not sure if the prices here are fixed for locals as well, or can they bargain also. I hope not… Otherwise their lives would be all bargaining and quarreling over few rupees.
Anyways, above I have written something what I’ve been thinking and doing here. I think it is mentally straining to stay here in India, or at least in the tourist areas, if one wants to keep some kind of reasonable budget. Also, the difference in the culture, climate, behavior, way of doing business, everything is just so completely the opposite to western cultures that I feel once I have completed my travels here in India for now, I will have learnt something valuable, something one cannot learn otherwise than by experiencing it. I think of this trip as a challenge, and as a chance to learn and appreciate our two very different cultures.
But now I know what my friend in Finland meant when he came from the exchange study trip in India. I feel your pain. Oh well, time to order some hotel food! Money comes, money goes. Money truly is just money – money cannot buy experience, at least not directly.
I am now in Jaipur in this fancy hotel called Amer View, which is located near to the fort called Amber Fort (pronounced “Amer”). Too fancy to my taste. It feels like a place for some helpless tourists who want to pay extra for having commodities such as good view, functional A/C, toilet with toilet paper, and so on. The reason I am staying in this place is because I made a packet deal with a (compared to many many other Indian salespersons) good guy called Shafi, to whom I was introduced in Delhi’s Paharganj Bazaar street. As usual, some guy stopped me while strolling in the crowded bazaar and asked me to “come inside and have a look at X”. So I stayed downstairs and gave him (this is rare for me) a chance to tell me what he has got. So after a while I was sure the guy did not have anything new to offer me, I was ready to continue my walk. He then proposed I should translate some texts from Finnish to English, which his friend had. I reluctantly agreed for this was a new kind of trick for me and I thought there might really be something funny in the texts. I ended up to this room with Shafi and a German girl (tourist as well) called Maria. I was unsure what the situation was about but I sat down and read some texts out aloud. After a while of listening what Shafi and Maria had been talking, I got semi-interested: they were talking about a trip to Jammu, or actually to Srinagar (more north), or somewhere there nearby, for a week long hiking trip at the Himalayas with gypsies, ponies, tents, food, everything one could possibly need taken care of. Plus Shafi would personally travel with us. In addition some lake 1.5 km above ground would offer us some great landscape and views to explore from an overnight boat at the lake. This sounded good, since I originally always wanted to go up north, but so far had been indecisive since it was so far from my planned route. Shafi as a witty businessman was able to make my doubts regarding the original timetable for the India trip go away by making a day-to-day-schedule for the rest of the trip for me. He was able to show that I could do my trip completely in April even though this week-long hiking was included. Okay, I don’t get to see Kolkata, but frankly speaking I feel Delhi is enough for me of the major cities in India, and I hear Kolkata is even more poor than Delhi, i.e. no thank you. I don’t mean to back out Kolkata just because they are poor but because I know I would not get anything new from there. I already know about the poverty in India, do I need to end up my trip with making myself feel down? Oh yes, the reason why I’m in this expensive hotel is because I was a bit too careless about arranging things with Shafi. You see, he agreed he would also arrange my transportation from (I had already bought a train ticket to Jaipur) and accommodation in Jaipur. I did not ask what they were like, since we negotiated a “lowered price” for the whole hiking thing beforehand and I thought he would give my some low-end stuff anyways. I was surprised to notice I got all this high-end stuff. Still, I’d prefer more simpler environment (or train, it is first class)since I don’t feel I fit in plus the prices are much more higher than in more basic lodgings. In addition this hotel is not in Jaipur, so I’m kinda cut off from the city if I wanted to find some cheap place e.g. for eating. That’s why I eat simply here – to cut the costs . I could not actually eat anything more than simple stuff, since I have been having the infamous delhi belly. Little by little I feel better, and I hope to get better when we fly to Shrinagar on Tuesday (from delhi). Today I went to have an ayurvedic massage and ayurvedic consultation, which was completely good shit and how I would want to spend my money here, if anything; best of it was this consult gave me some ayurvedic drugs for treating my brown liquid problem. I’m confident the will work. If not, well they were cheap as hell. Tomorrow I’ll go to another clinic to get a more extensive massage before setting my direction towards Delhi.
A loot of scammers here admittedly, but I always find it very cheerful when the Indian people smile at me. Even the scammers get happy and lower themselves down mentally when I talk to them about cricket or something as interesting for them. Yesterday India won the world championships in cricket, which I by the way watched, or at least the end of it (it was a basic 9 hour game at least). Man I heard a lot of firecrackers and fireworks when India sealed the deal with an awesome swing by one of the Indian players. I hope this somehow unifies India more and makes them feel better about themselves, to enable them to do things more conscientiously and with a pride of what they are capable of doing.
Indian women are small but beautiful. No denying there. They all dress themselves up like some queens or princesses. Men are short and are sure to glance me at least two times before looking somewhere else. The young boys in India are eager to talk to me and, of course, they want to be in the picture with me . As all the Indians, they talk to me with a “sir” and always shake hands and smile. It’s good. I give faces to Indian babies or adolescents, and they give me back one with a smile.
I arrived to Jaipur yesterday. The first thing I saw when I stepped down from my Shabatadi Express train was my pick-up guy, who had written my name, “Shuha” or “Shufa”, down. The next thing I saw was the another face of India: naked, all bones and skin, old man with a dirty look lying on the train platform and no one seemed to care. His privates was fully open for the public to admire or pity or whatever…
Today I saw practically everything Jaipur has to offer for tourists. The guy who picked me up from the railway station was showing me the city and gave me a lot of info about stuff. He was basically a good man with good intentions, but as we all, he too was after money. Not directly, but I could tell it by observing where he took me to eat, the fact he did not accompany me in any place which costs nor did he eat in the same place as I did, he insisted me to drink tee at one place, and they even brought me the tee in front of me after saying no thanks.. So, one just has to be firm and say no. That’s what I did, and he did get the message I think. These guys get commissions for bringing tourists to certain places so it’s no wonder he did what he did. Unfortunate, but it seems to be the name of the game. Good side was that I could be transported effortlessly to various monuments and sites with the luxury of a car. This was good, since in Jaipur the weather is smoking hot at this time. Over 40 at least. I did enough walking in Delhi.
I feel I will not have any more of these prearranged things. Now I see why most of the tourists consider travelling and tourism in general so expensive. They are guided by these “good men”, who are your friends and want what is best for you. Yeah, right. The problem always is, one never knows what is a reasonable price level since everything is up for bargaining, and one does not know what is the gap between the asked price and the real base level. That is what it is based on. We tourists pay incredibly big amounts of money for anything here, compared to the locals. In western countries it’s easier to compare prices as they are fixed. I’m not sure if the prices here are fixed for locals as well, or can they bargain also. I hope not… Otherwise their lives would be all bargaining and quarreling over few rupees.
Anyways, above I have written something what I’ve been thinking and doing here. I think it is mentally straining to stay here in India, or at least in the tourist areas, if one wants to keep some kind of reasonable budget. Also, the difference in the culture, climate, behavior, way of doing business, everything is just so completely the opposite to western cultures that I feel once I have completed my travels here in India for now, I will have learnt something valuable, something one cannot learn otherwise than by experiencing it. I think of this trip as a challenge, and as a chance to learn and appreciate our two very different cultures.
But now I know what my friend in Finland meant when he came from the exchange study trip in India. I feel your pain. Oh well, time to order some hotel food! Money comes, money goes. Money truly is just money – money cannot buy experience, at least not directly.
First Day Impressions (30.3.2011)
I’m sitting in a restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet, and just finished eating my delicious shahi paneer. People are chanting as they are watching cricket – apparently some important matches going on at the moment. I feel tired. Partly because of the lack of sleep due to travelling to Delhi from Helsinki. Partly because the climate, and partly because the city buzz is quite overwhelming.
World got even smaller when flying from Moscow to Delhi. I met a Finnish woman called Jonna, who, by sheer luck, was on her way to the same place where my mom’s sister and her companion had been living for the past six months. It soon came obvious Jonna knew them. She was a really open and kind person, with whom I chatted about Zeitgeist, religion, faith and everything in between. She also invited me to her final destination had I the chance to go there.
When we landed to Delhi Indira Gandhi airport, at some point at the baggage claim I was certain my bag had been lost. However, after a long wait my bag appeared on the conveyor belt. I then proceeded to find my supposedly-there-to-be taxi driver, who would take me to my lodging in Paharganj area. The guy was nowhere to be seen. I then ended up using the ordinary taxi service with prepaid fare. It was actually cheaper than what the preordered guy would have cost, no surprise there. The taxi driver was really friendly and talked about all kinds of stuff. It was 5 a.m. at that time, and still there was relatively much traffic along the way. Oh yeah, my flight was one hour behind of schedule.
I got to the hostel fairly easily. The next surprise was waiting for me. The hostel manager seemed somewhat annoyed that someone would come at that hour to knock at the door. Dam, and I thought I had prearranged everything. So, after some teeth-grinding I finally got a place to sleep – the floor of the Internet room in the hostel. At 8 a.m. I was woken up and got offered my own room. I slept there until 1 p.m. After that I decided to embark to the streets of Delhi.
It was hot, but definitely not in the same amount than for example in Bangkok, which had humidity affecting the overall feel of the heat. It was bearable, even though I had a t-shirt and white long sleeved shirt. Trash everywhere, urine smelling in some places, traffic sound loud and busy, people everywhere going about their business – never mind any traffic rules. It all was OK for me, but what bothered me the most was the lack of marking the street names. It was hard to navigate by foot this way. I ate at various places some small things and saw a great deal of poverty along the way.
I decided to go and see the Red Fort, which is a major tourist attraction in Delhi. It was a haven from all the noise and busyness of the streets of Delhi. People were lying on the green areas of the compound and making the best out of it. I got my share of attention surprisingly, though only one camera-posing request. I got to know two Indian technology students from Kolkata, who were very friendly and asked a lot of questions. I took their contact info and said I might contact them when I would reach Kolkata.
After leaving the Red Fort I tried to still see the Jama Masjid mosque, but it was already dusk and it was closing. I met this guy, who appeared to be authentic and chatted about all kind of stuff from weather to cricket. He then proposed to show me, for a fee, something I would not see with the ordinary tourist destinations. He took me to Chowri Bazaar area with streets narrow as hell, and building as old as 500 years. He introduced me to different parts of the area, which by alone would have been impossible to navigate. He actually took me to these old buildings and showed me how people live there. He also showed me a few sights such as this tree which looked just like a man.
Now I think I’ll head back to the hostel, after eating, and consider surfing the Internet or get to know the guests there. And sleep.. a lot. At the moment I feel Delhi is full of people who see me as a walking wad of money, which kinda makes me feel down, but I try to keep a positive spirit nevertheless. We’ll see how tomorrow turns out to be.
UPDATE:
I figured since everybody was shooting rockets, driving recklessly without any kind of sense of security, and police trying to manage the situation with their wooden sticks, why not go out and see the Indian people celebrating their cricket victory over Pakistan. Man, people were so into it! Just completely wild stuff going on. Me myself I just wen there and congratulated some passing by motorcyclist with a handshake, and bought meself some fruit to prevent keripukki.
World got even smaller when flying from Moscow to Delhi. I met a Finnish woman called Jonna, who, by sheer luck, was on her way to the same place where my mom’s sister and her companion had been living for the past six months. It soon came obvious Jonna knew them. She was a really open and kind person, with whom I chatted about Zeitgeist, religion, faith and everything in between. She also invited me to her final destination had I the chance to go there.
When we landed to Delhi Indira Gandhi airport, at some point at the baggage claim I was certain my bag had been lost. However, after a long wait my bag appeared on the conveyor belt. I then proceeded to find my supposedly-there-to-be taxi driver, who would take me to my lodging in Paharganj area. The guy was nowhere to be seen. I then ended up using the ordinary taxi service with prepaid fare. It was actually cheaper than what the preordered guy would have cost, no surprise there. The taxi driver was really friendly and talked about all kinds of stuff. It was 5 a.m. at that time, and still there was relatively much traffic along the way. Oh yeah, my flight was one hour behind of schedule.
I got to the hostel fairly easily. The next surprise was waiting for me. The hostel manager seemed somewhat annoyed that someone would come at that hour to knock at the door. Dam, and I thought I had prearranged everything. So, after some teeth-grinding I finally got a place to sleep – the floor of the Internet room in the hostel. At 8 a.m. I was woken up and got offered my own room. I slept there until 1 p.m. After that I decided to embark to the streets of Delhi.
It was hot, but definitely not in the same amount than for example in Bangkok, which had humidity affecting the overall feel of the heat. It was bearable, even though I had a t-shirt and white long sleeved shirt. Trash everywhere, urine smelling in some places, traffic sound loud and busy, people everywhere going about their business – never mind any traffic rules. It all was OK for me, but what bothered me the most was the lack of marking the street names. It was hard to navigate by foot this way. I ate at various places some small things and saw a great deal of poverty along the way.
I decided to go and see the Red Fort, which is a major tourist attraction in Delhi. It was a haven from all the noise and busyness of the streets of Delhi. People were lying on the green areas of the compound and making the best out of it. I got my share of attention surprisingly, though only one camera-posing request. I got to know two Indian technology students from Kolkata, who were very friendly and asked a lot of questions. I took their contact info and said I might contact them when I would reach Kolkata.
After leaving the Red Fort I tried to still see the Jama Masjid mosque, but it was already dusk and it was closing. I met this guy, who appeared to be authentic and chatted about all kind of stuff from weather to cricket. He then proposed to show me, for a fee, something I would not see with the ordinary tourist destinations. He took me to Chowri Bazaar area with streets narrow as hell, and building as old as 500 years. He introduced me to different parts of the area, which by alone would have been impossible to navigate. He actually took me to these old buildings and showed me how people live there. He also showed me a few sights such as this tree which looked just like a man.
Now I think I’ll head back to the hostel, after eating, and consider surfing the Internet or get to know the guests there. And sleep.. a lot. At the moment I feel Delhi is full of people who see me as a walking wad of money, which kinda makes me feel down, but I try to keep a positive spirit nevertheless. We’ll see how tomorrow turns out to be.
UPDATE:
I figured since everybody was shooting rockets, driving recklessly without any kind of sense of security, and police trying to manage the situation with their wooden sticks, why not go out and see the Indian people celebrating their cricket victory over Pakistan. Man, people were so into it! Just completely wild stuff going on. Me myself I just wen there and congratulated some passing by motorcyclist with a handshake, and bought meself some fruit to prevent keripukki.
tiistai 29. maaliskuuta 2011
Getting there
Hi!
It's been a long 23 hours here at Sheremetyevo airport (Moscow) waiting for the connecting flight to Delhi. I've certainly had time to... do nothing. Internet browsing, couple of movies, figuring out the best position to sleep on the "comfy" airport benches, eating some bortsch-soup, pirozhki and way too much sweet sugary-stuff. My back must be thanking me after couple of days of sitting (now that I think of it, it doesn't differ that much from the life back in Finland) in spine-wrenching positions.
The airport itself is quite neat, tidy and well-organized. No complaints whatsoever, vice versa: the free wi-fi connection is a rarity in airports. It's saved my life here, really. No bad word of Aeroflot as well. All's been good so far. But let's see if my backbag arrives to Delhi or not, I haven't seen it since Helsinki.
I bumped into this Latvian guy, who had bought a laptop from China and couldn't get the wi-fi to operate. I understood it was a problem with the overly-tight IE security settings, so I downloaded Firefox, saved it into usb-stick and installed it to this guy's 'puter. Voilá. The really fun part of this was that the guy was on his way to Beijing to continue studying Chinese. Yes, he had been in Helen's Cafe and Bar Revolution many times. I hear it's still the same :) Oh, how the world is small. Tai ku le!
It's been a long 23 hours here at Sheremetyevo airport (Moscow) waiting for the connecting flight to Delhi. I've certainly had time to... do nothing. Internet browsing, couple of movies, figuring out the best position to sleep on the "comfy" airport benches, eating some bortsch-soup, pirozhki and way too much sweet sugary-stuff. My back must be thanking me after couple of days of sitting (now that I think of it, it doesn't differ that much from the life back in Finland) in spine-wrenching positions.
The airport itself is quite neat, tidy and well-organized. No complaints whatsoever, vice versa: the free wi-fi connection is a rarity in airports. It's saved my life here, really. No bad word of Aeroflot as well. All's been good so far. But let's see if my backbag arrives to Delhi or not, I haven't seen it since Helsinki.
I bumped into this Latvian guy, who had bought a laptop from China and couldn't get the wi-fi to operate. I understood it was a problem with the overly-tight IE security settings, so I downloaded Firefox, saved it into usb-stick and installed it to this guy's 'puter. Voilá. The really fun part of this was that the guy was on his way to Beijing to continue studying Chinese. Yes, he had been in Helen's Cafe and Bar Revolution many times. I hear it's still the same :) Oh, how the world is small. Tai ku le!
maanantai 28. maaliskuuta 2011
torstai 24. maaliskuuta 2011
Wind of Changes
A dramatic title, but in a way true.
It's been a while since I wrote here last time. I've been busy doing all kinds of stuff. Let me elaborate.
As of 1st of April I will be unemployed. At this time I will have already departed Finland to travel around northern India. I will spend there a month or so seeing a little bit different way of life, hopefully. I want to eat good food, see spectacular sights and try and experience the spiritual side of India in all its forms. This trip is also a welcome chance to "escape" the emerging new life situation ( :) OK it's not escaping, it's just doing what I feel like doing).
After the trip I will try to "chart" my situation and see what it is I want to do. There are many, many ways to employ myself if I wanted so. Instead, I thought I'd just hang out and see what life brings about. I also would really like to start doing more good deeds both for myself and other people. The definition constantly evolving, I think now the number one meaning in life for me is to help other people and make them as happy as possible, in addition to upkeeping my personal happiness. Actually, I feel there is no point in life. So I can come up with something for myself and say, "hey let's make everybody as happy as they can be, so I know I did some good".
Anyways, my communications will be somewhat severed for the next month or so, so if you lovely people have anything to communicate, please do send me an email.
It's been a while since I wrote here last time. I've been busy doing all kinds of stuff. Let me elaborate.
As of 1st of April I will be unemployed. At this time I will have already departed Finland to travel around northern India. I will spend there a month or so seeing a little bit different way of life, hopefully. I want to eat good food, see spectacular sights and try and experience the spiritual side of India in all its forms. This trip is also a welcome chance to "escape" the emerging new life situation ( :) OK it's not escaping, it's just doing what I feel like doing).
After the trip I will try to "chart" my situation and see what it is I want to do. There are many, many ways to employ myself if I wanted so. Instead, I thought I'd just hang out and see what life brings about. I also would really like to start doing more good deeds both for myself and other people. The definition constantly evolving, I think now the number one meaning in life for me is to help other people and make them as happy as possible, in addition to upkeeping my personal happiness. Actually, I feel there is no point in life. So I can come up with something for myself and say, "hey let's make everybody as happy as they can be, so I know I did some good".
Anyways, my communications will be somewhat severed for the next month or so, so if you lovely people have anything to communicate, please do send me an email.
keskiviikko 23. helmikuuta 2011
Why sparring is good for me
Sparring. Yes, wearing the boxing gloves, protection for the privates, proper shoes and teeth protection is all one needs for that. And a proper attitude.
During this week on two consecutive days I have received news, which would have made me very uneasy, worried, anxious, irritated and sad, say, two years ago. All of a sudden, it seems my future is unclear in the traditional sense of financial security. One doesn't need to be a wizard to figure out these news have everything to do with (not) having a job in the future, at the moment at least. Somehow it doesn't bother me that much. I am totally confident I will always survive, no matter what. Life always prevails for the people with right mind-set and with the ability to make a difference, especially for themselves. I have figured there is no need to be anxious over something that is actually as insignificant as having a job. OK, money is something everyone needs, but I don't need to worry about that currently, fortunately. The world is full of life, waiting to be discovered :).
As we have come to see in this world, financial situation dictates (seemingly) companies' ability to recruit people. It is built into the system - no people can be blamed for this. But this is exactly the reason why I also like Munamies in real life with his views and perceptions on the society, what is wrong with it today. I would gladly see this whole system crumble to dust, if it would result in a society, which would be free of this worrying of "how will I survive if I don't have a job" paradigm. Furthermore, a society should encourage people to be creative by giving everyone equal chances of doing whatever it is they like, instead of being forced to jobs, which they never wanted in the first place. This would most likely decrease mental problems amongst the population. There's more, but I won't go into those here. Anyways, I just wanted to express how inevitably I also am a part of this world-wide machinery, which tries to strike fear into the minds of people by the concept of not-having-a-job. Again, no wizard is needed to understand I do not fear this. What could go wrong in something as wonderful as life? :)
Now, I'm not trying to be cocky or anything because of this situation, but it has been wonderful to witness how I have reacted to this situation: not with fear, but with acceptance, with calmness and with ability to still see my future life as worthwhile as it was before receiving the news.
Actually, I feel now that I have a great opportunity to engage into something as delightful as travelling, without care in the world. I have a unique chance of carrying out the things I have wanted to do, but have been unsure, since having a job very effectively hinders with any free-time plans, which require long periods of time. I am also able to spend more time with my dear friends, who are the most important things in life for me. Your support gives me strength :). So does my family <3. And maybe IAET-työttömyyskassa for the time being :D. What is life if not fulfilling your dreams?
So what has all this to do with sparring? I really don't know :), except that I just came from sparring and it was jolly fun! Sparring for 1½ hours takes me away so completely from this world with its seeming problems that I feel it helps to cleanse my mind of everything that is not relevant. I bled from my arm and from my nose, and probably I'll have couple of more bruises tomorrow than yesterday, plus my head got whacked couple of times so bad I saw stars for a fraction of a second. This is all OK, since I gave the guy five times worse banging :D. Fighting with a good spirit is uplifting, especially when one is aware how it gives the feeling of no one being able to hurt you in any way. Maybe this sparring gave me the idea from physical world to mental world: I cannot be hurt in this life, however bad it may feel like at first. :)
During this week on two consecutive days I have received news, which would have made me very uneasy, worried, anxious, irritated and sad, say, two years ago. All of a sudden, it seems my future is unclear in the traditional sense of financial security. One doesn't need to be a wizard to figure out these news have everything to do with (not) having a job in the future, at the moment at least. Somehow it doesn't bother me that much. I am totally confident I will always survive, no matter what. Life always prevails for the people with right mind-set and with the ability to make a difference, especially for themselves. I have figured there is no need to be anxious over something that is actually as insignificant as having a job. OK, money is something everyone needs, but I don't need to worry about that currently, fortunately. The world is full of life, waiting to be discovered :).
As we have come to see in this world, financial situation dictates (seemingly) companies' ability to recruit people. It is built into the system - no people can be blamed for this. But this is exactly the reason why I also like Munamies in real life with his views and perceptions on the society, what is wrong with it today. I would gladly see this whole system crumble to dust, if it would result in a society, which would be free of this worrying of "how will I survive if I don't have a job" paradigm. Furthermore, a society should encourage people to be creative by giving everyone equal chances of doing whatever it is they like, instead of being forced to jobs, which they never wanted in the first place. This would most likely decrease mental problems amongst the population. There's more, but I won't go into those here. Anyways, I just wanted to express how inevitably I also am a part of this world-wide machinery, which tries to strike fear into the minds of people by the concept of not-having-a-job. Again, no wizard is needed to understand I do not fear this. What could go wrong in something as wonderful as life? :)
Now, I'm not trying to be cocky or anything because of this situation, but it has been wonderful to witness how I have reacted to this situation: not with fear, but with acceptance, with calmness and with ability to still see my future life as worthwhile as it was before receiving the news.
Actually, I feel now that I have a great opportunity to engage into something as delightful as travelling, without care in the world. I have a unique chance of carrying out the things I have wanted to do, but have been unsure, since having a job very effectively hinders with any free-time plans, which require long periods of time. I am also able to spend more time with my dear friends, who are the most important things in life for me. Your support gives me strength :). So does my family <3. And maybe IAET-työttömyyskassa for the time being :D. What is life if not fulfilling your dreams?
So what has all this to do with sparring? I really don't know :), except that I just came from sparring and it was jolly fun! Sparring for 1½ hours takes me away so completely from this world with its seeming problems that I feel it helps to cleanse my mind of everything that is not relevant. I bled from my arm and from my nose, and probably I'll have couple of more bruises tomorrow than yesterday, plus my head got whacked couple of times so bad I saw stars for a fraction of a second. This is all OK, since I gave the guy five times worse banging :D. Fighting with a good spirit is uplifting, especially when one is aware how it gives the feeling of no one being able to hurt you in any way. Maybe this sparring gave me the idea from physical world to mental world: I cannot be hurt in this life, however bad it may feel like at first. :)
tiistai 15. helmikuuta 2011
What's cookin pt. I - Yakisoba and crisp bread (näkkäri)
Did I ever mention I am a cookster? I love trying out new food and cooking it with a sense of perfection when it comes to the ingredients, and more or less the quality of them is also important. My habit lately has been the following: On Sundays, I check out the web what goodies the world has to offer for me the next week. I write down the ingredient list to a yellow post-it, which I take to work on Monday. Come ~4 p.m. on Monday, I rush to the store and buy the stuff, and start cooking, usually for 2-3 days worth of cuisine per cookin.
Today I did me some Japanese chow. Shii-iiiit was good! I bought me some organic Udon-noodles and a variety of vegetables.. the yakisoba sauce I prepared was a bull's eye for this food!
I also tried out some knäckebröd, or hard bread, or crisp bread.. Thank you M for the recipe :). It was probably the first time I did something that contained only organic ingredients - a lot of various organic seeds, organic eggs, organic spelt, sunfire salt (a bit posh, yes). Of course it had to be eaten with organic kirnuvoi, which tastes absolutely stunning!
Here's the recipes:
Yakisoba and Crisp bread (only in Finnish). For yakisoba recipe, I used also ginger and garlic in addition to the list ingredients. The yakisoba sauce contained for me gin (yes, alcohol), organic soy sauce, indian sugar, organic honey, red chili flakes and sesame seed oil.
Bon apetít!
Today I did me some Japanese chow. Shii-iiiit was good! I bought me some organic Udon-noodles and a variety of vegetables.. the yakisoba sauce I prepared was a bull's eye for this food!
I also tried out some knäckebröd, or hard bread, or crisp bread.. Thank you M for the recipe :). It was probably the first time I did something that contained only organic ingredients - a lot of various organic seeds, organic eggs, organic spelt, sunfire salt (a bit posh, yes). Of course it had to be eaten with organic kirnuvoi, which tastes absolutely stunning!
Here's the recipes:
Yakisoba and Crisp bread (only in Finnish). For yakisoba recipe, I used also ginger and garlic in addition to the list ingredients. The yakisoba sauce contained for me gin (yes, alcohol), organic soy sauce, indian sugar, organic honey, red chili flakes and sesame seed oil.
Bon apetít!
Thoughts of unconditional love
Some of my views from the comment-chain posted below:
--
Yes, unconditional love is an ideal as has been stated. Actual life has both positive and negative feelings, yes yes, and they are all equally valuable. For me, the choosing of love is more a question of "do I want to choose fear or love as my way of seeing the world?". I believe most people choose the former option, since the environment surrounding us makes us easily believe this world is a place, where everyone are out there only for themselves. I want to believe in something more.. gracious.
By following the path of love is not to avoid negative feelings but to embrace them with acceptance.
They are all interconnected: unconditional love - acceptance - being present. Too detailed and formal definitions of things are best left unsaid, because you, your views and the world have a tendency to change. So do the definitions - they evolve all the time.
"The only constant in life is change".
--
The following song is about change. It is a beautful, bittersweet and somehow ubiquitously so true with many people, including myself..
First we are explicably where we are
Chaste and burned - we're comfortably loveless
In a trillion years, the stars will no longer shine
We'll remain.
Get it right or come back again
My love...
Make it clear - integrate this love and fear
Still hopelessly hopeful
Wounded child seeking wonderful
As closed as I am
Born a craftsman of shifting sands
What lies I learned
Lessened my 'bility to be present
My love will never change
Though we've ruined everything
The stars still conspire for us
Until our final breaths
We need more love in the world
We need more hope in the world
Build more joy in the world
We crave more love...
My love will never change
Though we've ruined everything
The stars still conspire for us
Until our final breaths
[x2]
The only constant is change
My love will never change
Though we've ruined everything
The stars...
The only constant is change
--
Yes, unconditional love is an ideal as has been stated. Actual life has both positive and negative feelings, yes yes, and they are all equally valuable. For me, the choosing of love is more a question of "do I want to choose fear or love as my way of seeing the world?". I believe most people choose the former option, since the environment surrounding us makes us easily believe this world is a place, where everyone are out there only for themselves. I want to believe in something more.. gracious.
By following the path of love is not to avoid negative feelings but to embrace them with acceptance.
They are all interconnected: unconditional love - acceptance - being present. Too detailed and formal definitions of things are best left unsaid, because you, your views and the world have a tendency to change. So do the definitions - they evolve all the time.
"The only constant in life is change".
--
The following song is about change. It is a beautful, bittersweet and somehow ubiquitously so true with many people, including myself..
First we are explicably where we are
Chaste and burned - we're comfortably loveless
In a trillion years, the stars will no longer shine
We'll remain.
Get it right or come back again
My love...
Make it clear - integrate this love and fear
Still hopelessly hopeful
Wounded child seeking wonderful
As closed as I am
Born a craftsman of shifting sands
What lies I learned
Lessened my 'bility to be present
My love will never change
Though we've ruined everything
The stars still conspire for us
Until our final breaths
We need more love in the world
We need more hope in the world
Build more joy in the world
We crave more love...
My love will never change
Though we've ruined everything
The stars still conspire for us
Until our final breaths
[x2]
The only constant is change
My love will never change
Though we've ruined everything
The stars...
The only constant is change
perjantai 11. helmikuuta 2011
keskiviikko 9. helmikuuta 2011
The wonders of yoga
Man it feels good to do yoga! I believe it's always beneficial for oneself to push the limits. In this case, what I mean by pushing limits is just to try out all kinds of new things.
Now I decided to try (ashtanga) yoga, the most popular version known in western countries. Ashtanga yoga, to my understanding, has been derived from hatha yoga, which is the most physically-concentrated of the various yoga families. For westerners (länkkärit), doing yoga in many cases involves getting a graceful body figure by developing muscles and by getting them to stretch in the process. Apart from the previous, for me yoga is equally important as a tool for learning the controlling of body and mind through asanas (postures) and vinyasas (movements). The breathing technique (Ujjayi) and muscle locks (Mula and Uddiyana bhandhas) are yin and yang in energizing the body, mind and spirit in the process of doing the actual yoga.
Every time I do yoga, at the time I feel I am pushing my limits, since I stretch about as nicely as a crow bar, but I always bend myself more than what is recommended, since I want to stretch. Bu man, the feeling I get after 1½ hours of doing this stuff..it's surreal, especially after the 10 minutes of relaxation in the end of the session. I feel like.. nothing's troubling me after that, that everything is fine, and I get one step closer of understanding how my body works and what is beneath it. The best thing is the immense spiritual feeling I get.. I believe the better we know how our energies flow in our body the better our mind is able to get deeper and more meaningful experiences.
Of course, I want to utilize my feelings of deepness in other areas of life.. :) I stumbled upon the concept of tantric sex. It's funny, because the concepts in it aren't actually that far away from what I have been more or less doing for the past year or so. When I started to think about it, I have felt more close, intimate and united when having sex than what I've felt previously. It is more about the atmosphere, the presence of the two and being present, than it is about doing some things. It does not need to be anything particular, if the mood is right. I realized it can be an immensive experience just to hold hands or to just "be", as long as the sexual energy is vibrating throughout you both and mingling together. The moment is perfect as it is. This is where, for example, breathing technique can be helpful. I guess that's why a short meditation session before doing anything more is of help. This way, a) the mood sets and b) breathing has energized ones' bodies and minds. This way, the whole experience of sex can become something... undescribable.
But I don't know, I mean, I just only today read about this stuff. It seems the path to spiritual enlightenment comes with all kind of nice bonuses. All this spiritual stuff seems to be interconnected, to result in same kind of deductions about how something really feels good. Be it sex, nutrition (both mental and physical), etc. It just all comes naturally, when you really get down to the business of getting to know yourself and wanting to develop in an open way. Of course, it always helps if there are people guiding you and nudging you towards the right directions.. :)
It felt a bit awkward, as it usually is with Finnish culture, when our yoga instructor today started to do mantras and made us repeat them. However, she said few words that stuck with my mind. That's how I got the idea: "listen to Juno Reactor's Navras when I get back home!". SO that's what I did. Below you can find the lyrics.
--
Asato ma sad gamaya
tamaso ma jyotir gamaya
mrtyor mamrtam gamaya
Om shanti shanti shanti (these are the words :) )
Jnani manasa saha
Buddhis ca na vicestate
Tam ahuh paramam gatim
___
translation:
From delusion lead me to truth
From darkness lead me to light
From death lead me to immortality.
Let there be peace everywhere
When the five senses and the mind are still, and reason itself rests in silence, then begins the Path supreme.
Now I decided to try (ashtanga) yoga, the most popular version known in western countries. Ashtanga yoga, to my understanding, has been derived from hatha yoga, which is the most physically-concentrated of the various yoga families. For westerners (länkkärit), doing yoga in many cases involves getting a graceful body figure by developing muscles and by getting them to stretch in the process. Apart from the previous, for me yoga is equally important as a tool for learning the controlling of body and mind through asanas (postures) and vinyasas (movements). The breathing technique (Ujjayi) and muscle locks (Mula and Uddiyana bhandhas) are yin and yang in energizing the body, mind and spirit in the process of doing the actual yoga.
Every time I do yoga, at the time I feel I am pushing my limits, since I stretch about as nicely as a crow bar, but I always bend myself more than what is recommended, since I want to stretch. Bu man, the feeling I get after 1½ hours of doing this stuff..it's surreal, especially after the 10 minutes of relaxation in the end of the session. I feel like.. nothing's troubling me after that, that everything is fine, and I get one step closer of understanding how my body works and what is beneath it. The best thing is the immense spiritual feeling I get.. I believe the better we know how our energies flow in our body the better our mind is able to get deeper and more meaningful experiences.
Of course, I want to utilize my feelings of deepness in other areas of life.. :) I stumbled upon the concept of tantric sex. It's funny, because the concepts in it aren't actually that far away from what I have been more or less doing for the past year or so. When I started to think about it, I have felt more close, intimate and united when having sex than what I've felt previously. It is more about the atmosphere, the presence of the two and being present, than it is about doing some things. It does not need to be anything particular, if the mood is right. I realized it can be an immensive experience just to hold hands or to just "be", as long as the sexual energy is vibrating throughout you both and mingling together. The moment is perfect as it is. This is where, for example, breathing technique can be helpful. I guess that's why a short meditation session before doing anything more is of help. This way, a) the mood sets and b) breathing has energized ones' bodies and minds. This way, the whole experience of sex can become something... undescribable.
But I don't know, I mean, I just only today read about this stuff. It seems the path to spiritual enlightenment comes with all kind of nice bonuses. All this spiritual stuff seems to be interconnected, to result in same kind of deductions about how something really feels good. Be it sex, nutrition (both mental and physical), etc. It just all comes naturally, when you really get down to the business of getting to know yourself and wanting to develop in an open way. Of course, it always helps if there are people guiding you and nudging you towards the right directions.. :)
It felt a bit awkward, as it usually is with Finnish culture, when our yoga instructor today started to do mantras and made us repeat them. However, she said few words that stuck with my mind. That's how I got the idea: "listen to Juno Reactor's Navras when I get back home!". SO that's what I did. Below you can find the lyrics.
--
Asato ma sad gamaya
tamaso ma jyotir gamaya
mrtyor mamrtam gamaya
Om shanti shanti shanti (these are the words :) )
Jnani manasa saha
Buddhis ca na vicestate
Tam ahuh paramam gatim
___
translation:
From delusion lead me to truth
From darkness lead me to light
From death lead me to immortality.
Let there be peace everywhere
When the five senses and the mind are still, and reason itself rests in silence, then begins the Path supreme.
perjantai 28. tammikuuta 2011
All those moments will be lost.. like tears.. in rain.
Think what would happen, if we were given a chance to go back to the turning points of our lives. The turning points are not some grand events - they may be as simple as lifting a finger or saying a word, or words. And these small things made your life so much different than what it would have been, had you done something even slightly differently.
Let's think at the implications if we could go back. We would have infinite amount of possibilities to recreate our own life, since even the tiniest difference (say, you would make another kind of thought than originally, which physically would manifest as some nerve atoms moving differently in your brain) could generate a whole new, parallel reality. Or universe, however you would like to call it. Anyway, your life might shape up to something completely different than what it would have been. Actually, every smallest amount of time differential is a chance for this reality to disperse into again infinite branches, since every moment can be played out in infinite amount of ways. In that sense it seems there is no point in the ability to change one's life. You never know how it's going to end up because at the time you change your reality at one point in time, the future becomes unclear.
OK, say we do not consider such a theoretical approach, in which every time differential is meaningful - rather let's concentrate on the actual turning point event, which is measurable and perceivable in humane reality as well. If I could change the event, which I (apparently) thought was the root cause for my unhappiness in the future that I've lived, I would still be unsure how I would end up in the upcoming future, just like in the above theoretical approach.
For the above reasons I would like to postulate: there is no sense in wishing things had gone differently, since this life we are now living is all we have got. Everything we have done and said and felt has been just perfect. It has been just the way it has been meant to be. It is the present, which is of the utmost importance - not the past nor the future. We are what we make out of this moment.
Still, I can't help but to feel wistful when thinking about some events in my life, which would have, according to my brains, led into getting to live a better life, had I done something differently. It is so easy to delve into the alternative reality, which, of course, is full of joy and happiness. At the same time I feel happiness for knowing that I'm living the life, which, considering these aspects, is juuust perfect. Who knows what kind of things I would have encountered, if I had decided to do things differently..
When you live your life, live the present to the fullest! Although, it is also true that to not to decide holds all the possibilities for the future since nothing is determined.. unfortunately it also prevents one from living. So, make a decision for yourself every moment and live. On decision we determine that this is my reality and the way I choose to see and live it. On deciding upon a thing:
"All those [potential] moments will be lost.. like tears.. in rain." *sigh*.
perjantai 21. tammikuuta 2011
Bittersweet thoughts
Oh, the sweet misery of realizing how incomplete one can actually be in some respects! It is always good to ponder the meaning of life, being present and all that. However, it is somehow ironic that there are much more basic stuff that needs to be taken care of as well. Fortunately, contemplating the deeper stuff is not an idea to be excluded, regardless of how much one is lacking in more fundamental ways.
I've done a fair share of thinking of the life stuff. Now I think it is time for me to really be introspective and think, think hard, why I behave the way I do. I am actually afraid that no matter how hard I try to convince myself, to change myself, I am unable to do it. Evolutionary biology certainly has not made this easy for me. Or maybe it is just me giving excuses. I must deeply bow in front of the people, who honestly point out me towards the direction I am unable to see myself. Thank you. I will do my best.
I've done a fair share of thinking of the life stuff. Now I think it is time for me to really be introspective and think, think hard, why I behave the way I do. I am actually afraid that no matter how hard I try to convince myself, to change myself, I am unable to do it. Evolutionary biology certainly has not made this easy for me. Or maybe it is just me giving excuses. I must deeply bow in front of the people, who honestly point out me towards the direction I am unable to see myself. Thank you. I will do my best.
torstai 13. tammikuuta 2011
Something for everyone
They're all kinda deep though.. :)
Music is a good way of surfacing emotions in my mind. That is why I enjoy music with depth
------------
Before the Dawn - Wrath: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkzFZhrI60U
"My Broken bones grown whole
Wounds turned to scars and bleeding stopped
By Divine wrath I am reborn"
---
Mokoma - Sydänjuuret: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4QRkTKzj48
Alternative (trash metal, the original version): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44XsqXyv0-g
"Voiko onnen jostain ostaa
Voiko piilottaa lukkojen taa
Sieltä esiin tuolloin nostaa
Kun tarvitsee lohduttajaa"
Gouryella - Walhalla: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wp7xMwfS3M
"Our love heals
And feelings were starting to matter
When we shall fly on together
For now and forever"
---
Majai - Lightwave (Airbase remix): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rB8VY2HsdI&feature=related
(this one is particularly beautifully carved trance ch00n)
"I Grab My Coat, I Grab My Keys, And Then I Realize
That You're Not Around, You're Far From Here
And I Can't Find... Another Way To Tell You How Much I Miss You So
I Had You, Then I Can't Believe I Let You Go"
---
Pendulum - Crush: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mYd2X_9rrs
(the video is worth thinking about as well)
"Pictures that I’ve been dreaming are coming down
They’re changing my future
Visions I had buried underground
Returning to the future"
---
Vibrasphere - Tierra Azul (Omnimotion feat. Krister Linder remix): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wILYOuRCllI
This is a song for all the dear people. You are stars.
"The sun will set on you
Caress the darkness
Let it be a womb to you
Loving and spacious
You're a star
Love is all we are
The rest amounts to nothing
Our flesh the temples of
The one thing that is everlasting
You're a star"
---
Blank & Jones - Mind of the Wonderful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVoNKg-bF5s&feature=related
"Cold is the night, cold are my hands, cold as my heart"
"Cold is the night, cold are my hands, cold as my heart"
Music is a good way of surfacing emotions in my mind. That is why I enjoy music with depth
------------
Before the Dawn - Wrath: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkzFZhrI60U
"My Broken bones grown whole
Wounds turned to scars and bleeding stopped
By Divine wrath I am reborn"
---
Mokoma - Sydänjuuret: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4QRkTKzj48
Alternative (trash metal, the original version): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44XsqXyv0-g
"Voiko onnen jostain ostaa
Voiko piilottaa lukkojen taa
Sieltä esiin tuolloin nostaa
Kun tarvitsee lohduttajaa"
Gouryella - Walhalla: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wp7xMwfS3M
"Our love heals
And feelings were starting to matter
When we shall fly on together
For now and forever"
---
Majai - Lightwave (Airbase remix): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rB8VY2HsdI&feature=related
(this one is particularly beautifully carved trance ch00n)
"I Grab My Coat, I Grab My Keys, And Then I Realize
That You're Not Around, You're Far From Here
And I Can't Find... Another Way To Tell You How Much I Miss You So
I Had You, Then I Can't Believe I Let You Go"
---
Pendulum - Crush: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mYd2X_9rrs
(the video is worth thinking about as well)
"Pictures that I’ve been dreaming are coming down
They’re changing my future
Visions I had buried underground
Returning to the future"
---
Vibrasphere - Tierra Azul (Omnimotion feat. Krister Linder remix): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wILYOuRCllI
This is a song for all the dear people. You are stars.
"The sun will set on you
Caress the darkness
Let it be a womb to you
Loving and spacious
You're a star
Love is all we are
The rest amounts to nothing
Our flesh the temples of
The one thing that is everlasting
You're a star"
---
Blank & Jones - Mind of the Wonderful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVoNKg-bF5s&feature=related
"Cold is the night, cold are my hands, cold as my heart"
"Cold is the night, cold are my hands, cold as my heart"
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