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Earlier in January
January Continues More Ramblings
Before heading onto India the group of us headed to the birth
place of Lord Buddha, Lumbini, Nepal.
After seeing where Buddha was born we decided to venture out to where he
left "this worldly life," the east gate.
ÊThe remains of the east gate.
ÊThe view, fairly unchanged, of what Buddha must have seen.
Ê
Within the palace complex sat this temple
to Lord Shiva; a tree grew right down through it
holding the bricks together.
January 8, 2000:
WHOA. That about sums up the past four days. I can't believe
it's been only four days. Than, Chester, and I arrived in Varanasi,
India this morning and I already feel like I've been here for
weeks. This place has that immediate feel to it - comfort. Strange
that a place where Hindus are bathing, washing clothes, and burning
all together in the river Ganges 200 yards away makes me feel
at home. Stranger yet the fact that we happened upon the city
during a three day Moslem holiday. (I'm sitting in my hotel room
listening to the evening call to prayer.) The people in this
country run so differently than back in the old ("Excuse
me, excuse me. Where are you from?") "America."
Religion here is an outward devotion, unlike what we're used
to in the states, a sort of private, personal devotion.
Speaking of different, try working your way through the streets
of either Nepal or India and you'll get a real feel of the way
time moves in these lands. From everyone I've asked, those machines
(bicycles, motor bikes, rickshaws, three-wheeled power rickshaws,
car, tatas(buses), and cattle trucks) are mostly responsible
for getting out of the way for pedestrians. Everything just kind
of slides together and comes out at varying speeds. Look for
my next article, "How I survived bicycling to Bahktapur
with a lung infection" if you're truly interested.
January 13, 2000:
Hello everyone! Yes, life in India
is a bit different than the ol' US of A. Here in Varanasi we're
experiencing many many wonderful things: a power company strike,
the end of Ramadan, called Eid, where hundreds of Muslims fill
the streets in celebration, and then the wondrous Makarsankranti
on the 14th of January where thousands and thousands of Hindus
will fill the banks of the river Ganges. It's a thing to marvel
at, this Varanasi. For the past week me and my two fellow travelers
have been taking Hindi classes. The program is supposed to teach
you Hindi in "8 easy steps". I think we'll make it
to step 6 before we leave and head on to Agra and the great Taj
Mahal. I'm working on some Varanasi pictures at the moment and
should have them up within the next few days.
January 17, 2000:
Namaste All. Two more Hindi classes to go before we pull out
and head to New Delhi and start our Iran visa application process,
a little thing rumored to take three or more weeks. Looks like
we'll be staying in India for some time. I have no problem with
this however (Hamko parashi nahi hai!) and will use the
opportunity to practice, practice, practice my newly learned
skill. Now when people ask how many languages I speak I can answer,
"Oh, just English, Spanish, Japanese and Hindi." with
no need to include the level of comprehension in each.
Yesterday the three of us bused out to Sarnath, the place
where lord Buddha gave his first teaching. It was a marvelous
place, very quite and filled with Sunday picnicking Indians.
Not only did we see Buddha's Deer Park, but we also visited the
ground's museum that contained the famous Lion Capital, the symbol
of India. The Lion Capital is a pillar top carved out of stone
dating back to the 2nd century BC; it's incredible, and all I
wanted to do was touch the surface. It looked like the skin of
a wet dolphin. Unfortunately, you'll get a slap if you even hint
at lunging.
So, until Delhi, namaskar!
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