Courage

tonight is my last night in india. im writing this blog post from my hotel in delhi. tomorrow, my flight to new york leaves at (yikes!) 7:20 in the morning. of course, my mind is full of thoughts.

since i came to india 6 months ago, i have...

...taken multiple cross-country train rides

...almost drowned

...fallen off a camel

...rode an elephant twice

...rode on the back of a motorcycle

...been blessed by more hindu gods than i can keep track of

...heard the muslim call to prayer at least 20 times

...learned how to introduce myself in 3 indian languages

...put my spice tolerance to the test on countless occassions (just for the record, i still got it!)

...seen more crippled beggars than i would like to have seen

...lived with an indian telegu family

...been scared for my life at least two or three times

...trodded down the street with the himalayas in the background

...sailed down the kerala backwaters

...visited a school for lower castes that exists unknown to higher castes

...evolved a step closer to enlightenment

when i started this blog, i had no idea what to expect with it. i certainly didnt know total strangers would be reading it or that it would attract its own unique fanbase. while this will probably be the last blogpost, i am keeping the blog in cyberspace and possibly using sections of it for PRAKASHA: THE SCRAPBOOK.

i came upon the term prakasha when looking in a book of sacred sanskrit words, knowing i wanted to use one as the title of the blog. the term means "to shine forth." when i came to india, the term prakasha (or its hindi equivalent, prakash) was ubiquitous. i encountered it in peoples names, on storefronts, trucks, street signs, and other places. but i encountered it in other, more abstract ways as well. the people of india have their own prakasha that projects to the world in everything from a smile to a ritual to a plate of indian food with a cup of chai. there is a kindness and sweetness in india that shines in word, thought, and action. and i will carry that energy back to my home country, a place that really could use it. in america, we love money, privacy, hot water, and fast food. so much as a hug is taken as a personal invasion. we drive SUVs to show off how much we have in our bank accounts. we go to starbucks and, if god forbid we have to wait 10 minutes for our lattes, life as we know it is over. and if the wireless connection or the hot water goes out, the apocalypse is upon us. the sad thing is, im really not exaggerating that much.

i am not here to argue that india is perfect. anyone who reads this blog regularly has read my criticisms of the HIV/AIDS situation, the environmental situation, the inferior status of women, the sexual repression, the hindu right wing, and other inequities and issues in need rectifying. to be honest, i could never settle permanently in india. new york city is my home, and i dont know if i could leave it for longer than 3 months or so again. but there are crucial lessons the americans can take from india. for one thing, its various ethnic, language, and religious groups haved coexisted in harmony for centuries upon centuries. for the most part, they know how to get along. indians percieve every stranger as a potential friend and have no qualms about striking up a conversation or holding hands. indians also, candidly, dont whine as much if things dont go their way. in india, if adversity happens (and theres no way around it: adversity will happen), you deal with it and go on with your life. while they certainly do strive and struggle to make their lives better and their country better, they dont believe in sitting around complaining. americans are professional complainers.

but just as diaspora indians in the united states are learning how to bring india there by carrying their traditions and beliefs with them, i can bring india to the united states too. india has enhanced my whole perspective on myself and my world. i find myself much less neurotic and much more willing to start a dialogue with a stranger who becomes a friend since coming here. ive also learned that i have no right to become so obsessed with creature comforts, like hot water and wireless, as long as there are people in india who dont know if theyll live to see next tuesday. if someone asked me the most crucial lesson ive learned while here, it is one word: courage. courage to step beyond my comfort zone and try to understand someone elses viewpoint. courage to put myself in a situation where i know i wont get everything i want, or if i do get it, it will take longer than i like. courage to shine forth all the lessons ive learned from india and its people in my own country to make america a little better. that is the true meaning of prakasha.

i came to india believing that one event or one person or one region there would transform my life forever. but in actuality, it was the combination of every event and every individual that initiated the transformation. nothing in it of itself was so powerful that it alone could have caused this. i needed to experience it all. all the good and bad. all the different human emotions. before i came to india, i would tell people "yeah, im a little scared. but ive never been one to back down, and im not about to start now." its true. im not someone that backs down. but being in india, ive done more than just face fears. ive embraced the experiences and each one has shown me the way to a better me. and only by becoming the best person you can be can you truly ameliorate the world around you. thats prakasha: the courage to evolve from your experiences and use them to help others.

OM SHANTI

Darshan Over Tiger Hill

2 days ago, i got up early at 3:30 to see another treasure of darjeeling: the sunrise over tiger hill. from tiger hill, one can see the very apex of mount everest (the tallest mountain in the world) and a good view of mount khangchendzonga (the third tallest in the world), as well as other himalayan mountain peaks. as the sun rose over the mountains, the horizon was vivified with florid colors. in hinduism, there is a concept called darshan. the word darshan means "sight." the idea is that by looking at the name or a representation of a deity, one recieves the blessings of that diety by sheer sight. that morning, i experienced a different kind of darshan. the sight of the dawn of daybreak illuminating the mountain peaks was a true blessing. it was like the gods had shapeshifted into all the basic colors and then coalesced on a canvas to form new colors.

that night, as i ate at a nearby reataurant, i heard the islamic call to prayer from darjeelings only mosque. the transcendent chanting of "allahu akbar!" ("god is great!") was another blessing in the form of sound. in this sound was the exquisite dawn of muslim devotion that rises again and again each time the call to prayer resounds. the call to prayer is something people of all faiths can appreciate, as it comes to us when we least expect it. one becomes distracted from divinity with all the illusions of everyday life. then, the call to prayer dissolves the diversions and tells the story of our true origin in divinity. in darjeeling, there are many opportunities to recieve darshan.

Gompas of Darjeeling

2 days ago, i took a tour of the things darjeeling is famous for other than tea: gompas (tibetan buddhist monastaries) and the japanese peace pagoda. since the chinese occupation of tibet, tibetan refugees (including his holiness the dalai lama himself) have been forced to migrate to india in order to practice their religion without oppression or interference from the chinese government. darjeeling is one place where tibetan refugees have settled. as chinese capitalism decimates tibet to make way for globalization, one realizes that soon there will no longer be a physical tibet.

i started with the japanese peace pagoda, established by japanese buddhists to symbolize the hope for a world without war or nuclear weapons. the sound of the japanese mantra of inner enlightenment NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO resonated throughout the pagoda and the adjacent shrine, vitalizing the energy of peace on earth. the pagoda itself was adorned with carvings of images from the life of the buddha, reminding the viewer that all of us possess the same capacity for enlightenment that the buddha possessed, and that once attained, this enlightenment can be implemented to conjure peace on earth.

next, i toured around the various gompas. here, the tibetan refugees are perpetuating the monastic tradition of tibetan buddhism. while they do so in the splendor of the indian side of the himalayas, im sure one of the great inner spiritual struggles is overcoming their craving for home in tibet. the walls of the gompas were adorned with intricate, colorful paintings of buddhas and boddhisattvas. i have always loved the variegated quality and tiny detail in tibetan art. it reflects the diversity of the world around us, yet also one aspect that unites all beings: the potential of all of us to become buddhas, enlightened beings. as more of us journey closer to enlightenment with each experience of each lifetime, more of us unearth the inner tools of global transformation, which means we become more intimate with each other and accepting of diversity. here is the the path for the creation of peace on earth.

If Home Were Tibet

i have arrived in darjeeling (as in darjeeling tea)! and its simply incredible. its a hill station in the himalayas mostly populated by nepalis and tibetans. the name darjeeling comes from the tibetan language. it is a little tibet in india. here, one can see the four tallest peaks of the himalayas, including mount everest. im not one for hotels, but the hotel im staying at is simply wonderful. its called the hotel seven seventeen. i think its my favorite hotel ive ever stayed at. it feels like home...if home were tibet. more on darjeeling to come.

Kolkata On Strike

another stop on the way to darjeeling was kolkata (formerly calcutta). my flight was cancelled, so i was stuck there for a day. it wouldnt have been so bad if kolkatas communist government had not called for the whole city to go on a 24-hour strike, which turned out to be the reason my flight was cancelled in the first place. this meant that pretty much everything was closed, even KFC. in fact, i think more places are open in the states on christmas day than are open in kolkata during strikes. while i didnt encounter any dangers, from what im told, the city can become quite brutal and frightening during strikes. riots and street fights erupt, and sometimes stores are even bombed. fortunetely, there was a cyber cafe open where i could check my email and dominos pizza where i could get food. even these places, however, had lowered their gates enough so that no-one could throw a bomb into the store. my hotel had done the same. the streets were filled with children playing cricket instead of going to school and communists rallying in the streets for better rights for workers.

kolkata is located in the state of west bengal. if theres two things the bengalis love, its sweets and the goddess kali. and, of course, even though all the stores, the places of worship were open. in india, devotion takes priority over everything. the sikhs went to gurudwara. the christians went to church. the hindus went to the kali temple, and i heard the islamic call to prayer twice throughout the day. i went to visit the famous kali temple in kolkata, known as kalighat. swami-ji took me around the temple, anointed my forehead in red and yellow powder, and gave me a bundle of flowers. he showed me the place where goats are sacrificed to the goddess. in this ancient bengali ritual, a male goat is slaughtered while mantras to kali are chanted. then the meat is given to the poor. we could judge or condemn this ritual from our western perspective. but i dont see how anyone could argue that sending animals to the slaughterhouse is ethically superior.

swami-ji took me to the altar to kali, and then performed one of the nicest, most poignant rituals ive ever had the pleasure of participating in. with each of the flowers hed given me, he blessed my forehead and placed it on the altar. each flower bestowed a new blessing: one in my journey to darjeeling, one in my studies, one for my parents, one for my siblings, one for my friends, one for spiritual enlightenment, and one for general happiness. perhaps it was serendipitus that i was held up in kolkata for a day. if i hadnt been, i would have missed this powerful ceremony. i believe that these blessings will stay with me, and that each one was bequethed with the highest sincerity.

for the rest of the day i just wandered around the city and saw the AIDS ad pictured above. i have seen a few similar ads in various places in india, and am so happy that more awareness is being given to the epidemic in india. the next day, the strike ended and i was finally able to see something kolkata was famous for: bengali sweet shops. the sweets i bought were divine. they were mostly soft and flavored with spices like saffron and cardamom. they melted on my tongue. mmmmm.

Snapshots From Bangalore

i have left kerala (not without tears) and begun the journey north to darjeeling in the himalayas. part of this journey was a day in bangalore (in the state of karnataka) while waiting for a flight to come in. theres not much in bangalore. its pretty much just a big city. most people go there for business. but there are some cool museums there, and some beautiful national parks. enjoy the pictures.

Backwater Brothers

for a day while in kerala, i shared a houseboat on the backwaters with 3 good muslim friends: ismu, muhammed, and fasalu. it was worth every penny. for about 26 hours, we sailed the backwaters of kollam and allapuzha, eating keralan food, drinking kingfisher beer, and dancing to songs we sung abysmally in malayalam, hindi, spanish, and english. (muhammed is fluent in spanish and speaks some german too, not sure how that happened). we left our everyday lives behind for awhile to immerse ourselves in the universal life of nature and humanity. we abandoned our worries in the palm trees, the surrounding villages, and the birds flying above our boat. we became more intimate between ourselves and the ecology of kerala. perhaps this is why kerala is called gods own country. in kerala, one is encompassed by the reflection of god in nature, as well as in the affection and effulgence of the keralan people, the first thing i fell in love with the first time i came here. here, there is nothing to do but celebrate gods grace in the most mundane of miracles. and the food wasnt half bad either.

Kathakali

after leaving munnar, i returned to kochi, the city i stayed in during my first trip to kerala, and where i write this blog post from now. it is such a joy to be spending time in a place where people are so mobilized, literate, and empowered; a place of 100% literacy and stellar health care; one of the few places on earth that practices the matrilineal tradition. kochi is a very tranquil city on the coast of india filled with fish markets, affectionate people, and the aroma of the ocean.

my friend ismu who i met last time took me on a tour of the kochi backwaters on his motorbike, and then to a performance of kathakali, a traditional dance form from kerala. there are 101 different ancient kathakali performances, each one based on a different hindu story. it is famous for its combination of face paint, heavy costumes, hand gestures, and eye movements--all of which symbolize different characters, animals, and emotions. nothing is communicated through language. music from drum and harmonium conjures the backdrop. the one i saw told the story of lord krishna vanquishing a demon.

Return to God's Own Country

i have returned to kerala, perhaps the most ecologically beautiful place in india, and certainly one of the most on the planet. this time, i began in a town called munnar famous for the lovely tea plantations, mountains, and forests that surround it and for the delicious cardamom tea it produces. for the last 2 days, i trekked in the woods, rode an elephant, and explored forests of bamboo and sandalwood trees, tea aand coffee plantations, and wildlife sanctuaries. here, there isnt much to tell, but theres certainly a lot to show.