tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41650727800253984362024-03-13T23:03:44.378-07:00Dust of the DustOn the road again. Words and pictures from my travels around the worldJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.comBlogger289125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-35904641593095211552015-04-11T04:41:00.000-07:002019-10-06T16:32:23.051-07:00Lose Yourself<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";">I’ve met a lot of
different people travelling, and never heard a single one claim to be
on a quest to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">find themselves</i>.
Rather, the expression is used exclusively by people who don’t travel, to
deride those who do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";">No-one travels to
find themselves. You travel to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lose</i> yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";">A few weeks ago,
I woke from a heavy night’s sleep on a thin foam mattress. I stretched and
cricked my neck, slipped on a pair of damp boots, picked up a half finished
toilet roll and walked across the courtyard in the dead of night to shit in
a hole in the ground. This was a new experience. As new to me as looking up in awe at the rugged, snow-capped mountain that stood sentry while I squatted in the
darkness. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";">The human mind is
adaptive. It creates patterns of behaviour in deep, impenetrable ways, and then leads
us along their grooves and contours. Most of the time they lie beyond the
boundary of conscious perception. In the midst of our routines, in the company
of people we know, places we are familiar with and secure in, we exist with
little conscious thought or effort. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";">If you want to
unravel those patterns, and understand how and why you make the subconscious
decisions you do, why your behaviour repeats itself in ways you pretend not to notice,
you’ll probably have to pay someone to listen to you talking. And then, you’ll
have to pull at every loose thread on every piece of clothing you ever wore, and
keep pulling, even when you know that to do so will mean the loss of the thing forever. (Keep pulling).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";">Or you could transport
yourself from your own environment to a different one, where everything you
know, all the systems, responses and perceptions you’ve accumulated and learned
over the years, are irrelevant. Where the instincts you rely upon every day are
suddenly blunted, useless, and you have to grow and sharpen new ones. Where you
have to think and feel in order to survive. And you might not have thought and
felt like this for years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";">From childhood we
cultivate a method of survival - a strategy for overcoming fear and insecurity.
For me, a suit of armour, comprised of layers of false confidence that made the
world less daunting and conquerable. Made fears and obstacles appear surmountable,
even when they were not. I have outgrown it - it no longer protects, but restricts. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";">Every
step I take shakes a little more of the cloak from my shoulders. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Every man or
woman who ever laid foot upon the road knows its magic. The feeling, rising up from the dust, through their weary soles and reaching into the heart. It might be hard to grasp, intangible, but when it strikes you, in a sunset, a new vista, a new adventure or new friend, it is unmistakable and enthralling.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";">Pace around the
same tiny cell and you’ll get to know it like nowhere else on earth. Or walk
out of the door, and dare to tread some new path, discover what lies beyond. It
doesn’t have to be distant, dangerous or intrepid - it just has to be new. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";">The only thing I can guarantee you won’t find out there, is yourself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";">And that’s because we’re
always one step behind ourselves, watching, thinking and interfering. </span><span style="font-family: "arial";">Fearful,
lest we step too far, too fast or too firm.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";">You might.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";">I hope you do, because that's </span><span style="font-family: "arial";">the whole fucking point.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";">Until next time then....</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_ORmodFxkG0/VSkFJqryzkI/AAAAAAAADT4/XlGmQ9z_bhE/s1600/IMG_2247.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_ORmodFxkG0/VSkFJqryzkI/AAAAAAAADT4/XlGmQ9z_bhE/s1600/IMG_2247.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-53956773688765510092015-04-09T12:33:00.002-07:002015-04-09T12:33:32.137-07:00Sab Chalta Hai<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Stop and look about yourself
in India, and you can't help wondering how anything gets done. It is the
very definition of chaos: dishevelled, disorderly, in apparent disarray, and riddled
with corruption and inequality.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TBhAOhaZPTg/VSbL3lMNKmI/AAAAAAAADTY/GJtJPuszRFc/s1600/IMG_2597-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TBhAOhaZPTg/VSbL3lMNKmI/AAAAAAAADTY/GJtJPuszRFc/s1600/IMG_2597-2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>And those who were seen
dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">I'm probably not quite ready to hit the dancefloor just yet, but I am standing at the bar tapping my feet. This afternoon, the last before I fly home, my friend Srila told me I had just wobbled my head like an Indian. I glowed with pride.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">First of all I had to block out the
background noise; the traffic, horns, throat clearing and shouting. Then I got used to people
not saying please or thank you. To having doors closed in my face and people
barging in front of me in queues or wherever I happened to leave room. To
having my personal space invaded by those who stand centimetres away when there is acres of space elsewhere. To putting my life on the line
every time I got in a taxi or tuk-tuk. <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">I got used to cows in the road, to head wobbling, impossible directions, to arduous administrative obstacle courses and haggling with rickshaw drivers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Then I realised that if everyone is impatient, rude and inconsiderate, then </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">no-one is. When everyone
drives badly, no-one drives badly. The rules are, there are no rules. And nobody dare break them. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Order, or a semblance of it, rises from the midst of this chaos because the denizens of the crazy zoo are tuned to its frequency.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Or, as Indians are fond of saying, <i>“Sab chalta
hai.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>Everything walks,</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>Everything flies,</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>Everything goes....</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And so it does.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">It might look chaotic then,
but extraordinary organisational and administrative feats are being
achieved all around. The tiffin system in Mumbai epitomises this – 200,000 freshly cooked lunches are collected from homes and apartments in the suburbs and delivered
to offices, schools and shops around the city every day. Five thousand <i>dabbawalas </i>execute this logistical miracle, making a mistake once
in every six million deliveries. Nothing is written down, there would be no point - most of them are illiterate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HBDxLD5NmAM/VSbNUO88njI/AAAAAAAADTk/U5kG1yrCzI8/s1600/IMG_2583.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HBDxLD5NmAM/VSbNUO88njI/AAAAAAAADTk/U5kG1yrCzI8/s1600/IMG_2583.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Down in Auroville the
Europeans are still scratching their heads and bickering over how to create
utopia, but in a corner of Mumbai, neither planned nor intended, a million people crammed into two square kilometres of slum developed a micro economy based on r</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">ecycling, clothing, leather and pottery, </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">that turns over a billion dollars a year. </span><i style="font-family: Arial;">Dharavi</i><span style="font-family: Arial;">.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">There is
poverty in Dharavi: poor sanitation, a lack of clean water, overcrowding and
appalling working conditions. But there is work, and community and a sense of
people trying to improve. All religions are here, living together peacefully and productively. Crime is low. Opportunity is high. I was shown around by one of many local guides who saw a chance to dispel the slum myth and cash in on curious tourists. </span><i style="font-family: Arial;">Sab chalta hai.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Men are huddled in a dark
room, ancient ceiling fans chopping through the thick, stifling air, smashing up
plastic that has been gathered from the city’s trash. Smashing it, sorting it,
grading it. Then it is crushed in giant machines (themselves manufactured in
Dharavi, naturally) washed and sent off to be recycled. Two metres away in the next
building, ten guys sit around their sewing machines making shirts. They sleep
in the loft upstairs. They’re happy, smiling and welcoming. And they make 200 rupees a day (£2). No Dharavi produce is labelled or marketed - just sold off into the outside world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h0EmrSXuEig/VSbKszVpGOI/AAAAAAAADTM/YvbZok7TBOc/s1600/IMG_2567-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h0EmrSXuEig/VSbKszVpGOI/AAAAAAAADTM/YvbZok7TBOc/s1600/IMG_2567-2.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="font-family: Arial;">Sab chalta hai?</i><span style="font-family: Arial;"> Well, almost, but not quite. There is one toilet for
around every 1,500 people. Much of the sewage diverts directly into Mahim
Creek, an open waterway running through the middle of Dharavi. It fucking
stinks, as you might imagine. What else it does, in terms of sickness and death, I cannot say.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6zuVs9robHU/VSbJjDn-bwI/AAAAAAAADS4/75FS64edIMw/s1600/IMG_2569.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6zuVs9robHU/VSbJjDn-bwI/AAAAAAAADS4/75FS64edIMw/s1600/IMG_2569.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Ten kilometres east of Dharavi is the dumping ground of <i>Deonar</i>, where 5,500 metric tonnes of rubbish are deposited every day. The mounds of garbage rise as high as a twenty storey building. There is no guided tour here.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>Sab chalta hai</i> suggests things
don’t need to, or won’t, change. That action is futile. And things do
need to change in India, because the colour, character and
effervescent humanity is just one side of the coin. The other is grubby and unmentionable.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Describing the incredible tapestry of life in the places I've visited, </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">I’ve always been conscious</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">of the loose threads that hang
from the bottom. The men, women and children who sleep on railway
platforms, under trees and in the gutters. The human beings who make for the
shadows, where they blend so subtly into the darkness that it seems as if
no-one notices them at all. The disenfranchised, the dispossessed, who seem to have
more in common with the animals they share the streets with than the rest of
the country.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> <i>There are some who are in darkness</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i> And the others are in light</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i> And you see the ones in brightness</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i> Those in darkness drop from sight</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">A hierarchical society structured
on caste cannot function without inequality, and it streaks through the heart of
India like a skidmark. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">The fawning deference and
subservience in the hospitality industry has its roots here, in a deep, implied
inferiority or superiority, depending upon the happenstance of one’s birth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Likewise the inequality
between the sexes. And not just inequality, but a sinister, violent menace lurks just below the surface of everyday life. It’s betrayed by the furtive,
rapey glance of a young shopkeeper at a passing western girl, and the sad testimony of a friend who has
stopped noticing being groped in Old Delhi, it happens so routinely. In the
streets where women don’t walk, the way men’s heads twist around to follow a
female figure – not with a smile, which I guess we’re all guilty of, but with a
feral urge to possess.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Plenty of them think it is
acceptable to beat their wives. Marital rape is not a crime. In a country of
such spiritualism and enduring humanity, these things need to be hoisted into the spotlight and addressed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I love India. Love it in a way that I honestly never thought I would ten weeks ago. I've seen extraordinary things, every day; eaten incredible food, every day. I've met people, from India and all over the world, who have blown me away with the depth of their humanity and the sheer brilliance of their stories.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I don't want my last word on India to be negative, but these undertones rumble away quietly in the background, all the time. The music is blasting out around them, and the people are dancing around the cow shit and the tired, prostrated bodies of the derelict. It's a great tune, and a great dance, and maybe it wouldn't be quite so crazy without them there. But they're there, and I wish they weren't.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Sab chalta hai only gets you so far, and if anything's going to change, someone's going to have to make it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">It won't be me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I'm going home.</span></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-5563773099667576572015-04-06T22:16:00.000-07:002015-04-07T07:50:40.660-07:00Old and new, black and white<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Travelling is exhausting, so it’s always
nice to finish up a trip like this with a relaxing week somewhere that allows
you to really unwind and reflect upon your experiences. And so on Friday, upended
by a ferocious hangover, I negotiated the living hell of Kathmandu airport and
flew to that famous oasis of peace and tranquility, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Delhi</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Delhi feels like a proper modern city. And
then, somewhere in the middle of it all, is a proper <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">old</i> city: an insane hive of furious, impatient humanity that
infuriates and delights in equal measure. Walking along Chandni Chowk, the
spine of Old Delhi’s bazaars, I feel as though I’m on some sort of crazed
fairground ride. I keep stopping to take it all in, which is probably the
equivalent of holding onto the rail for dear life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mo7iwDUX9uE/VSNafCFsJyI/AAAAAAAADRw/HSbDd6iUV3s/s1600/DSC_1768.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mo7iwDUX9uE/VSNafCFsJyI/AAAAAAAADRw/HSbDd6iUV3s/s1600/DSC_1768.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ds15rRTnxG4/VSNajFfY14I/AAAAAAAADR4/kgoSy51-S7M/s1600/DSC_1818.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ds15rRTnxG4/VSNajFfY14I/AAAAAAAADR4/kgoSy51-S7M/s1600/DSC_1818.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For reasons that elude me, the pictures I
took here look much better in black and white. Perhaps it's because the colours
don’t really matter; that the frenzy of human activity stops your brain from
rendering them anyway. In monotone it somehow stands still for you to try and
comprehend, which of course you can’t.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M85DRryvXJI/VSNYKk5Wy4I/AAAAAAAADRk/SHxfgJLHjJE/s1600/DSC_1809.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M85DRryvXJI/VSNYKk5Wy4I/AAAAAAAADRk/SHxfgJLHjJE/s1600/DSC_1809.jpg" height="285" width="400" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It had rained in the morning, and the
streets were not clean. What I’d like to think was mud swished around
everywhere, and a dead rat, trodden and trampled into the ground, perfectly
flattened, was so matted in street slime that I barely noticed it. I was the
only one that did. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Miraculously, through this knotted tangle
of streets, gridlocked with cycle rickshaws, scooters, carts and people
carrying impossible loads, we emerged at Jama Masjid Mosque. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BzQkk1tlLxc/VSNX4vu1zXI/AAAAAAAADRY/sOEY02tTPlE/s1600/DSC_1803.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BzQkk1tlLxc/VSNX4vu1zXI/AAAAAAAADRY/sOEY02tTPlE/s1600/DSC_1803.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only sensible
thing to do was to enter the courtyard where a semblance of peace prevailed and
we could stand unmolested. And then, to climb the minaret, a little aerial into
the sky, so that we could look down on the ant farm below.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lGjDCGLVbw8/VSNa4nZUENI/AAAAAAAADSI/yalXN12mmYM/s1600/IMG_2478-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lGjDCGLVbw8/VSNa4nZUENI/AAAAAAAADSI/yalXN12mmYM/s1600/IMG_2478-2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>...they were always climbing things, as though perspective were the key</i></span></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If perspective is the key to understanding, then I don’t know what
this aspect contributed to my grasp of Delhi. Or India. Maybe the real
epiphany comes with the realisation that the whole thing is so utterly
incomprehensible that trying to understand it is pointless and irrelevant. When
people stopped emerging from the stairwell, we climbed back down.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DKfIToipipc/VSNX32Bf6FI/AAAAAAAADRU/NXgO59FB70s/s1600/DSC_1795.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DKfIToipipc/VSNX32Bf6FI/AAAAAAAADRU/NXgO59FB70s/s1600/DSC_1795.jpg" height="285" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back at ground level and I realise that Delhi feels different to other cities in
India. The people more aggressive and impatient, rickshaw drivers more irritating and persistent. I find myself rising to them, ratcheting up the curtness of my refusals, and then out intimidating a security guard who tries to "fine" my friend 500 rupees for smoking somewhere she shouldn't have. I'd rather not be like this.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A shiny, clean and
modern metro system has burrowed a warren beneath the grubby streets. It swallows us up and pops us out
further south, in New Delhi, and for all the similarities with the Old we might
as well have emerged on the dark side of the Moon.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nOH6nWJR8XA/VSNaqsoHREI/AAAAAAAADSA/yxRHBqha81w/s1600/DSC_1820.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nOH6nWJR8XA/VSNaqsoHREI/AAAAAAAADSA/yxRHBqha81w/s1600/DSC_1820.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I won’t roll out the familiar cliché about
two cities in one, because Delhi is numerous cities in one; sacked and rebuilt
time and again as empires and rulers came and went. New Delhi is just the latest of them, planned and built by the British after 1911 as their capital. Further south is Qutub Minar, a twelfth century minaret standing improbably among ruins, themselves built upon the older remains of <i>Dhillika, </i>which had served as capital for the Tomars and the Chauhans for centuries.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If the chequered history of Delhi tells us anything, it is that mankind is forever destroying and recreating. There are times, when manhole covers are left off and their fetid contents fill the air, when men urinate freely and grope women in the street, when children throw plastic bottles into the road with churlish grins, that it seems as though Delhi is destroying itself again, from within. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope not, because it's actually quite a nice place. And if you lay down on the grass in Lodi Gardens of a Sunday afternoon, it's surprisingly peaceful and relaxing too.</span></span></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-2472637366660487362015-04-04T13:06:00.000-07:002015-04-07T07:51:39.682-07:00Kathmandu: The Valley of Ashes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nobody has anything nice to say about Kathmandu. “One day is all you need…it’s a shithole…the pollution is terrible…the best thing there is the flight home…” etc etc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was looking forward to debunking all that negativity, cutting through the smog and chaos to the clear, pulsating heart of my latest favourite place.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I can’t. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because they were right. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kathmandu is what happens when the human race is left to its own devices, when a city develops unchecked. It chokes and strangles itself, smothering history with a blanket of fumes. Walking around it is like being miniaturised and sent inside the diseased lung of a dying smoker. Thick on fumes, thin on oxygen. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2o6J8T5j-Jo/VR6Zk6QrsKI/AAAAAAAADPk/5mOYrLeUcqQ/s1600/DSC_1605.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2o6J8T5j-Jo/VR6Zk6QrsKI/AAAAAAAADPk/5mOYrLeUcqQ/s1600/DSC_1605.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m staying in Thamel, along with everyone else in the universe who owns a backpack. The streets are crowded with enthusiastic hawkers peddling everything from tiger balm and hash to miniature musical instruments. I politely decline all the friendly offers, weaving in and out of the traffic and trying not to fall into the sewers. The shops are flogging the familiar array of North Fake, pashmina, khukari knives, antiques and t-shirts. It's almost mesmerising, peering into them and wondering where on earth all this shit has come from.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-buUhuotTqn0/VR9rddbb8yI/AAAAAAAADQg/UAbfh8SyQI8/s1600/IMG_2409.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-buUhuotTqn0/VR9rddbb8yI/AAAAAAAADQg/UAbfh8SyQI8/s1600/IMG_2409.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I decided to walk down to the old town of Patan, which was a mistake. My eyes were stinging, nostrils welded shut with trapped particles of smog and my throat hurt. And that’s with four layers of cloth across my face and sunglasses on. I’m not alone – most of the people here look like they’re on their way to rob a bank.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JGLGrj9K-qs/VR9rPf0TGMI/AAAAAAAADQY/eY2nxQ8f1xY/s1600/IMG_2416.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JGLGrj9K-qs/VR9rPf0TGMI/AAAAAAAADQY/eY2nxQ8f1xY/s1600/IMG_2416.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The main Durbar Squares, in Kathmandu and Patan, are incredible. Crammed with temples, stupas and pagodas and closed to (most) traffic. I finally get to see the real city at work. Around them spreads a labyrinth of passageways and tiny courtyards. Everywhere you turn is a temple, stupa or shrine, or a doorway leading to some other discrete space; the gateway to another universe. If Kathmandu is a lung, these are the bronchiole, infiltrating the hidden depths of the city, but the pollution permeates them too, and even here I feel stifled and repressed by the air.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KTkFz0ykYww/VR6Zk12_X4I/AAAAAAAADPg/yK90hihf_YA/s1600/DSC_1619.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KTkFz0ykYww/VR6Zk12_X4I/AAAAAAAADPg/yK90hihf_YA/s1600/DSC_1619.jpg" height="317" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h3cdTgmmHig/VR6Zo1GDThI/AAAAAAAADPs/XpEso-zjlYU/s1600/DSC_1641.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h3cdTgmmHig/VR6Zo1GDThI/AAAAAAAADPs/XpEso-zjlYU/s1600/DSC_1641.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On my third morning in Kathmandu I did what I probably should have done on the first, and got the hell out of there, hiking up to Shivapuri Peak with flagrant disregard for the Lonely Planet’s warning:</span></div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>From the monastery it’s possible to climb steeply for about three hours to reach Shivapuri Peak (2725m) returning to the park entrance for a very long day of around seven hours. This is a serious hike that you shouldn’t do alone. Take a map, plenty of water and preferably a guide</i></span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I took plenty of water.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was beautiful up there, climbing up out of the smog and racket into moist jungle; red monkeys, butterflies and birds for company. Most of the six mile trail was stone steps and it took two and a quarter brutal hours to reach the top. The only people I encountered were two nuns, and a guy living on top of the mountain hanging out his washing. From</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> there I looked down upon the city, sprawling into every corner of the valley as if it has been poured from the sky.</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yyxjhNdY02U/VR__x8qlNfI/AAAAAAAADQ0/Mr-aPJiI2w8/s1600/DSC_1738.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yyxjhNdY02U/VR__x8qlNfI/AAAAAAAADQ0/Mr-aPJiI2w8/s1600/DSC_1738.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">East of the city, at Bodhnath, is the largest Stupa in Asia. A never ending carnival of devoted Nepalis, monks and tourists circumambulates it in a circus of colours, smells and sounds. It is ridiculously photogenic and tourists scramble for shots like this:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f-6w9H6EWH4/VR9ohzW7sNI/AAAAAAAADQE/ZaDr4MMNP3c/s1600/DSC_1688.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f-6w9H6EWH4/VR9ohzW7sNI/AAAAAAAADQE/ZaDr4MMNP3c/s1600/DSC_1688.jpg" height="400" width="285" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I make a few laps and the repetitive, clockwise pilgrimage is hypnotic, metronomic. Yet all the while, there in the centre, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the shifty looking eyes of Buddha sit perfectly still. I stop walking to look up and into them, and they look back and into me. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't think of anything other than the eyes of Dr T.J. Eckleburg, looming over the Valley of Ashes.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love Nepal and Nepali people, and I wanted to love Kathmandu. I tried, I really did try. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Little flashes of the place really excited me; watching a game of chess on the pavement with twenty odd spectators huddled around the board, kids playing cricket with a stupa as the wicket, exploring minute passageways and uncovering hidden treasures in tiny courtyards.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the sad reality is that these moments are shimmers of gold in a steaming mountain of shit, and I just don’t have the stomach to wade through it looking for them. Maybe it's because I'm nearing the end of my trip. Maybe it's a hangover from the wasted 5am starts in Pokhara, or maybe I just can't survive on the fumes of the Valley of Ashes, even under the Buddha's watchful gaze.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ISHpEVdpSa8/VR9oswJmYuI/AAAAAAAADQM/aogWwH6Oikk/s1600/DSC_1686.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ISHpEVdpSa8/VR9oswJmYuI/AAAAAAAADQM/aogWwH6Oikk/s1600/DSC_1686.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">*</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This is a valley of ashes – a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-grey men, who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.....but above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg</i></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatbsy</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br /></blockquote>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-61007586458292264742015-04-01T19:19:00.001-07:002015-04-07T07:51:57.466-07:00Pokhara: Busy Doing Nothing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bhutan was a great place to visit, but it
was hardly relaxing. With a guide, a driver and an itinerary, there wasn’t much
down time, and every other day we were in transit. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So it was a welcome relief to hit Pokhara,
free to do as I pleased. And it pleased me to do </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fuck all</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pokhara has what the Lonely Planet might
describe as a “Laidback backpacker vibe.” Some of them have been laid back here
for the last forty years by the looks of it. I can't be too critical - the most strenuous thing I did on
my first day was get my beard trimmed. With scissors, because I went during the
daily power cut. It took most of the afternoon.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vSdq8WuPS-w/VRwlqSzMvMI/AAAAAAAADN0/li_R6YkXPqE/s1600/IMG_2229.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vSdq8WuPS-w/VRwlqSzMvMI/AAAAAAAADN0/li_R6YkXPqE/s1600/IMG_2229.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I stepped it up the next day by hiking up
to the “Peace Pagoda,” walking out of town and suddenly seeing a little of the
real Nepal, so close to all the bars, cafes and shops of Lakeside. An alarming
contrast, and a reminder that this is an impoverished country. But the people are even friendlier out here and every one of them
proffers a cheery <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Namaste</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wK67lLc4NGs/VRyba-zhSDI/AAAAAAAADOU/wjafe6K2R_Y/s1600/DSC_1453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wK67lLc4NGs/VRyba-zhSDI/AAAAAAAADOU/wjafe6K2R_Y/s1600/DSC_1453.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Up the hill and down the other side, I forked out the 350 rupees for a boat ride across the lake back to town. Being the only passenger
there, the guy seemed reluctant to waste his time taking me over, so sent me
packing with these two kids instead. Not wanting to still be out on the water at
Christmas, I soon gave in and did the rowing for them, while they sat up front and
enjoyed the ride. I asked for a tip but they’d scarpered before we’d even made
the shore.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LvIYk4boSdg/VRya8LMwe_I/AAAAAAAADOM/lLYijJm_lbI/s1600/IMG_2238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LvIYk4boSdg/VRya8LMwe_I/AAAAAAAADOM/lLYijJm_lbI/s1600/IMG_2238.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s a calm and peaceful place all right. I
happily while away a few days either side of the trek here, eating sensational pain
au chocolate in Café 17, drinking almost London standard espresso in Pokhara
Java and generally mincing about with nothing to do except shopping for knock off trekking gear.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tVXZLQ4rCUk/VRyb6uGqyLI/AAAAAAAADOc/8g1JNUrsiFA/s1600/IMG_2330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tVXZLQ4rCUk/VRyb6uGqyLI/AAAAAAAADOc/8g1JNUrsiFA/s1600/IMG_2330.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh, I did wake up at 5am on two consecutive
mornings. Apparently, dawn on the top of Sarangkot is a “religious experience.”
The rising sun lights up the Annapurna range, and the gathered masses who have
taxied then trekked their way up the 1250 steps gasp in awe and click away on their
cameras. But not when the view is completely obscured by cloud. Both days. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaaarggghhhh</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hNqmsQg8G8U/VRyiu792MXI/AAAAAAAADO0/VyN4CJaXafI/s1600/DSC_1580.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hNqmsQg8G8U/VRyiu792MXI/AAAAAAAADO0/VyN4CJaXafI/s1600/DSC_1580.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Truth is I did so little while I was in
Pokhara that I shouldn’t even be writing about it. But I thought if I didn’t, I
wouldn’t be able to post this photograph that I took down by the lake, which would have been a shame.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B7CafSRtYVA/VRyaxXx5IiI/AAAAAAAADOE/znkTy8sVoZI/s1600/DSC_1470.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B7CafSRtYVA/VRyaxXx5IiI/AAAAAAAADOE/znkTy8sVoZI/s1600/DSC_1470.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-42312518658249660832015-04-01T06:23:00.001-07:002015-04-07T07:52:18.765-07:00Mountain<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">From
Pokhara, Mount Machhapuchhre appears a near perfect triangle, steep slopes
rising from the ridge to a pointed peak. From the east and west, it is
completely transformed, a second peak materialising behind the first and
giving rise to its name - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fishtail</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zaEHbJypZ3Q/VRuCcd3A03I/AAAAAAAADNQ/uLPjeWiVhk4/s1600/DSC_1545.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zaEHbJypZ3Q/VRuCcd3A03I/AAAAAAAADNQ/uLPjeWiVhk4/s1600/DSC_1545.jpg" height="285" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Machhapuchhre
looks special, and is special; sacred, and closed to climbers.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>It is the dwelling place of the Hindu
God Shiva, who lives on its summit, and for this reason man is forbidden from stepping foot upon it. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The only
sanctioned expedition to climb the mountain was made in 1957, led by Colonel James
Roberts. Wilfrid Noyce, who had been part of the 1953 Everest team, spearheaded the
assent but stopped 150 feet short of the summit out of respect for its religious
significance. That’s one story at least.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Another possibility is that they were prevented from reaching the summit by heavy snowfall. Roberts
lived in Pokhara until his death, and it is thought that he may have influenced
the decision to declare the mountain off limits to climbers, possibly because
he didn’t want anyone else to succeed where he had failed. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial;">In the
preface to Noyce’s account of the expedition, he wrote:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><i>Everybody
seemed to be climbing mountains in Nepal and I flew at once to Kathmandu in a
fever of anxiety lest some trespasser had already had the effrontery to ask
permission to attempt Machhapucchre…..it became for me the ideal mountain, a
personal possession yet out of this world, unattainable but mine by illogic
right</i></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial;">One man,
however, almost certainly attained the prize that eluded Roberts. In the early
1980s a New Zealander named Bill Denz probably succeeded in an illegal, solo
climb. Reading a little about him, I would say it is highly likely that he did. It's a secret that died with him, either way, in an avalanche on Makalu in 1983.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The
Mountain Museum in Pokhara is housed in an incongruous aircraft hangar, with a
curious collection of artefacts on display. By far the most interesting of them
are the clothes and equipment from various expeditions, and the photographs of
those who undertook them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The
pictures are extraordinary, this collection of men from all over the world,
all different backgrounds, united by a shared and primal spirit. It is there
in their eyes and how they hold themselves; confidence and poise, born out of a
deep, indomitable will to test mind and body against nature, and succeed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">From my short trek I kept glimpsing Machhapucchre, but never clearly enough to really capture
its splendour. Instead I am left with a handful of unsatisfactory photographs, and feeling unfulfilled. T</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial;">he sense that it kept slipping through my fingers, and</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"> knowing it is beyond the compass of man, only
adds to its intrigue and appeal.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Which is not
a bad thing. To be in the grip of something unattainable, that possesses,
drives and obsesses, is at the heart of what it means to be human. For some
men, those things aren’t people, ideas or dreams, they are mountains, and they live
inside them all the same. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial;">George
Mallory, on his first Everest expedition, wrote to his wife:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><i>Everest
has the most steep ridges and appalling precipices that I have ever seen. My
darling...I can't tell you how it possesses me</i></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It did so
until he died trying to reach its summit, of course, epitomising all
that is heroic and tragic in the lives and deaths of men who never turn from
pursuing the things that elude them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-80287464637074909562015-03-30T23:45:00.001-07:002015-04-07T07:58:14.360-07:00Reconnaissance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US">Here’s how trekking
works for me: </span>I get the map out
and scribble down the times it takes to get from place to place. Then I set out
to smash them. A seven-day hike in four days. No guide, no porter. Ten kilos on
my back. Man on a mission.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just don’t know
what the mission is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I soak it all up
on the way. I look around, take the odd picture. Pause to marvel at
butterflies, stare up and around at the wonder of my surroundings. Get slapped
in the face by the view when a peak appears out of nowhere. But I walk fast,
climb fast. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“It’s not a
race,” I keep telling myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But it is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I start at <i>Nayapul</i>, seething with contempt for my fellow trekkers. The place is a palette of
obnoxious colours, everyone bedecked in their North Farce jackets. Most are in
groups, Nepali porters carrying up to 100 kilos of their baggage at a time. My
blood boils.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They’re soon in
my dust. I stop to drink water, chat to some Chinese guys and realise what I’m
missing: the camaraderie, meeting new people, the shared adventure. But time is
short and this is meditation for me. An hour later, up through the valley in
glorious sunshine, I reach the small cluster of restaurants and guesthouses at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hile</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Is this <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Heil</i>?” I ask.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“No, it is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hilly</i>,” comes the reply.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course it is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TerCG4H6Qnk/VRoroMSQKyI/AAAAAAAADMM/ZyJ6PHDZcMI/s1600/DSC_1488.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TerCG4H6Qnk/VRoroMSQKyI/AAAAAAAADMM/ZyJ6PHDZcMI/s1600/DSC_1488.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hilly</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I lunch with two
American girls who are plodding their way up to Annapurna Base Camp. We’ve all
ordered chicken noodles and they’re a long time coming. A cockerel that has
been crowing for the last half an hour suddenly falls silent.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After lunch comes an
assault on the stone steps up to Ulleri. This is relentless torture, no matter
how fit you are. I feel a few spots of rain and a storm rumbles somewhere out
over the mountains. I haven’t even thought about the weather, let alone
prepared for it. I reach the top in a heart and lung busting hour, calves and
quads on fire. At the first sign of shelter, it begins to piss down. I order a
sweet tea, change out of my sweaty shirt and hang out with a new friend who
shudders every time the sky cracks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ZhFzsZf0Bc/VRohg0_O0-I/AAAAAAAADLU/nW7e4o7TN2k/s1600/IMG_2250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ZhFzsZf0Bc/VRohg0_O0-I/AAAAAAAADLU/nW7e4o7TN2k/s1600/IMG_2250.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It clears an hour and a half later and the two American girls appear from the top of the
steps, wet but smiling. I push on to Banthanti and stop at the last guesthouse
in town, plans to reach Ghorepani scuppered by the weather. After a shower I warm
myself by the fire as a lone Japanese man dries his socks. We don’t share any
words, he and I, just smiles and a cold beer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m out of the
door at sunrise, and at Ghorepani for breakfast. It’s an hour's hike up stone
steps to the vantage point of <i>Poon Hill</i>, but I go the wrong way and walk for
ninety pointless minutes instead. I enjoy spectacular scenery and solitude but am
angered by my mistake, and grapple with it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1viD-qY_YP8/VRpAKabeVDI/AAAAAAAADMw/fOa7uRkJQro/s1600/DSC_1499.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1viD-qY_YP8/VRpAKabeVDI/AAAAAAAADMw/fOa7uRkJQro/s1600/DSC_1499.jpg" height="400" width="285" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f9z5rFcWgzA/VRpADw7D2AI/AAAAAAAADMo/NLW4cnxaVoo/s1600/IMG_2262.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f9z5rFcWgzA/VRpADw7D2AI/AAAAAAAADMo/NLW4cnxaVoo/s1600/IMG_2262.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hJZbkeW9gL0/VRorxpOS5tI/AAAAAAAADMU/9jjTE0BvXJ4/s1600/DSC_1499.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I do make it
up Poon Hill, the view is completely obscured by cloud. I meet three Canadians
up there who have just trekked the Annapurna Circuit. Everything happens for a
reason. After lunch I press on again, and just as I am turning out of town, the
two American girls home into view again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z1U1r5A-B28/VRokt6mRFsI/AAAAAAAADLo/6HIuKLqWgms/s1600/IMG_2274.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z1U1r5A-B28/VRokt6mRFsI/AAAAAAAADLo/6HIuKLqWgms/s1600/IMG_2274.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The climb up to
the Deurali pass is another toughie, through splendid rhododendron forests with
just birdsong and an occasionally buzzing fly for company. At the top, the
cloud is rolling in as though it is being slowly exhaled by something, and I
take food and water in an empty hut. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m through Ban
Thanti (as opposed to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Banthanti</i>,
different place) at around four, ready to kick on when the rain comes. Down
here in the valley, rainforest all around, moss and moisture in every breath, I
decide to cash in for the night. I’m the only trekker staying in the village,
and the sole entertainment comes when a buffalo is slaughtered somewhere and my
hosts set about butchering their share of the meat and drying it around the
fire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xeVSzQk7URI/VRolg3q-cTI/AAAAAAAADL0/tAuFIfasCsc/s1600/IMG_2292.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xeVSzQk7URI/VRolg3q-cTI/AAAAAAAADL0/tAuFIfasCsc/s1600/IMG_2292.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
I’m striding out
towards my third night sleeping in my clothes on a thin foam mattress, defecating
in a hole in the ground fifty yards away, and “showering” in water dripped through
a plastic bag with holes in it. There is no flat ground here, just Nepali Flat: infinite ups and downs. But it is easier now and I am ready to
make some serious time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which is when I
move to overtake a group of German medical students, but end up talking to them
instead. We stop to look at a monkey up a tree. Something is dripping on us. It
isn’t rain. If birdshit is lucky, what’s monkey piss?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ubufdUZSlyo/VRorixv1laI/AAAAAAAADMI/7S6B4aOGJuM/s1600/IMG_2294.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ubufdUZSlyo/VRorixv1laI/AAAAAAAADMI/7S6B4aOGJuM/s1600/IMG_2294.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
They’re getting a
jeep back to Pokhara in the afternoon, while I am pressing on. Over lunch the rain
comes again. At the signpost to Landruk, I have to decide between dropping down
into the valley and trekking for another day on my own, or joining them in the ride back
to town.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Decisions this
stark are hard to make. They stand around waiting for mine. I stand around
hoping for a clap of thunder to make it for me.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the back of
the jeep I am tearing myself apart trying to understand the choice I made. Have I
quit on the trek, or just chosen a better path? What part of the experience
led me to end it, or have I been guided by some silent epiphany?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">*</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It was the summer of 1988 and I was ten years old: our first holiday to
Italy. The clearest memory of that trip is of my sister and I turning around
in the back seats of the Volvo, staring through the rear window to prolong our
last glimpse of the land left behind. I remember the teary-eyed look we
exchanged, the sentiment we secretly shared.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Bouncing around the rear of the jeep with six enormous rucksacks, staring back up the valley at the imperious Machhapuchhre, resplendent in the fading
sun, I felt the same thing. That some invisible and unbreakable thread now connected me to that place and knowing, for certain, absolutely and inevitably,
that I would return.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
I didn’t know it when I set out, but this wasn’t so much a trek as a
sortie. <i>Reconnaissance</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
You might not get what you came for, but you always leave with
something.</span></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-56794236003980307932015-03-29T20:21:00.001-07:002015-04-07T07:53:00.917-07:00Photography as Theft<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm always conscious of the voyeurism inherent in any foreign travel. I find it discomforting and try to avoid it whenever I can. You want to respect people and the lives they lead, not gawp in wonder or shove cameras in their faces. This is not a zoo, and they are not animals.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nepali people are remarkably open and friendly. If you ask them if they mind having their photograph taken they will probably smile and assent. Most of them are a lot poorer than you, and some might ask for a little money in exchange for their photo. But probably not.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sat down by the lakeside in Pokhara last night, I watched two women row a boat full of firewood across the water. When they finally arrived on the shore, they were struggling with the heavy, awkward bundles. I wondered about offering to help them, but genuinely figured that they were probably a lot stronger than me anyway, and might not appreciate the offer. What it never occurred to me to do, was this:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5VGP7dhPZwU/VRi_hUZ_lvI/AAAAAAAADKs/segqnsNlDnk/s1600/IMG_2316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5VGP7dhPZwU/VRi_hUZ_lvI/AAAAAAAADKs/segqnsNlDnk/s1600/IMG_2316.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was filled with fury watching these guys, shamelessly, without asking, shoving their cameras in the face of this woman as she went about the arduous task of trying to make a living for herself. Perhaps I am being over sensitive or dramatic, but to me this is reducing her to a lesser being. Something to steal the image of and use for your own narcissistic or commercial purposes. It is theft.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no skill to taking these pictures. No sympathy or understanding of your subject; no humanity. Not only that, but a good photographer, even one who was an arsehole like these guys, would feel and anticipate what was happening around him. He'd figure that after stripping the bundles of wood, they'd probably be hoisting them on to their backs and walking off along the shoreline, the sun setting behind them. He'd know that this would be the better photograph and would wait.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These dickheads were long gone when that happened, probably shoving their lenses in the face of some amputee or orphaned baby. I can only hope that some terrible incident befell them before they got to upload their "work" to flickr or wherever.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Later on I saw the photo I took of the Chinese people next to me on the plane and wondered if what I had done was any different. I decided it was.</span></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-86189219324942601682015-03-29T00:34:00.001-07:002015-04-07T07:53:24.596-07:00Welcome to Pokhara<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I woke at 4:30am this morning and Paro airport was still in darkness when I checked in for my flight out of Bhutan. As the lights eventually flickered into life around 6am, cleaners and airport workers appeared from their shadowy sleep on the seats and benches.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was flying to Kathmandu, and weather conditions at both ends make take off times a guess at best. When we did get in the air an hour or so late, I had a prime spot on the right hand side as we banked and rolled our way up through the foothills.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chinese people seem to take on a collective persona when they travel en masse, as though they are one giant being, like a flock of birds chirping and gesturing together in some secret exchange. The two next to me were jabbering away like crazy, then suddenly fell silent. I couldn’t help taking this photograph when I realised why.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-li6An9pmxIA/VRDkVgTdhNI/AAAAAAAADEs/C9VA1hu9l8c/s1600/IMG_2159.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-li6An9pmxIA/VRDkVgTdhNI/AAAAAAAADEs/C9VA1hu9l8c/s1600/IMG_2159.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wish they’d stayed that way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were soon up above the clouds, floating across a sea of freshly whipped, silky meringue. I knew what was coming, but that didn’t make it any less magical when it did and to glimpse a thing so iconic, that has challenged and vanquished so many men, its greatness beyond all of them, was actually quite emotional.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jXHoFM7M1ZY/VRDlPSJm-xI/AAAAAAAADE0/XgW9hMCmCFQ/s1600/IMG_2174.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jXHoFM7M1ZY/VRDlPSJm-xI/AAAAAAAADE0/XgW9hMCmCFQ/s1600/IMG_2174.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or it was until the creature to my left leant across me, sticking a smartphone to the window, her breath reeking of fresh vomit. I offered to take a picture for her, and she expressed tremendous gratitude before coughing and sneezing in my direction for the rest of the flight. Probably my penance for the stolen selfie.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Flying into Kathmandu, you see how vast it is. A place that massive, it’s no wonder the international and domestic terminals are so fucking far apart, and I lugged my heavy bags past the taxis and non functioning ATM machines, suddenly and disastrously overdressed with moist jeans sticking to my legs and sweat puddling in every recess.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Via a pathway strewn with the now familiar array of fresh animal turds, I arrived at the domestic terminal. A greater clusterfuck of an airport building you will not find anywhere in the world. This is the entrance:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RUINmTrDF9E/VRDlZepCacI/AAAAAAAADE8/NC9pada_XKo/s1600/IMG_2213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RUINmTrDF9E/VRDlZepCacI/AAAAAAAADE8/NC9pada_XKo/s1600/IMG_2213.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went through “security”. No body scanners here, just a dirty curtain and a half-arsed molestation. The other side of the curtain is hell on earth for the tired and sweaty traveller. With no rupees, I get fleeced ten bucks for a coffee and a “chicken club sandwich.” I negotiate a refund on the sandwich on the grounds that no one who worked there could identify any of the ingredients. I am micrometres away from losing my shit and only sheer exhaustion stops me.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Needing to calm down, I miraculously found a seat. Across from me sat an Indian woman, giant rolls of fat flopping out from the folds of her flowery sari like over proved dough. Beyond her, impossibly young looking gap year students were grouped on the floor playing <i>Uno!</i> for long periods of concentrated silence, broken by sudden screams of frenzied excitement. Cadaverous white calves were framed between clean hiking boots and fake north face pants, unzipped at the knee. A fat man wearing some sort of woggle round his neck shopped for chocolate bars, looking like a disgraced Akela who has (unsurpsisingly) lost his boy scouts.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The incessant hum of Nepalese, Hindi and English mingled with a voice over the tannoy that could have been in any language. Or possibly the microphone had just been left next to a badly tuned radio. In case you didn’t understand these announcements (you didn’t), a guy in a hi-vis vest prowled around shouting them as well, only slightly less intelligibly.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my delirium, I think for a moment that I am playing chess with a Japanese man I met several years ago in the middle of the forest in Kamikochi. I’m not. I think I hear my flight being called and my head jolts upright.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <i>Yeti Airlines</i> flight to Pokhara was surreal. People wandered out to a bus, which took us to a plane that was basically just another bus, but with wings. I sat in a single seat, hand luggage on my lap, upon which I resignedly slumped my heavy head. There was a lot of excitement about the view from the other side of the plane, but I’d seen enough for one day. The landing was spectacular though, turning a sharp right over the outskirts of town and almost scraping the satellite dishes as we immediately dropped onto the narrow runway.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In so far as it differed from Kathmandu, I took an immediate shine to Pokhara, not least when my hold baggage was the first to be handed through the open window for collection. I got into the nearest taxi, and the requested fare exactly matched my refund from the club sandwich debacle. All the rupees I had in the world.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rkG7gsknK5Q/VRDlqqk_iXI/AAAAAAAADFE/5mF6-nt62bI/s1600/IMG_2226.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rkG7gsknK5Q/VRDlqqk_iXI/AAAAAAAADFE/5mF6-nt62bI/s1600/IMG_2226.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It all seemed too good to be true, and for a minute I thought I’d just fallen asleep in the pitch black of Paro airport and dreamt the whole fucking thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hadn't.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-68975589214996924232015-03-28T08:12:00.000-07:002015-04-07T07:53:47.592-07:00Bhutan: Lhakhangs, Goembas and Dzongs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Lonely Planet doesn’t warn you of it. No doctor or pharmacist can alleviate its symptoms. Like the common cold, you know it’s coming, but can’t avoid it. If you’ve travelled anywhere in Asia, you will surely have been struck down by it at some stage. It can even be fatal.</span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Temple Fatigue.</i></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve been to a lot of temples in Bhutan. Some are <i>Lhakhangs</i> in their own right; others are inside monasteries and forts. It is testament to their intrigue that I have not remotely tired of them - if anything they got more interesting as the week went on and I began to grasp the players and stories.</span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hZ60UA0EBAs/VRZRVSpaRHI/AAAAAAAADH4/Fvue7PyQ0Po/s1600/DSC_1127.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hZ60UA0EBAs/VRZRVSpaRHI/AAAAAAAADH4/Fvue7PyQ0Po/s1600/DSC_1127.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gangte Goemba</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each has its own unique charm and character; from walls blackened by burning butter lamps, to perfect indentations in the wooden floor of a pair of feet, rubbed away by centuries of prostrations. The musty smell, the strange perfumed water, the carvings, paintings, symbols, statues; in every room you taste the tangy sweat of history on your lips.</span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many Bhutanese temples have an inner chamber in which some diety or other resides. Most are of a dual nature; dangerous and volatile, but capable of placation and responsive to prayer. No one can enter unless, I’m told, they <i>really</i> need to. And then the door, painted black as a portentous sign of what lies within, might be prised open and the faithful admitted.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can’t take photographs inside the temples, partly to preserve their sanctity, and it adds to the magic. The experience of visiting them is intensified because the moments are precious and all you can carry away with you is what you see and feel.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The temple at the far end of <i>Punakha Dzong</i> is one of the most amazing rooms I’ve ever entered. Fifty four pillars stretch skyward like the digits of a golden hand, galleries poised on their fingertips. Three huge statues dominate the back wall, and hundreds of tiny ones in boxes line the sides. Murals depicting the life of the Buddha are glued to the walls, and every inch of pillar and wood is intricately carved with mysterious symbols. I spend a long time in here, scanning and sketching, trying to crystallise the image and impression so I might never forget. Photography with the mind as camera.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Outside the temple: shoes on, camera out. In the courtyards the roofs overhang the buildings and create stark lines of light and dark. Red robed monks appear and disappear like mirages, floating across the stone floors. Inside and among the cloisters, the glossy, knotted wooded floors, steep ladders and small windows make me feel like I’m on some old galleon, the Mary Rose perhaps, and I figure that the architecture of pre-modern warfare was the same everywhere. I hang around in the gables like some malevolent bat, or lurk in the shadows, waiting for a scarlet clad monk to ghost past and complete the shot.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l9qO4Qz1T0I/VRZYyT3EMOI/AAAAAAAADIg/ZHodh-SZeuw/s1600/DSC_0978.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l9qO4Qz1T0I/VRZYyT3EMOI/AAAAAAAADIg/ZHodh-SZeuw/s1600/DSC_0978.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FQQCr2XSpzo/VRa9X3CMp5I/AAAAAAAADKQ/9FDfoSwwXDg/s1600/DSC_0988.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FQQCr2XSpzo/VRa9X3CMp5I/AAAAAAAADKQ/9FDfoSwwXDg/s1600/DSC_0988.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Punakha Dzong</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DtP_ts9QUqQ/VRZRcoIJTUI/AAAAAAAADIE/uObVpkhiBUA/s1600/DSC_1325.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DtP_ts9QUqQ/VRZRcoIJTUI/AAAAAAAADIE/uObVpkhiBUA/s1600/DSC_1325.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AG7ym0OszZI/VRa45pZyhNI/AAAAAAAADKE/GunIMbMLnxg/s1600/DSC_1319.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AG7ym0OszZI/VRa45pZyhNI/AAAAAAAADKE/GunIMbMLnxg/s1600/DSC_1319.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paro Dzong</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are majestic buildings. The </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dzongs</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, or forts, in particular, stamp their authority on the landscape. The base of each regional government, they date from across the ages, and share the same menacing, impenetrable look. They are dotted all over the country, many in the most impossible and inaccessible places.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XmLEZdEvFZE/VRaq8Danp0I/AAAAAAAADJQ/s0w6xhq3W4E/s1600/DSC_0678.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XmLEZdEvFZE/VRaq8Danp0I/AAAAAAAADJQ/s0w6xhq3W4E/s1600/DSC_0678.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Tashichho Dzong, Thimpu</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s not just the incredible architecture of all these buildings, the detail of the carvings and paintings, but their locations too. The hike up to <i>Tango Goemba</i> in the Thimpu valley was steep and sweaty. Up here among the blue pines, the great canvas of the Himalayas as the backdrop, the daily rituals of life and religion are conducted effortlessly and hypnotically, and climbing up here I feel transported to another time and place. Then the monks pour tea and break out the Danish butter cookies, and transport me back.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-snJ6GefEzTc/VRasB33L7AI/AAAAAAAADJc/jVLVHUaGnRk/s1600/DSC_0898.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-snJ6GefEzTc/VRasB33L7AI/AAAAAAAADJc/jVLVHUaGnRk/s1600/DSC_0898.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tango Goemba</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some places in the world defy superlatives, and </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taktshang Goemba</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, the highlight of every trip to Bhutan, is one of them. Clinging to the shimmering rock of a sheer cliff face, it looks as if someone has thrown it there and it just stuck. The legend goes that it was anchored in place by the hair of female celestial beings who transported the building materials up the mountain on their backs. But what you actually see is not so old, faithfully rebuilt after the old monastery was gutted by fire.</span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wanting to avoid the crowds, Ugyen and I set off early, and were the second people to arrive, hiking up in record time. It was hard going, but worth it, getting to really feel the place without being jostled out of the tiny temples, and taking time to soak up the peculiar atmosphere. Wandering in and out of the temples, up and down stairs, in and out of the rock, it’s almost as though I am inside some organism or living thing. It is extraordinary to look at, and magical to explore; the stuff of pure fairytale. Myth and legend seeps through every crack in the wood and stone.</span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One hike up here is enough for most people, but having left and descended just as it was starting to get busy, I climbed back, to take pictures in the late afternoon light. It was quiet on the trail, and special again to sit perched on the edge looking across at this magnificent place, waiting for the sun to break from behind a cloud with not a soul to disturb me, just the sound of the birds for company and an occasional distant bell from the monastery as the prayer wheels turned, while dutiful monks incanted prayers and prostrated themselves on the cold timber floors.</span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beneath the last building at Tatkshang, through a small crack in the rock, down a tiny, improvised ladder and along a narrow passageway, the butter lamps burn at a small shrine marking the original spot where <i>Guru Rinpoche</i> meditated after flying up the cliff on the back of his consort, transformed into a tigress to carry her master. They say you can see his face etched in rock here. <i>The Tiger’s Nest.</i></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DHo7KT65rkQ/VRa3elWpBwI/AAAAAAAADJ4/pE_vOeGVgZE/s1600/DSC_1384.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DHo7KT65rkQ/VRa3elWpBwI/AAAAAAAADJ4/pE_vOeGVgZE/s1600/DSC_1384.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tatkshang Goema: The Tiger's Nest</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Proof, if it were needed, that when man believes in the unthinkable he can create the impossible; and that buried deep inside every living thing you will find the seed from which it sprung.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-20969393173278641232015-03-24T19:42:00.000-07:002018-12-01T00:44:19.914-08:00As I Walk through the Valley<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At three o’clock this afternoon I went for a walk, making</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> my way along the western slope of the Phobjikha valley. I thought I’d walk as far as </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Domchoe Lhakhang</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, follow a trail across the marshy floor, climb up to another temple, and loop back to the hotel via the opposite flank. But I was neither sure of where I was going nor committed to this idea. I was just glad to be out there on my own.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I followed the “road” for a while as it ambled through the next village. Traditional Bhutanese houses, wooden and made without a single nail or screw, huddled together, chickens and toddlers playing in the yard. Most of the roofs are simply wooden slats, tied up with bamboo threads and weighed down with rocks.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">School had finished for the day and out of the pine forests came little clusters of children. Most waved and said hello, some shirked away shyly or giggled among themselves. Some insisted upon having their photo taken. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Hnyboojq0Cs/VRDrrWVDCMI/AAAAAAAADFg/H6kn7eTyLGE/s1600/IMG_2086.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Hnyboojq0Cs/VRDrrWVDCMI/AAAAAAAADFg/H6kn7eTyLGE/s1600/IMG_2086.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Those that did speak to me all asked the same question:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Where are you going?”</span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Good question. <i>Good question</i>. Not knowing the answer, I simply replied:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Nowhere” </span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Which was probably as close to the truth as I could have got if I’d spent a long time thinking about it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I didn’t find the temple I was looking for, probably because the temple I was looking for looked nothing like the one I was <i>looking</i> for. With the crest of each passing hill I expected to see it, and after about an hour I pronounced that I had passed it long ago. Just then the sun dipped below the ridge, and I reluctantly turned back to retrace my steps. No one likes an out and back walk and I desperately wanted to cross the valley into the sunshine, but lacked a path to follow.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What is a path though, but the means for some creature or other to get from one place to the next? I had already seen the schoolchildren following their own paths, criss-crossing the valley in their unique, expedient ways; individual routes that would carry them home. I looked hard into the distant bottom of the valley, and sure enough there they were, little groups of kids, probably on the trail I had meant to take, but had long since passed.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kdiWOYCtUNE/VRDqmkQrnoI/AAAAAAAADFU/cgqMPjp-bJU/s1600/IMG_2083.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kdiWOYCtUNE/VRDqmkQrnoI/AAAAAAAADFU/cgqMPjp-bJU/s1600/IMG_2083.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Without really deciding to, I found myself descending the hillside, sidestepping cow shit, tiptoeing carefully over boggy ground and joyfully leaping a few narrow streams. I emerged from my tangent to cross the main bridge they had all been heading for, and joined them in the steep climb up to the village. As I gained ground I looked back at the river below and the series of tiny oxbow lakes, and realised I had probably been quite lucky to pick a navigable route through them.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WfzAG42Dmaw/VRDsEliYwkI/AAAAAAAADFo/a3s6PrQmpJM/s1600/IMG_2084.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WfzAG42Dmaw/VRDsEliYwkI/AAAAAAAADFo/a3s6PrQmpJM/s1600/IMG_2084.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the top I entered a village populated exclusively by cattle. Beyond them on the road some guys were playing darts, hurling their heavy, lethal projectiles at a scrap of wood at least fifty yards away. Buoyed by my earlier off road success, I cut across another field, only to meet an impassable stream and have to trudge back to the dusty road.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8krk351goCA/VRDugOKf_zI/AAAAAAAADF0/NaIJh1Jo11c/s1600/IMG_2089.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8krk351goCA/VRDugOKf_zI/AAAAAAAADF0/NaIJh1Jo11c/s1600/IMG_2089.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Back at the hotel I felt rejuvenated but a little achey, so I went for a traditional Bhutanese hot stone bath. A crude wooden tub is filled with cold water and herbs, while rocks are baked on a fire and dropped in to heat the water.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I knew all this, but what I hadn’t appreciated was that it would take place outside. And it is fucking <i>freezing</i> outside.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Y91z6_H79A/VRDvOYOI4CI/AAAAAAAADF8/E7I4Ddhomjc/s1600/IMG_2099.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Y91z6_H79A/VRDvOYOI4CI/AAAAAAAADF8/E7I4Ddhomjc/s1600/IMG_2099.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was almost dark when I stripped and plunged into the scalding water. And it was another of those moments, travelling, when you suddenly view yourself from a distance and the complete absurdity of your situation overwhelms you with pure and simple joy. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bollock naked, in a wooden bathtub heated by red hot stones, engulfed in steam and smoke from the fire, in the pitch black, freezing cold night, outside a ramshackle farmhouse in a remote valley of an obscure kingdom in the Himalayas. Smiling. Really, truly smiling, inside and out.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KH3nMCSaog4/VRDvaNksUlI/AAAAAAAADGE/ifa5qNCWa30/s1600/IMG_2102.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KH3nMCSaog4/VRDvaNksUlI/AAAAAAAADGE/ifa5qNCWa30/s1600/IMG_2102.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Before I went to bed I fired up the <i>Bukhari</i>, or log burner. Swaddled in the covers and extra blankets, I wondered what it is about walking that feels so good for the soul? It is such a simple action; one foot in front of the other. The most basic means of progress for man, and every step leaves some trace, the sum of them a path.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I turned this over in my mind, drifting off down the valley again into sleep, as the fire crackled away and the pan of water bubbled like a giant cauldron, boiling up tomorrow’s spells.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And then in the morning, as if by magic, I remembered this:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>For untold thousands of years we travelled on foot over rough paths, not simply as peddlers or commuters or tourists, but as men and women for whom the path and road stood for some intense experience: freedom, new human relationships, a new awareness of the landscape. The road offered a journey into the unknown that could end up allowing us to discover who we were.</i></span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- John Brinckerhoff Jackson</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-57499588123353525142015-03-24T19:36:00.000-07:002015-04-07T07:58:41.736-07:00Gross National Buffetness<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Want to know what strikes fear into the heart of every food lover, more than any other sight?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This does:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IWGgYD9LfQg/VRFwEYJr7EI/AAAAAAAADG0/-Lq3mM9xTPg/s1600/IMG_2124.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IWGgYD9LfQg/VRFwEYJr7EI/AAAAAAAADG0/-Lq3mM9xTPg/s1600/IMG_2124.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaaaargggghhhhhh</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <i>buffet</i>. Such a dirty word. <i>Boof</i>. <i>Eh</i>. Buff. It. Food cooked in large quantities and kept warm for hours. The opposite of everything that is joyous about food and eating. In Bhutan, it is the accepted means of feeding the tourist. Breakfast lunch and dinner.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a crying shame because the real Bhutanese food is great. I guess the tourists are of a certain demographic, and they probably don’t want their taste buds assaulted with chillies. But I do. I want them fucking <i>blitzkrieged</i>. And I want the food that does this to be freshly cooked.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't have any real expectations when I arrived, so lunch on the first day was a pleasant surprise. I ordered the first item in the Bhutanese section of the menu: <i>Beef Pa</i>. What came was slow cooked shin of beef, served with dried red chillies and sliced radish. It tasted every bit as good as it looked. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3NVi0XUhu6s/VRFvtFjO3XI/AAAAAAAADGc/SS4rFXzJ2fA/s1600/IMG_1932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3NVi0XUhu6s/VRFvtFjO3XI/AAAAAAAADGc/SS4rFXzJ2fA/s1600/IMG_1932.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beef Pa</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alongside chilli, the other thing they eat incessantly is cheese. I was expecting a sort of yak's feta, strong and tangy, but more often than not you are getting a strange liquid cheese, the like of which I have never really seen before. On its own it would be uninspiring, but needless to say, it is </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">always</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> accompanied by chillies. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ema Datse, </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the national dish, is cheese and chilli. Other versions include potato, spinach, mushroom perhaps, but there is always cheese and there is always chilli. <i>Lots</i> of chilli.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After one cold, bland and insipid </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">buffet too many, I started to go off piste, and Ugyen would ring ahead and arrange a la carte options, or I would read up in the Lonely Planet and just piss off on my own. I can't bear going into these places, full of tour groups or couples much older than me, where the table is set for one and my guide and driver are siphoned off into a room out the back to eat real Bhutanese food (where I'd rather be).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I persuaded Ugyen to get one hotel to serve me the same food as him and Chencho, and was rewarded with some dried fish. Whilst I don't exactly hate this stuff, "like" would definitely be too strong a word. The other native dish they bring involves mushrooms and chillies </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(obviously)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, and I wolf it down.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0IWDADopfpg/VRFv7TIhZAI/AAAAAAAADGk/h513TWR7raA/s1600/IMG_2109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0IWDADopfpg/VRFv7TIhZAI/AAAAAAAADGk/h513TWR7raA/s1600/IMG_2109.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Probably the best dish I had was this <i>Phaksha Pa</i>, or cured pork pa, on the left. You might be able to make out a very thin strip of meat attached to the fat. This wasn't there when I came back the next day, and it didn't need to be, because the fat itself is the star, and it is so fucking tasty I could die eating it and not notice. Sweet, salty, smoky and soft, delicate, yet firm enough to bite. It melted in the mouth. That's their <i>ema datse</i> on the right of course. I promise you there's cheese in there somewhere.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sooner or later though, I need a break from incinerating my mouth and insides at every meal then drinking sweet black tea to calm the inferno. So in Thimpu I went to a western joint and indulged in a fantastically delicious yak burger, washed down with a surprisingly crisp <i>wiessbier</i>. Like all good beers, it benefits from the purity of its main ingredient: water. I could definitely handle a night on the Red Pandas. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mepisZpm6Xs/VRFv9psNpHI/AAAAAAAADGs/hXhM9xuWfIE/s1600/IMG_1954.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mepisZpm6Xs/VRFv9psNpHI/AAAAAAAADGs/hXhM9xuWfIE/s1600/IMG_1954.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0IWDADopfpg/VRFv7TIhZAI/AAAAAAAADGk/h513TWR7raA/s1600/IMG_2109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On my last day, I nearly acquiesced and had lunch at another buffet, but on the approach I ditched the politeness and excused myself. Instead I crossed the street to the place I had eaten in the night before, where I devoured some tremendous fried pork momos and felt gluttonous but happy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's some truly great food in Bhutan, but most visitors won't even get close to it. They'll be too busy eating <i>Olive Spaghetti</i> or some manky stir fried chicken to even know about the wilted fernheads the boys in the kitchen are tucking into with their bare hands. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ignorance might be bliss, but they can keep it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Give me pure unadulterated pork fat, dried yak meat, and chillies in cheese over that shit any day of the week.</span></div>
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-IWGgYD9LfQg%2FVRFwEYJr7EI%2FAAAAAAAADG0%2F-Lq3mM9xTPg%2Fs1600%2FIMG_2124.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IWGgYD9LfQg/VRFwEYJr7EI/AAAAAAAADG0/-Lq3mM9xTPg/s1600/IMG_2124.jpg" --><!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-3NVi0XUhu6s%2FVRFvtFjO3XI%2FAAAAAAAADGc%2FSS4rFXzJ2fA%2Fs1600%2FIMG_1932.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3NVi0XUhu6s/VRFvtFjO3XI/AAAAAAAADGc/SS4rFXzJ2fA/s1600/IMG_1932.jpg" --><!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-0IWDADopfpg%2FVRFv7TIhZAI%2FAAAAAAAADGk%2Fh513TWR7raA%2Fs1600%2FIMG_2109.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0IWDADopfpg/VRFv7TIhZAI/AAAAAAAADGk/h513TWR7raA/s1600/IMG_2109.jpg" -->Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-16179442483060546342015-03-23T21:06:00.000-07:002015-04-07T07:59:03.933-07:00The Land of the Thunder Dragon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HCC0Hx78eTw/VQzYB85RdaI/AAAAAAAADCI/jRkScfGi6hw/s1600/IMG_2058.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Some places are easy to write about. Bhutan
is not one of them. Today is my fifth day in the country and I still don’t know
where to begin.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I’ll start here.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A foreigner enters your country and insults
your religious beliefs. He meditates using “girls and wine.” He sets about
shagging every virgin he can find, racking up at least a thousand of them. He
knocks on your door requesting a room for the night and fucks your wife and
daughter while you’re in the kitchen making him dinner. He has sex with his own
mother and brags about it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What do you do? Kill him? Castrate him?
Imprison him? Send him back from whence he came?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is another option: you could worship him as one of your
most important saints. Paint a giant penis on your house, or dangle a wooden
phallus from the gables in his honour, perhaps. You could, like me, walk across
the paddy fields to his temple and get blessed with a bow and arrow and a
replica of his ten-inch “Man’s organ.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ETJXCDoH9-g/VRAdmT-R9jI/AAAAAAAADEA/eY1bWNJ6vGM/s1600/DSC_1341.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ETJXCDoH9-g/VRAdmT-R9jI/AAAAAAAADEA/eY1bWNJ6vGM/s1600/DSC_1341.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Welcome to Bhutan, and meet </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Drukpa Kunley</i><span style="text-align: justify;">, aka the </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Divine Madman</i><span style="text-align: justify;">. A wandering Lama from
Tibet, a sort of Himalayan Rasputin who spread crude and offensive songs and
poems, challenged conventional Buddhism, and somehow charmed his way into
Bhutanese hearts as a religious and historical hero.</span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LYK3rtuH6-w/VQzZ6GDw3nI/AAAAAAAADC0/BhunCCFlaPw/s1600/DSC_0938.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LYK3rtuH6-w/VQzZ6GDw3nI/AAAAAAAADC0/BhunCCFlaPw/s1600/DSC_0938.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pre blessed cocks for sale en route to the Madman's Temple</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">His philandering notwithstanding, he
achieved notoriety through a number of supernatural feats, conquering evil
spirits and so forth. He chased one particularly troublesome demon until it turned into a dog, then slayed it. The dog was buried at the site of </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chimi Lhakhang,</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> the main temple celebrating him; </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lhakhang</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> meaning temple, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chimi</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> meaning “There is no dog.” </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am told such things everywhere we go, and
it has taken me until now to realise that I’m not just being bombarded with folk
stories and legends by an enthusiastic guide. Rather, these tales of subdued
demons, multiple manifestations of gurus flying up mountains on the backs of
tigers, of goddesses with twenty-one incarnations, vanquished enemies turned
into snow lions, they are Bhutan’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">history</i>.
Elusive, mysterious and unfathomable, maybe, but history nonetheless.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most written records have perished over the
years in fires or earthquakes, so oral history pervades. Stories, told through generations of families
or in monasteries and schools, carry the past forward. Each </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">goemba</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> or </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lhakhang</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> celebrates some god, goddess, guru, lama or other, and glued onto every inch of their walls are fine cloth paintings depicting great and heroic deeds. Some are faded, some are fresh. The walls themselves are the annals of
Bhutanese history; not so much a cogent chronology of events than a shifting set
of stories, myths and legends, all woven into the fabric of their unique brand of Buddhism.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-utwiJoxeToo/VQzZA907niI/AAAAAAAADCk/bKYtCdOsobs/s1600/DSC_1151.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-utwiJoxeToo/VQzZA907niI/AAAAAAAADCk/bKYtCdOsobs/s1600/DSC_1151.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bhutan didn’t open itself up to the rest of
the world until the 1960’s and its seclusion has cultivated a highly
traditional and deeply religious society. Fifty years ago it was basically
still a medieval kingdom; no common currency, telephones, postal service,
schools, hospitals or roads. The traditions I see all around me; the
houses, dress, the prayer wheels and flags, they belong to a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pre-modern</i> society. In corroboration of this statement, I happen upon a group of guys partaking in the national sport: archery. In their tunic like <i>ghos</i> and with wooden bows, I doubt this scene has changed at all in the last thousand years.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-owdVgLCA3Jg/VQzYCGeOOaI/AAAAAAAADCM/C9tYhOHYmyw/s1600/IMG_2079.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-owdVgLCA3Jg/VQzYCGeOOaI/AAAAAAAADCM/C9tYhOHYmyw/s1600/IMG_2079.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The paradox of a modern society
emerging from such traditional roots is all around you in Bhutan. Monks
chat on mobile phones, or walk down the road with adidas stripes visible under
their robes. People take food to the temples, where it is blessed and
redistributed among the people. I imagined a sort of ongoing harvest festival, everyone sharing the
fruits of their labour, but the food they bring is exclusively junk; bags of
crisps, sweets, chewing gum and biscuits. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cvJy23rrqhA/VQzaD5wNiiI/AAAAAAAADC4/MhZ55i_8CTc/s1600/DSC_0880.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cvJy23rrqhA/VQzaD5wNiiI/AAAAAAAADC4/MhZ55i_8CTc/s1600/DSC_0880.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I met a guy who watched the 1998 World Cup
Final on a TV that had to be hidden afterwards in case the police caught them,
because televisions were still banned. Ten years later the first
democratic elections were being held. Five years after that, everyone is on facebook and twitter.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The pace of change has been rapid over the
last fifty years, but economically it doesn’t stack up. The principles behind Gross National Happiness; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sustainability, healthcare, education, cultural and environmental preservation are more important than economic growth. A noble concept, but it is being bankrolled from the outside and economic self-reliance would be an equally benign and more fruitful objective.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How will Bhutan embrace modernity? </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can’t help wondering how long the
adherence to obscure and fantastical religious beliefs, not least as the
guiding principles of government policy, will survive. In a country of ever increasing consumerism and rising imports, how strongly can tradition withstand the pervasion of foreign culture, as the outside world creeps into Bhutan over the bandwidth and the airwaves?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Down in the Phobjikha valley, I felt transported in time to a land where cattle grazes, small crops are grown, men play archery, and people traipse across the valley and up the hill to the temple. Mountain streams are diverted to turn the prayer wheels, so the incantations never cease. Prayer flags are yoked to arrow straight pines, aways one hundred and eight of them in clusters across the landscape, in memory of the dead.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xFGNerDSnNU/VRDbhrhCJKI/AAAAAAAADEc/pEOn1B1Q950/s1600/IMG_2097.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xFGNerDSnNU/VRDbhrhCJKI/AAAAAAAADEc/pEOn1B1Q950/s1600/IMG_2097.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HCC0Hx78eTw/VQzYB85RdaI/AAAAAAAADCI/jRkScfGi6hw/s1600/IMG_2058.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HCC0Hx78eTw/VQzYB85RdaI/AAAAAAAADCI/jRkScfGi6hw/s1600/IMG_2058.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Up at the Tiger's Nest monastery there is a stupa said to fulfil your wishes. I circumambulated it three times, all the while praying to Guru Rinpoche, Langchen Pelgi Singye, the Divine Madman, Zhabdrung, Thangtong Gyalpo, the four Cardinal Kings and all the Gods whose names, faces and deeds I have not so much forgotten as never remembered, that the words of the Fourth King of Bhutan, Land of the Thunder Dragon, hold true:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I have no intention to allow technology and money to savage the ageless beauty of this land, its social harmony, the blend of its past, present and future. Bhutan will develop, yes, but the Bhutanese people will keep faith with their traditional human values. They will move to the future as a united people, not as a people divided and disarrayed by ethnic and other hatreds. We are not in a hurry. Time is a friend and an ally. </i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His Highness Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuck, 1988</span></blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-405403521281565282015-03-18T19:48:00.002-07:002015-04-07T07:59:28.217-07:00The worst (but greatest) game you never saw<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of my
favourite quotes of all time is from Sir Richard Turnbull, the penultimate
Governor of Aden. He once told Labour politician Denis Healey that,</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>When the
British Empire finally sinks beneath the waves, only two monuments
will be left standing: the game of association football, and the
expression, "Fuck Off."</i></span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like everyone
else they came into contact with, the British had a pop at the Bhutanese, but
ended up leaving them alone for political reasons. Maybe that's why football
has never been Bhutan's forte. In fact, that is something of an understatement,
since they are the lowest ranked national side in the world according to
FIFA: 209th of 209.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bhutan</span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> didn't
play their first international match until 1982, and as recently as 2000 were
beaten 20-0 by the mighty Kuwait. They have won four times in their history (62
matches), against Montserrat, Guam, Tibet and Afghanistan. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But this year, for the first time, they’re in the qualifying rounds of the FIFA
World Cup. Last Thursday, Bhutan upset all the odds by defeating Sri Lanka 1-0
in Colombo. Their shock victory was even reported in the New York Times.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was on the
same flight as the Sri Lankan national team on Sunday morning, and chatting to
a few of the players I realised that the return leg was during my stay. I
begged and persuaded Ugyen and Chencho to ditch a few "cultural"
activities and take me to the game instead. What, after all, could get me
closer to a nation's heart than watching them compete in the biggest football match in their history?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">This is only
the fourth international match to be played in Bhutan. Schools and government
offices are closing early so they can make it to the Changlimithang Stadium, as
modest and unusual a ground as you are likely to find.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v6N96sNcmlY/VQmbt7dOHSI/AAAAAAAADAI/MreE6Tytgss/s1600/IMG_1994.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v6N96sNcmlY/VQmbt7dOHSI/AAAAAAAADAI/MreE6Tytgss/s1600/IMG_1994.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HT-gKgZjAhU/VQmbuPe3YzI/AAAAAAAADAQ/whKCdIfuHiY/s1600/IMG_1993.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HT-gKgZjAhU/VQmbuPe3YzI/AAAAAAAADAQ/whKCdIfuHiY/s1600/IMG_1993.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's a real
buzz around town as we walk to the stadium, two hours before kick off. "This
place has a lot of history for our people," Ugyen informs me, as we take
our seats, "There are dead bodies under the pitch." Indeed, in 1885
it was the site of the final battle of a Civil War and led to the future King,
Ugyen Wangchuck, unifying the country. It doesn’t get much more meaningful than
that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xTOEzCY5iuM/VQmd76kzGWI/AAAAAAAADBM/nCza1dMCdy0/s1600/IMG_2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xTOEzCY5iuM/VQmd76kzGWI/AAAAAAAADBM/nCza1dMCdy0/s1600/IMG_2018.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fervour
rises as kick off looms. The players of both teams are greeted with wild cheers
and screams. As are, surely a first, the match officials. The grandstand overflows with people, squeezed in
like a Guinness Book of Records attempt. There is no health and safety gone mad
here, quite the opposite; every gangway has been utilised for extra capacity
and the toilets and exits are beyond everyone’s reach. With the gates closed,
people are climbing trees and scaling walls to gain a vantage point. Down on
the pitch the pre match action is restricted to some guy in a gho kicking
footballs at a couple of stray dogs. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W-6zHq_Q-yo/VQmb3250kAI/AAAAAAAADAg/w5OBcDWqwTQ/s1600/IMG_2008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W-6zHq_Q-yo/VQmb3250kAI/AAAAAAAADAg/w5OBcDWqwTQ/s1600/IMG_2008.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uoCzoKo4dPk/VQmgTdjVd6I/AAAAAAAADBo/WYG9ydo9tl4/s1600/IMG_2006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uoCzoKo4dPk/VQmgTdjVd6I/AAAAAAAADBo/WYG9ydo9tl4/s1600/IMG_2006.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the game
finally gets underway I realise that, in the excitement, I have overlooked the
standard of football I was about to witness. Both sides were palpably nervous,
and the opening minutes reminded me of my first ever match, as a nine year old;
twenty kids running around the park in a pack, chasing after the ball wherever
it happened to be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The pattern was
broken spectacularly though after five minutes, when Chencho Gyeltshen, the </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ronaldo
of Bhutan</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (he has greasy hair), was sent through and coolly flicked over
the initially hesitant, then suddenly over committed, but always badly positioned, Sri Lankan keeper. The reaction was
predictably jubilant.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-63cF3hqMRWU/VQmd5Dc3uiI/AAAAAAAADBE/Ba-U6Kx06IQ/s1600/IMG_2025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-63cF3hqMRWU/VQmd5Dc3uiI/AAAAAAAADBE/Ba-U6Kx06IQ/s1600/IMG_2025.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rest of the first half was diabolical, and things were looking bad for Bhutan as the two guys I
sat next to on the plane (the Sri Lankan <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ronaldos</i>)
carved open the home defence time and again, a bundled in corner eventually drawing them level. Bhutanese Ronaldo attempted to equalise directly from the restart,
but like most shots, corners and free kicks, his effort sailed hopelessly wide.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know
what went round the dressing room at half time, but it was a different Bhutan that
emerged from the break, stretching Sri Lanka's woeful defence with purpose if
not proficiency. The Sri Lankan Ronaldos went quiet as the altitude began to
take effect.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bhutan re-took
the lead on the hour with a brilliant effort, or so we thought. I might have been the first to
notice the linesman's flag and as is so often the case, it was NEVER offside. The
officials, from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, must have been drafted from the same lowly
end of the pool as the two teams. The ref frequently found himself bodychecking
players or having the ball ricochet off him, and wasn't even looking when
substitutions were made.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"BhutannumbertwentytwoOFF,"
the guy behind me had been screaming for most of the match. He had a point, but
<i>Bhutannumbertwentytwo</i> got the chance to ram those words back down his throat
when put through clean on goal. Twice. His woeful misses would have been funny if I hadn’t
struck a sneaky little wager on the outcome. The double goal line clearance at the other end was more enjoyable.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An historic and
deserved victory was finally sealed in the ninetieth minute. With Sri Lanka
pressing hard for the winner they needed to avoid elimination, Bhutan broke
quickly and Chencho kept his cool to slot home a second before being engulfed by
his teammates. We fought our way through the crowd, me towering above most of
them, some staying to celebrate as others scrambled the walls in scenes
reminiscent of Escape to Victory. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d4aJ5wjHcrs/VQmeLC7KbhI/AAAAAAAADBU/7Xmg7Jw1nK8/s1600/IMG_2030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d4aJ5wjHcrs/VQmeLC7KbhI/AAAAAAAADBU/7Xmg7Jw1nK8/s1600/IMG_2030.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before the match, Bhutan’s captain, Karma Shedrup Tshering, had said the
squad were not getting carried away:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Everyone was talking about us being at
the bottom but we didn’t feel any pressure because you can only go one way from
there, and that’s upwards</i></span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would tend to caution that, from 208th in world, you can go back down as well....</span></div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-3414049428961551602015-03-17T19:14:00.003-07:002015-04-07T07:59:45.123-07:00Happiness is a Place<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few months ago I went into a bookshop to
pick up a guide to Nepal, which they didn’t have, and walked out with one to
<i>Bhutan</i> instead. I didn’t know much about Bhutan, but I quickly realised I would be
going. </span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bhutan decided long ago that we will never be a military power, we will never be an economic force, so to survive we must have a distinct identity. This is the identity you see; our clothes, language, the architecture. You look around and feel you are in a different world. This is not an accident.</i><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As if to prove it, the government has created its own criteria for measuring what it terms <i>Gross National Happiness</i>. It has spurned the pursuit of economic growth and favours preserving the fabric of society and the wellbeing of its citizens instead.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then I read a bit more, and discovered that
as part of their unorthodox approach to pretty much everything, they have a policy of "low impact, high value" tourism. This means a minimum charge for foreign tourists, which includes a guide, food, transport and accommodation. In peak season, travelling
alone, the figure is 290 US Dollars. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Per day</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Should keep out the riff-raff....</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Io1MMQ62EBs/VQhUsaj1EKI/AAAAAAAAC_k/m8ybQ-wzYxY/s1600/IMG_1917.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Io1MMQ62EBs/VQhUsaj1EKI/AAAAAAAAC_k/m8ybQ-wzYxY/s1600/IMG_1917.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bhutan Immigration Form</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's an hour's flight from Calcutta and the last ten minutes are spectacular, as we bank our way left and right
through the mountain passes on our descent into Paro, and I catch a first
glimpse of white Himalayan peaks in the distance. Walking to the terminal building, I think this place is going to be very, very different.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9h2WiZ0ZtWI/VQhSEMDL8kI/AAAAAAAAC_I/K3gZF6gJYyg/s1600/IMG_1925.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9h2WiZ0ZtWI/VQhSEMDL8kI/AAAAAAAAC_I/K3gZF6gJYyg/s1600/IMG_1925.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paro Airport</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Waiting for me the other side of the friendly
customs guys is </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Uygen Penjore</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, who is going to be my guide for the week. He is
impeccably turned out in a black </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gho</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, the traditional Bhutanese male attire. (Everyone is wearing one of these.) He offers me a white scarf by way of a welcome and we walk to the car
and meet </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chencho</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, my driver for the week. He doesn’t speak much English, but has a talkative face.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tqtHhwbmvus/VQhSUVnoolI/AAAAAAAAC_Y/Ey4pLDKj23A/s1600/DSC_0825.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tqtHhwbmvus/VQhSUVnoolI/AAAAAAAAC_Y/Ey4pLDKj23A/s1600/DSC_0825.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chencho and Ugyen</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We drive straight from Paro to Thimpu, the
capital, through stunning valleys; the rugged, forested hillsides, dotted with traditional wooden houses, rising up from fast flowing rivers of the cleanest water I have seen for years. The air is crisp and clear, and I feel truly transported.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My hotel in Thimpu is right in the middle of town, and from my corner room, I look directly out on to Bhutan's very own <i>Piccadilly Circus;</i> the busiest road junction in the busiest city. The Bhutanese don't do traffic lights, so it is managed like this instead:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ydx5foRzYUo/VQhSLL5rtUI/AAAAAAAAC_Q/dWGApqfyvx8/s1600/DSC_0928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ydx5foRzYUo/VQhSLL5rtUI/AAAAAAAAC_Q/dWGApqfyvx8/s1600/DSC_0928.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Piccadilly Circus, Thimpu</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Uygen, who is from Paro, confessed to me that he doesn’t
like Thimpu, because it is too noisy and crowded. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I told him that never, under any
circumstances, should he <i>ever</i> go to India.</span></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-30180177148929895732015-03-16T08:51:00.002-07:002015-04-07T08:00:13.290-07:00Calcutta<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To most people, the word <i>Calcutta</i> invokes the miserable Black Hole, a military prison cell in which an unknown number of Europeans perished, or the image of a saintly, geriatric Mother Teresa picking her way through the desperate slums.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Kolikata</i> was a riverside fishing village before 1690, when the East India Company built a fort there. It flourished, and Calcutta became the capital of British India until 1911. You can't colonise or control a foreign land without the collaboration of local people, and the British were masters at eliciting it. They took control of Bengal by exploiting the treachery of <i>Mir</i> <i>Jafar</i>, a lieutenant of the Nawab, and having gained power, kept it by appointing co-operative locals. Their influence is everywhere, from the fine heritage buildings dotted around the centre of the city, to the vast expanse of green, the <i>Maidan</i>, in its midst.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9ccXDoH2F2E/VQbatSZ2_yI/AAAAAAAAC88/9e0qWKjJIN0/s1600/DSC_0636.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9ccXDoH2F2E/VQbatSZ2_yI/AAAAAAAAC88/9e0qWKjJIN0/s1600/DSC_0636.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Victoria Memorial, Calcutta</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Calcutta, unlike most places I have visited in India, I carried on the British tradition, and enlisted some local help. Saurav, or <i>Sol</i>, Chatterjee, a gentleman of the finest substance and character, has shown me how to live the high life here. I can’t bring myself to call it <i>Kolkata</i>, because this is still, defiantly, Calcutta.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Neh9PNSlhZ4/VQZDMKAsrgI/AAAAAAAAC8Y/Nj77YhfvpD4/s1600/ME%2Band%2BSOL-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Neh9PNSlhZ4/VQZDMKAsrgI/AAAAAAAAC8Y/Nj77YhfvpD4/s1600/ME%2Band%2BSOL-2.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Sol and I. Legend! (That's me on the right...)</i></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The long trousers and polo shirt got a rare airing as we toured from club to club. Beginning with a few (dozen) drinks at the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club, founded in 1792 and the second oldest cricket ground in the world after Lords. We played tennis on the grass courts of Calcutta South Club, once considered the finest outside of SW19 and known as the <i>Wimbledon of the East</i>. (I graced them not with the panache of Federer so much as the petulance of McEnroe.) We sipped Bloody Marys throughout an extended lunch at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club’s pavilion at the Maidan, in front of the only bowling green in town, naturally. I have enjoyed the friendship and hospitality of a truly wonderful group of people.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BoFqam8FW3w/VQbt3d--g2I/AAAAAAAAC9Y/aNcONw49G1s/s1600/IMG_1899.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BoFqam8FW3w/VQbt3d--g2I/AAAAAAAAC9Y/aNcONw49G1s/s1600/IMG_1899.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sol has put me up in a guest room at the Saturday Club, an old colonial haunt in the centre of town that has a badminton court in the middle of its main room and a fine verandah that must have seen a gin and tonic or two dispatched in its time. I added a couple more to the tally. It is pure Graham Greene.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Realising that I’d spent my entire time either playing tennis, eating, drinking or sleeping off hangovers, I dragged myself off around town on a heritage walk entitled <i>Confluence of Cultures</i>. We met next to a burned out car, and proceeded to wander among the “Grey” part of town, between Central, the “White” town of the Sahibs, and the “Black” town of the Babus.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZYutZJYMjXo/VQbubhubXLI/AAAAAAAAC9s/S8mqJAnDczY/s1600/IMG_1870.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZYutZJYMjXo/VQbubhubXLI/AAAAAAAAC9s/S8mqJAnDczY/s1600/IMG_1870.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mCqrOnFUMEg/VQbaVcAN1HI/AAAAAAAAC80/wrufMJjhP-A/s1600/DSC_0643.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mCqrOnFUMEg/VQbaVcAN1HI/AAAAAAAAC80/wrufMJjhP-A/s1600/DSC_0643.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The real story of Calcutta lies within these few blocks, where religions and cultures from all over the world jostle around the grotty bazaars. On our short stroll we pass churches of every Christian denomination, a Buddhist temple, Zoroastrian fire temple (where the guy invites us in to show us some ferocious looking fish he is keeping down a well), a Chinese temple full of men playing chess and reading the paper and a Synagogue (there are only twenty four Jews left living in Calcutta, and three synagogues) that looks like a cathedral. In between them we wander through fairly impoverished backstreets complete with the occasional slum and plenty of street dwellers.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RU7OsJ53lp0/VQbaU0MTwtI/AAAAAAAAC8w/D8xKAo7XhNE/s1600/DSC_0647.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RU7OsJ53lp0/VQbaU0MTwtI/AAAAAAAAC8w/D8xKAo7XhNE/s1600/DSC_0647.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Magen David Synagogue, Calcutta</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--WchybF6XKc/VQbt3uSn0hI/AAAAAAAAC9c/1cS1RRQ8kRM/s1600/IMG_1891.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--WchybF6XKc/VQbt3uSn0hI/AAAAAAAAC9c/1cS1RRQ8kRM/s1600/IMG_1891.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Calcutta was at the heart of the Bengali Renaissance in the 18th and 19th centuries; a movement to reform and modernise Indian culture, incorporating positive elements of Western ways. The movement itself was a confluence of East and West, and Bengalis still pride themselves on their strong literary, artistic and scientific culture. If the club scene, tennis courts and so forth speak of a desire to emulate London high society, then here is the real emulation – a bustling, multicultural, intellectual, pioneering and dynamic city, complete with inevitable poverty and attendant squalor.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--8yyIyiCcdA/VQbubRGzDbI/AAAAAAAAC9o/fYL6YbIq4Ps/s1600/IMG_1887.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--8yyIyiCcdA/VQbubRGzDbI/AAAAAAAAC9o/fYL6YbIq4Ps/s1600/IMG_1887.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Calcutta seems somehow less chaotic than other parts of India. I found myself walking along (in) the road the other day, before realising that everyone else was on the pavement. Then I was chastised by some guy in a uniform for ducking under a rope to cross a busy junction. This is India, for fuck’s sake, I thought to myself. But it's not really - it's Bengal. And it's Calcutta.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's not completely lacking in chaos of course, rather it has its own peculiar brand. At 1pm they reverse the direction of traffic on most of the main streets, completely disorientating me. And the ride to the airport this morning felt like a computer game, <i>Calcutta Taxi Airport Death Race</i>, perhaps. Through some of the poorest parts of town in an unresponsive old Ambassador, it was just another verse in a repetitive, but never boring, folk song about heart stopping Indian taxi journeys. (Called <i>Never put your luggage in the boot of a Calcutta taxi</i>).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G8LnHhetzwM/VQbt1A6BUpI/AAAAAAAAC9M/TzlAsyfWymQ/s1600/IMG_1910.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G8LnHhetzwM/VQbt1A6BUpI/AAAAAAAAC9M/TzlAsyfWymQ/s1600/IMG_1910.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last night was my last in India. Just before I went to bed, fairly pissed, I rang British Airways and enquired about delaying my flight home. In deliberating over whether or not to do this, and knowing that they shut at 8pm GMT, I asked the girl on the other end of the phone what time it was now. "Hold on sir," she said, in a suddenly all too famiiar accent, "I will just check for you." </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Where are you?" I asked, already knowing the answer, and smiling to myself as the decision made itself. I’m not finished yet, I thought. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But of course I am. Dictionary.com's word of the day this morning, flashing up on the iPhone as I sat waiting to board my plane, was knackered. I shot myself a knowing glance.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A little fresh air is bound to do me the world of good.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-28997420056318287492015-03-13T13:57:00.000-07:002015-03-16T08:10:08.959-07:00Heart of Darkness / Death in Varanasi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><b>*</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">I felt drawn to
India to confront the things that make me uncomfortable or afraid. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">And the two things I am afraid of most, I think, are shit and death.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> So I made a trip to <i>Varanasi</i> the embodiment of my quest -</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> its dark, mysterious,
impenetrable heart.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">I had read that
Varanasi was a festering shithole, drowning in its own squalor, where I would be
hassled, polluted and poisoned out of mind and body. A bastion of savagery
where people bathe in the fetid river as half cremated corpses float by, where fervent insanity and archaic religious conviction has triumphed over
reason.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">And it is. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">Everything you might hate about India is magnified here. Magnified to the power of, well, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">India</i>. Varanasi is India<sup> </sup><i>squared</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RzPMKnakJ9s/VQL6K9EaatI/AAAAAAAAC6s/9binhRku3iM/s1600/DSC_0536.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RzPMKnakJ9s/VQL6K9EaatI/AAAAAAAAC6s/9binhRku3iM/s1600/DSC_0536.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">And I love it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">Because
despite being the filthiest place I have ever been, and riddled with
absurd paradoxes, it is captivating, enchanting and irresistible. It surprised
me not with how squalid it is, which I had expected, but how colourful and joyful. I imagined it to feel oppressively dark and sober but instead it is a lesson in how to absorb unmentionable things into the fabric of existence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KR-dvhN2jk4/VQL8TM8pNoI/AAAAAAAAC7Y/GeQlVNPNe_k/s1600/DSC_0631.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KR-dvhN2jk4/VQL8TM8pNoI/AAAAAAAAC7Y/GeQlVNPNe_k/s1600/DSC_0631.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Varanasi, the spiritual heart of the Hindu universe, has stood on this crescent shaped
stretch of the mighty Ganges for anything up to 5,000 years, among the
oldest cities on Earth. For Hindus, the Ganges is the embodiment of all
sacred waters, and is spiritually purifying (irrespective of its
physical condition, which appears to be the complete opposite). Bathing in it, or having one's ashes scattered in it, cleanses the soul.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H8GKvhuVXwo/VQL52TaZ4xI/AAAAAAAAC6k/mcKhaaiM7TM/s1600/DSC_0521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H8GKvhuVXwo/VQL52TaZ4xI/AAAAAAAAC6k/mcKhaaiM7TM/s1600/DSC_0521.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The Ganges is
wide and sweeping here, and on the opposite bank to the city is a great expanse
of sand before you reach the tree line and the villages behind. On the western side, the </span><i style="font-family: Arial;">ghats</i><span style="font-family: Arial;">, rows of steps, lead down to the water from the town itself. They run for five
kilometres, the edge of the city, its focus and its soul. They are lined with
magnificent, if decrepit, palaces that, in my architectural
ignorance, I shall describe as </span><i style="font-family: Arial;">Venetian</i><span style="font-family: Arial;">.
The contrast in the two banks of the river creates the illusion of a
shorefront, and reinforces the spiritual sense that Varanasi marks the boundary of
something; a cusp or outer limit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N3vtwjrIC-Y/VQL5MeN8LfI/AAAAAAAAC6E/blUyOP6kgSk/s1600/DSC_0487.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N3vtwjrIC-Y/VQL5MeN8LfI/AAAAAAAAC6E/blUyOP6kgSk/s1600/DSC_0487.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Take a boat ride,
or walk along the ghats at sunrise and every facet of human life is played out effortlessly
before you, with unwavering reverence and persistent joy. The water may be
brimming with refuse, dead bodies and effluent, but these things are invisible if you believe it to be pure and holy. And so they are bathing and washing
themselves at the water’s edge, perfoming </span><i style="font-family: Arial;">puja</i><span style="font-family: Arial;">, worshipping the river and throwing up their arms to the
rising sun. They are urinating, defecating perhaps. W</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">ashing
clothes and the corpses of dead relatives as cows cool down and lap the water in between them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rJ7xi7dfw0k/VQL8-cABeaI/AAAAAAAAC74/YENed_My95w/s1600/DSC_0587.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rJ7xi7dfw0k/VQL8-cABeaI/AAAAAAAAC74/YENed_My95w/s1600/DSC_0587.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FXY4khyqsRM/VQL4FIxKMQI/AAAAAAAAC5g/pZ7oOuhxy-4/s1600/DSC_0318.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FXY4khyqsRM/VQL4FIxKMQI/AAAAAAAAC5g/pZ7oOuhxy-4/s1600/DSC_0318.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-48QvxpXB0pk/VQL6fObNgAI/AAAAAAAAC68/uY8Q0X9ct5M/s1600/DSC_0563.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-48QvxpXB0pk/VQL6fObNgAI/AAAAAAAAC68/uY8Q0X9ct5M/s1600/DSC_0563.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Immediately
behind the ghats extends a medieval labyrinth of passages so tight, winding and
congested that navigating your way among them is impossible. Through their
tapered walkways comes a never-ending carnival; a procession of cows, dogs,
sheep, goats, bicycles, carts, motorbikes, tourists, backpackers, hippies, Indians and Sadhus (holy men in saffron robes with elaborate facial hair and wrinkled faces), all going about their daily business. The litter
strewn streets are stained with coloured dye (from </span><i style="font-family: Arial;">Holi</i><span style="font-family: Arial;">)</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> and puddles of assorted excrement.
The Lonely Planet warns of the “Varanasi Shakedown” but the biggest danger is posed
by a swishing cow’s tail, sodden with fresh diarrhea, as you try not to get run
over by a motorbike or step on someone’s dreadlocks.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Up on the little
terrace at my guesthouse or walking along the ghats, I could spend
hours, days, weeks, just watching the peculiar rituals of daily life casually unfold
around me. Men huddle around a chessboard, a dog sleeps on the stained ground. In
front of them an endless game of cricket is played using scraps of wood for
bats. A wedding is going on somewhere, the drumming rising up out of the alleyways.
On the rooftops either side of mine, children are locked in concentration, their
arms and bodies quick and strong as they fly their fighting kites out over the
river. Monkeys patrol the parapets, scavenging for food and water, stopping
only to groom or copulate.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ElDLNtDynMg/VQL7KasVOWI/AAAAAAAAC7E/k9yLLxHCDxU/s1600/IMG_1816.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Times; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ElDLNtDynMg/VQL7KasVOWI/AAAAAAAAC7E/k9yLLxHCDxU/s1600/IMG_1816.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">The touts are no more persistent or irritating than anywhere else in the world. The shit is an inconvenience, but you watch out for it. The town is hectic to say the least, and the passageways an impenetrable maze of unpassable traffic, but so what? The people are wonderful, always offering a smile, a hello or a <i>namaste</i>. A few of the main ghats get a bit crowded, but elsewhere they are peaceful and quite beautiful. Even the river looks clean (cleaner than the Thames) from a distance, though it doesn't survive much closer scrutiny than that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LjzAIzPZNo8/VQL8yGP0INI/AAAAAAAAC7o/igT5q4R4krI/s1600/DSC_0625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LjzAIzPZNo8/VQL8yGP0INI/AAAAAAAAC7o/igT5q4R4krI/s1600/DSC_0625.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">If Varanasi were my heart of darkness, a place of savagery and insanity that I felt drawn dangerously towards, then being here has turned the pilgrimage on its head. It has taught me, quite genuinely and emphatically, as someone once said, that the only thing one really has to fear, is fear itself.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;">*</span> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I have never felt
that far away from Death in India. From the Tower of Silence in Mumbai to the dead
dog in Goa; the shrouded crashed car in Hampi, the crumpled petrol tanker
outside Chennai. This didn’t trouble me though and I was never looking over my
shoulder, because I already knew where I’d find Death.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">I knew Death
would be in Varanasi, because people come here from all over India to die. Hindus believe that if you are cremated here on the banks of the Ganges you achieve <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Moksha -</i> the cycle of reincarnation is
broken and your soul ascends to heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">On my way to
Varanasi, it occurred to me that the people I would watch being cremated
tomorrow, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">were still alive. I didn’t know them in life, but in death they would have
meaning for me. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">I would watch
them on their final journey, carried through the streets on bamboo stretchers towards the ghats to be washed in the holy river one last time. I would be a voyeur, a
spectator, while the wood was weighed on sinister looking scales and stacked carefully
in place. I would turn
my head from the smoke as the family peeled away the cheap wrapping
from the shrouded body and lifted it carefully on to the pyre.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rnlFcMMuOBk/VQL8gvwdmhI/AAAAAAAAC7g/z4fCDvwzC68/s1600/DSC_0627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rnlFcMMuOBk/VQL8gvwdmhI/AAAAAAAAC7g/z4fCDvwzC68/s1600/DSC_0627.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">I had imagined how this would pan out. It would be sunset, my mind and soul steeled for
their first glimpse of a human corpse. But this is Varanasi, and nothing ever
happens quite as you expect. So it was walking along a busy thoroughfare,
dodging cows, cycle rickshaws and cars, that I saw my first body, the male
relatives striding purposefully, chanting <i>Rama Nama Satya Hai (The Name of Rama is Truth)</i>. No tears in their eyes,
just a look of steely resoluteness and purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">I then got hopelessly lost in the alleyways north of town, and was relieved to eventually find myself
back on the river. Disorientated, the acrid smell of smoke hit me at the same time I glimpsed the wood stacks. <i>Manikarnika Ghat</i> - the <i>burning</i> ghat. As eerie, sinister and macabre sounding,
looking place, as you are likely to find.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-13N7600qeRU/VQL5zq--AnI/AAAAAAAAC6c/OBnuHZ508ds/s1600/DSC_0509.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-13N7600qeRU/VQL5zq--AnI/AAAAAAAAC6c/OBnuHZ508ds/s1600/DSC_0509.jpg" height="303" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Corpses lie
around awaiting their turn, wrapped in orange and gold. Pyres burn away at various stages of
their work. Low caste </span><i style="font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">doms</i><span style="font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"> pick their
way through the detritus in the hope of finding some coin or piece of
jewellery, while others hose down the shimmering embers. A chant then, or a drumbeat, and
another body is brought here, past the cows, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">tourists and touts. Two hundred and fifty a day, if they're busy.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xg8w00FPReI/VQL4ANBzPwI/AAAAAAAAC5U/dDhxUhYB8p4/s1600/DSC_0304.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xg8w00FPReI/VQL4ANBzPwI/AAAAAAAAC5U/dDhxUhYB8p4/s1600/DSC_0304.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">The scene might
look and sound hellish, but it
manages not to feel it. It remains macabre, how could it not, but it is not
especially sombre. It is a functional
place, where something necessary and good is being done. Hindus believe that once a person is born, they never die. Death is not an end but a transition, a time for respect, not sadness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">I’m not religious, but in my few days here I have realised how much I admire and respect the devotion and commitment of the Indian people, not just to their beliefs but to the patterns and realities of their life in general. It is humbling and endearing. And it reminds me that we can fear death so much, and not just death, but failure, judgment, darkness, that we forget to live at all.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vetuGjrLbeY/VQL4n4h3OeI/AAAAAAAAC5s/8NW1eVsdd3o/s1600/DSC_0332.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Times; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vetuGjrLbeY/VQL4n4h3OeI/AAAAAAAAC5s/8NW1eVsdd3o/s1600/DSC_0332.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I'm here for three days but I want to stay longer. I want to understand more of Varanasi and its cultish ways, but I know it would
assimilate me if I stayed too long. Prolonged
exposure would subtly, progressively exorcise my sanity and reason. No doubt in time I would eventually succumb to the irresistible lure of the
Ganges and dip a toe in the water one time perhaps. A toe, then a foot. Then a hand, a leg. Just a quick dip maybe....</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">From that point
on I would hasten towards an untimely death. One day my corpse would be tethered
to a bamboo litter and carried through the narrow streets for its final
baptism in the mighty Ganga, filthy yet pure. I wonder if, as the fire consumed
the flesh and bones, my soul might afford a last glimpse down at the magical city
as it rose up from its host, indistinguishable by then from the sandalwood smoke that
stung the eyes of the onlookers gathered there, as I once had been, and wispily
eloped into the clear, dark night.</span></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-67553933752637192722015-03-10T20:40:00.000-07:002019-08-30T08:35:39.829-07:00Outcomes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">*</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Chickens</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">It was early and the traffic was just warming up when I
took a “taxi” to Chennai airport. On the way out of Pondicherry a motorcyclist suddenly
materialised from behind a parked van and we had to brake hard to avoid hitting him. It happened in a flash, and my gaze met his through the filthy windscreen. I was surprised at what I noticed in
his eyes, because it was nothing. No shock, fear, anger or alarm. <i>Nothing</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Coupled with the non-reaction of my driver, Ravi, it
made me reflect on a couple of things about India that had been floating idly around in my mind. Firstly, that the
outcome is the only thing that matters. </span>If we’d hit the guy, or someone had hit us as we braked, I’m fairly certain the shit would have hit the fan.
But we didn’t, and they didn’t, so who cares?</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The same outcome bias causes people to persistently lie about what they know or have. What difference does it make if a tuk-tuk driver doesn’t
know where your guest house is if someone else does and he can ask them and get
you there? The means is unimportant compared with the end. Similarly, when a shop
owner tells you he sells something he doesn’t, and sends a kid off to another
shop to get it, what’s the big deal? You still get what you want.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">I also think there's a wider concept of responsibility
lying with society as a whole rather than the individual. Between them,
Indians can get you what you need, or where you need to be. The
role of each individual in the delivery is irrelevant; they're just parts of the whole. And on the road, society says it is
acceptable (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">compulsory?</i>)
to drive aggressively and inconsiderately, so if problems arise out of doing so, it
is society’s fault as much as the guy behind the wheel or handlebars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Ravi must have sensed my silent contemplations, and set about debunking them by driving like a complete arsehole for the
next three hours. For the first time in India I detected real anger and
annoyance on the part of other drivers as he carved them up and ran them out
of his way. Oh well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">After about half an hour we had to slow for some
commotion or other. Tens of people milled around blocking the road, where a truck carrying live chickens had jackknifed. It lay
unnaturally on its side, and next to it the cages of confused birds had been
stacked on top of one another by the onlookers, some of whom were still rounding up a few clucking escapees. It was a bizarre and surreal sight. “Accident,” Ravi solemnly
observed. Yes, I thought, most probably caused by some fucking idiot like you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Outside Chennai we passed the scene of an earlier, and much more serious, “accident” in which a bus and a petrol tanker had met in a head on collision. The front of the tanker had been emphatically crushed and I doubt that the driver survived.
I tried not to dwell on the image of the cab's flattened carcass, but it proved impossible to
shake off. I decided to spare myself any more carnage by falling asleep, but
every time I managed to nod off I was woken almost immediately by another reckless swerve
from Ravi or the noisy protestations of his latest victim.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">*</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Post Office</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Before I left Pondicherry, I created a little extra space in my rucksack by sending a parcel home. I carefully packed up a bundle
of clothes, books and assorted tat and took it to a small
post office in the French Quarter. I was directed to a dimly lit room out the back, where a very old man was hidden among the overflowing heaps of sacks and parcels he had apparently scattered
about the place. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">He had me write down the to and from addresses on the
back of a used envelope, sign an indecipherable (and blank) form where he had
indicated, and hand over 3,800 rupees (£40). He arrived at this figure by
performing numerous sums that I was unable to follow on the back of another envelope. I then watched him roll both the envelopes, the form and my money into a tight
cylinder, fold it in half and twirl an elastic band around it, before casually tossing it in a
drawer that happened to be open.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">In exchange for my money and possessions, I received another
scrap of paper, upon which he had scribbled something completely illegible. </span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">I'm sure it will arrive in no time, beautifully wrapped in white cotton, the seams stitched tight by his steady hand and sealed with blood red wax.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">** The parcel arrived six days later</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-61018449258634348932015-03-09T23:44:00.000-07:002015-03-10T03:37:13.668-07:00Pondicherry: Ville Blanche, Ville Noire<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">I half expected Pondicherry to resemble some lost arrondissement
of Paris, grafted onto the skin of Southern India. Wide boulevards lined by
bougainvillea clad mansions, the smell of freshly baked baguettes wafting
through their open windows, titillating lingerie drying in the breeze and an
adulterous husband scuttling down a nearby drainpipe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">The promenade looks vaguely French, though it's not exactly <i>les planches</i> in Deauville. In the evening,
by the light of a full moon, children are clambering around the statue of
Gandhi and the throngs of people are eating street food from a nearby market,
walking hand in hand, or queuing up to have their photograph taken with yours
truly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KY7dGFozLBo/VP58gJBLV8I/AAAAAAAAC4I/tD9jNjD_r6E/s1600/IMG_1617.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KY7dGFozLBo/VP58gJBLV8I/AAAAAAAAC4I/tD9jNjD_r6E/s1600/IMG_1617.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The map reveals the French influence as a grid of
streets emanates from a beautiful park in the centre of the old town. The first
few blocks away from the coast constitute the French Quarter or, in a brilliantly
casual turn of colonial racism, the <i>Ville
Blanche</i>. Blossoming flowers clamber over classical villas, painted mustard,
pink and blue. Some of them are in wonderful condition, the rest in varying
states of decay.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yVZpL-z6YZs/VP57B7yGQyI/AAAAAAAAC3c/eN9_DdrG6s8/s1600/DSC_0236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yVZpL-z6YZs/VP57B7yGQyI/AAAAAAAAC3c/eN9_DdrG6s8/s1600/DSC_0236.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3iLhiPjAfFI/VP57DlGZ1NI/AAAAAAAAC3k/EGM7WDyTftQ/s1600/DSC_0254.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3iLhiPjAfFI/VP57DlGZ1NI/AAAAAAAAC3k/EGM7WDyTftQ/s1600/DSC_0254.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;">A few blocks back from the seafront, a canal demarcates the
town, the quaint</span><i style="text-align: justify;"> Ville Blanche</i><span style="text-align: justify;"> to its
east, the Tamil Quarter, or </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Ville Noir</i><i style="text-align: justify;">e</i><span style="text-align: justify;">
to the west. In case you were in any doubt as to the transition this might presage,
the “canal” emits the putrid stench of standing water, combined with whatever
else happens to be floating around in it. One road is somewhat romantically called,
“Rue du petit canal,” but there can’t be a street anywhere in the world whose name
conjures up an image so distant from its reality. The other side is real India: chaotic, noisy, dirty, disorientating and irresistible.</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9wyRc5easYU/VP58KcXmZzI/AAAAAAAAC34/kkXXfnbkhd8/s1600/DSC_0259.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9wyRc5easYU/VP58KcXmZzI/AAAAAAAAC34/kkXXfnbkhd8/s1600/DSC_0259.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You might not be able to smell the patisserie over all of this, but you
can taste it. Down on the waterfront I ate the kind of croissant one usually
finds in British service stations in the middle of the night. The only thing
French about <i>Le Café</i>, aside from the
name, was the staggering indifference of the waiter to my presence. When I
deliberated for a nanosecond during my order, he disappeared for ten minutes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Things improved dramatically elsewhere though. The
decidedly un-French sounding <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Baker Street</i>
is a slick looking place, on the Indian side of the canal, and their croissants, pain au chocolate and pain aux
raisins are of the highest quality. The coffee is pretty
decent too, though not as good as the espresso in Auroville, which had imbued me with a renewed optimism about the possible quality of European food and drink as I strode confidently out for dinner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wWUz4I56ESE/VP6BieWxtKI/AAAAAAAAC4g/YQmUikv8S_A/s1600/IMG_1664.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wWUz4I56ESE/VP6BieWxtKI/AAAAAAAAC4g/YQmUikv8S_A/s1600/IMG_1664.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A long time coming</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I learnt a few things that night. I learnt not to eat beef in India, for
culinary reasons, not cultural ones. I learnt that the guys in <i>Villa Shanti</i> can’t make a proper martini, and that you should never, ever, be tempted to try the wine. They only actually had two of the wines from their </span>impressive looking list, and the first of them tasted like something you would expect
to find bubbling around the outside of stainless steel vats in a Bond villain’s
secret laboratory. Sensing where this was going, I suggested just a sample of the alternative. Sample was the operative word here - the faintest twinge of urea mixed with rancid sherry that’s been in your
grandmother’s drinks cabinet since the end of the war. A thimbleful is too much for anyone, and I gestured for another Heineken.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">The following morning I went out early to run it off. I headed inland and before long had crossed another “canal,” far
more pungent than the first, that heralded yet another transition: a stride further into the darker side of town. The road was
lined with people sleeping, early morning market stalls, and piles of rubbish.
I turned south, over the railway line and, no idea where I was going, snaked my
way through some decidedly Indian backstreets; attracting puzzled looks and
friendly hellos from the people as they spat toothpaste, phlegm or blood into
the gutter from the thresholds of their tiny homes. Poverty prickled my
sweaty skin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Eventually I made it to the promenade, where the people
were neatly turned out for their morning stroll. Women in beautiful saris
“jogged,” portly men in trainers walked briskly or stretched leisurely. My run
had taken me through two Indias, it seemed; one in darkness, one in light. One subsisting, the other aspiring.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lCqx2PTHa0c/VP561Sr8yQI/AAAAAAAAC3U/S6KGLTwDe3s/s1600/DSC_0257.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lCqx2PTHa0c/VP561Sr8yQI/AAAAAAAAC3U/S6KGLTwDe3s/s1600/DSC_0257.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">I ran the length of the promenade several times. I
watched people who had slept on the beach emerging from the cocoons of their dirty blankets, mangy dogs walking nonchalantly among them, as I picked my way
through the strolling masses. </span>One India then, not two. And not split by canals, or street names, or divided into black and white. Rather one sprawling, swirling galaxy of people, all on different trajectories, propelled by different beliefs, motivations and desires. Some of them you see, some of them you don't.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">When I looked out to sea I saw a strange cluster of sticks puncturing the surface of the
water where some platform or other must once have stood. I thought of WG Sebald's <i>The Rings of Saturn</i> and remembered how
transient all of this is anyway. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QM3DPnxFgeE/VP6FAtOZXEI/AAAAAAAAC4s/dcTxaqxHfww/s1600/IMG_1619.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QM3DPnxFgeE/VP6FAtOZXEI/AAAAAAAAC4s/dcTxaqxHfww/s1600/IMG_1619.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">When I got back to the homestay I jumped in an ice cold shower, because after all that running, the sweat was pouring from me, and I was <i>fucking</i> hot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-7856488355642241732015-03-08T21:27:00.000-07:002015-03-08T22:05:00.037-07:00The Search for Auroville<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">According to the map, ten kilometres or so north of Pondicherry is a place called </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Auroville</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Maybe it was just me, but it was impossible to find. The turning from the main road wasn't marked and as I got further inland, the signs were either </span><span style="text-align: justify;">hidden behind trees or the letters on them had been scorched away by the blistering sun. Even when I was on it, I mistook the
red dirt road I needed to take for something else, expecting an </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">actual</i><span style="text-align: justify;"> road instead. Truth be told, I
didn’t know what I was looking for, nor what I might find.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Which is not surprising, because Auroville is not so much a place as it is a dream:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><i>There should be somewhere on Earth, a place which no
nation could claim as its own, where all human beings of good will who have a
sincere aspiration, could live freely as citizens of the world and obey one
single authority, that of the supreme truth; a place of peace, concord and
harmony</i></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Such was the vision of <i>Mirra Alfassa</i>, a Frenchwoman who worked with <i>Sri Aurobindo</i>, nationalist turned philosopher and guru, at his ashram in
Pondicherry. He identified her with the concept of the <i>Divine Mother</i>, and believed the two of them shared
one consciousness. <i>The Mother</i>,
as she became known, assumed full control of the ashram when he retired from
public life in 1926.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C3fwEKtJtzE/VPwdBCzVOzI/AAAAAAAAC1M/n1WjM65g3l8/s1600/IMG_1668.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C3fwEKtJtzE/VPwdBCzVOzI/AAAAAAAAC1M/n1WjM65g3l8/s1600/IMG_1668.jpg" height="262" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sri Aurobindo Ghose</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Mother conceived a “universal township” that would
accelerate “the progress of humanity towards its splendid future.” The town would
be Auroville – the city of the dawn. Endorsed
by the Indian Government and UNESCO, which invited member states to participate
in its development, it was triumphantly inaugurated on 28<span style="font-size: 13.3333330154419px;">th </span>February
1968. Architect Roger Anger (a Frenchman, so probably not as
funny a name as if he were English), under the direction of the Mother, envisaged the city as a whirling galaxy, at the centre
of which would stand the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Matrimandir</i>,
or “Mother’s shrine.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eLShu1nfwl8/VPx04jwHM7I/AAAAAAAAC14/FP5ytxEUXX0/s1600/LavenirGalaxy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eLShu1nfwl8/VPx04jwHM7I/AAAAAAAAC14/FP5ytxEUXX0/s1600/LavenirGalaxy.jpg" height="268" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Model of the city of Auroville (proposed)</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Mother was still alive when the foundation stone of
this mysterious monument was laid in February 1971.</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">The
Matrimandir will be the soul of Auroville, and the sooner it is there the
better it will be for everybody</span></i></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Now I know nothing happens quickly in India, but when she said this, she
probably didn't think it would take <i>thirty-seven</i> years to finish. Needless to say,
the rest of it is, to put it kindly, still in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pre-construction</i> phase.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">When I saw the Matrimandir, in splendid isolation, it reminded me of a golf course I saw in
Goa. Thousands of gallons of water soaked up by the lush grass, hundreds of man
hours nurturing and tending it, and not a single golfer within a hundred miles. Build
it and they will come – but it was built, and they didn’t. In a place that
refutes religion, they built a cathedral, I thought. Then I changed my mind: a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">folly</i>. (Later I remembered that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">la folie</i> is French for madness<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i> <i>Touché</i>.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LFUvfKAJlVc/VPx-Xsl-YtI/AAAAAAAAC2I/Eh4azOARkHU/s1600/DSC_0188.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LFUvfKAJlVc/VPx-Xsl-YtI/AAAAAAAAC2I/Eh4azOARkHU/s1600/DSC_0188.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What the FUCK is that?</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The top half of the Matrimandir is a chamber of white marble, at the centre of which sits the largest optically perfect crystal in the world. Sunlight is electronically diverted onto it in a single beam from an aperture at the apex of the sphere. It is a place for concentration aimed at finding one's own consciousness. It's not easy to gain access, but my friends Trez and Anthony are staying in Auroville and went inside the other day. Trez described it thus, "</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Was very cool architecturally, spiritually kind of zero....the silence was lovely." </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So that's what it takes to get a bit of peace and quiet in India...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
The dream and reality of Auroville are a long way apart,
and time is not narrowing the gap. Forty-seven years later then, the city of 50,000 <i>Aurovilians </i>is actually just 2,300 people scattered about the forest they planted. A thousand are Indian and the rest contain more French, Germans and Italians than all the other nations combined. Well over half the population are the wrong side of 40, and too many kids leave by their twenties, .</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">The vision seems replete with contradictions. Anyone, for example, can become an Aurovilian. But elsewhere
in the literature it says one must “have some financial means of one’s own, at
least sufficient to see one through the first few years in the township”. Assuming
you do have enough cash, the process of acceptance is long and complicated, and
you wonder if they are being too stringent to foster a community diverse enough to prosper. And the principle of
collective decision-making, wonderful in theory, is debilitating in practice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wanting to be convinced, I took this map from the visitor centre and rode around to
try and get a feel for it all. It’s impossible to know which places actually
exist and which are just names on a map – <i>Silence, Solitude, Bliss, Courage, Luminosity, Gratitude</i>. There’s even a
place called <i>Miracle</i>, which seemed
ironic given that’s what they need.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I9ShD16yFEU/VPwdDcDfPuI/AAAAAAAAC1c/QdcIaOewyxs/s1600/DSC_0268.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I9ShD16yFEU/VPwdDcDfPuI/AAAAAAAAC1c/QdcIaOewyxs/s1600/DSC_0268.jpg" height="293" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Auroville is nothing if not enigmatic, but the map
didn’t help me solve its riddle. Neither did the visitor centre nor the old
movies they make you watch, nor everything I’ve read since about Sri Aurobindo,
the Mother and the Divine Consciousness. I love the notion of a place where
people of all creeds, colours and nationalities can work and be together,
united and not divided, with no money, no discord, striving for the spiritual
and conscious evolution of the human race. But it is just a notion, and Auroville proves it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Which is why, after half a century, middle aged Europeans
are still sitting around, sagely discussing plans for their utopia. A utopia
whose soul is a giant golf ball encased in fifty six kilograms of solid gold,
in the middle of a city that hasn’t been, and never will be, built. The
futility of their continued endeavour is the only thing I grasped about this curious place with any real Certitude. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">That’s on the map too. If you find yourself in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Reality</i>, you’ve gone right past it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M-ND-6rbo5w/VPwdCbOLWJI/AAAAAAAAC1U/ZDj85OygOKE/s1600/DSC_0221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M-ND-6rbo5w/VPwdCbOLWJI/AAAAAAAAC1U/ZDj85OygOKE/s1600/DSC_0221.jpg" height="400" width="281" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-25331494273938917722015-03-05T22:32:00.003-08:002015-03-05T22:32:33.693-08:00Madurai: Losing my Religion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">There’s a story in the Bible in which Jesus loses his
rag with the merchants in the temple. It proves that we all have our
breaking point, and even the Son of God is capable of having a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Falling Down</i> moment:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><i>Jesus
entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there.
He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling
doves.</i><br /><div style="text-align: right;">
Matthew
21:12</div>
</span></span></blockquote>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">It’s a good job he didn’t visit the Meenakshi Ammam
Temple in Madurai then - he would have gone absolutely </span><i style="font-family: Arial;">apeshit</i><span style="font-family: Arial;">. Hundreds of stalls are flogging everything from flowers
and food to children’s toys (including replica guns and a board game called </span><i style="font-family: Arial;">Businessman</i><span style="font-family: Arial;">), and that’s before you get
to the elephant that blesses people for a rupee in his trunk.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BqtOzwnRa20/VPk9bJOKh-I/AAAAAAAACy8/y82xMSo80Kk/s1600/IMG_1514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BqtOzwnRa20/VPk9bJOKh-I/AAAAAAAACy8/y82xMSo80Kk/s1600/IMG_1514.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lSWm_8VKs8M/VPk93zjjqhI/AAAAAAAACzE/zIWSGJhdCu4/s1600/IMG_1550.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lSWm_8VKs8M/VPk93zjjqhI/AAAAAAAACzE/zIWSGJhdCu4/s1600/IMG_1550.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The Temple is actually a huge complex, covering six
hectares, with twelve magnificent towers, or </span><i style="font-family: Arial;">gopurams</i><span style="font-family: Arial;">, innumerable shrines, statues and thousands of columns. And
it isn’t <i>in</i> the centre of Madurai, it <i>is</i> the centre of Madurai; the modern city
spreading out from here in a web of concentric squares, getting crazier and noisier the
further you go.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FilVPO4E7m0/VPk97ot7BTI/AAAAAAAACzU/cQSQpaRJ-Pk/s1600/IMG_1537.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FilVPO4E7m0/VPk97ot7BTI/AAAAAAAACzU/cQSQpaRJ-Pk/s1600/IMG_1537.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Madurai could be the perfect microcosm of Indian society – a thriving, bustling, dusty, commercial city, an IT driven economy,
packed with humble, friendly, hospitable people, countless incredible eateries, and at
its beating heart a Hindu temple whose history stretches back two thousand
years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y053ohfY9_g/VPk-4M-lZoI/AAAAAAAACzo/HVoQAVynyX0/s1600/IMG_1592.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y053ohfY9_g/VPk-4M-lZoI/AAAAAAAACzo/HVoQAVynyX0/s1600/IMG_1592.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">India is a deeply religious society, and 80% of the
population are Hindu. As an atheist, I like the fact that Hinduism has no single founder or
scripture and no commonly agreed set of teachings. And the more I read about
him, the more I like the Hindu God <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shiva</i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">There are three main Hindu Gods: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Brahma</i>, the creator of the universe; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vishnu</i>, the preserver of the universe and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shiva</i>, who destroys the universe in order to recreate it. He uses
the powers of destruction and recreation to undermine the illusions and
imperfections of the world. Destroying, not arbitrarily, but deliberately and
constructively.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Thus Shiva is replete with contradictions: good and
evil, ascetic and hedonistic. It is only his marriage to Meenakshi, in the form
of Parvati, that brings him balance and control. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Even the destroyer of the universe needs a good woman to keep him in check, it seems. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">For this reason, he is often
worshipped in the form of the <i>Shivalingam</i>, (lingam meaning phallus), and there is a
significant shrine to his penis in the Meenakshi Ammam Temple. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0mFbA1fm6_E/VPk_ZKMlRII/AAAAAAAACzw/hdmFVWY89yU/s1600/IMG_1563.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0mFbA1fm6_E/VPk_ZKMlRII/AAAAAAAACzw/hdmFVWY89yU/s1600/IMG_1563.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The marriage of Shiva and Parvati, as depicted in a ceiling painting</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;">Apparently, Meenakshi had three breasts and, in accordance with prophecy, one of them melted away
when she met Shiva. (His disappointment presumably tempered, if the statues are
accurate, by the size and shape of the two that remained). Every evening a statue of Shiva is taken from his shrine to that
of Meenakshi, where he spends the night with her, before being returned the
next morning, and thus balance is restored to the force. Which is why the
Meenakshi Ammam Temple in Madurai is so important to Hindus.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eiJ1144-NVI/VPk_3lmiieI/AAAAAAAACz4/f12pGyT6ARo/s1600/IMG_1548.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eiJ1144-NVI/VPk_3lmiieI/AAAAAAAACz4/f12pGyT6ARo/s1600/IMG_1548.jpg" height="400" width="342" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Bare legs are forbidden in the temple so I am wearing my
lunghi, which it turns out isn’t a lunghi (because they’re not allowed in the
temple either) but a dhoti. I’m too confused to argue. I’m stopped every five
yards by people wanting to take my picture, including these guys, with whom I
have to pose individually as well as in numerous group shots. When I tell them
it’s 10 rupees a photo, they’re not immediately sure if I am joking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9c48OqgKOhU/VPk93iN4WbI/AAAAAAAACzI/56qnUH1u82E/s1600/IMG_1534.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9c48OqgKOhU/VPk93iN4WbI/AAAAAAAACzI/56qnUH1u82E/s1600/IMG_1534.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Shortly after I stand still long enough (about one tenth
of a second) to attract an offer of a guided tour, and since I am wandering
about aimlessly anyway, I decide to break with protocol and accept. I still haven’t
caught his name at the third time of asking so you can imagine what it’s like
trying to follow his lengthy explanations of the multiple Hindu Gods and their
relations to one another, nodding sagely as I descend faster and deeper into
complete and utter bewilderment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">All this talk of people and Gods being elephants,
monkeys, peacocks, having giant penises, three breasts, multiple incarnations: it all seems a bit far-fetched to me. Not wishing to undermine the devotion of the
wonderful people here but, as in all religions, these are <i>stories</i>. They are a way of explaining the world,
of passing down culture, tradition, morality and philosophy through the
generations. They are a means of understanding the world we live in, the
universe it is a part of, and the transience and impermanence of our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">There are nineteen major religions on Earth, subdivided
into two hundred and seventy large religious groups and smaller ones numbering over four thousand. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Hinduism is an umbrella that covers all kinds of beliefs and practices, and there is a strong tradition of irreligion in India, with many
considering themselves to be <i>Hindu atheists</i>. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And if you remember that by
believing in one God, you refute all the others, then of course we’re all
atheists anyway, aren’t we?</span></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-50870017719955920842015-03-04T09:09:00.000-08:002015-03-05T22:16:50.533-08:00Run for the Hills<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Munnar is a busy little town, but busy in a good way –
buzzing and energetic rather than crazed and claustrophobic. The people smile a
lot and say hello, and there are a few top class local eateries that take great
pride in welcoming you inside. It's one of those places that is completely at ease with itself and its pace of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QPiFQsa8LZ8/VPc0ekAfo8I/AAAAAAAACxw/8jYTD9KTecc/s1600/IMG_1456.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QPiFQsa8LZ8/VPc0ekAfo8I/AAAAAAAACxw/8jYTD9KTecc/s1600/IMG_1456.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are hundreds of hill stations in India:
towns at altitude to which the British would retreat from the stifling heat of summer.
In Munnar they planted cash crops: coffee, cardamom and other spices, before discovering
that tea thrived best of all. So they ripped up swathes of indigenous
vegetation to make way, transforming the landscape into neat little rows and
strange formations that resemble the cerebral cortex, airbrushed green.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-13e22cipDKk/VPc0YEZE3-I/AAAAAAAACxg/DxUqxQiycVw/s1600/IMG_1496.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-13e22cipDKk/VPc0YEZE3-I/AAAAAAAACxg/DxUqxQiycVw/s1600/IMG_1496.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Thanks to the unique and mysterious beauty of these
plantations Munnar thrives as a tourist destination, people drawn by the landscape
and the chance to trek among it. Which is why I’m sprinting through the empty streets at
6:30 in the morning looking for a tuk-tuk. (Ask any tuk-tuk driver in India if
they know where something is, and they say <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yes</i>.
Not because they do, but because they make no distinction between
knowing where something is and being able to find it - by driving around indiscriminately
until they stumble upon it, or by asking everyone else in the hope that one of
them might know where it is.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Luckily this is India, and everyone else is as late as
I am, so it was nearly 7am when our little group set off from Old Munnar to
hike up through the tea plantations. Dawn had broken but the mist was still spread over us like a veil. When the sun broke through the cloud the whole scene resembled some fairytale or other. Along with the sun, the mist came and went in
waves for the duration of the climb. Sometimes thin and wispy, at others thick
and impenetrable, the perfectly manicured tea plants disappearing and reappearing
in front of us as we went. It was a landscape in constant flux.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1-5tWtq6HVk/VPc0eEKP4EI/AAAAAAAACxs/2fR0r7ElJos/s1600/IMG_1462.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1-5tWtq6HVk/VPc0eEKP4EI/AAAAAAAACxs/2fR0r7ElJos/s1600/IMG_1462.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DSuxnMbDsew/VPc0pQFAn3I/AAAAAAAACx8/sZN8KFU57Ek/s1600/DSC_0099.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DSuxnMbDsew/VPc0pQFAn3I/AAAAAAAACx8/sZN8KFU57Ek/s1600/DSC_0099.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AqTOyH3jxu4/VPc0vjs-zHI/AAAAAAAACyE/n-RiWBjRzyE/s1600/DSC_0116.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AqTOyH3jxu4/VPc0vjs-zHI/AAAAAAAACyE/n-RiWBjRzyE/s1600/DSC_0116.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Much higher, the tea gave way to scrubby grass and
before long we reached areas stripped bare by wild fire. Munnar has had only two
days of rain in the last three months (the two days I’ve been here) and it's been a constant threat. The
transformation in the landscape is so stark: lush and fertile down the mountain, barren and hostile up in the clouds. That difference notwithstanding, I would struggle to say for sure that one is more fascinating or beautiful than the other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qv90pSYOPbo/VPc0XhCiBbI/AAAAAAAACxc/i25bc99F6xE/s1600/DSC_0161.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qv90pSYOPbo/VPc0XhCiBbI/AAAAAAAACxc/i25bc99F6xE/s1600/DSC_0161.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Having reached the top we were rewarded with a breakfast
of tea, toast and fruit. I was about to ask where he was going to plug the
toaster in when I remembered that the Indian definition of toast is a slice of
bread that has been passed in front of a light bulb at some point in the last
ten hours. I spent less time eating it than I did posing for this photograph:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wDyEeaaTtmQ/VPc1ijcK0LI/AAAAAAAACyQ/Jf2buHDsg38/s1600/DSC_0132.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wDyEeaaTtmQ/VPc1ijcK0LI/AAAAAAAACyQ/Jf2buHDsg38/s1600/DSC_0132.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Looking back on this image later on, I wondered what it
actually says about me. Alone, standing on the edge of nothing and somehow
reveling in that isolation, proud of it. Wanting to see the world for myself,
and share it, not with someone in the flesh, but through distant words and
pictures. And all of them reaching for something intangible, transient,
spiritual even, but never quite being able to grasp it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">After breakfast, we moped around on the granite summit.
I found a comfortable looking spot and stretched out to rest. I thought of Hampi where I had laid on the warm stone in savasana, waiting for sunset. I quickly dozed
off, enjoying semi lucid dreams as my mind flirted with consciousness. At some
point I opened my eyes and crisp but wispy clouds were floating past at varying heights and speeds. Right there in front of me I swear I saw all
seven continents of the Earth in near perfect formation, but the wind and their
different trajectories had scattered them before I’d managed to take a photo. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Or maybe I just dreamt it after all.</span></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BXBWkyG9xZI/VPc0WkfQIGI/AAAAAAAACxU/IvgUWbd32fA/s1600/IMG_1473.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BXBWkyG9xZI/VPc0WkfQIGI/AAAAAAAACxU/IvgUWbd32fA/s1600/IMG_1473.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-29205818609788949352015-03-02T21:26:00.003-08:002015-03-03T08:20:23.813-08:00Johnson vs Johnson<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">I’d been looking forward to my trip to Munnar, an old
colonial tea station nestling in the upper reaches of the Western Ghats. It
promised a change in climate as well as surroundings, after the brutal heat of
Kochi and the sandy beach of Varkala.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">The drive was breathtaking, and that had nothing to do
with the view. My driver, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Johnson</i>,
impressed me in Kochi with his expediency on the road and quiet, considered
company. But his complete disregard for traffic conventions (even Indian ones)
and perilous blend of ambition and optimism when overtaking didn’t transition
well to the narrow roads and tight switchbacks that carried us higher and
deeper into Kerala.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">He drove as if compelled by an invisible presence to
overtake everything in front of him regardless of speed or road position. The possibility
of oncoming traffic, blindingly obvious or merely highly probable, was never
entertained. When we did meet an oncoming vehicle, he let out a little whistle
from between his lips and reluctantly, at the final possible moment, acceded. I
really don’t think he felt responsible for his actions; rather he reacted as
though he were the passenger, with some dark force inside him doing the driving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">It was soon clear that the volume and pitch of the
whistling directly correlated with the danger. The loudest and highest came on
an uphill stretch as we attempted to overtake a tuk-tuk that was itself already
overtaking a petrol tanker, on the outside of a completely blind corner. There,
we met a rusty old bus hurtling down the hill, its own driver on an apparent
suicide mission, or perhaps just galvanised by the fact that he had “HOLYMARY”
emblazoned across his windscreeen. I glanced at the rosary beads on Johnson’s
dashboard, thought of dear old Ayrton Senna, and surreptitiously made the sign
of the cross, just in case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LLf1dvzpZZI/VPVFm9X1TiI/AAAAAAAACw4/EQrttYKmAKA/s1600/IMG_1442.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LLf1dvzpZZI/VPVFm9X1TiI/AAAAAAAACw4/EQrttYKmAKA/s1600/IMG_1442.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, and on a similar trajectory to the audacity
and stupidity of Johnson’s driving, the scenery had become increasingly
spectacular and neat rows of tea plantations were now etched into the green
hillsides. Both driving and scenery were about to suffer a setback though, because
as we slalomed our way towards Munnar, something happened that hadn’t happened
since I left England: it started <i>raining</i>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";">Just a few spots at first, but soon it was absolutely
pissing down - big fucking raindrops, cascaded down the road in torrents and the
whole place was transformed in a matter of minutes. Eventually, Johnson remembered
he had windscreen wipers and I was briefly reassured, but never really
stirred from the conviction that he was on some </span>Ahab-esque quest and that
being completely blinded by the rain had made no difference to his driving whatsoever.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5w1YUybBx9M/VPVFl7fatsI/AAAAAAAACww/UQWM7MMxZDw/s1600/IMG_1445.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5w1YUybBx9M/VPVFl7fatsI/AAAAAAAACww/UQWM7MMxZDw/s1600/IMG_1445.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, and miraculously, we arrived at my guesthouse: miles
from anywhere, on a side of the mountain notable chiefly for the paucity of its
view when compared to every other part of the mountain. Having ascended an
outdoor spiral staircase to my room, bags still in reception, I did the only
thing I could: stripped off my saturated clothes and climbed naked into bed. The
rain hammered incessant, deafening blows down on the tin roof, but despite the reverberating
din, a solitary, metronomic drip landing on the floor beside me sent me quickly
off to sleep. When I awoke, an hour or so later, quite a large puddle had
formed next to the bed, and it was dark outside.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><br /></span></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: "American Typewriter";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Needless to say though, it was still fucking raining,
and I was still in the middle of nowhere.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-61954047840096168362015-03-02T06:54:00.000-08:002015-03-02T08:52:07.853-08:00Kochi: Art Imitating Life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">Walk along the
streets of Fort Kochi and you’ll notice strange dark streaks that look as
though they have been rolled into the tarmac. Protruding from them are small,
metallic like beads. They are tamarind pods, fallen from the trees then trodden
and melted into the asphalt to become part of the road.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">And so it is with
Kochi’s colonial past, trampled into the narrow streets where cathedrals,
churches, mosques and synagogues all clamber for space among the ramshackle
homes, pristine mansions and the faded, crumbling grandeur of everything in
between. The first Portuguese explorers arrived in Kochi in 1500: a sun ravaged,
motley crew of seamen, soldiers, and navigators who had traversed
vast uncharted areas of the planet in search of riches. They found an already
thriving spice port and a pioneering city with a rich tradition of astronomy
and mathematics. The context of commerce, coercion, conquest and
colonialism, masked a spirit of adventure and discovery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Along the
promenade at Fort Kochi, giant tankers and cargo ships pass in and out as noisy
locals man the ancient Chinese fishing nets that yield a small catch of even
smaller fish, immediately displayed for sale. Behind them, market stalls
cluster in the shade of giant banyan trees, canopies overlapping, selling all
manner of tat, while tuk-tuk drivers, restaurateurs, shop owners and spice
merchants pester the tourists. Commerce is so deeply woven into the fabric of
this place that literally </span><i style="font-family: Arial;">everyone</i><span style="font-family: Arial;"> is
on the make.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vY2LyOzyTB4/VPRtThB57gI/AAAAAAAACu8/cUQ1tRJrQxo/s1600/DSC_9916.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vY2LyOzyTB4/VPRtThB57gI/AAAAAAAACu8/cUQ1tRJrQxo/s1600/DSC_9916.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">Kochi is hosting its second <i>biennale</i> and over a hundred artists from around the
world have contributed to the only event of its kind in India. The
theme this year is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Whorled Explorations. </i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">In the words of the curator, Jitish Kallat:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><i>In a very simple way I think the biennale does what we do every day when we try to see or understand something. We either go close to it or move away from it in space, to see it clearly; we also reflect back or forth in time to understand the present. Whorled Explorations draws upon this act of deliberation, across axes of time and space to interlace the bygone with the imminent, the terrestrial with the celestial.</i></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">From the first
exhibit, the message is clear. Charles and Ray Eames’s 1977 film
<i>Powers of Ten: </i>in which a one metre wide shot of a man lying in a park zooms
out by the power of ten every ten seconds until it reaches the limit of the
universe, from where it zooms back in by the power of minus ten, ending only
when it reaches the sub atomic level of the man’s hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">The art on
display is more hit than miss, and some of the hits are emphatic. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">In Ryota Kuwakubo’s
</span><i style="font-family: Arial;">Lost # 12</i><span style="font-family: Arial;">, a toy train with a single
light on the front snakes around a pitch black room past household objects
(toilet brushes, clothes pegs, colander, birdcage) gathered from the markets
around town. Their silhouettes are projected onto the walls in a procession of
shifting size and perspective that keeps you questioning what you are actually
seeing - the ultimate projection being the interpretation your mind settles upon. Down on the scruffy beachfront, the litter has been gathered into a sculpture far less taxing on the subconscious.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aepVNk4-tIo/VPRt1a4D50I/AAAAAAAACvU/bSVwL1-HnHw/s1600/DSC_9929.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aepVNk4-tIo/VPRt1a4D50I/AAAAAAAACvU/bSVwL1-HnHw/s1600/DSC_9929.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Theo Eshetu’s </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anima Mundi</i><span style="font-family: Arial;"> - what initially appears to
be a TV screen at the end of a square, mirrored tunnel - opens into a giant
kaleidoscope of abstract footage that forms itself into a globe. It is hypnotic
and compelling, drawing your countless reflections inside the innocuous looking
aperture on the wall.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EhlvL1CycjA/VPSNO9R-ctI/AAAAAAAACwc/TQp0NmI7dnQ/s1600/DSC_0009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EhlvL1CycjA/VPSNO9R-ctI/AAAAAAAACwc/TQp0NmI7dnQ/s1600/DSC_0009.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZRbRzmH6h4U/VPRvSP_R_cI/AAAAAAAACvw/yIpokuD-w0g/s1600/DSC_9993.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZRbRzmH6h4U/VPRvSP_R_cI/AAAAAAAACvw/yIpokuD-w0g/s1600/DSC_9993.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Down towards Mattancherry, the dusty road winds past spice and rice merchants, lorries loaded with heavy sacks parked outside where the exotic smell of ginger and cardamom mercifully disguises the stench of still water and fish guts drying in the sun. In a warehouse of endless Indian antiques, including a one hundred foot long wooden canoe, an exhibition entitled </span><i style="font-family: Arial;">Cosmology and Cartography</i><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">places early Indian attempts to understand the intangible universe alongside European efforts to map the tangible.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZnKbFh6Lg8Q/VPRtaDEA3jI/AAAAAAAACvE/Pv8RNfKHVUs/s1600/DSC_9871.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZnKbFh6Lg8Q/VPRtaDEA3jI/AAAAAAAACvE/Pv8RNfKHVUs/s1600/DSC_9871.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">On the way home we ducked into</span><i style="font-family: Arial;"> Cabral Yard,</i><span style="font-family: Arial;"> an
abandoned plot in Fort Kochi that has been transformed by the artist Valsan
Koorma Kolleri into a dynamic sculptural space – a “tactile experiential
landscape of our collective memory.” An area once occupied by human activity,
then reclaimed by nature as it fell into disuse, has been rearranged,
harnessing the shapes, energy and momentum of the natural resources strewn
about it. The result is a playground of nature, with strange pagan shapes and
structures hanging from trees or blocking pathways. It is mesmerising and
fascinating to wander through.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AQgIXmlkWvA/VPRwrQkDitI/AAAAAAAACwE/zN0Qav3iOjA/s1600/DSC_9889.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AQgIXmlkWvA/VPRwrQkDitI/AAAAAAAACwE/zN0Qav3iOjA/s1600/DSC_9889.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">It wasn’t much
later that I realised it was actually impossible to tell where the art ended
and India began. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Any number of the things scattered about town could have passed for installations - abandoned rickshaws or cars preserved in birdshit, piles of bricks, misplaced rubbish bins - none of them less aesthetically interesting or thought provoking </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">than the sculptures and creations pondered over by artists</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">. And what does conscious street art add to the narrative of life here, when all about you are the hilarious
signs and daubings of a society in constant flux?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QsWoWaFB2d0/VPRtiwsK33I/AAAAAAAACvM/BOvkYKG2QfU/s1600/DSC_9967.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QsWoWaFB2d0/VPRtiwsK33I/AAAAAAAACvM/BOvkYKG2QfU/s1600/DSC_9967.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M37IsFHBWfA/VPRuJcpoJDI/AAAAAAAACvc/zZFxrkgyTKc/s1600/DSC_9921.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M37IsFHBWfA/VPRuJcpoJDI/AAAAAAAACvc/zZFxrkgyTKc/s1600/DSC_9921.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AhOo2M9Q7Ks/VPRu6C2DLcI/AAAAAAAACvo/w3WuAZugCd8/s1600/IMG_1357.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AhOo2M9Q7Ks/VPRu6C2DLcI/AAAAAAAACvo/w3WuAZugCd8/s1600/IMG_1357.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JjYM7E01_Ro/VPRwdIxzhoI/AAAAAAAACv8/RPeBlxmWIPU/s1600/DSC_9857.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JjYM7E01_Ro/VPRwdIxzhoI/AAAAAAAACv8/RPeBlxmWIPU/s1600/DSC_9857.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q6EKKIQSFTY/VPRxCL7GToI/AAAAAAAACwM/6cE84vyiixg/s1600/DSC_9874.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q6EKKIQSFTY/VPRxCL7GToI/AAAAAAAACwM/6cE84vyiixg/s1600/DSC_9874.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">In Kolleri’s installation,
he had reengineered the landscape to create an explorative, fictional space.
Through the archway and back into the real world, the ramshackle, inadvertent
way in which life unfolds here is actually the greatest work of art of all. There is an
intrinsic comedy in all of this, borne out by the irrepressible, effervescent
nature of the people as they sidestep their way through the debris; of their
past, present and future. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The biennale is a brilliant, provocative, fascinating experience that encourages so much contemplation and innovation. But you don't have to wait every two years for that in India - you just have to open your eyes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;
mso-fareast-language:JA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4165072780025398436.post-31264712162405966562015-02-26T21:41:00.000-08:002015-02-27T10:15:41.739-08:00The Soul of the Journey<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Writing about travelling is easy. You go to places, describe how they look, sound, smell, feel, taste. You interlace those descriptions with the opinions you form and compare them with other places you’ve been to or nest them with the things you’ve read, heard or seen. Choosing what to write about is easy too, because the days, places and experiences break into pieces like biscuits. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But every now and then, when you’ve talked about all the bits of biscuit you’ve broken off and eaten, you look down and there’s just a plate full of crumbs. And the crumbs are much harder to write about than the biscuits.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is happening when you’re not surfing, climbing a mountain, going to the zoo or shitting yourself to death? Because really the bits in between are the essence of what it means to be on the road. As some genius once said:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Travelling is not so much about the dots as the joining of them...the big things; the memories, the places, the photographs; they're important. But the subtle things, harder to write about or recall, are the soul of the journey. </i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m writing this on the Chennai Mail train, heading up to Kochi from Varkala, and I should have taken it sooner. Life has been pretty good these last few (nine) days and I’ve overindulged in the ease of my surroundings and company. I can’t be exactly sure why I am here, but have a fairly strong sense that it’s as much about what’s going on inside me as outside. So I’ve been doing fuck all of any real note except surfing in the morning, yoga at night and loafing around chewing the fat with the people who come and go every few days and the ones that stick around. I’ve been working on the <i>soul</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve suffered with back pain at various times in my life, and have seen countless osteopaths, chiropractors and physios over the years. Everyone single one of them told me to do yoga, but I didn’t. Because, I said, I wasn’t flexible enough to do yoga. Which, as one Indian guy remarked the other day, is a bit like saying you’re too dirty to have a bath.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I only started yoga last summer so can’t bring myself to talk about my yoga <i>practice</i> just yet - for now I still just <i>do</i> yoga. And I’ve been doing a lot of it over the last week, guided by an extremely good (and patient) teacher, Hayley, who bent my misdirected limbs back in the right direction and made the necessary modifications, piling up mats and bolsters so that poses could accommodate my fucked, inflexible body. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few days ago we had a <i>yin</i> session, where you hold the poses for five minutes, remaining <i>completely</i> still. It's far more effective than waterboarding if you’re ever pushed for time extracting sensitive information from me, but actually taking the stretches beyond the barrier, the release is incredible. Sitting there, hips splayed as wide as they’ll go, spine straight, eyes closed, I could hear my inner voice repeating its silent mantra over and over:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Pain is just weakness leaving the body</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK so Chuck Norris is no yogi, but he was bang on the money with that one. And is if to prove a point, I went and had an <i>Esalen</i> massage later that afternoon. Having winced, groaned, dribbled and laughed nervously through my fair share of massages over the years - Sports, Swedish, Thai, Seitai, Ghee - they all pale into a puddle of drool on the floor compared to this one.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Franco, the brilliantly titled <i>Head of Massage</i> at Soul & Surf (he’s the only guy giving massages), is a genius. The testimonies were glowing, many of them alluding to the strong emotional impact of the technique and being pretty open-minded about such things these days, I went in ready to be amazed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I walked out of there an hour or so later, I was in a trance. Every nerve in my body was on fire, pulsing with the electric currents that keep us feeling everything, but which we never feel. At various moments of extreme pain as he worked knots or manipulated my joints, I felt long held negative memories, thoughts and resentments bursting like squeezed spots and carrying themselves out of me with the breath and the pain. The cumulative effect is not just the intense work on the muscles, but on the source of all that tension and the latent resistance that we don’t even realise we’re mounting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lying there at the end, completely corpse like, I wanted to cry, but found myself laughing instead, more out of sheer disbelief than anything else. It was hard to walk when I finally got up, floating outside, looking completely bewildered and experiencing such basic sensations, seemingly for the first time that I didn’t really know what to do. In the uncertainty I did the only thing I could, which was to hug the guy, and say thank you. Later, someone told me he had remarked, “<i>That</i>, was a massage.” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And he was right.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Surf.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Soul. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">India, I’m on my way.</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06393778399567387974noreply@blogger.com0