Ancient Eyes

Eyes are the gateway to the soul, hers is old

To polish or not to polish...

While exploring Bangalore I came across a man on the curb stitching a pair of shoes. Upon further review I noticed that he had all the tools for a proper shoe polishing. I glanced down at my well traveled boots and they looked thirsty. I impulsively decided to get them polished. The man handed me a pair of flip flops to trade for the boots and once that transaction was complete he began his craft. I sat next to him on the curb and watched the transformation. When he was finished I admired his work. Suddenly the coin was flipped, my mood shifted… I began to miss the look of the boots prior to polish. They had character, a roughness and openly expressed who they were and where they had been. Even though beneath the surface they were the same, I felt their truth was hidden.

Sitar and Tabala Concert

Last night I was privileged to attend an amazing musical performance. Indian classical music is well known and appreciated for its complexity and resonating sounds. The sounds of the sitar and tabala are like chocolate cake and red wine; a perfect complement. During the concert I lost track of time and space as the music had a meditative and trance like effect on me. Check out this link for a taste...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTMxx8gLkeQ

Recent Reads

Below are some books I have read in the past few months that I would recommend:

Holy Cow- An Australian women moves to India and struggles with the transition, life and the Indian culture. During this time she travels throughout the country looking for answers and meeting interesting people along the way. If you coming to India this is a good primer
Shantaram- This book rocked my world. Read it!It was one of the 1st I read while in India and despite its intimidating size it, I promise it flows effortlessly. Roberts paints an amazingly vivid and accurate picture of India. Soon to be a Johny Depp movie.
Age of Kali- Kali translates into Destruction and this book takes you on a trip throughout different states within India via the eyes of a British journalist. The book drags at points but if you want to learn about some fascinating history and states of India it is worth your time.
The Greatness Guide- Robin Sharma is a life coach and author of many bestsellers. This is his latest and if you are looking to take your game to the next level it has a lot of worthwhile tips in it.
The Monk who sold his Ferrari- This Sharma book is a cheesy, yet tells his story of leaving his legal practice to find himself in the Himalayas.
Catch 22- A book based World War II, Heller clearly has ADD as he jumps around more than house of pain...In spite of that it is a great book.
Leadership Presence- When you see it you know it...This book describes how the field and skills of performance arts can be incorporated into everyday life to fuel your fire.
The Tao of Physics- East meets West and the links and connections are fascinating. Capra talks about how science and eastern philosophy are very similar. Bland at times but a good book to skim.
Running with the bulls: From Wharton to Wall Street- This book describes the life of a student at the #1 Undergraduate Business School in the country. It is interesting how intense these young people are...
Great Expectations- Its a classic and Dickens writing style can be challenging to follow.
Many Lives Many Masters- A doctors reflections on a his work with a patient doing past life regressions.
The unbearable lightness of being- A Great book about a man's search for love, connection, himself and how fate twists.
The Manuel of the Warrior of Light- Written by the author of the alchemist, this book is a set of quotes that I find empowering.
The Rules of work- A real quick read for those of you playing the corporate game.

I would love to get a few recommendations from you!

VINO!

A simple pleasure I miss and cannot acquire in India is a good bottle of wine. One of my last stops before leaving for the airport was a local wine shop. I carefully picked some bottles and then strategically wrapped them in one of my suitcases. I knew that the legal limit into India was two bottles and decided to risk it…As I was filling out my customs sheet and throughout my flight I wondered if my booty would be confiscated or not. After about 24 hours of travel time at 2:30am I lifted my (weighed down with wine) bags off the conveyor belt onto my cart. I took a deep breath and walked smiling up to the final security check. The man looked at my bags, me and my customs sheet. At the last second he looked down at my bag pointed to some white chalk on my bag that said “LBS 7” and said “you need to go to the left and talk to a customs officer”. When I arrived at the counter, I was met by an older man with a crooked grin on his face. He pointed to my bag and said: So you have 7 liquor bottles in your bag (LBS 7), this did not include 3 others I had bought which were in another bag. We volleyed our cases back and forth like Sampras and Agassi until I served up the question he was waiting to here: What’s it going to take for you to let me keep my pirates treasure? There was a twinkle in his eye as he said “as you wish”.

As you wish is how Indians hedge their bets. Without any context they force you to give much more than you should for tips/bribes or if you don’t they let you know…in a way”as you wish” sounds like your royalty and they are at your beckon call, not that they have you by the Family Jewels…

Hearing this before, tired and feeling feisty I said, As I wish huh…, well how about you let me pass out of the kindness of your big and warm heart…He laughed and repeated “As you wish” and pointed to the right. I looked to where his finger directed and surprise, surprise right next two the customs security is a ATM (yes, bribes are a integral part of Indian culture). A few minutes later we were both happy as we created an Indian “win win”. The security guard who originally would not let me pass got the signal from my new friend and let me pass without a hitch.

Homecoming

After living in India for five months I returned to the US with A concert tour like schedule. DC, Colorado, Delaware, New Jersey, New York City, Orlando and Atlanta were my destinations over the course of three blurry weeks. I immediately became aware of how organized, calm and clean the US is; on the surface. Highlights of the trip were reconnecting with family and friends, my good friends Tom and Becky’s wedding, enjoying the Falls kaleidoscope of fleeting colors, getting to indulge my senses in simple pleasures not available in India and co-authoring the 1st two chapters of what I think will be an amazing story ….



There is a intense battle of tug of war between my heart and head as I think about my future and choices to be made.





Comfort is calming, Chaos is Challenging, which path would you take?

Conversions

I am still struggling with conversions in many ways. One is with the money and its weight here in India. Every time I use the rupee I instantly think about its worth in dollars which distorts my judgment. For example, when I left for a weekend trip I gave my driver 500 rupees and told him to do something nice with his family. My friend said to me: you gave him 8% of his monthly salary, imagine if you boss gave you 8% of your monthly pay as a tip...

In addition when I run my experiences in India though my filter of life in the US I fall into a similar trap, as there is no comparison. This fuels the fire of expectations that are not extinguishable and does considerable damage in my environment. Like someone who is learning to dance and keeps looking at their feet, I find myself lost in translation rather then embracing the present experience.

Mumbai and Pune

I spent the last four days working and exploring Mumbai (aka Bombay,India has slowly renamed most of their major cities slowly after the partition in 1947) and Pune. Jack and Judy who are family friends have lived in Mumbai for the last 21 years. I stayed with them and had a interesting time discussing the similarities and differences (mostly differences) of Indian and American culture and their life in this intense city. Mumbai is a city of over 18 million people and bursting at its seams. It is home to the largest slum in the world, Bollywood and the setting for one of my favorite books Shantaram (http://www.shantaram.com/). After 2 days in Mumbai I took the train to Pune which is proclaimed "The oxford of the east" for its educational institutions. The city was going bananas because Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are there filming a movie. Pune is also home to the Gandhi memorial and OSHO Ashram.

Pondicherry

This past weekend, a co-worker of mine Marcelo and I decided to explore the french colonized coastal town of Pondicherry. My objectives were simple: eat some fresh seafood, drink some french wine, learn about the history of the town and let the ocean wash away a long stressful week. Mission accomplished. It was very interesting to explore how the french and tamil cultures have blended together. People in India our the most socially tolerant I have met and the two dance effortlessly in this small town. Marcelo, a man of many talents speaks numerous languages and that came in handy many times. One time in particular, speaking french to the owner of a restaurant where the waiter assertively told us they were out of wine. Magically a bottle of Bordeaux appeared on our table.

One of the highlights of the weekend was exploring the community of Auroville :http://www.auroville.org/av_brief.htm

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh or Vinayaka Chaturthi is dedicated to Lord Ganesh (son of Shiva), the elephant -headed god of all good beginnings and success. The festival celebrated as the birth day of Lord Ganesha, held annually in South India especially with great fervor in Maharashtra, is a ten day long event.On the occasion of the Ganapati festival, a large number of idols are made of clay or metal in all possible sizes sometimes even up to twenty feet.
People buy them and install them in their houses and worship the idol for one to ten days, after which the idol are taken out ceremoniously, carried in a procession through the streets of the town and immersed into the river, sea or well. The sea front at Mumbai, packed with people, is a spectacular sight.

On the day of the Chaturthi, the last of the days dedicated to the elephant-headed god, thousands of processions converge on the beaches of Mumbai to immerse the holy idols in the sea. This immersion is accompanied by drumbeats, devotional songs and dancing. Every year, the largest Ganesh idol is installed at Khairatabad in Hyderabad, which is more than 30 ft tall.


Each of these idols can be upto 10 metres in height and are paraded on lorries decorated with multi-coloured lights. At the other end of the scale, little Ganeshas are placed in nukkads or street corners and in homes, and pujas are performed daily. On the occasion of the Ganpati festival a large number of images are made of all possible sizes, and people buy them to keep in their houses as a divine guest for one and a half, five, seven, or ten days, after which the image is taken out ceremoniously and thrown into the river, sea or well for immersion or "visarjan". When he is immersed in the water, people sing,"'GANPATI BAPPA MORYA, AGLE BARAS TO JALDI AA," ("father Ganpati, next year come again.")

Celebrating Ganesh's b-day was a wild experience. A normally conservative culture let loose. In spite of the thousands of people condensed into a very small area, I felt totally safe. At one point we found ourselves in the middle of a circle of hundreds of people dancing to the beat of drums and feeding off the energy from the roar of a crowd touched that we embraced their culture.

Kerala

Taking advantage of a holiday weekend Tor, Kevin and I decided to explore the highly recommended state of Kerala in the southeast part of the country. Our journey began with a short flight to Cochin where we then took a cab to Alleppey. Kerala is known for its backwaters (http://www.backwatersinkerala.com/) and the culture rooted in them. We rented a 2 bedroom private houseboat (with a cook, steward and captain) to explore the backwaters and then drop us two days later close the southern beach town of Varkala. While on the houseboat we were treated with amazing kerala cuisine (made with fresh fish and prawns which we bought from fisherman who pulled up to the boat) , a slow crawl through lush surroundings of rice paddies, palm trees, exotic birds, vivid sunsets and curious locals, a peak into a culture that lives off of and cherishes their fertile land and many more gifts that appear when you slow down. National Geographic lists renting a houseboat and touring the Kerala Backwaters in their top 50 things to do in the world, and I wholeheartedly endorse their assertion. After a relaxing couple days on the houseboat we headed to the beach town of Varkala. Varkala is a small village that is majestically positioned on a 3 mile strech of cliffs smiling down on Arabian sea. We spent our time eating fresh seafood, relaxing on a blacksand beach, and interacting with travelers and locals. Four enjoyable days flew by and then it was time to travel back to Hyderabad. Kerala deserves at least a week to really soak up all it has to offer.

Car Accident

Today on my way home I was reading the paper in the backseat of my car when all of a sudden at heard a loud BANG! I looked up and my car and a van were hugging each other. The phrase they dont make things like they used to rings true in this situation. My car is solid as a rock and comparable to the safety of a volvo. I barely felt the impact of the two cars colliding. I looked over and the van we hit and a fairly large indentation in its side door. I got out to survey the damage on my car and there was a small brushstroke of green paint on the front bumper. A crowed of people quickly gathered around and my driver steven and the driver of the van began shouting in hindi back and forth. Other's shared what I think were their eyewitness accounts of the accident. Two "policeman" showed up and tried to make some sense of the situation....yeah right...one man came up to me and was worried about me getting fried my the sun and handed me an umbrella for shade. I calmly soaked in the experience and must say found it very interesting and somewhat funny, especially when Steven came up to me and asked for 200 rupies ($4). The money was for the driver of the other car as compensation for the damage and the transaction took place right in front of the grinning police (bribes are very common here). Steven later told me the man wanted 1000 rupees for the damage and he talked him down to 200 because the man was driving to fast and the accident was his fault. From my vantage point the damage was at least $1000 dollars, but then again I am from the US and the markup on everything there is ridiculous. No paper work or information was exchanged, no one was hurt (thankfully), there was alot of verbal sparing which about 90% I could not understand, and an hour later I was home safe and sound, my wallet $4 lighter.