Needless to say I've got quite a bit to write about.
Stay tuned for posts on:
Trains and other auto-mobile forms of transport
Dehra Dun; the "other" city of knowledge
Satyon- Hindi for "Impossible Roads"
Amritsar and the Temple of Gold
The Sky Town of H.H. the Dalai Lama
More.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
A Day In The Life
Perhaps many of you are wondering what I do on a "regular" day in Varanasi. I say "regular" in quotes because there is obviously no such thing in India as a "regular" day.
Here are some things I find my self doing OFTEN.
After waking up in the morning I like to drink Chai. Real Indian CHAI. This stuff is GOOD. Made with fresh milk and LOTS of sugar. Accompanying my chai I like to eat a small, 5 Rupee pack of butter biscuits. I dip my butter biscuits in my chai and eat them when they are soggy. I sit in front of the chai shop for a while and am stared at by Indian men. Sometimes I buy curd from the chai wallah. Fresh curd made from water buffalo milk. It's like yogurt, but more bitter and more fresh than any yogurt I've had in the states. I'll take my curd back to my guest house and mix it with bananas and muesli. This is a darn good breakfast.
After breakfast I like to wander and digest. I'll go for a walk down the Ghats on the ganga and see people and be seen by people and have people try and get me to go on their boat, or buy them things, or give them money, or buy drugs, or flowers or candles or postcards or did I say drugs? I usually end up buying potato chips from my friend the chip wallah who makes these delicious baked potato chips every morning with his mother. He and his mataji (mother) walk the ghats and sell their craft.
In the daytime there are a few things I do often. Alex and I frequent a mandir (temple) and hang out with the Babaji there. He's known as Lal Babba (Red Babba) and is the smiliest man I've met in India. He's just perma-stoked on God and is therefore just uber happy and nice. There's another baba, Muni Babba, that we hang with. He's rad and lives very close to us so we sometimes go and cook lunch at his pad. On other days we go and hang out with the Aussies at the River Ashram. The River Ashram is a "Jesus Ashram" and is very chill. It seems as though a prerequisite to be a leader of the Ashram is to have dreads and an Australian accent. I really enjoy spending time with the crew of the River Ashram. Typical activities include gardening, playing music, talking about big things like God and Life and Death, or goofy things like bad movies and 80's music, or important things like international politics and good movies ;)
I've made a pretty large group of friends here in Banaras and feel like I have a community here. Most of the time I spend with friends involves drinking chai. I drink a lot of chai. When I'm not drinking chai with friends I'm generally exploring the city. Walking up and down the Ghats is good fun and exploring the mazes of alleys is a hoot. The alleys are all lined with shops and so it's pretty full on just walking down the 6-foot wide canyon getting hollered at by store owners to come in and look at the "best" silk, scarves, necklaces, sweets, etc. in all of Benares. Alex has been on the shopping train lately as he's headed back to the states for Christmas. We'll cruise the city shopping for HOURS only to stop for a lassi here and there. Lassis are amazing and I plan to write an entire blog post about them including poetry and mouth-watering imagery. But in short Lassis can bring world peace through their deliciousness. A lassi is basically buffalo curd and sugar beaten together to make a drink. It's nice and cold and sweet and served in a clay cup.
After a full on day I'll go back to the guest house to think and write and read and mess around with two flutes I've acquired. I've really been thinking a lot and experiencing a lot (of life). Varanasi is a full power city. Very unapologetic in all things biologic and cultural. Here you feel the crushing weight of in-your-face earthen humanity juxtaposed with the intricate, abstract and intangible world of spirituality. You see death in his most striking forms standing still in the midst of buzzing life. Very human, very spiritual.
Indian shaves are also great, and I'll have to write a whole post about those too. It's more massage than shave, and a very great experience whose description to you is well worthy of more time and dedication than I have to give it at the moment.
Let's see, what else. Well, that's all for now I suppose. Feel free to ask questions in the comments or ask me to write/think/read about something.
Here are some things I find my self doing OFTEN.
After waking up in the morning I like to drink Chai. Real Indian CHAI. This stuff is GOOD. Made with fresh milk and LOTS of sugar. Accompanying my chai I like to eat a small, 5 Rupee pack of butter biscuits. I dip my butter biscuits in my chai and eat them when they are soggy. I sit in front of the chai shop for a while and am stared at by Indian men. Sometimes I buy curd from the chai wallah. Fresh curd made from water buffalo milk. It's like yogurt, but more bitter and more fresh than any yogurt I've had in the states. I'll take my curd back to my guest house and mix it with bananas and muesli. This is a darn good breakfast.
After breakfast I like to wander and digest. I'll go for a walk down the Ghats on the ganga and see people and be seen by people and have people try and get me to go on their boat, or buy them things, or give them money, or buy drugs, or flowers or candles or postcards or did I say drugs? I usually end up buying potato chips from my friend the chip wallah who makes these delicious baked potato chips every morning with his mother. He and his mataji (mother) walk the ghats and sell their craft.
In the daytime there are a few things I do often. Alex and I frequent a mandir (temple) and hang out with the Babaji there. He's known as Lal Babba (Red Babba) and is the smiliest man I've met in India. He's just perma-stoked on God and is therefore just uber happy and nice. There's another baba, Muni Babba, that we hang with. He's rad and lives very close to us so we sometimes go and cook lunch at his pad. On other days we go and hang out with the Aussies at the River Ashram. The River Ashram is a "Jesus Ashram" and is very chill. It seems as though a prerequisite to be a leader of the Ashram is to have dreads and an Australian accent. I really enjoy spending time with the crew of the River Ashram. Typical activities include gardening, playing music, talking about big things like God and Life and Death, or goofy things like bad movies and 80's music, or important things like international politics and good movies ;)
I've made a pretty large group of friends here in Banaras and feel like I have a community here. Most of the time I spend with friends involves drinking chai. I drink a lot of chai. When I'm not drinking chai with friends I'm generally exploring the city. Walking up and down the Ghats is good fun and exploring the mazes of alleys is a hoot. The alleys are all lined with shops and so it's pretty full on just walking down the 6-foot wide canyon getting hollered at by store owners to come in and look at the "best" silk, scarves, necklaces, sweets, etc. in all of Benares. Alex has been on the shopping train lately as he's headed back to the states for Christmas. We'll cruise the city shopping for HOURS only to stop for a lassi here and there. Lassis are amazing and I plan to write an entire blog post about them including poetry and mouth-watering imagery. But in short Lassis can bring world peace through their deliciousness. A lassi is basically buffalo curd and sugar beaten together to make a drink. It's nice and cold and sweet and served in a clay cup.
After a full on day I'll go back to the guest house to think and write and read and mess around with two flutes I've acquired. I've really been thinking a lot and experiencing a lot (of life). Varanasi is a full power city. Very unapologetic in all things biologic and cultural. Here you feel the crushing weight of in-your-face earthen humanity juxtaposed with the intricate, abstract and intangible world of spirituality. You see death in his most striking forms standing still in the midst of buzzing life. Very human, very spiritual.
Indian shaves are also great, and I'll have to write a whole post about those too. It's more massage than shave, and a very great experience whose description to you is well worthy of more time and dedication than I have to give it at the moment.
Let's see, what else. Well, that's all for now I suppose. Feel free to ask questions in the comments or ask me to write/think/read about something.
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