Not Bored in New York

Yet again I wrote a lengthy post that failed, so this is a truncated version of my recent past:

1.) I am now travelling with two wonderful young ladies from Japan: Kimiko, and Chie.

2.) I am currently in Vashist, which is quite “up there” in the Himalayas. From my guest house–and the rest of the town–Everest is clearly visible. Vashisht has snake charmers, and every time the cobra charmer asks me if I want to see the cobra I give a flustered “No,” and mutter that someone is gong to die.

3.) Tonight we leave to go to Macleod Ganj, the largest Tibetan community in India, and the home of the Dalai Lama.

4.) A glass of fresh fruit jiuce costs only twenty rupees (fifty cents).

5.) There are many different bargaining styles here, you have to figure out which one is going to work best, and then milk it for every rupee you can have discounted.

6.) All of the restaurants in these tourist areas serve Chinese, Italian, Israeli, and ‘Continental’ food. Some serve Mexican, all do it Indian style.

7.) Men are always acknowledged first in a restaurant.

8.) Marijuana grows on the side of the road like a weed.

9.) India is a lot like the U.S., but with less roads, and more people. And cows everywhere. Other than that it’s exactly the same. People of all types of social class are out and about making a living, having a vacation, and just enjoying themselves. Perhaps one difference is the result of being poor, in the U.S. being poor is a gravy train compared to what poor people here deal with every day (the labor they toil in, and the conditions they live under).

10.) The contemporary Indian Aesthtic–in all forms from fashion, to architecture–is attrocious. It seems like the classical Indian style had so much character that was expertly crafted, and finely tuned, but all of the attention and skill is lost in its ability to adapt to the contemporary world. I liken contemporary India to a pubescent child, in a global sense–it is struggling to fit into the world, and take part, but it can’t figure out how to make what is distinctly ‘India’ work within this context. For example, sex is fashioned everywhere in India, however it is practiced only between married couples. To have sex before marriage is not acceptable, but the image that is presented is not one of an abstinent place.
11.) I’m having a great time, doing a lot of contextualizing, and learning. Sorry I haven’t written more often.