India: !ncredible or !nsane?

Australia farewelled me in fitting form, with a roasting of a sunburn and a stomachful of chips.
Asia welcomed me.. with four curries in under 24hrs (without even leaving an airport!). And as we touched down in Mumbai, there were three little kids jumping and waving the plane in, from their vantage point in the slums.

Incredible !ndia say the tourism posters - and though I've only spent 4 days here, I quite agree. In fact, I feel that "Krazy Kolkata" on a poster for this city would be spot on.
Here's [some of] why:

The streets are insane. Buses, trucks, taxis, cars, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, bicycles, motorbikes cows, goats, dogs, cats, squirrels - oh, and people! - they're all there, going every which way. Challenge number one: How the heck does one cross a road?!
And they beep. The. Whole. Time. It's not always an angry beep, more a 'watch out I'm coming through' sort of beep. So as they're always coming through, they're always.. you guessed it.
I've seen signs saying not to beep near nursing homes and hospitals and stuff. But then on the backs of the trucks, it says: 'Horn Please'.
???
There are sacred shrines everywhere, hindu temples, jain temples, islamic mosques (you may even have the good fortune to be woken at ~4:30am by the mullah calling the good muslims to worship. oh joy. but I guess I have been getting up at 5:30 to go to mass, so maybe the madness is catching), christian churches - a bit of everything! There's a whole market dedicated to strings of fresh flowers, mostly sunshine-yellow marigolds to buy to hang on tombs, for offerings, burials, cremations, and more.
Oh and the ganges, the Hindus' holy, holy river? The one where they gather water from to sanctify things with? Yeah well you have probably heard this, but the river is also used to send babies corpses one their way into the next life.. as well as general things like defacating, bathing, etc.
?!?
A quick one which I only just discovered: you have to show photo ID and get it and yourself photographed, and tell them where you live, before they'll let you use an internet cafe here.

I'm sure there are a million more crazy things, but suffice it to say it is also beautiful, humbling, amazing. SO glad to be here.

lucky schmuck

yeah.. that's me.

I can't believe I'm going away in three days! ahh!! So exciting. I feel so spoilt (I am so spoilt!), being able to go overseas again, and join in with people's lives in another part of the world.
..Give and receive, bless and be blessed (I hope!).
Taste and see the differences.
Celebrate common, immortal humanity.
Have fun.
See some cool stuff.
Live courageously.
Spark myself alight on the world...

"Who turned on the lights? You did, by waking up: you flipped the light switch, started up the wind machine, kicked on the flywheel that spins the years. Can you catch hold of a treetop, or will you fly off the diving planet as she rolls?

Knowing you are alive is feeling the planet buck under you, rear, kick, and try to throw you; you hang on to the ring. It is riding the planet like a log downstream, whooping.

What is important is anyone's coming awake and discovering a place, finding in full orbit a spinning globe one can lean over, catch, and jump on. What is important is the moment of opening a life and feeling it touch – with an electric hiss and cry – this speckled mineral sphere, our present world."

- Annie Dillard, An American Childhood

There's been a lot of ups and downs to life lately, but I've still got to be one of the luckiest girls around.

Go West Find India

Last week I spent 3 days pruning pomegranates at Condo, because my Dad was working near there and they needed people.. and I could use the cash.

What I didn't expect was that going a couple of hours west would sink me straight into a little India!!
I (and my bro Ben) were working with a whole bunch of guys from Punjab, Gujarat, and Pakistan. They rattled away in Hindi and Punjabi all day long - and I understood nothing but 'Sahib Paul', 'Sahib Cartic', and 'smokee'!

They chewed on tobacco and pruned away to the tinny bollywood tunes bouncing from phones or mp3s. Every now and then the braver (and better at english) ones would strike up a brief conversation with me or Ben.. and the more flirtatious of them threw small pomegranates at me and moaned about how little sleep he got because he was addicted to facebook (um, excuse me but how is that attractive?!) haha.

I wiped sweat from my top lip and prickles from my legs.. and worked on developing blistered fingers, muscular thumbs, and a decent sock tan.

We swilled litre upon litre of chilled water (ah, heaven!).. and at lunch break they shared some of their curry and chappatis with us.

When they found out I was visiting India they were very excited - though a little disappointed when they heard I wasn't going into the north at all, they still tried to think of friends in the places I was going who might be able to show me around!

So despite the 40 degree heat and ensuing exhaustion, it was actually not a bad few days.. :)

..one of those things I think you should know

very nearly didn't post this.. but here goes!

Ok, so this is to do with relationship breakups. Just thought I should let people know (and I'm sure most of you wouldn't do this, but you'd be suprised how much it happens) that when someone has broken up with someone else, you don't immediately jump in with telling them not to worry because 'there's a special person out there waiting just for you - they just haven't turned up yet'. When you've just broken up with someone your world may be in pieces and amongst all the bits of hopes and dreams and impossibly tangled feelings you're grieving this person that, due to whatever circumstances, has been ripped out of your life.

I know people mean well, but it's not about 'finding that one perfect person for you'. It's about knowing and caring for this particular person and who they are.. You don't just go 'oh well they weren't the right one so I'll start looking for someone new'.. maybe they weren't, and in time maybe you will join paths with someone else, but what I'm saying is, that's not the place you're in now.

Yes, I'm speaking from experience here (mine and close friends of mine who've had similar experiences with well-meaning others), and maybe not everyone feels the same way we do, but I think when people say things like the above, it feels like there's no understanding of what it meant.. And that you're freed up and 'on the hunt' again or something. ew.

Oh and I'm definitely not angry with anyone, just so you know! Only thought, maybe I could warn against making this one little mistake.

Cheers,

Flood II - The Aftermath

Oh slender mosquito
I must admit
I feel no guilt
in crushing you -
not one whit!

holiday reading

Books books books (the ones I've read already these hols are bolded)

Harry Potter 5, 6 & 7 (yes, I've been suffering withdrawals since last year's HP 9-day-7-book Challenge)
River Town (fascinating book about a guy's couple of years in a backwater chinese town, I should write a whole post just on it)
Cry, the Beloved Country - Alan Paton
In Patagonia - Bruce Chatwin
Fire & Hemlock - Diana Wynne Jones
The Book of Lights - Chaim Potok
El Leon, la Bruja y el Ropero - CS Lewis
The Silmarilion - JRR Tolkien
.....and finish War & Peace!

Any recommendations?

Flood Fun

I went walking across the swampy oval this morning:



It's funny how exciting it's been, staying in a partially flooded town. Since last friday up until a day or two ago, we had water nearly up to our back fence, and the road at the bottom of the block was totally under water! The river had turned into a lake covering soccer fields, carparks, everything nearby..

For those 5 days or so, I estimated that we had upwards of 1000 cars driving past our place everyday! (at least one per minute, morning-evening) We liked to call them 'flood tourists', dropping by to check the levels - though I'm sure at least some of them were just people frustrated by the road blocks all over town!

I was thinking, it's funny just how fascinating we find stuff like this. Funny cos normally we like to have everything under control, know what's happening and when and how.. have the day run according to plan, etc.

And then something like this happens, and the normal routines get thrown a bit haywire, and everything just looks so weird and different. And it might be a bit annoying (and really sad for all those farmers whose crops are stuffed :( ) but we love it all the same. Maybe we don't actually like everything to be quite so predictable after all..

Here are some flood-nearly-gone pics. Can't find the fully flooded ones at present, sorry!