Communication

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To be honest, I have no idea where I am right now...so you can disregard the "location" mentioned above. What I know is that I got on a bus at 6:30 PM last night...and got off of a bus with a couple of Swedish women who told me that their two star resort in Goa was nice...and that they would probably have a room I could take. They also mentioned that their resort catered to Swedes who were on a "holiday package". Well, after a second all-nighter on a bus...they could have said they were in a resort for martians...and I would most likely have followed them anywhere. Especially after one of them mentioned that she had lived in Haifa for a month during high school...and had just completed her medical residency...and the other claimed to be a lower form of a judge. It seemed relatively safe.

This could also be termed as my "most expensive night" thus far. At 700 rupees, which I wholeheartedly agreed to without even a slight bargaining...I was too drained to be hassled...it is more than 350 rupees than my last night's stay in Hampi. But let's be honest...I think an additional $8 for sanity isn't too high a price these days. After all...last night's bus ride also doubled as a "hotel stay".

But back to communication...because I had been thinking about it most of the night. It dawned on me that traveling alone through India, one is most likely to ignore all rules of communication that one has learned as a child. For instance #1 Don't talk to strangers. If I were to follow this rule...I would still be stuck in my room in Mumbai...and would not have met the vastly infinite range of Europeans, Israelis...and a few Indians that I have been fortunate enough to converse...and sometimes travel with. The range of these conversations usually strikes up with the common question, "Where are you coming from?"...which allows the conversation to then open itself up into a whole host of conversations from the price one paid for your seat vs. theirs to the state of the Euro...and the integration of East and West Germany. The same conversation in Hebrew usually begins with them realizing I am following their conversation about me (thanks to looking like an American)...and then ends up with us determining if we have mutual cities and/or friends in common (which I have had with virtually every Israeli thanks to my 4 years of working with OTZMA in development towns). The conversations with Indians is usually provoked by one of to things-1. My approach-usually abbreviated to 2-3 words at MOST (i.e. Where bus? or How Much Time (accompanied with rapid hand gestures to my watch) or 2. Children who ask for money. The clever ones claim to want "country coins"...and when that doesn't work...they move on to a request for a school pen. Had I known this would be the most popular request, I would have bought Bic pens by the case and carted them across India with me.

However, it is usually the rare...but incredibly meaningful communications that I have had with a few of the native Indians that I have cherished. Case in point, the vast majority of Indians are incredibly warm, kind individuals who want to help. Through an introduction by a friend to the president of the Jewish community in Mumbai, Ralphy now calls in and emails to check on me throughout my travels across India. Melind, my pseudo-tour guide from Mumbai texts me every once in a while to see where my travels have taken me...and to see if he can be of help. Then there are those I meet on the street, in the bus...and at the hotels...as I ask for directions in what I am sure could be termed as "wildly characteristic ways". While few have offered clear and concise instructions (and even fewer in any language I could understand)...they have ALWAYS tried...and for that I am always grateful.

But back to Goa, where i have now been for about 10 hours. After checking in to my fabulous 2 star resort-which quite frankly I chose because I was semi-sure that there was a 20% chance of lukewarm water...I washed my clothes...and hoped for sleep. Since this alluded me...I decided to check out my new surroundings...and have lunch by the beach. There I found out exactly how Swedish my resort was...as I looked around to find that in a crowd of perhaps 40 people...I was one of 3 non-blondes. I wish I were exaggerating...but I counted.

And that is pretty much where my day began and ended because from that point on I have done what every other person comes to Goa to do...nothing. Its a new concept to me...for those of you that know me.

Time here is different in the most fundamental sense. There is a permeable sense that time exists. It does not "run away"...nor does it feel limited. Even as I know that I have a plane to "catch" tomorrow...I almost feel that an inifinite amount of time exists from now until then. It is strange, as I have always had the exact opposite feeling. I try to cram the most into each day...sometimes even into each minute. Here, time exists on a different plane. Conversations are given permission to happen...without the structure of a beginning or end for having a limited and finite amount of time to have them in. And while many might say that this is what a vacation is about, I would argue that I think India actually believes this in a more permanent sense. I have waited in lines as clerks show no signs of hurrying their conversations to move on to the next customer. I have watched as literally hundreds of people from the country work on their laundry slapping the same cloth over and over and over, not taking any shortcuts as the pile of laundry beside them shows no signs of diminishing. And most of the time, any meal that I order arrives no sooner than 45 minutes from the time I mention that we are waiting for our order. And perhaps this explains much of India. While it is developing, it remains steadfast to the belief that time does simply exist.

And for right now...I would rather be in no other place...in no other time.

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Comments

[Ma]

are you gettig this
Hi Sweetheart hope you are having a wonderful time we love getting your blogs it sounds like its a really HARD trip frankly, I'll be happier when you are in Israel Gail gave us your phone no and we'll try to call you tonight we love you very much and miss you very much Ma