Alas.. at Peace.. Varanassi

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Yesterday morning, I boarded the train to Trivandrum at 10:30 am.. About an hour ride.. and I just did not want to get off.. I love train rides, rickshaw rides... You get to see everything!!! The ticket was about $1.50.. when I got off.. I took a rickshaw to Mitraniketan.org (check it out!) ... a secret society in the city of Vellanad.. I got this contact from Servas organization. K.Viswanathan actually started this school in 1950s.. It is a whole campus.. including a People's college.. an elementary school.. a girls hostel.. a dormitory for international volunteers.. as big as a college campus!!! I really did not know much prior to contacting Mr. Reghu for homestay.. And although I had the bad experience first day, I wasn't going to let it stop me from many other potentially fantastic experiences.. I soon learned that the elementary/junior high school was provided for children of tribal villages.. and any children are welcome regardless of religion, caste.. without cost.. And there are homes built for them to stay at... one volunteer visited a child's home and said that the homes did not even have a roof on it..

I arrived at 1 when lunch was served.. in this dingy little room with 8 other travelers, all from denmark.. 6 of which are in teaching programs and were there to teach kids to gain experience.. Shortly after lunch, I was going to do a campus tour with the office lady.. but the 'just 5 more minutes' turned to an hour waiting.. so i decided to tour myself.. and to go find a store for a bottle of cold water (it's scorching hot and humid!!!! pounds of sweat... very sexy).. I asked around for the nearest town and they said it'd be about a 20 minute walk.. I followed the back trails through very green grass lands, goats, cows, stray dogs.. schoolkids walking home.. and alas found myself in town, just as school was getting off for the local village children.. all incredibly curious and interested in who i was, waving.. and the usual, yes.. 'whats ur name?' "where are u going?" .. I found a shop, bought my 1 liter bottle of water (30 cents.. Im drinking about 1 1/2 every day).. and sat in front to observe this small town.. No outsiders except the 10 western volunteers on the campus, in the whole city.. i Loved it.. Kids ran up and away from me asking me questions.. just staring at me.. shaking my hand. On my walk back, I fell in true love with 2 school children around 5 and 6... (I cant wait to upload the videos/photos for you guys).. their homes were in the area where the campus was.. They barely knew English.. but the smiles, gestures were more than enough for an adequate conversation.. I truly think the kids in India are among the cutest in the world.. their spirit and energy is like none other.. they held hands, shared secrets, giggled, chased each other.. I couldn't stop taking photos and videos of em.. even if it was just them walking.. it was the way they walked, the way the talked, the way their backpacks weren't fully zipped.. AM I OBSESSED??

When I got back around 4 pm, the Danish girls invited me to a dance performance on campus.. I said sure, there was nothing else to do.. Little did I know,... it became the experience I had hoped to see in India.. It was a school performance put on by the kids that only occurs once a year!!! How lucky I was !!! There were maybe about 7 performances.. a few were put on by a group of girls around 10 performing classical traditional Indian dances.. a few performances put on by school children around 5-7, holding hands, swaying, singing some folk songs.. OH it melted my heart.. there were about 200 kids/teachers/volunteers (everyone from school) in the audience cheering on.. Im so glad I was able to be a part of it, as I would have never found out about that school in any guide book, etc..

After the performance, the wife of the founder approached me and had heard all about me already, "you are from california!! Why you only stay 1 night??? Come.. I want to speak to u in my house.." We strolled along, saying hello to the kids .. and entered her house.. I felt so honored to be able to!! She introduced me to her husband, the founder, and I sat in their living room and introduced myself and talked for about half an hour.. They were so hospitable and welcoming.. I will be sure to go back for longer, the next time I come!!

The Danish girls and I hung out upstairs on the rooftop during sunset (theres nothing else to do).. chitchatting.. they had been here about 2 weeks teaching kids P.E., arts, English and loved the place. we all plan to meet in Goa to party!! Dinner served at 8 (vegetarian).. All were free of charge..

I woke up at 5:30 am , and got in the scheduled rickshaw to catch my 8 am flight.. it was about an hour ride to airport.. and I loved the naturale feeling of being in that rickshaw as most of the town were still asleep.. very few getting up and starting their day, riding through this quiet undisturbed town..

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The flight from Trivandrum to Delhi took about 2-3 hours.. then I got off and had lunch at the nice restaurant lunch buffet upstairs.. it was my first taste of North Indian food although I know it will be much better in the real city.. Walking out of the airport, I was initially searching for a rickshaw to take me to a hotel.. but found none in sight, So i waited in line for the pre-paid taxi's.. in front of me were 2 guys, who we agreed to share a taxi to town. since all the hotels were on the Ganges..

They are 2 French guys who went to college together, one is living in London now.. he's in a rockband, scientist.. the other is a Journalist in France.. They had booked a hotel at Hotel Alka but when they got there, found that there were no rooms available (happens often here in India).. and from the time we got off the rickshaw from the taxi.. a local guided us to the hotel telling us his hotel was better.. after failing to get a room at Alka, we gave him to him.. and went to his hotel, Puja Guesthouse.. Well that one got fully booked right when we got there.. We desperately began to phone every hotel down our lonely planet books... booked, booked.. booked. Finally.. we found one big room with a balcony overlooking the Ganges, 1000 rupees (25$).. Well there was only one room, we looked at each other and thought, how do we do this fair? Well... We decided to share. Sounds creepy, risque and friskay.., but more hostel-ish than anything. The balcony is shared among others, the room is rather large with added pull-out beds.. It's on the 4th floor and the view is SPECTACULAR! The hotel manager informed us to keep the balcony doors closed or else monkeys will climb in.

The more days Im here.. the more im realizing that I can do this dharma bum thing for months... I better get back before I abandon my life in LA for a life on the third-world road... 😉

This is the India that I had been longing to see. Narrow streets.. we had to get off when we got near the river since the rickshaw wouldn't fit through the alleys.. homes stacked on top of homes.. cows, goats, dogs along these narrow roads.. Ghats along the rivers.. Burning corpse 24/7.. pilgrims.. Very very sacred, ancient city.. with so much culture, and spirituality..

....and am soo happy im here.. I am now at the Shanti Guesthouse Restaurant having dinner with the 2 frenchs.. having KingFisher Beers (this time they are not in Teapots)... Tomorrow we will buy a bottle of whiskey and roam along the River front and watch the Ghats.. unfortunately.. they are on strike now, so no boat tours 😞

I have another night here and Bombay on sunday.. Maybe If i can postpone my flight I can stay another night.. Oh I long to see Rajasthan.. Bodh Gaya.. Punjab.. Darjeeling..... WHO'S WITH ME ON THE NORTH INDIA TRIP next???

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