Moon River goes to Din Na

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My djembe teacher is a petit man with shoulder length hair, his hands are beautiful and eloquent hands of a tabla and we play djembe i a kind of beautiful eloquent way too...He taught me Din Din Na Na Din Na.... and when he praised me I would completely lose my focus and ose the rhythm completely. It's strange how you often search for one thing and end up discoving somthing cmpletely the opposite of what you thought you'd get. Here was I thinking I would be getting a lesson in rhythm and started to realise that what I was really getting was a lesson in melody. the quality of your strokes on the drum will determine how "in tune" you are. Sorry if this sounds like the most basic f realisations for all you drummers out there but everyone's gotta start somewhere! I would love to bring my brother to Varanasi to learn classical indian music and perhaps he'll start calling his fiddle a violin again.... he he

Yesterday was full moon and after my drumming lessn I went on a boat ride my new found Australian friend Lara. It was a full moon night and they have ceremonies on the ghats with lots of singing and dancing and being in a boat is a wonderful way to see it all. We also witnessed a spectacular power cut (a very comon daily occurence here) as all the lights of Varanasi extinguished in unisn leaving us all in the glow of candles and moonlight. there is something beautiful and spooky about old Varanasi at night. Even with power the alleys are seldom lit and you'd best carry a torch on the non full moon nights. Aside from the sinister, the alleys exhale the echo of the days' events as night falls. They never seem fully empty as the absence of people allow te passageof the evening breezes, sounds of wahing and the sun's heat to emerge and rise up to join the sun again.
Lara walked ahead of me with the nouse of someone that had been in India for 8 months as well as arriving in Benares (another name for Varanasi) a week earlier. We chanced upon the Shiva rooftop restaurent and guesthouse and evtered yet another dark alley to find its entrance. I cannot count the flights of stairs but there were many and each curved tightly rond to meet the next. However te rooftop rewarded us with a 360 degree view of the wholes of Benares. Yes e would have dinner here.

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Photos

on the phone to mum
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!!!!!

Comments

[Ben]

Exciting travels and experiences described so vividly to us that we can feel the ambiance in our skin and the fragrances in our nostrils. I can imagine the all ambraceing sounds that surrounds you now. We are of course absorbed in our regular persuits at this very moment

[Melissa]

Jealous
I am a green-eyed monster. Travelling is a long way away for me. I've heard about Varanasi before. Somebody said is was like going back in time 500 years. Love, Melissa