Me-go Mix: Track 4 “Raat Baaki” — DJ Akbar Sami
To download using Windows “right click” and save to disk. Mac users, you know what to do.
Chowpatty Beach in Mumbai (Bombay) at sunset. Behind me is a busy six lane road, a Baskin Robbins and a Levi’s store. Despite that, this scene feels like it fits the song.
One of my last stops in India was Bangalore where I stocked up on guidebooks for Jordan and Egypt. At the bottom of my shopping bag among half a dozen glossy flyers and ads was a free CD sampler featuring remixed songs from popular movies. “Raat Baaki” is a remix of a song from the 1982 Hindi Bollywood film Namak Halaal. Here’s a link to a short scene from the movie where the original version of “Raat Baaki” is sung. Below is a short live version of the song with different singers than my mp3.
After three days in transit from Bangalore, including a 24-hour train ride, a 1am airport appearance and a brief layover in Kuwait, I have finally arrived in Jordan. More importantly, I got out of India.
I don’t think I’ve talked much about my frustrations in India here, because when I was so angry I had to clench my fists at my side not to hit someone I was in no shape to be composing blog posts. India is not a hard country to travel in. In fact, it was one of the easiest I’ve been to. Most people speak English, there’s a comprehensive transportation system and it’s inexpensive. But the every day hassles I had to deal with wore me down.
After the first month of “rickshaw madams” and “your countries” I was becoming violent. Even though I’ve been to countries where everyone wants to know where you’re from (Uzbekistan comes to mind), they didn’t continue to talk to you and tell you everything they think about anything without letting you speak. When I did speak or beg off I was usally told I was wrong or yelled at for not being interested in the locals and so on.
More than that, I can’t stand being told what to do. Generally, when someone gives me unsolicited advice (”sit down, go there, eat this”) I automatically want to do the opposite. This lead to many situations in which I got into an argument with an Indian man because I wouldn’t sit down. Sometimes I would be walking straight down a street and a man would come up and point the way I was walking and say “yes, that way.” I would have to find some side street to turn off of just to prove him wrong!
Add to that horribly greasy and/or spicy food, pollution and a population that apparently can not tell the truth and I was out. If I had left after the first month I think I could still look back fondly of the sites I saw and the few nice people I met. Even though the South was much more hassle-free I still got into a physical alteration with a drunk rickshaw driver in Fort Chochin and yelled at people in Bangalore.
In my mind I kept hearing those people who say “you’ll either love India or you’ll hate it.” I struggled with that statement because I didn’t hate India and I didn’t love India. Mostly I was just undwhelmed and dissapointed by it. In the end it’s just better for both me and India that we’ve parted ways.
Jordan is a breath of “fresh” air compared to India and I’m excited to be in a country smaller than the state of Virginia with plenty of really old, really important sites—all more or less on the way to Egypt. I’ve already bought my red and white checkered head scarf and Iraqi Dinar with Saddam’s picture on it. For lunch today I had a grilled chicken wrap with avacado, salsa and fresh sour cream. Sure, it cost more than my hotel room but it wasn’t Paneer Butter Masala.
When I arrived at 3pm yesterday I immediately went to sleep and didn’t wake up until 6 the next morning. The hotel staff later admitted that they were worried about me, that something was wrong, but they soon realized I just had to sleep India off.
After a few more days at the ashram where we got as far as the headstand asana (position), I was ready to leave. Staying would have been good for me, sure, but the possibility of squeezing in a few more towns before heading back to Mumbai for my flight was too enticing. I had to check out of the ashram at 11am and three hours later I was on Kovalam Beach eating spaghetti.
The beach was underwhelming and I walked around, trying to find a book exchange, until it was time to catch the bus back to Trivandrum for my 8:20 train to Madurai. It was a hard travel night for me because my train arrived in Madurai at 5am, where I had to wait for another train to Trichy, my final destination. I found a Diet Coke as a stall in the station and took it as a sign that taking the two trains was a better idea than the one direct train that arrives at 2:30am.
In Trichy I checked my bag at the station cloak room and hopped around buses all day, seeing another colorfully painted temple, similar to the more famous temple in Madurai. I was beat by 3:30 and caught the next train to Thanjavur, another Tamil Nadu temple town off the main train line. Buses are much more frequent for these kind of trips but because my bag was checked at the train station and the hotels in Thanjavur were next to the train station it made sense to stick to the slow and steady trains.
Thanjavur reminds me a little bit of my favorite town in Myanmar, Monywa. It has a lot of Art Deco-style cement buildings from the 1930’s - 50’s and the Dravidian temple architecture of Tamil Nadu is similar in garishness to the circus-like temple that I loved to much in Monywa. Granted, Thanjavur is a much busier town and smells a lot more of urine, but I’m always a little happy to see similarities in the cultures I visit.
This morning I took the liberty to sleep in and then watch The Lost World: Jurassic Park on cable before heading out into town. Traveling during the night and heading straight out to sight see really wore me down. And I also think that the ashram food messed me up a bit. Since I’ve left I’ve felt hungry but when I eat I’m never satisfied. At the ashram I got to the point where I was never hungry, but the food wasn’t very appealing. Now, everything is extra-spicy because the ashram diet excluded anything with taste, including salt. I barely touched my lunch, much to the dismay of the kind Singaporean woman who sat at my table with her local husband. She exclaimed “but where will you eat now?” as if I was going to go and sit down for a second meal.
Because it was late and temples shut down during the middle of the day I headed straight for the palace, which turned out to be less palatial than I expected. I think the princely towns of Rajasthan really spoiled me in that regard. However, one of the sites had a nice colorfully painted hall with a large mirror-covered area for the king.
Today was overcast and a nice temperature without the sun beating down. Locals are shivering and some are even wearing knitted hats and ski masks. It’s only 75 degrees! With the nice temperature I was able to walk out to Brihadisvara Temple, which is one of the more famous “World Heritage listed” temples in the area. Even so, because the town is off the main rail line I didn’t see too many foreign tourists and had a good time receiving my third elephant blessing since I’ve been in India. Check out the video:
This temple isn’t painted at all, which was a nice break from the typical Tamil Nadu temple scene. After walking through two large gates a platform holding a massive bull statue sits in the middle of the stone and grass enclosure. I followed the locals around it’s perimeter, receiving a blessing of white powder on my forehead from the priest camped out in front of the bull’s head. I had attracted a lot of attention by now and posed for photos with a group of teenage girls and took photos on request from a group of older women.
Two or three school group filled into the are wearing matching uniforms and snapping sneaky photos of my from the side. Their teachers were Roman Catholic nuns who I had a nice talk with. The place was hopping with Indians pushing through the main temple to place candles in front of the Shiva lingam and others relaxing on the grass along the outside wall.
I was in a good mood and answered all the same questions I get asked every day and people seemed to appreciate the chance to talk to a foreigner. Most of the foreigners I saw were in groups, including one Japanese group who looked like it was attacking the place with it’s cameras.
At the end of the day, I still found the temple in Madurai much more fascinating than Thanjavur’s, but this was a relaxed place to visit with nice people and no hassle. I will be moving on tomorrow morning to Pondicherry after a failed attempt to buy a train ticket to Chennai, where I would have connected to Mallapuram to see some rock carvings in the seaside cliffs. This means I will have to bus-it all the way to Bangalore, where I will spend a few days getting my Western tastes satisfied before heading by train to Bombay and my flight to Jordan.
Many people come to India to experience it’s spiritual side, either Hindu or Buddhist, meditation or yoga. I thought this trip was the perfect opportunity to take a crash course in yoga from the masters. After a few failed attempts to reserve a spot I finally arrived in Sivananda Ashram on the 31st. It’s a huge organization based in Canada and most of the participants are Westerners. When I arrived a Teachers Training Course was just finishing up and the complex was overloaded with people.
I’m paying 450 rupees to stay in a dorm bed, eat vegetarian food and receive yoga instruction. Unfortunately, I am also required to “participate in ashram life” which includes a 5:20am wake-up, lectures and Hindu chanting. Some of the ceremonies are nice but after hearing the same chants twice a day I’m starting to crack.
Each day the schedule is about the same:
5:20: Wake-up
6:00: Satsang (meditation and chanting)
7:30: Tea
8:00: Yoga
10:00: Meal
11:00: Lecture
12:30: Karma yoga (chores)
1:30: Tea
2:00: Optional coaching class
3:30: Yoga
6:00: Meal
8:00: Satsang
10:30: Lights out
The TTC Course includes approximately 150 students, all of whom graduated just before I left for The Super Bowl. They were a tight knit group of people, with many cliques and snobbish attitudes toward us newcomers so I hope most have left by the time I get back to the ashram tonight. As the days progressed the beginners class seemed to swell and we often had more then 60 people—twice as many for my tastes. We all ate together in silence and attended Satsang together, although obviously the students who had been here one month were much more into the Hindu chants than the beginners. Personally, I thought they were pretty but very repetitive.
I met an equally cynical American couple from Chicago whom I could talk to. We discussed Taco Bell and other American things—much to the horror of our vegetarian classmates. They only lasted as long as The Super Bowl and I will be going back tonight to spend a few more days on yoga. The food is not ideal, and the other day were were served “rice with water.” But despite the early mornings, rules, bad food and earthy students, the yoga is great and we have been treated to night walks, a martial arts performance and a special full moon puja ceremony.
To get a flavor for Satsang I’ve snuck a few videos for you:
I’m on day three in the Ashram. The yoga is still pretty basic but good. We wake up at 5:20 and don’t eat until after 10am, that was quite hard to get used to. My stomach was grumbling all of day one and two. It’s hard to meditate, listen to chants and do two hours of yoga on an empty stomach.
Luckily, on the bus here I met two other travelers from Chicago and we immediately began planning our escape for The Super Bowl. It turns out we didn’t have to invest in black clothes because the swami gave me a note allowing me to leave. It was hard to bring myself to tell a swami the reason, but he was okay with it.
I only get 15 minutes online so you’ll have to wait until I get for my vacation from yoga vacation to hear more. I’m heading into Trivandrum on the 4th.
I just uploaded six new locations to The Gallery, bringing it up to Mumbai. Don’t forget to look for page two in the gallery, which shows the last three locations. At the moment I have things set so that only 15 sub-galleries show per page and I’ve hit my limit.
You can read all about how I spent the first few days of 2007 (falling face first off a jeep) in the new Mt. Abu post here.
I’m starting to feel a bit of pressure, now that I have plans. For those of you keeping track, I have a flight from Mumbai to Amman, Jordan on February 20th. Right after buying the norefundable ticket some space opened up at a yoga ashram in the South near Thrivandrum so I’ve had to cancel out a few of the East coast temples in favor of “yoga vacation.”
I’ve already swung around the Southernmost tip of India and am now in Madurai, staring at a pretty awe-inspiring temple. This is what I think of when I think of Indian temple architecture! I sign in for yoga vacation on the 31st and after I leave plan only a few days for Bangalore (movies… shopping!) and Mysore before taking the 24 hour train to mumbai for my flight.
I think I may have been in India too long. I almost changed my dinner plans tonight because I knew that The Office would be on tonight. It’s pretty bad when I’ve memorized pertinent parts of India’s weekly TV schedule.
While checking email here in Alleppey, Kerala I’ve just learned that The Chicago Bears are going to be in The Super Bowl.
I remember the last one well… It was 1985/86 and I was in elementary school. Walter Payton was our hero, leading a pack of characters including “The Fridge” and “The Punky QB.” We went to my uncle’s house for the first of what would be many Super Bowl parties. I’m not a football fan, and it was probably the first football game I’d ever seen but I could tell it was something really important.
Since then the Super Bowl parties have become a tradition in my family—a celebration eclipsing Easter. I’ve always thought it was funny that The Super Bowl is celebrated by my Catholic family and not Easter, but that goes to show you just how important the 1985 Bears win was in my family and all over Chicago. The only sporting event that could possibly eclipse this is a Cubs World Series appearance.
So, what am I to do when I am supposed to be at a yoga retreat in Southern India for two weeks starting Janurary 31st? I don’t even like football. But this isn’t just football, it’s The Bears. Some of you might not understand what the problem is, and maybe it’s only something a Chicagoan can understand. But somehow I feel it’s my responsibility to watch this game.
Once I decided to give up potatoes as a way to lose weight. My mom wouldn’t let me because it would be against my Irish heritage. Not watching The Bears in The Super Bowl is like giving up potatoes for me. It’s just wrong.
I’ve been getting a handful of bounce-back messages from subscribers, so I hope no one’s missing out. For those non-subscribers, I’ve post-dated a post about New Year’s in it’s appropriate place here. The gallery has been gradually being updated while I’ve been in India and I have photos up through Christmas in the Thar Desert. When you have some time to spare take a look.
As you can see here India’s map is up to date as of today. I will work on my expenses for the rest of Nepal and India to date this week. I just sent a package home, so I took new souvenir and sketchbook photos which will be coming online soon as well.
I’ve come to terms that some posts that I’ve saved photos out for may never see the light of day. However, the photos will be coming online, there’s some that are too good to leave behind. Don’t you worry, Tajikistan and Tibet were both started long ago and it’s just a matter of sitting down and finishing. The Tajik post includes the infamous “eyebrow dyeing” photo that’s been requested so much. Sometimes the most interesting places are hardest to put into words. Both needed some time for me to reflect before I could write about them.
Tomorrow morning I’m heading down to the Southern beaches of Goa for a vacation from my vacation. Vacation for me actually means making time for computer-stuff like sorting photos and writing blog entries. Tonight at dinner my waiter gave me a hard time for reading a book. He told me that I shouldn’t be reading on my vacation. The truth is, I don’t have time to read when I’m not on vacation and reading and sketching is one of the best parts of the travel lifestyle for me.
I am still soliciting any advice on Africa, including Egypt and Jordan, for my next leg. You guys know what I like, so let me know if there’s somewhere I just can’t miss. As for animals, giraffes, zebras and hippos are my top 3 so the big cats will just be a plus.
At the moment it’s looking likely that I will fly from Mumbai to Amman, Jordan in February. I’ve been quoted around $265 for the one-way fare, not bad. From there I will head to Egypt and then either fly or overland South. It figures that Bush would pre-bomb the areas on my itinerary. He’s always ruining my vacations with his “war on terror.” Doesn’t he realize that “the axis of evil” has the most interesting sites to see?
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