Vital Stats - 28 August, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
No, it's not really Thanksgiving, but it is time for Turkey...
Time: 11:15 am
Location: Delhi (map)
Health: Perfect
Weather: Hot, wet, hot, wet, humid, hot, and wet. And hot.
Mood: Annoyed
Bowels: A+
Beard: Moderate
Next Destination: Ankara, Turkey
Yes, it's official. Officially official. Not that it was ever officially unofficial, unofficially official or unofficially unofficial. But one thing's for sure, it's now official. At least 90%... ish.
I'm going to Turkey! When? Well, tonight, hopefully.
I told some of you about this ages ago, and some of you again more recently after I started to receive some very confusing correspondence, but for those who know nothing of this, let me fill you in...
Round 1 - PJ vs. Turkish Postal Service
Way back, I mean waaaaay back in January, I applied to a programme run by Turkish Rotary to spend some time doing a bit of post-grad study in Turkey. I sent off my app and received a reply almost immediately: "insufficient address".
Not a good start.
I scanned the addressed envelope and emailed a copy to Turkish Rotary to ask what was wrong - they said the address was fine, so I resent. All good.
Round 2 - PJ vs. Turkish Rotary
Then I hear nothing. Nothing for months. And then, just days before I left for India, I received a rather cryptic (Engrish) email, which basically said "congratulations you are accepted into consideration", which I now know meant "you're in". I sent a copy of this letter to a few of you, and the jury was split, no-one could quite decide what it was saying.
So I replied to Turkish Rotary politely asking for clarification. Then nothing. I emailed again, nothing. Anyway, after a lot of pestering I finally got a response: I was accepted.
Round 3 - PJ vs. Turkish Embassy New Delhi
So I was in, but the war wasn't over yet. In fact, the worst was still to come...
I haven't really written a lot about Delhi in my blog because even though I've visited twice and spent nearly 2 weeks here, most of those 2 weeks were spent waiting outside the Turkish Embassy, on my way to the Turkish Embassy, calling and emailing the Turkish Embassy, or just sitting in my hotel room cursing the Turkish Embassy. I've never before met such a painful, uncaring bunch of bureaucrats!
And even after a month of visits, calls, emails and a stack of paperwork, it's still not over. I received an email 2 days ago saying my visa was finally approved. Good? Well, you'd think so. But when I turned up at the Embassy they surprised me by telling me "Oh, it still takes 4-5 days to come through even after it's approved". Through from where??? Who knows.
I'm supposed to be leaving for Turkey tonight as my course starts on Monday! So in about an hour I'm going to head down to the Embassy to see if my visa has arrived from it's mystery origin. If it's not there, I'll be stuck in Delhi for the weekend and be late for my first week of school. *sigh*.
And the winner is?
Me! I think.
I don't want to sound ungrateful, because if I can push my hatred of the Turkish Embassy from my mind, then I'm very much beyond, under, around and over the moon about the opportunity.
If I don't get my visa, I'll probably be back on here to bitch some more. And I am sorry for all this venting, but it's been a frustrating experience, and one probably made a lot worse by the fact I've been trying to deal with it alone and in the middle of a holiday. I dare say, this has likely been the biggest Aus-Turk battle since 1915. And a few times, I honestly contemplated just giving up on Turkey altogether. But I'm glad I didn't; my ANZAC spirit pulled me through.
So, my dear readers, please keep your fingers crossed for me. If all goes well today, this may well be my last post from India!
I'll update you again very soon!
Love
Pj.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Varanasi
I'm not sure if India uses a national holiness index to measure and compare the holiness of its cities, but if it does, I'm sure that the holiness index of Varanasi would be through the roof.
Other indexes that would be busting holes in their respective ceilings include: the national cow shit index, buffalo shit index, goat shit index, dog shit index, and human shit index. It's likely that Varanasi would take out almost all gold medals at India's Faecal Index Olympics.
Varanasi is basically a huge holy toilet for animals and humans alike. It sits on the Ganges River, in the middle of the north east-ish corner of India, or in Uttar Pradesh if that means anything to you. The river is polluted. Heavily polluted. And pardon all the poo talk, but I'm not quite done yet. Here are some more smelly facts for you:
If you can get past all that, Varanasi is quite an amazing town. The people here absolutely worship the river. Thousand and thousand of locals flock to the ghats each day to bathe, brush and get blessed. And millions more from all across India make regular pilgrimages to the The Ganges, or the Ganga as it's known in India, to "cleanse" themselves of sin.
If you're a Hindu, Varanasi is also one of #1 spots in the country to be cremated. At several sites in Varanasi you can actually sit and watch the cremation ceremonies taking place. They usually start in the alleyways behind the ghats where the family of the deceased carries the cloth-wrapped corpse on a wooden stretcher down to the river. The body is doused with water and then taken up the banks and placed on a large wooden pyre. After walking around the body 5 times (once for each of the 5 elements, earth, fire, wind, water, and spirit), the pyre is set alight by the deceased's closest relative.
In the beginning it's fairly bearable to watch, but as the cloth begins to burn away it gets pretty gruesome. I'll spare you too much of the detail, but on more than one occasion I sat there transfixed, staring at smoldering half-burnt limbs which had fallen casually off to the side.
All in all there's not much to do in Varanasi than to not do much. The town is the main attraction. Most people just come here to wander the ghats and enjoy a bit of perverse ogling at such an unfamiliar way of life. Varanasi is a voyeurs dream.
Other indexes that would be busting holes in their respective ceilings include: the national cow shit index, buffalo shit index, goat shit index, dog shit index, and human shit index. It's likely that Varanasi would take out almost all gold medals at India's Faecal Index Olympics.
Varanasi is basically a huge holy toilet for animals and humans alike. It sits on the Ganges River, in the middle of the north east-ish corner of India, or in Uttar Pradesh if that means anything to you. The river is polluted. Heavily polluted. And pardon all the poo talk, but I'm not quite done yet. Here are some more smelly facts for you:
- 400 million people live along the Ganges River.
- 89 million litres of raw sewage is pumped into the river every day.
- At Varanasi, the river contains 60,000 faecal coliform bacteria per 100 millilitres - this 120 times more than is considered safe for bathing, never mind that the fact that people brush their teeth with this water and even... drink it! Bleeerrrrgh!!!
- 6 kms south of Varanasi, the faecal coliform content jumps to an incredible 1.5 million/100 mL. 3,000 times the safe limit!
If you can get past all that, Varanasi is quite an amazing town. The people here absolutely worship the river. Thousand and thousand of locals flock to the ghats each day to bathe, brush and get blessed. And millions more from all across India make regular pilgrimages to the The Ganges, or the Ganga as it's known in India, to "cleanse" themselves of sin.
If you're a Hindu, Varanasi is also one of #1 spots in the country to be cremated. At several sites in Varanasi you can actually sit and watch the cremation ceremonies taking place. They usually start in the alleyways behind the ghats where the family of the deceased carries the cloth-wrapped corpse on a wooden stretcher down to the river. The body is doused with water and then taken up the banks and placed on a large wooden pyre. After walking around the body 5 times (once for each of the 5 elements, earth, fire, wind, water, and spirit), the pyre is set alight by the deceased's closest relative.
In the beginning it's fairly bearable to watch, but as the cloth begins to burn away it gets pretty gruesome. I'll spare you too much of the detail, but on more than one occasion I sat there transfixed, staring at smoldering half-burnt limbs which had fallen casually off to the side.
All in all there's not much to do in Varanasi than to not do much. The town is the main attraction. Most people just come here to wander the ghats and enjoy a bit of perverse ogling at such an unfamiliar way of life. Varanasi is a voyeurs dream.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Taj Games
I don't know what to write about the Taj Mahal. I mean, you've seen pictures of it a thousand times before, you've probably viewed it on TV and read about it dozens more. So today I promise you I'll keep the history lesson short, but I'm afraid that just leaves more space for my love-drunk drivel. But it's not my fault, really! The Taj is something very special. It was everything I expected it to be and much much more...
It really is a magnificent sight. It's by far the most beautiful structure I have ever seen. It lacks the delicate detail of the Ranakpur Temples, but there is something so perfect about its composition that completely overwhelms you.
I arrived at 6 am when the gates opened--I wanted to avoid the crowds and hopefully get some nice sunrise pics--alas, the sun didn't come out to play, but it wasn't completely overcast so it still provided a nice backdrop for the early-morning shots.
That Taj took 20-something years to build and was finished around 1653. It was commissioned by the then Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife who'd died in childbirth. Shortly after its completion, poor Shah was overthrown by his son, and imprisoned in nearby Agra Fort. Unfortunately, the next time Shah would visit the Taj was for his own funeral.
It's not cheap to get into the Taj grounds; 750 rupees it costs! Granted that's only AU$18.50, but it's a 3,750% premium on the price that Indian Citizens have to pay. It's quite common to have separate Indian and Foreigner prices here - something that really rubs me the wrong way.
Anyway, it's really is worth way more than $18.50, so I shouldn't complain too much.
All of the above shots were taken during sunrise and from the south side of the Taj. This last photo was taken late-sunset, north side, from the gardens across the river.
It really is a magnificent sight. It's by far the most beautiful structure I have ever seen. It lacks the delicate detail of the Ranakpur Temples, but there is something so perfect about its composition that completely overwhelms you.
I arrived at 6 am when the gates opened--I wanted to avoid the crowds and hopefully get some nice sunrise pics--alas, the sun didn't come out to play, but it wasn't completely overcast so it still provided a nice backdrop for the early-morning shots.
That Taj took 20-something years to build and was finished around 1653. It was commissioned by the then Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife who'd died in childbirth. Shortly after its completion, poor Shah was overthrown by his son, and imprisoned in nearby Agra Fort. Unfortunately, the next time Shah would visit the Taj was for his own funeral.
It's not cheap to get into the Taj grounds; 750 rupees it costs! Granted that's only AU$18.50, but it's a 3,750% premium on the price that Indian Citizens have to pay. It's quite common to have separate Indian and Foreigner prices here - something that really rubs me the wrong way.
Anyway, it's really is worth way more than $18.50, so I shouldn't complain too much.
All of the above shots were taken during sunrise and from the south side of the Taj. This last photo was taken late-sunset, north side, from the gardens across the river.
Monday, August 17, 2009
PJ in Wonderland
During my short stopover in Chandigarh, I had the very surreal pleasure of visiting one the most unusual sights in India, Nek Chand's Rock Garden. It's amazing. It's even dare I say it... spectacular. The description in Lonely Planet begins with the words "step down the rabbit hole...", and that's exactly what it feels like. It's Gaudi vs. Alice in Wonderland... on acid.
This waking-dream is the creation of an entirely untrained artist by the name of Nek Chand. Displaced by the India-Pakistan partition in late 40s, Chand moved to Chandigah--Punjab's newly-built capital after the former one (Lahore) ended up on the Pakistani side of the line. Appalled by the amount of waste generated in building the Chandigah, Chand developed a secret identity to help solve the problem and became an engineer by day, stealth sculptor by night. Chand spent years dragging waste materials off to a secret site on the outskirts of the city where he would give them new aesthetic life.
The illegally-built garden went undiscovered for 17 years until city planners stumbled upon the (by now 12-acre) site in 1975. It technically should have been torn down, but it's value must have been obvious, as instead Chand was reassigned to work full time on the garden and given a staff of 50 to help.
The whole crazy experience begins when you have to lean down to pay the 10 rupee (AU$0.25) entry fee at the knee-high ticket window. You then walk through the gates and are led along a twisted path of bridges and tunnels, past waterfalls, ponds, and through thousand-strong armies of 100%-recycled sculptures.
After wandering the maze for about an hour, the garden opens up into a huge park. Down one side is long open-air auditorium which hosts the occasional symphony and recital, and snaking through the middle winds a huge lawsuit-inducing swing set - one thing I love about India is the no-safety-rails approach to life. Unlike the western world, where everything is someone else's fault, here you're entirely responsible for yourself. This is partly driven by public attitude, and partly by the fact that civil cases often face a 2 decade (and sometimes as long as 5) wait before they make it to trial. So with an average lifespan of 67.5 years, there's not much point in filing a suit when you're unlikely to be around to hear the verdict.
This waking-dream is the creation of an entirely untrained artist by the name of Nek Chand. Displaced by the India-Pakistan partition in late 40s, Chand moved to Chandigah--Punjab's newly-built capital after the former one (Lahore) ended up on the Pakistani side of the line. Appalled by the amount of waste generated in building the Chandigah, Chand developed a secret identity to help solve the problem and became an engineer by day, stealth sculptor by night. Chand spent years dragging waste materials off to a secret site on the outskirts of the city where he would give them new aesthetic life.
The illegally-built garden went undiscovered for 17 years until city planners stumbled upon the (by now 12-acre) site in 1975. It technically should have been torn down, but it's value must have been obvious, as instead Chand was reassigned to work full time on the garden and given a staff of 50 to help.
The whole crazy experience begins when you have to lean down to pay the 10 rupee (AU$0.25) entry fee at the knee-high ticket window. You then walk through the gates and are led along a twisted path of bridges and tunnels, past waterfalls, ponds, and through thousand-strong armies of 100%-recycled sculptures.
After wandering the maze for about an hour, the garden opens up into a huge park. Down one side is long open-air auditorium which hosts the occasional symphony and recital, and snaking through the middle winds a huge lawsuit-inducing swing set - one thing I love about India is the no-safety-rails approach to life. Unlike the western world, where everything is someone else's fault, here you're entirely responsible for yourself. This is partly driven by public attitude, and partly by the fact that civil cases often face a 2 decade (and sometimes as long as 5) wait before they make it to trial. So with an average lifespan of 67.5 years, there's not much point in filing a suit when you're unlikely to be around to hear the verdict.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Vipassana Finished!
Day 11 - 02 Jul, 2009
Dear Diary,
Huzzah! I'm done!
I'm far from enlightened, but it certainly wasn't useless. I'm really glad I did it.
Here are some interesting facts for you. During the 230 hours of Noble Silence I...
Leaving the centre we had to wade through the river which had swollen considerably since we arrived.
So in conclusion...
10 days silence gives you a lot of time to contemplate; it makes you think hard about what's important to you, but... there were no shattering revelations, no blinding epiphanies, just a few strong reminders of how I feel about myself and the other people in my life. There was nothing I learnt that I didn't already know, but still, it did force me to face aspects of my personality that I don't like - something that's easy to avoid doing with the distractions of the real world.
I doubt I'll continue to practice my meditation on the outside, at least not while I'm travelling.
Would I do it again? Yes, but not for a while. Beer first, meditate later.
Dear Diary,
Huzzah! I'm done!
I'm far from enlightened, but it certainly wasn't useless. I'm really glad I did it.
Here are some interesting facts for you. During the 230 hours of Noble Silence I...
- Spoke 0 words
- Meditated for 97 hours
- Had my eyes closed for 164 hours (17 hours of every day!)
- Ate 30 chapatis
- Spent 223 hours not standing up
- Killed 0 mosquitoes
Leaving the centre we had to wade through the river which had swollen considerably since we arrived.
So in conclusion...
10 days silence gives you a lot of time to contemplate; it makes you think hard about what's important to you, but... there were no shattering revelations, no blinding epiphanies, just a few strong reminders of how I feel about myself and the other people in my life. There was nothing I learnt that I didn't already know, but still, it did force me to face aspects of my personality that I don't like - something that's easy to avoid doing with the distractions of the real world.
I doubt I'll continue to practice my meditation on the outside, at least not while I'm travelling.
Would I do it again? Yes, but not for a while. Beer first, meditate later.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Pics of Things and Stuff
Jalebi! Street treats. Deep fried batter soaked in sugar syrup (you don't eat the leaf, that's just to hold it). Probably the most unhealthy snack in the universe.
Vipassana Diary - Day 10
Day 10 - 2 Jul, 2009
Dear Diary,
Woooooooooooooooooooo! I can speak!
... and wow, it feels so weird. The first few words almost made me feel dizzy. My voice was dry and raspy, and articulating sentences was very awkward. But it was such overwhelming sense of relief. I've been living with these people for 10 days and had only met a couple of them before Noble Silence began. I never even looked my neighbours in the eyes until this morning.
It's changed the whole mood of the place. Everything feels really joyous now, not serious like it was before.
Anyway, aside from the morning sessions, today's meditation was a total write-off. I can't concentrate at all now. It feels like day 1 all over again. Oh well, only one session left tomorrow morning and then it's home time!
Dear Diary,
Woooooooooooooooooooo! I can speak!
... and wow, it feels so weird. The first few words almost made me feel dizzy. My voice was dry and raspy, and articulating sentences was very awkward. But it was such overwhelming sense of relief. I've been living with these people for 10 days and had only met a couple of them before Noble Silence began. I never even looked my neighbours in the eyes until this morning.
It's changed the whole mood of the place. Everything feels really joyous now, not serious like it was before.
Anyway, aside from the morning sessions, today's meditation was a total write-off. I can't concentrate at all now. It feels like day 1 all over again. Oh well, only one session left tomorrow morning and then it's home time!
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