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Date: Thu
Dec 25, 2003
Subject: Breezy Benaras, Dramas in Delhi, Dalai Lama in Dharamsala,
Gorgeous Goa, and Nippy Nepal
Namaste, Konnichiwa, Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!!!
I hope you're having
a great New Year season and doing whatever you wish to be doing.
I've had quite an
interesting couple of months, having been on holiday from tabla lessons
in Varanasi travelling around India with Saya-chan. The highlights &
lowlights of our journey include dengue fever, theft of my passport
& other valuables, shaking the Dalai Lama's hand, lazing on the
beach in Goa and mountain biking around 500 year old ruins and much
older enormous boulders in Hampi and culminate with me spending Christmas
in funky old Kathmandu...
BREEZY BENARAS
October was quite a breezy month with the arrival of my girlfriend Sayaka
from Japan. Munna House was full of a nice bunch of people from Japan,
Finland, Thailand, Denmark/New York, Canada & Spain and there were
many delicious and enjoyable shared dinners, some good music sessions
and lots of chatting and chai. In early November we were able to see
some famous musicians and dancers performing in the Ganga Mahotsav on
a big stage with the Ganges River (Ganga) as a spectacular backdrop.
DELHI DRAMAS I
After this very pleasant period it was time for Saya-chan & I to
take a holiday from music lessons and see some of India. But we were
to encounter some bad luck on the train to Delhi. Sayaka started to
complain of headaches and heavy fever, which continued in Delhi. After
a few days, a doctor diagnosed dengue fever (transmitted by mosquitos)
and recommended a few days in hospital. It was a very modern private
hospital, all paid for by Saya-chan's insurance company. After a few
days she recovered well and has been in good health since.
At the SAME time,
on that unlucky train to Delhi, my shoulder bag was stolen, including
my passport, Visa card, all ID from Australia and Japan, MiniDisc walkman,
digital camera, a few books and so on. With Sayaka in heavy fever alongside
me I didn't really feel too sorry for myself and tried to get the paperwork
out of the way quickly so that I could take care of her. The first stage
was to get a new passport, which involved Rs4700 and a 2 week wait.
DHARAMSALA DHARMA
So once Saya-chan felt well enough we caught the overnight bus to Dharamsala,
the "capital-in-exile" of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people.
It was pretty cold but wonderfully sunny so we had fantastic Himalayan
mountain views and some great hiking. We also had the chance to shake
the Dalai Lama's hand, along with a few hundred other questing souls...
DELHI DRAMAS II
Back to smelly Delhi. Stage Two of the stolen-passport-recovery process
was to get a new visa stamp in my new passport. The timing of our return
to Delhi with a Muslim national holiday, a Sikh national holiday and
a weekend meant that it was going to take a week to get the necessary
paperwork together to get this new visa. So we skipped town to Goa.
GORGEOUS GOA
Until now, I'd never been game enough to take the 2 day journey to South
India. I'd never felt I had enough time. But I won't hold back in future
visits to India - the 33 hour train trip from Delhi to Goa wasn't so
bad after all. Lots of reading, card games, snacks and sleeping, and
then we were in paradise. Ten days in Goa spent swimming, eating fresh
seafood, drinking cheap beer and otherwise relaxing to the max were
so welcome after our recent trials! While it was quite busy it was still
quiet and peaceful, and reminded me of the Thai islands (except without
Thai food!).
Seeing as I'd taken
the time to come all this way south, we caught another overnight ("sleeper")
bus to Hampi, which is the site of the capital of the 14th-16th century
Vijayanagar empire. It's a very interesting and peaceful place, set
in a landscape of piles of enormous boulders interspersed with 600 year
old stone ruins.
DELHI DRAMAS III
Then it was time. I had to head north because of my Delhi dramas, followed
by an exit from India into Nepal to get a new 6 month visa. Sayaka,
on the other hand, still has 3 months on her visa and so had the opportunity
to stay in the wonderful weather and beaches of South India, especially
to pursue her studies of Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine) in Kerala.
So I caught 2 trains and arrived in Delhi 2 days later. This time everything
was resolved smoothly and by the end of the day I had a stamp in my
new passport permitting me to stay in India until Christmas Day.
That night I met
up with Japanese sarod player Shuuji Yamamoto and his Italian (Kathak
dancer) wife Sylvia. We had a great music session. Two days later in
Varanasi I met 3 more Japanese Indian musicians and around this time
I also received an email from another in Kolkata asking when I'll visit
there. India is such a great meeting place for us global gypsies!
NIPPY NEPAL
After a few days in Varanasi, I took the harrowing 2 day bus journey
(9 hours/day) to Kathmandu. Along with 43 hours train journey from Hampi
to Delhi and 14 hours more from Delhi to Varanasi, that made 75 hours
of intercity travel in the last week!
Kathmandu is a very
cool city - one of my favourites. It has a great combination of old
& new - old wooden temples & other buildings, narrow lanes and
roads, shops filled with magical-looking Nepali & Tibetan artifacts
yet all the modern conveniences of any big Asian city.
Unfortunately for
me, this is my first Christmas away from any friends or family so I'm
feeling a little lonely here in Kathmandu. To top it off, it's quite
nippy (cold) here and I've come down with a cold in the last few days.
And not only that, but my plans to settle in and watch the exciting
Australia-India 3rd test cricket match this week seem to have been scotched,
because the sports channel here comes from Hong Kong rather than India!
Oh well, that's life... No attachments... Stay happy...
PLANS
Once I get a new visa for India, my plans remain much as before. I'll
be staying in Varanasi until April, which should be a most excellent
period of musical development. On January 26 there is the Saraswati
Puja concert in my Guru-ji's house, in honour of the Hindu goddess of
music & learning. This period is the peak time for foreigners in
Varanasi, so I'll be meeting lots of musicians from Japan and elsewhere
(India is the global gypsy meeting place!) and seeing lots of concerts,
culminating in the 5 night Sankat Mochan music festival in April. After
that I'll be playing music in Japan in May and then Australia for June
and possibly July/August too, then back to India for another session
of tabla lessons!
I'm really looking
forward to 2004 and I hope you are too!
Love to all
Shen
Aum Mani Padme Hum
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