Afterthoughts About India

Afterthoughts about India

July 2015

I went to India for a week to celebrate my 60th birthday. I sat on the Ganges River and watched people as they made spiritual journeys of renewal and rebirth.  There are some thoughts about the week:

• ·      I think most people want to take a leap of faith. It’s more comfroting to live your life when your moral compass is structured around socially accepted rules and traditions.  Hindu, Christians, Jews, Muslims all have perimeters that help people manage their lives. These limitations are shackles on my soul.
• 
  
• ·      I don’t get the cow adoration. Maybe this belief should be re-examined.
• 
  
• ·      As I hear Americans complain about big government, I look around India and see piles and piles of litter, poor sewage problems, limited access to water, schools for privilege kids only and poor health care. And I am thankful for our government.
• 
  
• ·      As I hear Americans complain about our contributions to foreign aid, I cringe with disbelief. We contribute only 1% of our budget to countries so that they can combat sewage problems, water problems, and health problems. I wish we gave ore money to these struggling countries. I’m OK with giving them 2%.
• 
  
• ·      I bought a pashmina scarf.  As it warms me this winter, I will think of hot, hot India..
• 
  
• ·      For $13 a night, my hotel was fine but I wish I had a chair in my room.
• 
  
• ·      Making nice with the chef at the hotel restaurant was my best decision of the trip. He treated me with a genuineness that was lovely and the food was great.
• 
  
• ·      I didn’t bathe in the Ganges and that was the right decision.
• 
  
• ·      As with every trip I take to a 3^rd world country, I wonder why I have so much when too many kind, sweet people have so little.
• 
  
• ·      I have no room to complain about anything, at any time, for the rest of my life.
• 
  
• ·      Hindu believe in reincarnation so they don’t put down any animal for any reason because it will ruin the animal’s karma.  There are quite a few animals that I think could have used some help with expediting the death process.
• 
  
• ·      Monkeys may look cute but they are a big, fat pain in the ass.
• 
  
• ·      I like Indian cuisine.  I like curry. I like nan. I like the teas. Every meal I had this week was great.
• 
  
• ·      I sweat too much to sustain a charka mark. I was no sooner poked in the forehead when red paint rolled down my nose.
• 
  
• ·      When it is 115F, it is hot at 5:30AM, 10:00 AM, noon, 4:00PM and 10:00PM.  It’s just damn hot.
• 
  
• ·      I have reached an age where I really stick out in a crowd. I saw very few Caucasian this week. But even they were surprised to hear that I was traveling alone.  I really need to think about the balance of freedom and safety.
• 
  
• ·      My knees took a beating on all of these steps.  My arthritis in my knees really challenged me as I ascended and descended 45-50 steps without a railing.
• 
  
• ·      Honey, lemon, ginger water is delicious. And today I commit to make it everyday when I return home.  But really, maybe I will make it once and that will be it.  That’s just how I am: filled with good intentions but not enough follow through.
• 
  
• ·      I came to India to celebrate my 60^th birthday. At this age, my grandmother had been dead for several years.  My mother only had 5 good years left after she turned 60. And my first cousin to reach 60 died shortly thereafter. I am filled with other stories about relatives who died too young. So as I look forward, I wanted a perspective about life and death.  The Ganges River offers this perspective.  It’s a place where people come to be renewed and to move on to the next life. I can spend the rest of my years worried about my death.  Or I could work every day on a renewal of life and opportunities.  I must work on the latter because what if  (GOD FORBID) I live to be 100 like my friend Vivian Young.  Who wants to waste 40 years on worry?
• 
  
• ·      I wonder how many souls linger in this river. I wonder if there is a place where the ashes migrate and accumulate. How many millions of people have been released here in hopes of expediting Nirvana?
• 
  
• ·      As I sat on the Ganges, I slipped into my usual mode and thought about my next trip.  Maybe it will be Bhutan, Burma, Cuba, Uganda, Montana, Papua New Guinea, North Dakota, Easter Island or some other place.  There is still a lot of uncovered territory to explore.
• 
  
• ·      If the restaurant people kept their bread on the top shell of the refrigerator rather then the third shelf, it would be just a bit more difficult for the monkeys to come in and grab and go. Just a suggestion on monkey theft prevention.