i am getting partly settled here. it's taken awhile to get my sleeping on track and to get reacquainted with the Indian way. I was super reluctant to go out for the first few days. Wary of buying things, bartering with limited hindi etc.
now that i've been venturing out more, i've re-realized that i never have to go far to find the things i need! for instance, as i write this, there is a man walking down the street with his cart full of vegetables. i can't see him, but i know he's there because as he walks he shouts out what he's got for sale. all day he'll roam the neighbourhood. people know their veggie vendors and relationships are built. that's how i see it anyway.
i've been enjoying the old man who owns the little corner shop down the street. i learned that it's good and fine to call all older men, uncle and women, aunty. i love that about India; everyone is your brother or sister (the street kids i'm volunteering with all call me didi, sister), uncle or aunt. it's lovely. and makes this huge city a little more friendly feeling.
i've just started with an NGO called JAMGHAT. it's super small, which i like, and full of incredible, good hearted people. i've jumped in just as they are getting a play up and running for the next month. so i've met a lot of students who are volunteering as actors (incredible amateur actors, my god!) and i've started meeting some of the street boys, who are just lovely.
the day i arrived, one immediately took me by the hand and led me around introducing me to everyone! they are dedicated to teaching me hindi, so with any luck i'll be able to talk to them properly in a couple months. i hope!
Amit is the founder of JAMGHAT and he is wonderful. in our first meeting he told me of various projects he would love help with, one of them being to open a 24hour home for girls. there is a donor who has requested this and and has the money for rent and food, we just need to make it happen. so he offered that as a job for me. crazy. can you imagine giving that responsibility to someone you'd only known for a few minutes?!
exciting
so i'm just trying to figure all this out. and i think it will be good once i get into it a little more and feel like i have more of a role. i don't do well while floundering and finding purpose.
do keep in touch! post comments, they mean alot to me.
lots of hugs
lauren
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Getting ready to go
I'm off on the trail of living to the fullest again. In the way that I know how to do it anyway!
I have a place in Delhi, I have a couple NGOs that are happy to have me volunteer with them, I have people expecting me, i have more places to see ...but more on all that when i get there.
For now I'm saying goodbyes.
For now I'm packing.
For now I'm trying to live in the moment and Be Here.
I've had some questions about life and purpose and 'Right Choices' lately. It seems to me that an exorbitant number of young people in my generation are madly searching for meaning in their lives, myself included. We've got So Many Choices that we don't know where to begin. I begin by meeting people and trusting that my path will come from following my heart. Not an easy maneuver on the best of days!
I had expressed some of my own questions and concerns about this trip to a good friend, Carmen, at my goodbye dinner in Edmonton the other night. The next day she sent me a quote that puts the questioning to rest, or rather, makes the questioning Life Giving. The main purpose of this particular post is simply this quote, so read on, ponder and let me know where it sits for you.
Lots of love from me to you!
"...have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."
-- Rainer Maria Rilke
I have a place in Delhi, I have a couple NGOs that are happy to have me volunteer with them, I have people expecting me, i have more places to see ...but more on all that when i get there.
For now I'm saying goodbyes.
For now I'm packing.
For now I'm trying to live in the moment and Be Here.
I've had some questions about life and purpose and 'Right Choices' lately. It seems to me that an exorbitant number of young people in my generation are madly searching for meaning in their lives, myself included. We've got So Many Choices that we don't know where to begin. I begin by meeting people and trusting that my path will come from following my heart. Not an easy maneuver on the best of days!
I had expressed some of my own questions and concerns about this trip to a good friend, Carmen, at my goodbye dinner in Edmonton the other night. The next day she sent me a quote that puts the questioning to rest, or rather, makes the questioning Life Giving. The main purpose of this particular post is simply this quote, so read on, ponder and let me know where it sits for you.
Lots of love from me to you!
"...have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."
-- Rainer Maria Rilke
Friday, May 9, 2008
all over the map
well i kind of fell off the blog wagon..so much has happened since I last wrote, i'm not even sure what to include now!
point form catch up: varanasi - Yamuna trip - amritsar -delhi - CANADA!
VARANASI
- ancient, narrow winding that are hard to walk down cuz they're so full of people and still scooters somehow get through
- many sets of stairs down to the Ganges (Ganga) River (called ghats) where people are bathing, praying, making offerings and burning bodies.
- yep burning bodies. at the burning ghats. fires have burned continuously for thousands of years, day and night cremating bodies. if you die in Varanasi you're freed from the cycle of rebirth. so it's a popular place to die.
- visited an amazing university and the hospital, where my travel partner was checked in with malaria...he recovered...but i had to leave him there while i took off for a scheduled group trip starting in Delhi
YAMUNA RIVER TRIP
the group trip was with an enviro organization called Swechha, based in Delhi. They do many amazing things, one being education on pollution of the Yamuna River.
Yamuna is as sacred as Ganga, and equally if not more so polluted once it goes through Delhi. In a short stretch, Delhi pumps out 80% of the total pollution of the whole river. They call it black Yamuna...and it's literally black with bubbles of methane burbling up. Delhi kills the river. There is no dissolved oxygen in it when it leaves...and there are many many millions of people downstream that rely on the river for survival. Unbelievable.
The trip was 12 days long. It started in Yamunotri ( origin of the river in the Himalayas) where the river is pristine and beautiful, and ended in Agra (Taj Mahal) where the river is severely polluted. We travelled in 3 cars (16 of us), stopping to camp beside Yamuna for a week through the mountains, visiting villages and religious sites that are all situated near or on the banks of the river, pairing up with a US circus troup that toured India for 6 months doing an environmental circus show in slums and small villages (DreamTimeCircus), and generally found a connection with the river that is impossible without spending time bathing in her and paying close attention to the relationship between landscape and human use and her ecological changes.
Quite incredible.
It's alot to describe in written form, but do ask questions if you're interested. or even good swechha...they do awesome work in Delhi.
AMRITSAR
This is where the Golden Temple is...the most important Sikh Temple in the World
- Met up with Dylan..to see his blond streaked, lungi wearing, ears pierced, moustache twirled self in fine standing!
- enjoyed the laid back, most welcoming of all people atmosphere of the golden temple
- ate in the langar - an enormous hall with endless quantities of food for anyone under the sun that wants a meal. it's the largest volunteer run service in all of India. Quite something to see! and tasty to eat!
- one night i went to eat and MR. Paul Singh appeared in front of me, as if he was expecting me, and proceeded to show me around the whole temple grounds. He took me to a small Sikh ashram (him barefoot, me in his sandals...he'd have it no other way) for another meal, and there an incredible woman revealed the beauty of Sikhism to me over about an hour. Her passion and devotion was so inspiring....the whole experience answered questions I'd been having and prompted new thoughts about how to act in the world.
Everything happens right when I need it to.
DELHI
I ended up here for a long time because I made a few friends on the Yamuna trip that I wanted to spend time with. One of them being extra special and worthy of me returning to India in September to spend more time with him! Following my heart. And it feels great!
So I'm looking into volunteer options in Delhi and all kinds of opportunities are popping up.
I'm devoted to living an exciting life ans making it into exactly what i hope for it to be! No 'givens' or 'shoulds'. That's where I'm at. To make every day full of learning, loving, and truly living to the fullest.
This decision feels like the best way I can live to the fullest. It feels Right. and that's exciting!
CANADA
I"m home now!
Arrived in Calgary to the warm hugging arms of mom, dad and grandma, on the 19th of April.
SPent time with family in that city..headed up to Edmonton to catch up with friends for a few days, then moved out to Dinosaur Provincial Park (near Brooks Alberta) where i'll be living and working for the next 4 months. It's an awesome job...guiding people through the badlands, pointing out amazing plants and dinosaur fossils!
Since being home I rid myself of: lice, Delhi belly, parasites, and a canadian cold i caught on arrival. Still have to deal with the cavity i created ...i think on indian sugar chai.
Ahhh the joys of travel.
Dylan and I figured out that in 3 days we landed in 5 countries and spent enough time in each to eat a emal and drink the water...so it's no wonder the ol' body was a bit confused once i got home. (from India - Bangkok for 2 days where i played with dear cousin Teyana. Then up to Korea for 8 hour layover where we had time to meet 2 friends teaching english, take public transit, eat kimchi, and get back on the plane. Next to Seattle for a couple hours, and finally Calgary.)
So i'm quite settled back into Canadian routines. It took awhile to want any food other than daal, roti and curd...but i'm regaiing an appetite..mostly for sweets unfortunate for my health!
happy and healthy and hopeful to hear from you when ever you get a chance!
Thanks for following my travels. it meant alot to know you were thinking of me and with me in some way.
Be well and try to have a little dance in the streets now and again, it really livens up the day!
Lauren
point form catch up: varanasi - Yamuna trip - amritsar -delhi - CANADA!
VARANASI
- ancient, narrow winding that are hard to walk down cuz they're so full of people and still scooters somehow get through
- many sets of stairs down to the Ganges (Ganga) River (called ghats) where people are bathing, praying, making offerings and burning bodies.
- yep burning bodies. at the burning ghats. fires have burned continuously for thousands of years, day and night cremating bodies. if you die in Varanasi you're freed from the cycle of rebirth. so it's a popular place to die.
- visited an amazing university and the hospital, where my travel partner was checked in with malaria...he recovered...but i had to leave him there while i took off for a scheduled group trip starting in Delhi
YAMUNA RIVER TRIP
the group trip was with an enviro organization called Swechha, based in Delhi. They do many amazing things, one being education on pollution of the Yamuna River.
Yamuna is as sacred as Ganga, and equally if not more so polluted once it goes through Delhi. In a short stretch, Delhi pumps out 80% of the total pollution of the whole river. They call it black Yamuna...and it's literally black with bubbles of methane burbling up. Delhi kills the river. There is no dissolved oxygen in it when it leaves...and there are many many millions of people downstream that rely on the river for survival. Unbelievable.
The trip was 12 days long. It started in Yamunotri ( origin of the river in the Himalayas) where the river is pristine and beautiful, and ended in Agra (Taj Mahal) where the river is severely polluted. We travelled in 3 cars (16 of us), stopping to camp beside Yamuna for a week through the mountains, visiting villages and religious sites that are all situated near or on the banks of the river, pairing up with a US circus troup that toured India for 6 months doing an environmental circus show in slums and small villages (DreamTimeCircus), and generally found a connection with the river that is impossible without spending time bathing in her and paying close attention to the relationship between landscape and human use and her ecological changes.
Quite incredible.
It's alot to describe in written form, but do ask questions if you're interested. or even good swechha...they do awesome work in Delhi.
AMRITSAR
This is where the Golden Temple is...the most important Sikh Temple in the World
- Met up with Dylan..to see his blond streaked, lungi wearing, ears pierced, moustache twirled self in fine standing!
- enjoyed the laid back, most welcoming of all people atmosphere of the golden temple
- ate in the langar - an enormous hall with endless quantities of food for anyone under the sun that wants a meal. it's the largest volunteer run service in all of India. Quite something to see! and tasty to eat!
- one night i went to eat and MR. Paul Singh appeared in front of me, as if he was expecting me, and proceeded to show me around the whole temple grounds. He took me to a small Sikh ashram (him barefoot, me in his sandals...he'd have it no other way) for another meal, and there an incredible woman revealed the beauty of Sikhism to me over about an hour. Her passion and devotion was so inspiring....the whole experience answered questions I'd been having and prompted new thoughts about how to act in the world.
Everything happens right when I need it to.
DELHI
I ended up here for a long time because I made a few friends on the Yamuna trip that I wanted to spend time with. One of them being extra special and worthy of me returning to India in September to spend more time with him! Following my heart. And it feels great!
So I'm looking into volunteer options in Delhi and all kinds of opportunities are popping up.
I'm devoted to living an exciting life ans making it into exactly what i hope for it to be! No 'givens' or 'shoulds'. That's where I'm at. To make every day full of learning, loving, and truly living to the fullest.
This decision feels like the best way I can live to the fullest. It feels Right. and that's exciting!
CANADA
I"m home now!
Arrived in Calgary to the warm hugging arms of mom, dad and grandma, on the 19th of April.
SPent time with family in that city..headed up to Edmonton to catch up with friends for a few days, then moved out to Dinosaur Provincial Park (near Brooks Alberta) where i'll be living and working for the next 4 months. It's an awesome job...guiding people through the badlands, pointing out amazing plants and dinosaur fossils!
Since being home I rid myself of: lice, Delhi belly, parasites, and a canadian cold i caught on arrival. Still have to deal with the cavity i created ...i think on indian sugar chai.
Ahhh the joys of travel.
Dylan and I figured out that in 3 days we landed in 5 countries and spent enough time in each to eat a emal and drink the water...so it's no wonder the ol' body was a bit confused once i got home. (from India - Bangkok for 2 days where i played with dear cousin Teyana. Then up to Korea for 8 hour layover where we had time to meet 2 friends teaching english, take public transit, eat kimchi, and get back on the plane. Next to Seattle for a couple hours, and finally Calgary.)
So i'm quite settled back into Canadian routines. It took awhile to want any food other than daal, roti and curd...but i'm regaiing an appetite..mostly for sweets unfortunate for my health!
happy and healthy and hopeful to hear from you when ever you get a chance!
Thanks for following my travels. it meant alot to know you were thinking of me and with me in some way.
Be well and try to have a little dance in the streets now and again, it really livens up the day!
Lauren
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Correction
Wow, this place is phenomenal.
Kutchi people are just incredible.
So giving and so warm.
Last night I ended up in village 2 hours from my hotel at 6pm. The sun was about to set and I would be driving alone on a moped through the desert. NOt ideal.
This was all discovered while sitting in the home Sufiya, a Mutwa woman, drinking chai. Her brother (english name is Aladdin) came in and learned of the predicament and started offering options...i was most welcome to stay there of course, or he would ride with me and come back that same night in his brothers car.
I opted for option 2 and we off into the desert. Me driving, Aladdin on the back.
As darkness fell, the wind started and a good ol desert sand storm whipped sand into our faces. Fat rain sporadically splatted down..at which point Aladdin stopped predicting what turns in the road would holdfor wind and weather because this was too unusual. Rain doesn't start until June here.
Needless to say I was sure glad not to be alone.
It was safe enough. Though there was lightening in the far distance, Aladdin was singing Kutchi folk songs into the night, so it eased all worries and made for a mystical, memorable night!
The wedding was also memorable. I was taken under the care of several rabari women for the whole night. WHOLE NIGHT> the wedding didn't start until about 11pm, then continued for many hours into the night. I was taken to a bed at one point...and gratefully took the chance to sleep a few hours.
I learned chapati rolling and had hindi/gujarati/kutchi lessons from a young girl who would tell me the name of my simply drawn picture..tree, flower, foot, house etc.
in the morning i was woken up by Vanka Rabari, the man that invited me, so I could watch the goodbye. After a night of ceremony in the woman's village, it was time for everyone she grew up with to say goodbye before she was taken with the men to her new husband's village where she will start a new life in his mother's home.
seems difficult to me.
and apparently for her too as the goodbye consisted of women singing constantly, I think verbal support for the bride who was hidden under a thiick black shawl the entire night, and the bride wailing in sadness as one by one her village said goodbye. Many women were crying also.
Not the 'happiest night of on'es life' like we hope for at home eh?
The correction I wanted to make from my last entry is about the rabari being nomadic. SOme are, but they are to the east of here...noted by men wearing all white, white turbans too , and women wearing all balck. Thesee rabari are settled in villages. The men wear white clothes but dark turbans (red for weddings). The women have elaborate embroidered tops and more colorful shawls over their black embroidered skirts.
Many memoreis from amazing Kutch. I must come back some day. But for now, onwards to Varanasi!
Avjo,
Lauren
Kutchi people are just incredible.
So giving and so warm.
Last night I ended up in village 2 hours from my hotel at 6pm. The sun was about to set and I would be driving alone on a moped through the desert. NOt ideal.
This was all discovered while sitting in the home Sufiya, a Mutwa woman, drinking chai. Her brother (english name is Aladdin) came in and learned of the predicament and started offering options...i was most welcome to stay there of course, or he would ride with me and come back that same night in his brothers car.
I opted for option 2 and we off into the desert. Me driving, Aladdin on the back.
As darkness fell, the wind started and a good ol desert sand storm whipped sand into our faces. Fat rain sporadically splatted down..at which point Aladdin stopped predicting what turns in the road would holdfor wind and weather because this was too unusual. Rain doesn't start until June here.
Needless to say I was sure glad not to be alone.
It was safe enough. Though there was lightening in the far distance, Aladdin was singing Kutchi folk songs into the night, so it eased all worries and made for a mystical, memorable night!
The wedding was also memorable. I was taken under the care of several rabari women for the whole night. WHOLE NIGHT> the wedding didn't start until about 11pm, then continued for many hours into the night. I was taken to a bed at one point...and gratefully took the chance to sleep a few hours.
I learned chapati rolling and had hindi/gujarati/kutchi lessons from a young girl who would tell me the name of my simply drawn picture..tree, flower, foot, house etc.
in the morning i was woken up by Vanka Rabari, the man that invited me, so I could watch the goodbye. After a night of ceremony in the woman's village, it was time for everyone she grew up with to say goodbye before she was taken with the men to her new husband's village where she will start a new life in his mother's home.
seems difficult to me.
and apparently for her too as the goodbye consisted of women singing constantly, I think verbal support for the bride who was hidden under a thiick black shawl the entire night, and the bride wailing in sadness as one by one her village said goodbye. Many women were crying also.
Not the 'happiest night of on'es life' like we hope for at home eh?
The correction I wanted to make from my last entry is about the rabari being nomadic. SOme are, but they are to the east of here...noted by men wearing all white, white turbans too , and women wearing all balck. Thesee rabari are settled in villages. The men wear white clothes but dark turbans (red for weddings). The women have elaborate embroidered tops and more colorful shawls over their black embroidered skirts.
Many memoreis from amazing Kutch. I must come back some day. But for now, onwards to Varanasi!
Avjo,
Lauren
Monday, March 10, 2008
There are No Doors in India
What an open, generous country this is. I realized the other day that there really are no doors in india. all the shops are open to the street closign only at night when a garage door comes down to lock them. If there is a door it's usually propped open (unless they have AC). Many guest houses have doors (of course) but often the windows don't have glass so it's all fresh air, or I sleep with the door open because it's just too hot.
so it feels like there are no doors.
no barriers.
everywhere and everyone open and welcoming.
Now i'm in bhuj, Gujarat, where this generosity has been multplied 3fold. I'm meeting the most hospitable people in all of india i'm sure. the owner of the hotel/restaurant i'm in (annapurna) named Vinod, is overwhelmingly giving. the first day i ate there i asked him some questions about travelling into the desert and meeting some villages etc. he gave me so much info and offered to lend me his moped within 5 minutes of talking. then he gave me a ride to his home where his family gave me tea and biscuits, lent me the moped so i could take myself to the police and get a village permit, came back an he took out the car and took me and his family to a neighbouring village where they sell handicrafts and embroidery. it's livelihood around here and quite a few fair trade projects exist...you MUST get in touch with these groups. the embroidery is exquisite and High Quality.
so that's the hospitality of Vinod. everyone at his hotel has been taking such good care of me, like family. amazing. today he lent me his moped again for the day saying i'm like family, like his child!
last night we were talking about shops and costs etc. and he mentioned how 1000Rs is alot for him (about 30 dollars), i said yes for me too while travelling. i have a tight budget!
immediately he said, if you have money troubles please tell me, i can lend you money and you send it to me from canada whenever you can. no problem.
wow my heart swelled with appreciation for this man.
Vinod starts working in his restaurant at 7-9am and stays until closing at 11pm with one rest in teh day sometime when he goes to eat his wife's cooking and visit a bit.
i said, you must be tired Vinod! you work so hard! to which he replied quite seriously, it is hard work here because times are tough. my daughter requires medication every day costing 3000Rs per month., his wife had thyroid trouble. After the earthquake of 2001 (that flattened many villages around Bhuj and caused immense destruction in the city as well, killing upwards of 25 000 in all of Kutch area), they lost so much and had been recovering , as have many others, since then.
so he tells me this, how 1000rs is alot, how he must spend 3000 every month to keep his disabled daughter functioning, and then offers o lend me money while giving me a moped for the entirety of my stay.
this is generosity like none other i've experienced. such a kind man.
today i will be attending a rabari wedding. rabari are nomadic people that move with their herds of goat and sheep through the Great Rann desert/ salt flats. some have settled into villages now, but it's quite an honor to go to this wedding because where they happen depends on where the peopl are. and often weddings for many happen all one day, the birthday of Lord Krishna. It's becasue of Vinod taking me to that handicraft village that this invitation happened. So my thanks again to him.
EVeryone is helpful, everyone offers their mobile number in case i need some help ever. Many will leave what their doing and walk me to the place i'm asking directions for...no fear of strangers, no barriers, no doors.
This is truly a special place!
so it feels like there are no doors.
no barriers.
everywhere and everyone open and welcoming.
Now i'm in bhuj, Gujarat, where this generosity has been multplied 3fold. I'm meeting the most hospitable people in all of india i'm sure. the owner of the hotel/restaurant i'm in (annapurna) named Vinod, is overwhelmingly giving. the first day i ate there i asked him some questions about travelling into the desert and meeting some villages etc. he gave me so much info and offered to lend me his moped within 5 minutes of talking. then he gave me a ride to his home where his family gave me tea and biscuits, lent me the moped so i could take myself to the police and get a village permit, came back an he took out the car and took me and his family to a neighbouring village where they sell handicrafts and embroidery. it's livelihood around here and quite a few fair trade projects exist...you MUST get in touch with these groups. the embroidery is exquisite and High Quality.
so that's the hospitality of Vinod. everyone at his hotel has been taking such good care of me, like family. amazing. today he lent me his moped again for the day saying i'm like family, like his child!
last night we were talking about shops and costs etc. and he mentioned how 1000Rs is alot for him (about 30 dollars), i said yes for me too while travelling. i have a tight budget!
immediately he said, if you have money troubles please tell me, i can lend you money and you send it to me from canada whenever you can. no problem.
wow my heart swelled with appreciation for this man.
Vinod starts working in his restaurant at 7-9am and stays until closing at 11pm with one rest in teh day sometime when he goes to eat his wife's cooking and visit a bit.
i said, you must be tired Vinod! you work so hard! to which he replied quite seriously, it is hard work here because times are tough. my daughter requires medication every day costing 3000Rs per month., his wife had thyroid trouble. After the earthquake of 2001 (that flattened many villages around Bhuj and caused immense destruction in the city as well, killing upwards of 25 000 in all of Kutch area), they lost so much and had been recovering , as have many others, since then.
so he tells me this, how 1000rs is alot, how he must spend 3000 every month to keep his disabled daughter functioning, and then offers o lend me money while giving me a moped for the entirety of my stay.
this is generosity like none other i've experienced. such a kind man.
today i will be attending a rabari wedding. rabari are nomadic people that move with their herds of goat and sheep through the Great Rann desert/ salt flats. some have settled into villages now, but it's quite an honor to go to this wedding because where they happen depends on where the peopl are. and often weddings for many happen all one day, the birthday of Lord Krishna. It's becasue of Vinod taking me to that handicraft village that this invitation happened. So my thanks again to him.
EVeryone is helpful, everyone offers their mobile number in case i need some help ever. Many will leave what their doing and walk me to the place i'm asking directions for...no fear of strangers, no barriers, no doors.
This is truly a special place!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Get in the River!
I’m in and out of the flow you know.
When I’m in the flow, guided by the river, supported by the water, swimming with the fishies that nibble the dead skin off my toes...everything works so beautifully I can't even understand it.
When I get impatient and fight the way things are moving, the frustration escalates, nothing works, I wait forever for nothing to happen, I feel alone and annoyed.
So get back in the river!
That’s what I keep telling myself.
The other day I was walking through the streets of Bangalore singing to myself. I was singing part of a chant that Fede the Argentinean from Sadhana taught me. When he sings it, eyes closed, beautiful voice, by the 4 and final line a peaceful contented smile comes over his face before he swings back to the beginning of the song.
Now I feel that contentment when I sing it...because it's beautiful and because it has so many memories attached…people who sing it, places we sang it….
So I was singing to myself and feeling utter peace and happiness. Singing keeps an incredible lightness in each step. Feels like a ball of positive light around me.
‘Madam, what do you want?’
‘I want to be happy! Mai kush hu!’
‘Oh wonderful madam! Hindi speaking!’
‘no no, tota tota!’
Such a pleasing interaction. SO uplifting. Break through the selling relationship. Their faces both went SO Bright! Eyes came alive... bursting out of the mundane.
Everyday this must happen. All The Time!
Don’t answer with the expected.
Don’t ask the expected. Cut to the core.
What else is there? What else is important?
Perhaps I will go home and meet friends again for the first time. What do you dream about? What do you long for? What makes you happy?
How awesome to ask, What makes you happy friend? And Really want to know the answer!
I think without realizing it I’ve been finding myself every day on this trip. On a search for truth and happiness…I’m finding it.
Always learning. Always teaching. All of us.
Everyone is a student and everyone is a teacher. Every ‘social position’. Every age. Every religion. Every person.
And that feels incredibly satisfying to breathe every day.
After the singing walk I sat in the train station with Assaf bubbling about the experience. Listening to his walk and his thoughts (we had separated for an hour or so). Learning and teaching.
I got up to go to the train and a woman radiantly called me over by the name Ranjeeta. It took me a few minutes of broken English/Hindi to understand that she was giving me an India name, beaming smiles the whole time. Ranjeeta means smiling face, she said. Or open flower.
Wow. What a treasure moment.
What I put out into the world I get back. Actions are asking the universe for reaction and answers. Exude positive light and I too will be bathed in it.
I still find frustrations and extreme challenges of patience. But it’s all part of the experience. And so far, there has always been someone special to whisk me out of the heavy mood, back to the newly appreciated light mood!
Get in the river. It’s such a great way to live!
Open
Trusting
Ready to find a lesson in every teacher around you
And confident, trusting that you are a teacher too.
So much love
Lauren
When I’m in the flow, guided by the river, supported by the water, swimming with the fishies that nibble the dead skin off my toes...everything works so beautifully I can't even understand it.
When I get impatient and fight the way things are moving, the frustration escalates, nothing works, I wait forever for nothing to happen, I feel alone and annoyed.
So get back in the river!
That’s what I keep telling myself.
The other day I was walking through the streets of Bangalore singing to myself. I was singing part of a chant that Fede the Argentinean from Sadhana taught me. When he sings it, eyes closed, beautiful voice, by the 4 and final line a peaceful contented smile comes over his face before he swings back to the beginning of the song.
Now I feel that contentment when I sing it...because it's beautiful and because it has so many memories attached…people who sing it, places we sang it….
So I was singing to myself and feeling utter peace and happiness. Singing keeps an incredible lightness in each step. Feels like a ball of positive light around me.
‘Madam, what do you want?’
‘I want to be happy! Mai kush hu!’
‘Oh wonderful madam! Hindi speaking!’
‘no no, tota tota!’
Such a pleasing interaction. SO uplifting. Break through the selling relationship. Their faces both went SO Bright! Eyes came alive... bursting out of the mundane.
Everyday this must happen. All The Time!
Don’t answer with the expected.
Don’t ask the expected. Cut to the core.
What else is there? What else is important?
Perhaps I will go home and meet friends again for the first time. What do you dream about? What do you long for? What makes you happy?
How awesome to ask, What makes you happy friend? And Really want to know the answer!
I think without realizing it I’ve been finding myself every day on this trip. On a search for truth and happiness…I’m finding it.
Always learning. Always teaching. All of us.
Everyone is a student and everyone is a teacher. Every ‘social position’. Every age. Every religion. Every person.
And that feels incredibly satisfying to breathe every day.
After the singing walk I sat in the train station with Assaf bubbling about the experience. Listening to his walk and his thoughts (we had separated for an hour or so). Learning and teaching.
I got up to go to the train and a woman radiantly called me over by the name Ranjeeta. It took me a few minutes of broken English/Hindi to understand that she was giving me an India name, beaming smiles the whole time. Ranjeeta means smiling face, she said. Or open flower.
Wow. What a treasure moment.
What I put out into the world I get back. Actions are asking the universe for reaction and answers. Exude positive light and I too will be bathed in it.
I still find frustrations and extreme challenges of patience. But it’s all part of the experience. And so far, there has always been someone special to whisk me out of the heavy mood, back to the newly appreciated light mood!
Get in the river. It’s such a great way to live!
Open
Trusting
Ready to find a lesson in every teacher around you
And confident, trusting that you are a teacher too.
So much love
Lauren
Saturday, February 16, 2008
"May there always be forests to grow people!"
I've settled into a comfortable community life in a place called Sadhana FOrest where I'm wwoofing for 2-3weeks. here are 50 volunteers here and everyone an inspiring, musical, intentional, wonderful human being!
the project here is located outside Pondicherry, part of a village called AUroville. Auroville is an international community, kind of an experiment started in the 60s by a woman referred to as the Mother. It's a strange place, i'm not yet sure how i feel about it (2thirds foreigners, 1third indian). But the forest is exactly what i wanted!
\this area once had a tropical dry evergreen forest covering it. The forest was important for local medicines, sustenance, and preventing erosion (soil with lots of roots is held together beautifully in strong rains). WHen the British came, they clear cut the area and started cash crops like cashews. trees gone, roots gone = monsoon rains start to erode the topsoil making it difficult to grow anything (like cashews) and thus many pesticides started to be used. Furthermore,all the water from the monsoons started to runoff directly into the ocean, making this already dry place even drier and threatening the water source.
4 years ago Aviram and Yorit started to fulfill their dream here. THere was not a single tree except for the 3 that were left standing around an old temple (the british realized that if they cut the temple trees they'd really have a riot on hand). Now I write to you from 70Km2 of beautiful native forest trees4 years ago there was not a single bird to be heard, now they counted 25 species in the last bird count!
another major part of the project is water conservation. so our work right now (in the non monsoon season) is going to the forest to dig holes that catch monsoon rains and allow the rain to sink into the depleted water table. we use the dug up soil to build 'bunds' or small walls that help contain the water as well and guide it to the holes. In just 4 years they have raised the water table 6 meters!
this is seen very positively by the local villagers who can now access water through wells again.
Aviram and Yorit believe strongly in maintaining friendships and involvement in the local community. they go to to every wedding they are invited to, they get local children to help plant trees and take care of them, adding a sense of responsibility in the larger community.
there are no fences anywhere and in this way it is everyone's land and for everyone to use and enjoy.
so i'm quite pleased to learn from this incredible Israeli couple
another positive experience is that after just 5 days in this community, Yorit gave birth to their second daughter! it really brought everyone together as we sang and felt an incredible energy vibrate in the air all around us.
so it has been especially fulfilling. Aviram, Yorit, Osher and new Shalev are certainly enhancing the growth of amazing people in this forest.
i hope to do a radio feature on them when i'm home. They have no income and are always open to donations to keep the place growing and comfortable. Aviram says with his next donation they will build a grass roof on the kitchen hut. This roof will last for 22 years, it's completely sustainable and made from all native plants in the area. Some of the huts already have this type of roof (the rest are banana leaves woven together), but it takes several a hundred dollars to fund it.
So i'm thinking of ways to fund raise a bit for them when i get home. But i'm realizing that right now might be an opportunity to ask if anyone has a few dollars to spare. If yes, please email me with the amount and I will donate it before I leave, and hope that your amount will get to my bank account somehow!
i am leaving in 3 days i think, so please act fast!
\there is no obligation to donate, i think it's most valuable that you simply know incredible projects are happening in the world.
Be inspired,
act local,
think global
and challenge yourself to a bucket shower (when it gets a little warmer!) to see how much water you can save.
lots of love from the forest
Lauren
the project here is located outside Pondicherry, part of a village called AUroville. Auroville is an international community, kind of an experiment started in the 60s by a woman referred to as the Mother. It's a strange place, i'm not yet sure how i feel about it (2thirds foreigners, 1third indian). But the forest is exactly what i wanted!
\this area once had a tropical dry evergreen forest covering it. The forest was important for local medicines, sustenance, and preventing erosion (soil with lots of roots is held together beautifully in strong rains). WHen the British came, they clear cut the area and started cash crops like cashews. trees gone, roots gone = monsoon rains start to erode the topsoil making it difficult to grow anything (like cashews) and thus many pesticides started to be used. Furthermore,all the water from the monsoons started to runoff directly into the ocean, making this already dry place even drier and threatening the water source.
4 years ago Aviram and Yorit started to fulfill their dream here. THere was not a single tree except for the 3 that were left standing around an old temple (the british realized that if they cut the temple trees they'd really have a riot on hand). Now I write to you from 70Km2 of beautiful native forest trees4 years ago there was not a single bird to be heard, now they counted 25 species in the last bird count!
another major part of the project is water conservation. so our work right now (in the non monsoon season) is going to the forest to dig holes that catch monsoon rains and allow the rain to sink into the depleted water table. we use the dug up soil to build 'bunds' or small walls that help contain the water as well and guide it to the holes. In just 4 years they have raised the water table 6 meters!
this is seen very positively by the local villagers who can now access water through wells again.
Aviram and Yorit believe strongly in maintaining friendships and involvement in the local community. they go to to every wedding they are invited to, they get local children to help plant trees and take care of them, adding a sense of responsibility in the larger community.
there are no fences anywhere and in this way it is everyone's land and for everyone to use and enjoy.
so i'm quite pleased to learn from this incredible Israeli couple
another positive experience is that after just 5 days in this community, Yorit gave birth to their second daughter! it really brought everyone together as we sang and felt an incredible energy vibrate in the air all around us.
so it has been especially fulfilling. Aviram, Yorit, Osher and new Shalev are certainly enhancing the growth of amazing people in this forest.
i hope to do a radio feature on them when i'm home. They have no income and are always open to donations to keep the place growing and comfortable. Aviram says with his next donation they will build a grass roof on the kitchen hut. This roof will last for 22 years, it's completely sustainable and made from all native plants in the area. Some of the huts already have this type of roof (the rest are banana leaves woven together), but it takes several a hundred dollars to fund it.
So i'm thinking of ways to fund raise a bit for them when i get home. But i'm realizing that right now might be an opportunity to ask if anyone has a few dollars to spare. If yes, please email me with the amount and I will donate it before I leave, and hope that your amount will get to my bank account somehow!
i am leaving in 3 days i think, so please act fast!
\there is no obligation to donate, i think it's most valuable that you simply know incredible projects are happening in the world.
Be inspired,
act local,
think global
and challenge yourself to a bucket shower (when it gets a little warmer!) to see how much water you can save.
lots of love from the forest
Lauren
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