Sharing more of me

Dear Sherry

I enjoyed reading the blog post you wrote in response to mine, particularly the energy and spontaneity of it, the affection and laughter in it. What made it even more special is knowing that you wrote it after a long night at work, while you were sleepy and dazed. Having a job that requires you to come in when most of your friends are returning from their workplaces must feel like a bit of a challenge. Anyway, thanks, for making the time to write. My favourite part of your post was this: "We'll meet up and I'm sure we'll bring the house down. Nobody would have seen more madness than we'll show them. Heehaaw!" Yaar, hearing from you always brightens up my day. I'm sure you know that :-p

What I look like when someone brightens up my day (Photo credit: Vibha Shah)

I was wondering what you'd like to learn about me through these blog posts. Thankfully, you've given me a lot of ideas. This time, I'll share with you some glimpses from my recent travel experiences. There have been several in 2014 - Madikeri, Bylakuppe, Bangalore, Panchgani, Pondicherry, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Sakad. I am not able to recall anymore. I guess that's about it. There's something quite thrilling about travel. Tiring too. Yet it remains one of the things I love most.

Outside North Coorg Club, Mercara

I had booked a train ticket for the 1st of January. It took me from Mumbai to Mangalore, from where I boarded a bus to Madikeri. It is located in the Coorg district of Karnataka. On my second evening there, I was just walking around, and happened to come across this postbox, a little before the entrance to the Madikeri Fort. I like the sight of postboxes. I associate them with handwritten letters. Did I ever tell you that I wanted to be a postman when I was in second grade? I love writing and receiving letters. At that age, I imagined that I would get a lot of letters if I became a postman. Anyway, I still enjoy writing letters. Maybe I'll write you one someday.




The real reason for my going to Madikeri was to use that place as a stopover. It is about two hours away from Bylakuppe, the site of a major Tibetan refugee settlement. I wanted to begin my year listening to the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And I did. I was there only for the last of 10 days. However, it felt beautiful. I feel closely connected to the Tibetan community because I have spent five weeks with them in Dharamsala, a beautiful in the hills of Himachal Pradesh. This short trip gave me a chance to reconnect with them. I was also able to meet some of my monk friends from Namgyal Monastery, which is attached to HHDL's home. They received me warmly, invited me to have lunch with them, and spent some happy moments reliving our shared experiences in Dharamsala. Those five weeks were incredibly special. I received them as a gift from The Foundation for Universal Responsibility, an organization started by HHDL using the money he received along with the Nobel Peace Prize. I was one of around 30 young people who had the opportunity to live with the Tibetans, attend Buddhist philosophy classes, learn meditation, volunteer with local NGOs like the Tibetan Centre for Conflict Resolution and Students for a Free Tibet, and generally experience the beauty of life in the hills.




What you see above is a picture of the three principal deities at Namdroling Monastery (also called The Golden Temple) in Bylakuppe. They are Guru Padmasambhava, Buddha Shakyamuni and Buddha Amitayus (from left to right). There were plaques explaining the significance of each. I was quite excited by this bit, which I read on the plaque about Guru Padmasambhava: "He was born twelve years after the passing of Buddha, on the lake Sindhu, in the land of Oddiyana (the present day Afghan-Pakistan Border)." Such an amazing reminder of our beautifully connected histories, isn't it? When I was reading that plaque, I was instantly reminded of Shiraz Hassan, my friend in Rawalpindi, who loves historical monuments and searching for stories among ruins.

Later in the month (yes, I'm still talking about January), I was in Panchgani, where I met those beautiful people from several different parts of the world. We were participants at the Making Democracy Real Dialogue organized by the Initiatives of Change at Asia Plateau. The first guy in that picture (the one with the camera) is Puvaan Jayandren. He's a Malaysian of Indian origin. His paternal grandfather used to live in Pondicherry before he migrated. We had beautiful long conversations. Yet again, I was struck by how depth and intimacy in interactions are not necessarily determined by the length of time people have known each other. Some people, by virtue of the way they are, immediately inspire trust and confidence. 

In the same picture, you also see Kobi Goodwin in that lovely purple pullover. I was surprised to learn that he too was in Bylakuppe for the same set of teachings I mentioned earlier. I remember Kobi for his silence, the sincerity with which he listened, our brief exchange about Israel and Palestine, our early morning starlit trek, and for the verses he recited from the Torah during an interfaith prayer session one morning. I also met some people from Pakistan. The one who inspired me most was Salman Rashid, a travel writer based in Lahore who I would love to see again.

In the second half of January, I was in Pondicherry thanks to the invitation of my friend Payal Adhikari who teaches at a small village school on the outskirts of Auroville, a township that is home to people from various countries of the world. The blue house you see in the picture above belongs to Krupa, who I met thanks to Payal. Krupa is an artist, educator and art therapist who lives in Auroville. That's a house built from a giant metal container. Krupa has designed it herself. I loved listening to her talk about it, seeing the vegetable patch next to it, and the fence around which she wants to transform into an affirmation-art installation space, where people can tie their 'intentions'.

The red thread you see me tying is from the Buddhist teachings in Bylakuppe. I received it from one of the monks there. When Krupa told me about the installation, I remembered that the thread was still lying in my bag. I took it out, and tied it around, while chanting 'Om Mani Padme Hum', a beautiful Buddhist mantra which means 'May all beings be happy and peaceful'. The fence around Krupa's home seemed to me a lot like the jaalis one sees at shrines like Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya's dargah in Delhi. It was a special moment in my friendship with Krupa. I hope to see her again.

After spending a week in Pondicherry, I went to Chennai for two days. The most valuable part of that trip was getting to reconnect with Navaneet, my friend from college. He used to live in Mumbai before he moved to Chennai to devote himself completely to the learning of Carnatic classical music. Navaneet took me to the home of Keshav Venkataraghavan, a dear friend of his who is a cartoonist with The Hindu, a newspaper you must have heard of.  That is Keshav's desk. It was enchanting to linger over every little object in and around his work space. He showed me several paintings and murals, and lovingly answered all my questions. I also got to spend a fair amount of time with Navaneet's sister Jayshree Akka (Tamil word for 'elder sister') who shares so many of my interests. She is super-cool.

I'm moving towards the end of my blog post, and I realize that I have been able to share so little. Anyway, we have a year to go, and more, Inshallah. Writing this blog post made me revisit a lot that happened in the last few months. And through these recollections, I hope, I have given you a flavour of what delights my heart. Now I look forward to reading your post, and learning more about you, Sherry.

PS: Thank God for hyperlinks! :-p