In India………..again!

Thursday, April 13th, 2006

So its been a long while since I have blogged and well its about time I did so. I have so much occuring to me daily that its hard to keep up. I am in India now and Varanassi to be exact. This is a very holy city situated on the Ganges. It is holy for Hindus and Buddhist. I have seen so many things experiences so much so where do I begin? How about the present? I am in an internet place, there is sithar music in the back round, the rooms smells like incense. The man who runs the place has his forehead brightly colored in the Hindu tradition. Sometimes it is my forehead that is painted! When you go to the temples the Brahman will paint your forehead if you like it or not. I like it personally and the other day I had yellow, red, orange dots, lines on the bridge of my nose and forehead. It is easy for me to get drawn into all the goings on spiritually in these places. I have found it to be very moving. In fact the other day I awoke weeping, yes, weeping like a child and this not uncommon here. The Ganges is known to heal all wounds both physical and metaphysical. The Ganga cleans your Karma and washes it away. I might add along with the floating corpses and hopefully not to the otherside where the dogs on the beaches live off eating the remains. Yes, you go to the beach on the other bank and you see bones, hundreds of thousands, and bodies being eaten by dogs. If you watch the burning of bodies as the "Dom" (of the lower caste) turn the bodies over as your dad does a hamburger. Like your bodies crispy? or …. ok not funny. When you seen the torso of a man break off and juices ooze out one seeks humor in their own fragility. The smells are distinct and even if you never smelled it you know instinctually what it is immediately. THose who cannot afford to have their dead burned just toss the bodies in the river and its not uncommon to see bodies floating by women washing their saris while they do not even look up. Yesterday in front of a friends guest house a child dropped dead of what cause I am unsure. The body was still there covered as a man chanted over it. The still figure was small and I found it unsettling but not shocking. Little shocks you here. Surely this street child will not be burned but will be sent down to the Ganges or rather to the other bank to be eaten by dogs. This gives a whole new meaning to "its a dog eat dog world". Having spent the last days among very spirual people and environments I have began to look at the body as a mere vessel. I am not Aaron. I simply Am. The mind, the body and spirit are not the same entity according to the beliefs here. From what I have experienced recently I tend to agree. I did not come here for a Spirtual quest. I came here to make a film for a charity. I will end this entry and start another as to not bore my readers. Contiune to the next if interested…