January 12-15

Well, I'm here over the South China Sea and for the first time since 1978 I am past the international dateline and on what is truly the other side of the world. It is a somewhat grueling trip with 14 hours in the air thus far and several movies under my belt. I have had little sleep as the people in the other seats seemed to want to get out the moment I dozed off, or someone would walk by in the aisle and bump my leg or such. I am not all tht tired, however, and really feel like I am moving towards a calmer place.

There are actually a lot of people from the Nottingham R.P. Weekends, I have identified five so far, and there may well be at least one more. So there is some impact coming out of the NH work, for Russell if for no-one else. Nicky, Adele, Radihka, Nancy and Lisa, and maybe even a Linda. It is nice to have some familiar faces, and thus far the people I have met are both nice and what I might expect of such a group.

I am glad to have finally met Asha who seems to have wonderful energy, and more engaging energy than Russill—kind of the more social energy and clearly more a person with organizational skills.

We had a brief stop in Hong Kong, and I got to see some of the mountains there and take a snap or two, but it was early morning and there was quite the haze, and huge planes in the foreground so they are not really the photos of a lifetime. I expect to crash in Singapore. We have about an 8 hour layover and stay at a transit hotel that is right in the airport and it is not really time to do much exploring.

One thing I have really liked is being on the plane with so many different people. People with turbans and beautiful Indian dress. Young families, many people from Pacific rim nations, and Indian derivative nations. I have shared my seating with a young couple who are headed to Indonesia to study language there. They are just out of college and were proudly married 11/2 years ago, and clearly are still feeling that clubby romance of a still fresh relationship. They are both from the mid-west and have that slightly awed way about travelers who are very new at it and relying heavily on one another for support. Fun to see.

It is also interesting that there is a wi-fi signal on this plane, though it is too weak for me to attach to. Probably vetted for only first class passengers or something.

The best movie I have seen is the Dark Knight, and Heith Ledger certainly lives up to the performance accolades he has gotten.

And No Jet lag sure seems to work, though I am basically not all that tired and suspect that when I do crash it will be dramatic.

More to come. It's about 8 o'clock, I'm on the plane between Singapore and Chennai and we have about an hour before we arrive where we climb on a bus and head off to the beach and a couple of days R & R. Everyone got a little rest at the transit hotel in Singapore and tody we hit the first of India. There are some very nice people  on the trip and so far I feel like it's all a good thing. Even the crying babies on the plane and the whine of the jets seems to be bouncing off me.

Flying into Singapore was amazing. We passed over an anchorage where there must have been 2-300 ships of all types, from tramp steamers to super tankers and everything in between.  All at anchor, like a Pepperill Cove of the giant set. But there was not much more of Singapore, but the airport, which is somewhat of a spectacle in itself. Huge and Disney like with vast open spaces and shops galore and any number of places to eat. Buit we could do none of it… and onto the plane and off into the blue we went.

I am anxious to meditate. And to have some time with myself.

Sleep.

We arrived in Mamallapurram about midnight last night to a greeting of orange juice and cookies, then off to be and a reasonably good night's sleep. We are at the Ideal Resort which is very nice.. good food and generally a gentle way to be pushed into India. It feels safe and pleasant, though I am anxious to see some of the real stuff of India. We are right on the Bay of Bengal—my first view of a portion of the Indian Ocean and there are warm breezes and noisy birds. (I can feel the layers peeling off.

Jan 23

A day of silence after a significant day of travel to temples and a museum. I have not been keeping up with this log as regularly as I thought I might, but c'est la vie. Three days ago we headed off for our first real foray to temples with a fairly exhausting day to temples around Trichy. These temples are amazing. They start around a spot that has been identified as a sacred place, a tree, a rock, perhaps a house, but then around this sacred place grows a temple. Temples tend to be designed around a particular one of the various deities, but both Shiva and Ganeshe seem to be the primary focus of most of the temples. Every town has some sort of temple, though many of them are small and are not staffed by priests. They are amazing edifices, hand carved granite with incredibly intricate carvings which are often painted vibrant colors.

-At each temple we have been able to participate in Pujas, rituals that are3 de3signed to help us make direct connection with the deity and fill us with spiritual presence. It is fairly clear that Russill has some sort of spiritual standing with the local priests, th0ough what exactly is not clear yet. I suspect that he schooled with many of the priests, since much of his spiritual schooling took place at one of the largest Temples around. At any rate, we have gone to the front of the line, been right next to much of the Puja as it is performed, and had direct contact with the priests.

Hinduism is entirely ingrained into this culture. Nearly every person starts their day with ritual worship. At every temple there have been a fairly large number of people there to make contact with one deity or another, the largest number last night at a temple that would shame any religious place of worship in this country. I suspect that there were as many as 4000 people there when we were there, at any one time, and we were there for less than an hour. The nature of worship is very individual so Pujas are taking place on an almost continuous basis, unlike our more rigid once a week schedule, so people can participate in worship at their own pace and schedule and for as long as they wish.

The Ashram is a peaceful place away from the hubbub in a relatively idyllic setting next to a river (though it is quite a distance to the water and the bed is a mess because the government is taking the sand for roads or something). The routine is meditation and prayer four times a day, a Benedictine's day is 1/3 prayer, 1/3 study and 1/3 work. None of the routine is required and I have been participating only on occasion in the Ashram religious activity. We have a three hour session with Russill every morning, three hours off after lunch, or more small group sessions with Russill, then a chant period from 4 to 5 and meditation by the river bank from 5:45 until the mosquito's drive us away—usually around 6:30.

As for me, I have been having a tough time breaking out of the mind grind, but I may have started to get there today. It is always my biggest battle with meditation. All the same there is plenty of time left and I am slowing down considerably. I find India an alluring place. It is gritty and like a huge county fair at every turn with small stalls selling everything from kitch to diamonds. It would be a trying place to live other than in some heavenly place like this ashram or a couple of the places we have ahd lunch on our forays out to the temples. It is busy here virtually all the time with people and cars and bicycles and motor bikes and motor cycles and rickshaws and motorized rickshaws and cars and goats and bulls pulling wagons and trucks of all kinds and busses crammed with people, all with no apparent concern about what anyone else is doing and each with the trust that they know within about a inch how big their vehicle is and how close they can come to someone else.

It is dirty and run down looking and there are always people just standing around on and in the street without any apparent purpose except to stand around. The streets are lined with litter and even in the midst of the cities there are shacks built of palm fronds next to brand new apartment buildings. But amidst all this confusion and general unpleasantness, there is something amazing about this place. There are thousands of years here and it shows somehow. Life will go on. It may not be in anyway perfect, but it will go on and the next meal is enough a good deal of the time. There is a quality of peacefulness and calm that really is pervasive, and easy even for the foreigner to feel. How this will change when I am in the north and in Delhi I don't know, but for now this lack of desperation, in circumstances that for most of us would feel horrific, is kind of refreshing.

And on top of all that there are the people. Say hello and they light up, as though you have touched their spirit, and this is true of everyone short of a couple of beggars. Faith is inherent in the lives of these people. For thousands of years, since well before Christ, they have followed the same set of spiritual ideals, and by now they must be nearly genetic. They clearly believe in their fate, are not afraid of much and particularly not afraid of other people.

Today has been a good day of silence and contemplation with the purpose of reflection with a break from the routine and no communication. Back to the routine tomorrow.