My Crazy Thought

The Rainmaker!

2010-03-18T03:34:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading a book called the Rainmaker by John Grisham, this is significant because I don't normally finish the books I start. Refreshingly, this is one of the best books I've read in a long time. I know, it's a very old book and everyone's already discovered and forgotten Grisham a long time ago but this book really was a breath of fresh air to me. Grisham manages to keep the tension going all the way through the book and just when you think you're getting comfortable he throws in a twist. The story is about a struggling lawyer, Rudy Baylor just out of law school with no money and no job. On a trip to a retirement village he meets an old woman who informs him her son Donny Black is dying of cancer and that the insurance companyGreat Benefit is refusing to pay the claim. The book has just the right blend of lawyer drama, life and love drama. Highly recommended, if you haven't already read it grab yourself a copy I was surprised at how quickly I finished this book!

What a gig!

2010-03-12T01:31:00.000-08:00

Last week I went to one of the greatest jazz gigs I've ever been to. The group was called the John Leigh Calder trio http://johnleighcalder.com/ and it was at unassuming little pub in Surrey Hills called the Hotel Clarendon http://www.hotelclarendon.com.au/. My friends and I arrived there at around 8:30 on Friday night and the band had just kicked off with their first number as we walked in. As soon as the band hit their first few chords we knew we were in for a good night. For a start the volume was right, so many times at these jazz gigs they keep the volume so low that it makes everything seem like lounge music. The volume at this gig was perfect it was enough so the sound engulfed and surrounded you, made you a part of it. There was no way you could be at this gig and be separate from it.

They had this rippin' saxophone player David Glyde sitting in for the night, he's a real old time player, in fact he actually played with the Beatles on Sgt Pepper's lonely hearts club band, and man could he solo! The notes rolled off his horn during his solos, building, building until they came at you like bullets. Pushing you back for cover and just when you think you can't take any more he'd throw in these real low blows, gut buster notes leaving you battered exhausted and almost on the floor. The pianist would then come in to pick up the pieces, he was the saviour after the earthquake. He played with an eternal smirk on his face making us trust him, making us think heres the sanity, the good natured love and kindness we expect from a simple jazz gig. Then he'd turn on us, dishing out barrage after barrage of block chords. Never letting us return to the reality that only moments ago had seemed so important. The real stuff, the stuff that makes life worth living was all right here.

The whole night seemed like an endless meditation, as if I'd opened up a direct channel to my soul, and the band had plugged right into it. Every note played hit me at an emotional and physical level. They played a slow blues, I almost wept, followed by a blazing fast version of Caravan which exhausted me physically, chased by a ballad which gave me time to recover, then i was knocked out again, the whole night went on like this. I spent the rest of the weekend trying to comprehend what had just happened, eventually giving up reasoning that it was something my rational mind could never understand.

I feel like the saxaphonist David Glyde was key to this almost spiritual experience (and the booze no doubt) his solos really took the band out there and I'm definitely looking forward to catching these guys again. They curently play every friday at the Hotel Clarendon in Surry Hills, Sydney http://www.hotelclarendon.com.au/ if you're in town i'd really recommend them. The sax guy isn't there every week but i'm sure they'll be great nonetheless, and it's free so there's really no excuse not to go!

Value

2009-12-16T01:39:00.000-08:00

For those who stray not far from the life of luxury..
There's value, drinking at a small pub,
Not just fancy clubs,
There's value, going for a walk in the rain,
Or going home on the train,
There's value staying at a cheap motel,
Not just fancy hotels,
There's value cutting your own grass,
Eating at cheap restaurants,
Getting greasy under the car,
Or breezy under the stars,
There's value, not having air conditioning,
Experiencing all of life beckoning.
For those lucky few, who have it all,
Never forget,
There's value in everything from the large to the small.

India 6, Bharatpur

2009-04-01T19:02:00.001-07:00

In the morning my girlfriend and I awoke early, grabbed a quick breakfast then headed down to the local bus stand for our onward journey to Bharatpur, home of a tranquil little bird sanctuary. The bus we caught was a Agra->Jaipur bus so we had to have cat like reflexes and jump off when our stop came close. Thankfully the driver saw we were tourists with big bags and stopped the bus to let us out. If he hadn't stopped we would have had to employ the tuck and roll strategy that so many Indians apply when involuntarily exiting overcrowded trains. We stayed at Hotel Spoonbill (http://www.hotelspoonbill.com/), which is closer to a bed and breakfast than a hotel. You get a nice self contained room inside what looks like the owners house. It is a large place though, with about 4 or 5 guest rooms plus area for the owners family. It has a very cosy feel and the family is very friendly. Any food ordered there is home cooked and prepared fresh by the lady running the place. I think her husband runs the place down the road Hotel NEW Spoonbill, or vice versa I can't remember which is which now.

The hotel was a short walk from the bus stop which was nice, we were due to head onward to Jaipur the next day so only had that evening to check out the bird sanctuary (http://www.indianwildlifeportal.com/wildlife-sanctuaries/bharatpur-wildlife-sanctuary.html). So after dropping off bags my girlfriend and I headed back out, the sanctuary wasn't too far from the hotel. It was so nice to be going to look at some natural beauty instead of more buildings, trees and lakes and a bit of peace and quiet were the perfect change after all the tourist spots and touts of Delhi and Agra. While walking there we came across a cycle rickshaw-wallah who offered to ride us around through the bird park, he was also very knowledgeable in bird species so was willing to act as our guide as well. We took him up on the offer and hopped in his cycle rickshaw. The bird park was a beautiful mix of marshy swampland and large open plains, thousands of birds were flocking around us. I don't remember all the names now, but the rickshaw driver had very keen eyes and pointed out several species of birds as we rode through the park. It was getting late in the day and we had the pleasure of relaxing and enjoying the sunset there. He cycled us around for about 3 hours and then dropped us back at the entry gate. According to his official rate which was around Rs150 per hour the fare should have been Rs450, I decided to give him a Rs200 tip. The cheeky guy asked for another 100 on top, how could I refuse. While we were sitting comfortable he was sweating it out in the heat. On top of that, there weren’t that many tourists in the park, I doubt he would get a fare every day. The extra 100 gave him a great smile which was worth it, the whole outing cost around $20, which wasn't too bad.

I finally got hold of a mobile phone that night. It was a really cheap no frills phone which cost around $30 brand new, the Indian sim card I had worked perfectly in it. I was finally able to call my parents and grandparents and let them know how things were going. On the way back from buying the phone I lost my way a little and spent about 1/2 an hour walking up and down the wrong street looking for the hotel. Somehow even though I look Indian the locals knew I was from out of town and were watching me closely. I backtracked to the main road and was finally able to retrace my steps back to the hotel.

India 5, Agra

2009-04-01T19:01:00.001-07:00

Day 1

The next day we caught the train to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, our hotel was Hotel Sheela (http://www.hotelsheelaagra.com/) and we had a nice little room with A/C for RS800 per night there. After resting up it was off to see the jewel of India, the Taj Mahal, we went lateish so as to be able to see the Taj by day as well as at dusk. The Taj Mahal is the one building I saw that really does live up to, and exceed the hype surrounding it. It is truly an awe inspiring structure, the white marble shining brightly in the afternoon sun. As you get closer to it the level of detail becomes apparent, every square inch of it is hand carved with intricate designs. Above the arches, massive Arabic letters are inlaid into the walls in contrasting black marble. We spent the evening wandering around it and sitting there relaxing until they kicked us out just as darkness fell.

Day 2

Next morning we awoke early to get down to Agra fort, I decided to hire a guide for this one, he spoke the fastest most unintelligible English I've ever heard. I still manage to pick up a few facts about the place most notably, he pointed out the room where Shaha Jhan was imprisoned by his son, only able to gaze upon his creation the Taj Mahal through the window. Next on the agenda was a trip out to Fatehpur Sikri (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatehpur_Sikri) about 1.5 hours out from Agra, which meant first heading to the state bus stand. By now we were quite good at figuring out and catching busses, between us we could even almost read the destinations printed in Hindi. After a bit of searching and using an obscenely dirty open toilet, we found the bus, boarded and got tickets. The dusk masks we had with us had taken a severe battering in our bags and were now a health hazard in themselves. To put them on would be to inhale several days worth of dusk and several species of mutated bacteria, thankfully we decided to retire the masks from active service.

The most apparent thing upon arrival was the heat, that day was blistering hot and there wasn't much shade around. This combined with us being tired from the trip out there and having already seen so many building type structures through Delhi and Agra put us in a less than enthusiastic mode. The touts at Fethpur Sikri were relentless too, prodding and poking at us to buy things from the moment we set foot on the ground. Our first move was to retreat to a little restaurant and grab lunch. After lunch we ventured into Fathpur Sikri, the free area starting at the Mosque, immediately we were grabbed by an official looking helper who had a name tag stating he was a 'Bolunteer Guide' (Volunteer) and so no money would be required. Despite our attempts to shake him off, he stuck to us like glue, after assuring us he wasn't going to ask for any money we reluctantly agreed to let him show us around. He seemed nice enough taking us around the courtyard pointing out interesting features, we began to believe he might actually be a volunteer. We stopped at the first vendor, he was selling a few stone carvings and trinkets, after politely declining, our guide became insistent on us buying something. It was now clear, he was running the commission scam. This was probably the only time I lost my cool, I was almost yelling at him for lying to us about being a volunteer and trying to scam us into buying things by pretending to be friendly then using that friendship to pressure us. He backed off and continued the tour, the next stop was at a flower vendor where our guide insisted we needed to buy flowers and offer them to proceed around the mosque. It was clear he was just trying to make a commission off a sale so I told him to leave us alone and after a bit of arguing he finally left. To get an idea of the kind of commission he was getting we wandered over to another vendor and asked the prices on a few items we had seen earlier, with the guide tailing us the vendors were asking in the range of Rs800-1200, without him they were asking Rs100-150, obviously a bit of bargaining is possible in both cases but most of that difference would go to the guide. I don't mind paying a guide for guide services, but the dodgy way they try to take advantage of tourists isn't cool. The funny thing was, the guide saw us speaking to vendors and came running back to us yelling 'I saw you buy something from him but you didn't buy when I show you!!', we actually didn't buy anything but the guide thought we did and he was MAD. A small victory for the stupid tourists(us).

After the whole guide episode we weren’t in the best mood so the rest of Fathpur Sikri was done in a rush, hurrying around checking out structures and trying to stay out of the sun. On the way out we saw a man was waiting offering camel and cart rides, that's like a horse and cart, but with a camel. A spirited round of bargaining had us agree on a RS30 fare to take us all the way down to the bus stand. Riding in a camel cart is great fun, the cart bobs up and down with every step and the camel looks happy to be doing a bit of walking. The camel cart guy seemed nice so we gave him a generous tip, I think it was around RS100 or so, he was happy with that, in return he let us take a few pictures with the camel.

That evening while having dinner a majestic wedding party strode past the restaurant. Weddings in India are a town affair, a marching band is hired along with a mobile speaker and amplifier system that is then pulled(often by a donkey) through the streets blaring the loudest Indian music you've ever heard. As the band/wedding party travels down the street locals jump in and join in the frenetic dancing. Noise pollution laws are non-existent and conveniently no special permission is needed to block off entire streets for hours at a time. To get closer to the action we quickly paid our bill and went down to join the party, it's great to lose yourself in the celebrations, no one cares you don't know the bride or groom. We grooved some way down the street with them after which they entered an invite only function hall. My girlfriend then went to check her emails at a local internet cafe and I headed back to the hotel to catch some winks.

India 4, Delhi

2009-04-01T18:59:00.001-07:00

Day 1

The bus let us off at the interstate bus stand a little way out from our hotel Crest Inn located in Karol Bagh http://www.crestinn.com/ . We caught a very pricy taxi which after a bit of searching took us to our destination. The hotel was nice enough, decent room, the manager seemed a little snobbish, but as we learned that was pretty common for the people in Delhi. The room attendant was extremely nice setting us up in the balcony with drinks and whatever we wanted. I'm sure we were ripped off by the laundry boy though, when I asked him how much for the laundry I think he just made up the highest number he thought he could get away with, and stupidly I paid. It's important to keep track of how much things like laundry are going to cost by checking against the price list before handing over any money. Otherwise you're just asking to be taken for a ride.

We made a trip out to the Red Fort (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Fort) after settling in and resting in the room for a while. This is truly a magnificent structure, the size and length of the walls is a sight to behold, inside are the typically brilliant Mughal stonework and carvings seen on the other great monuments. We wandered around and saw the various halls of public/private audience and other monuments. Afterwards we went for a stroll in the Chandani Chowk (http://www.exploredelhi.com/places-to-visit/chandni-chowk.html) market located just outside the main gate. One of my priorities at the time was to get a mobile phone working. My girlfriend and I both had Australian phones which were extremely expensive to use in India. We had some local sim cards but they wouldn't work without the phones being 'unlocked'. In my quest to unlock the phone I stupidly dropped it off at one of the tiny phone repair shops on the side of the road after he assured me he could do the job. It was only after I left that I realised I had left my phone to a stranger in possibly one of the most unsafe cities in India. Luckily not everyone in Delhi is as bad as they say because he gave me my phone back but was unable to get it unlocked and working with the Indian sim card. Wandering around the market we saw several Indian street food specialities, samosa's, stuffed puri's and various other dumpling like things that make my mouth water to think about now. At the time we were not brave enough to try them, the risk of getting sick so early on in the trip put us off.

That evening my girlfriend did end up getting sick, though it probably wasn't from the food but rather just tiredness from the overnight bus trip and possibly a bit of dehydration. It was extremely hot while walking around the Red Fort which was a bit of a shock after the cool of McLeod Gange. I ordered room service for myself while she slept, Navratan Kourma and a few naans, cost about Rs100 ($2.5) and was absolutely delicious, the Navratan Kourma had a fantastic Smokey flavour from the Tandoor oven I presume - or possibly just from some other food that was burning at the time.

Day 2

The next day had us out to the Jamma Masjid (http://www.bharatonline.com/delhi/religious-places/mosques/jama-masjid.html) which is a nice old and still operational mosque, for a small fee we were allowed to climb one of the minaretts. It's several hundred steps up in a tight cramped and very dark stairway before reaching the top, the walk up really takes you back to how things must've been in times gone by. It's a hard stuffy climb but well worth it as at the top you're rewarded with great views of old Delhi and the Red Fort. Wandering around the courtyard we came across a group of foreigners with a guide and thought we might eves drop to find out a bit more, as luck would have it was a French group and the guide was of course speaking French which was no good for us!

The afternoon of that day had us out to Connaught Place (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connaught_Place,_New_Delhi) to try to book our travel arrangements for the next part of the trip. The day happened to be a public holiday so most of the shops were closed and relatively few people walking the streets. This area proved to be a nightmare for us, we couldn't stop for even 1 minute without a horde of people approaching and trying to befriend us. We were still fairly naive at that point and would politely decline offers of help, though the constant attention was wearing us down. Eventually we gave in and were led to a 'government approved' travel agency. Our goal was to book some train tickets between Delhi-> Agra and then onwards through Rajasthan. The seemingly nice man showed us that no trains were available and then attempted to sell us a rental car+driver for the next 3 weeks at about RS20000, after listening politely for a long time we took some brochures and to his dismay left without buying anything. By this point we were very wary of people trying to lead us off. The goal for us was to reach the foreign tourist reservation office at New Delhi station (http://www.indianrail.gov.in/intert.html) this is a place where foreigners can book tickets on trains that are otherwise full for Indians, they have separate quotas for foreigners. Because the office is government run the locals won't tell you about it, they don't get any commission from the it. We were now battle hardened and put our game faces on, we were like gladiators running the gauntlet, fending off opponents along the way, making a bee-line right for our target at New Delhi station. The office was tricky to find as no one would tell us exactly where it was, always pointing us in the wrong direction back to smaller non-government agencies. Eventually after asking a police officer we found the place, and what a relief! My girlfriend and I spent a few minutes high fiving and rejoicing as if we'd just won the Olympic marathon. Unfortunately for us the office needed originals of passports to book tickets, we left them in the hotel room! On the plus side they assured us there were plenty of seats available for all the destinations we wanted, a small victory at least! We left the office disappointed but not defeated, resolved to come back early next morning with the required passports and book the tickets.

In the evening we went for a walk around the Karol Bagh area outside the hotel and witnessed a classic and rife crime in India, credit card theft. Two guys who had between them about 10-15 credit cards and ATM cards were at an ATM withdrawing the maximum allowed on each card. We happened to be waiting to use the ATM, after about 15 minutes of watching them withdraw what must've been RS100,000 or more we decided dodgy dealings were in place and took off. I decided to try my hand at bargaining in the market, finding a pair of sunglasses that looked quite stylish I bargained the guy down to Rs150 which I thought was a good deal considering he started at Rs500. My mistake became obvious over the next few days though as the paint and eventually the glasses themselves proceeded to flake off and break. I asked one of the locals for kicks how much he thought the glasses were worth and he said not more than Rs25, oh well at least I was helping the local economy.

My girlfriend being white and me being Indian originally had been drawing a lot of attention from the locals, rickshaw wallas would constantly pull up, vendors would harass us to buy stuff and locals would come up and chat with us . As an experiment I decided to go for a walk myself and see what would happen. It was bliss, I blended right in, no one bothered me, no one even looked twice at me I could browse the shops without being pressured to buy, and I didn't constantly feel like I was the centre of attention. Indians travelling in India and foreigners travelling in India have a vastly different experience. Standing out can be good because waiting in queues or to buy tickets, people tend to serve you first, but quite often all the unwanted attention can be a bit unnerving.

Day 3

The last full day in Delhi we decided to hire a taxi for the day because there were quite a few things left to see. First on the agenda was to do battle once again with the ticket reservation office, armed with our passports, plenty of money and a direct taxi to the station we were feeling confident that today, finally, victory would be ours. As we exited the cab and headed towards the station we were immediately stopped by a nice looking gentleman. He told us there was a platform ticket and we should pay him Rs150 for the privilege of entering the station. Sensing an ambush I went into high gear and pulled out my footy 'Goose Step' to bamboozle past him. He was skilful though and blocked me with an authoritative command to the tune of 'Respect my Authoratah!'. Not so sure of myself I was left standing in front of him, the verbal battle had begun. I pointed out no one else was buying tickets and he countered with a smoke screen of words. I informed him I wasn't going to the platform but rather the foreign tourist office he pulled out his secret weapon 'I'm sorry sir, the office is closed today I'll show you where you can buy tickets' I knew I had him. Before the mission general Lonely Planet had briefed me on this weapon and I knew it was a dud, also, on our reconnaissance mission to the office the previous day we asked specifically if they were open today and they had given us the affirmative. Armed with this knowledge I instructed him out of our way, sensing the battle was lost he finally stepped aside and let us pass. Lo and behold the office was exactly where it had been yesterday and was in fact open. Telling the lady at the office about the guy downstairs trying to stop people coming up she laughed it off with a 'Yep, they'll do that'. The safest thing to do is assume the office exists and is always open unless you verify it for yourself! Thankfully once we made it in we were able to book all our onwards train journeys to Agra, Rajasthan and back to Mumbai.

The taxi then took us around to all the obligatory Delhi sights, Rashtrapathi Bhavan, Lotus Temple, Qutub Minar, Humayum's Tomb. I won't go into them as googling them will give adequate details about each. I will mention a couple of things however, at Qutub minar we saw a lady perpetrating the 'photo' scam, standing out of sight of authorities she would ask to take a picture of you using your camera. After the picture is taken she asks for a large amount of money as payment for this service. My girlfriend and I were wise to this type of thing now, so we weren’t taken in, but we did watch as she got quite a bit out of some other unsuspecting foreigners. The other thing worth mentioning is the outstanding Italian lunch we had, in Delhi, that day. The restaurant was listed in Lonely Planet, and after eating Indian for so long the flavours of tomato and Basil were a welcome change! The four fourths pizza (each quarter has a different topping) and pasta were outstanding, possibly the best Italian I’ve ever had!!(though our sense of taste was probably skewed after so much Indian food). Humayum's tomb was also amazing, it's basically the Taj Mahal but not made of Marble. The enclosure has a lot of areas to explore which is good fun, lets you live as an archaeologist for a few hours.

India 3, Mcleod Gange

2009-04-01T18:54:00.001-07:00

After about 6 long hours on the bus from Pathankot we arrived in Dharamsala and caught a rickshaw up to our final destination McLeod Gange - the current residence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After a bit of searching and a short walk we arrived at our hotel, Kareri Lodge http://123himachal.com/karerilodge/karerilodge.htm The room was supposed to cost us Rs1000 per night but for some reason the very nice owner decided to charge us Rs660. What a fantastic room too! It had the most amazing view right over the valley and surrounding plains.

After arriving in India only a few days prior, it seemed like we'd left and stepped into some kind of Tibetan heaven. Mcleod gange is a small town sitting right on the mountain side, with tiny twisting lanes that are shared between cars, pedestrians and street vendors. A truly amazing place with fresh, cool air, amazing views and an atmosphere of calmness rarely found anywhere in India. We spent our time visiting the Dalai Lama's monastery, shopping and eating. The steamed momo's available there are absolutely fantastic, and cost about Rs10 for a plate of 5. My first taste of Indian street food was, ironically Tibetan momos.

There are plenty of trekking options around Mcleod gange too, on one of the clear days we walked up to Dharamkot and towards Triund and back. I was feeling adventurous one day and set off to find a new route to the Dalai Lama's temple in shorts and thongs, the weather did not look kindly on this transgression of mine and decided to dump an unholy amount of water on me. At the same time my new route did not work out as planned, all those little roads that appear to join up on the map actually never do. I had to spend a good half an hour trekking through mud and slush in the pouring rain, getting stung several times by some crazy thorny plant before finally making it back in one piece to the hotel .

At one of the restaurants for dinner my girlfriend and I witnessed an angry manager and his waiter in a yelling match that resulted in a mini fist fight. Being the pigs that we were instead of leaving we proceeded to finish our delicious meal, no sense wasting all that food right?

After 4 nights of rest food and absorbing the views we were fully recovered from the chaos of Amritsar, and ready to proceed on to the chaos of Delhi. We had booked a private overnight bus from McLeod Gange to Delhi and were fully prepared for the ride this time. Upon boarding the bus I shut my eyes, said a prayer(even though I'm not overly religious) and tried to sleep. I could feel myself being thrown up against the side of the bus and then the other way but tried to put it out of my mind. Thankfully the bus made a couple of scheduled stops along the way allowing me to get off and stretch my legs. Almost as soon as we crossed the Himachal Pradesh state border and into Hariyana the roads flattened out, straightened out and improved dramatically. As the sun rose we were on the outskirts of Delhi heading in.

India 2, Amritsar To Dharamsala

2009-04-01T18:52:00.001-07:00

The train station wasn't too far from our hotel, the very friendly room attendant had ordered a cycle rickshaw for us, however the thought of an hour on a cycle rickshaw followed by about 8 hours of train and bus travel didn't sound appealing so we grabbed an auto rickshaw instead.

We arrived relatively early this was our first big travel the destination was Dharamsala. Amritsar is a small station so there wasn't much rush.

Our trip on the train was nice, since we were going to Dharamsala we had to get off the train at Pathankot and grab a 5 hour public bus the rest of the way. I was famished at Pathankot and we decided to grab a meal just outside the train station at an authentic Punjabi dhaba. It was a small dark dingy restaurant with a big wok and tandoor roaring on the footpath outside. I suspect it was frequented by taxi and truck drivers rather than foreign tourists, the patrons all seemed to be eyeing us as we walked in. I am glad for eating there though as for about RS60 - less than $2 we had roti, naan, dhal and veggie curry. It was absolutely delicious, possibly because we were hungry, food always tastes better when you're hungry!

With our bellies satiated we trekked back out into the sweltering heat, it was about 2pm by now. We were hunting for the bus stand and my only weapon was a little broken Hindi. 'Bus stand kaha heyy' I would blurt to anyone who'd listen - 'where is the bus stand', eventually someone informed us it was about 1/2 a kilometre away and instead of walking in the heat with our heavy packs we decided to grab a cycle rickshaw. Bargaining as a foreigner is fun, there’s no way to get a fair price so it's best just to do your best and enjoy it. He started at RS50 and we bargained him down to RS20(still way too much) and hopped on. Along the short journey we noticed he was working quite hard to lug us and our luggage along in the burning sun. We decided to give him RS50 anyway, when we stopped at the bus station he looked tired so we gave him 100, the smile on his face alone was worth it. One of the men at the station saw this and said something to him along the lines of 'This is your lucky day!'. The thing is to us that is about $2.50 while to him that's a day’s wage, it might allow him to enjoy something he normally could never afford such as a movie ticket or a nice meal. We never felt too bad getting ripped off and it was quite common for us to give double the fare to cycle rickshaw drivers. We were suckers, I know, but their job is a long day of hard labour for little money and no respect so it hardly seems fair to screw them out of 5 or 10 Rupees, an amount of money we wouldn't even pick up off the ground if we found it in Australia.

The Pathankot public bus stand wasn't quite as chaotic as I'd imagined, a rather large dustbowl surrounded by ticket vendors and food stalls. It was reasonably busy with people milling around and busses roaring in and out. Upon finding the correct booth for busses going to Dharamsala I discovered the attendant was fast asleep at his post. Rousing him took a few subtle ahems and after a leisurely round of stretches he finally asked me what I wanted. After a brief discussion I was able to buy 2 tickets to Dharamsala and also find out which bus to board, it was already waiting with people already boarding. We boarded the bus and grabbed two seats near the middle. Waiting for the bus to leave was like waiting for the previews to end in a movie theatre, there was a parade of street vendors who would each take turns standing inside near the front of the bus putting on an elaborate marketing campaign to sell their wares. I had expected them to hop off as the bus started moving however this only seemed to make them more determined to make a sale. A good 5 minutes after we had started the last of them bailed out, of course the driver didn't slow down to let them off.

This being the first long distance bus journey of the trip in my infinite wisdom I had brought a pair of dust masks for my girlfriend and I. They served a few important functions, one was to keep the dust - and there was a lot of it, out of our lungs, the second was to make us look like scary aliens, the last was to broadcast my girlfriend and I as newbie foreign travellers ripe to be laughed at and mocked in languages unfamiliar to us, the dust masks performed this function brilliantly.

The bus was full of a mix of foreigners and Indians, the foreigners were all heading to Dharamsala while the Indians would hop on and off at the various 'stops' along the way. They are only really stops by name though as the bus rarely came to a complete stop, rather men and women would run and jump on clinging to the bus for dear life. Only for the very elderly did the bus wheels actually stop turning. Along the way the bus emptied out and filled up several times, the Indian's view of personal space is very different to yours or mine. To them, the space you physically occupy is your personal space, everything else is fair game. Frequently people would lean on or over me, press up against me and just in general be too close for comfort. Too close for my comfort that is, because it occurred to me they were very comfortable.

Along the way I witnessed some of the most breathtaking scenery I’ve ever seen, enjoyed at similarly breathtaking speed. Dharamsala is at an altitude, climbing the mountain would force most people to slow down despite the busted up look of the bus it seemed to climb the mountain and take corners like a race car. That driver should have been driving in the Indianapolis 500 rather than wasting his time shuttling people up a mountain! After about 6 long hours we arrived in Dharamsala and caught a rickshaw up to our final destination McLeod Gange

India 1, Amritsar

2009-04-01T18:45:00.001-07:00

Well I finally managed to get a chance to travel around India (with my girlfriend) and it was great! I had no idea there were so many varied activities available and each city we visited had something special about it. We split the trip up into a few parts, the first month - Oct 1st to 25th or so travelling the North. Diwali in Mumbai with my family then 3 short trips to Aurangabad, Goa and Nagpur. My girlfriend returned to Australia after Nagpur on the 12th of November. After a 2 week break in Nagpur with my grandparents I continued on to South India alone for a whirlwind 7 day trip. On the itinerary were Chennai, Allepy Munnar and Kochi followed by a flight back to Mumbai!

Amritsar

We touched down from Australia directly in Amritsar late at night and left the airport to find our taxi-wallah standing there with my name on a piece of paper. After he realized neither of us could speak Hindi he gestured wildly for us to follow him to his very comfortable AC cab. The ride to the hotel was a nice soft introduction to the craziness of India, being late and a smaller city there weren’t too many people around and the darkness prevented us from seeing too much outside.

Arrival

Arrival and check in at 'Hotel Airlines' went smoothly, a quaint little place with a dusty outdoor garden. Room was clean, large and had air-conditioning, a must as we discovered for the scorching October heat. As with most of the places we visited safety is not a high priority for Indians, this was strikingly obvious to us from the way the air conditioners were positioned. The condensed water dripped directly onto the only walkway to the rooms. The tiles there were polished smooth and thanks to the air conditioners, constantly soaking wet creating a deadly game of Russian roulette for guests entering and exiting the rooms. The room attendant there was extremely nice and friendly, as we later discovered his shift started at 8am and went to 10pm, every single day. I can't imagine he got paid very much so we made sure to tip him very well.

The next day started with a recon mission on foot around the hotel. Stepping out from the oasis of the hotel we were blasted for the first time by the full force of India. Rickshaws, cars, busses, goats, dogs, scooters, beggars, hawkers and a baffling supply of errant cows rushed along the road outside the hotel. I being Indian by birth was able to blend in, but my girlfriend being Australian was like a magnet for touts and rickshaw wallahs. They would constantly pull up right in front of us, blocking out path and ask if we require a rickshaw. Upon rejecting one a second would pull up, then a third and so on. The stream is never ending and almost drives you insane! After a brisk 'stroll' which required a catlike sixth sense to avoid being hit by a wayward scooter and the agility of an Olympic hurdler to dodge the rickshaws pulling up in our path, we returned drenched in sweat to the hotel.

Wagah Border

That evening we went to see the Wagah border ceremony where Indian and Pakistani border security try out stomp each other. The crush of people was unbelievable, all sweaty and smelly but remarkably peaceful in their jostling for a good view. A grandstand had been erected to allow more people to see the ceremony and the battle to climb the narrow staircase to the top was furious. The crowd itself was almost as interesting as the ceremony, shouts and cheers were going up constantly trying to drown out the Pakistani cheers on the other side of the border. The ceremony itself seemed like some kind of crazy theatre show.
Larger than life lanky characters wearing outrageous costumes stomping and yelling their way up and down the narrow road to the gate. Scowling across at their counterparts on the Pakistani side and despite the turbulent history between the two countries it never seemed like there was any hostility. As the sun came down the border gate was closed and I made a swift escape before the majority, down the rickety stairs that lined the grandstand. Pickpockets are a major problem at busy locations and thankfully both my girlfriend and I came out with all our possessions intact.

Having a nice hotel to retreat to is priceless. After an outing it feels like returning to heaven after a battle with the devil in hell. We slept soundly that night.

Golden Temple

Next morning was a trip to the Golden Temple, we were still not used to the heat and it was scorching! The main drawcard is that some parts of it are made out of gold however the structure itself is not particularly intricate or impressive in its construction. There were as usual thousands of people in the temple complex, the line to enter the temple itself stretched for about 100m and was moving painfully slow. We decided not to go inside the temple but rather to walk around the courtyard and temple complex. As with most of the holy places in India, a strange sense of peace descended on me as I entered the temple complex, this in itself made the visit worthwhile. We sat in the shade for sometime enjoying the crazy calmness of the place before moving off in search of lunch.

Just outside the Golden Temple in Amritsar we stopped for lunch at a small Punjabi dhabba and enjoyed a fantastic meal of Roti, Naan, Paratha and vegetable curry which cost for the two of us less than $3.

After our delicious lunch we headed back to the hotel, which now seemed almost like a 5 star luxury resort to us compared to the chaos on the street. It was time to get some rest as the next day was to be the first experience of the Indian public transport system!

Memory

2009-01-13T05:43:00.000-08:00

Is it normal not to remember anything? I find myself unable to remember details of movies,shows, books indeed of almost anything more than a few weeks old. It's so bad that after a few months I often can't even remember whether or not I've seen a particular movie let alone the contents of it. Sometimes I'll watch a movie the second time around and realise half way through that I've seen it before. Take for example The Italian Job, I believe I've seen this move at least twice before, but save from the opening sequence of stealing a safe with something in it(gold, money??) I am unable to recall any specific details of the movie.

There is a plus side to this affliction though, I am able to enjoy movies and TV shows I like more than once, and it's almost as if I'm watching it again for the 1st time. I've been on maiden voyages through Middle Earth, done battles with Predator in Vietnam and discovered (and forgot) I'm living in The Matrix countless times.

People details are the worst. I can't remember names - thats a given, but I struggle to remember any of the following crucial details:
- Place of work
- Place of study
- Hobbies
- Plans for the future, travel etc
- Any other detail
The worst is by far not even remembering having met someone before which happens all the time, as recently as twice last weekend at a wedding reception. A lady came up and was talking to me about Vipassana knowing quite a bit about me, shamefully I could not recall any previous time we'd met. This makes small talk on the 2nd time I meet someone incredibly difficult. The 1st time meeting someone is fine, topics can arise naturally and details about each other are eventually exchanged. On the 2nd meeting however, assuming I am able to recall meeting that person at all, I am unable to make any small talk as I am not sure what I've already asked about. It's incredibly embarrasing asking someone where they're going on holiday when you spent 15 minutes discussing it yesterday.

It doesn't affect everything though, I am able to remember specifics relating to my work very well. Technical details such as bugs in code, discussions and resolutions to problems are all at the tip of my tounge days or even weeks afterwards. Indeed when prompted I can recall specific issues and their solutions from years ago.

This inability to remember everyday things is baffling. Indeed one of the reasons I began this blog was so I could look back in the future and see that I really did exist, with complex thoughts and feelings, several years ago. I can imagine though that reading this in 10 years would be like reading about and looking into someone else's life. Hello future me.

After Holidays

2009-01-12T06:15:00.000-08:00

Man going back to work after holidays is hard, it's usually never as bad as it seems. I'm back next Monday after having 3.5 months off and am not looking forward to it at all. The loss of freedom is overwhelming.

Plus points

- Work is usually not boring, it's not interesting but the day doesn't drag on.
- Get to have reasonable break at lunch and don't normally have to stay too late.
- Work itself is usually not too busy
- Have some good friends there to have lunch with

Minus points
- Boss can be annoying, depends who it is though theres one particularly bad one.
- Work can sometimes get quite busy which can cause me RSI related pain
- Working for a large corporation makes me feel like a small cog in a large machine
- Loss of free time and energy to read, take on hobbies and play sports
- Observing the politics and actions of people trying to get ahead is a constant test of sanity.

My job is actually better than most so theres really no need to complain but from what I've observed humans will complain about any situation so why try to fight it.

Train Travel In India

2009-01-05T16:00:00.000-08:00

My first experience of travelling on an Indian train was to be a short journey between Amritsar and Pathankot. We arrived relatively early this was our first big travel, the final destination was Dharamsala however after Pathankot we were required to catch a bus. Amritsar is a small station so there wasn't much rush, the first priority was to work out which platform our train was going to come on. After asking 5 different people and getting 5 different answers we decided on a compromise to wait on the footbridge above the platforms so it would be easy to scoot down and grab the train on whatever platform it came.

We grabbed a seat just below a nice old gentleman who happened to be catching the same train as us. He informed us that our train was 2 hours late. It seems that long distance trains in India are almost always late, of all the trains I caught in India there wasn't even 1 that left on time. They varied from 15 minutes late to sometimes up to 4 hours or so, averaging about 1/2 to 1 hour late - not too bad I suppose considering some trains travel for 60 hours or more. After waiting about 3 hours, our train finally arrived and we helped the old man with some bags and in return he pointed us towards our carriage. Indian trains are LONG, they are so long that you could spend 20 minutes and die from dehydration walking from one end to the other and back. To board one you must know well in advance approximately where your carriage will be when the train stops. A very elegant system is set up where you can read the position of each carriage from the engine on sheets or electronic boards. Once you know this you can position yourself on the platform and slip onto the train when it stops.

Long distance trains are nothing like the images of Mumbai locals shown around the world, there are no mad crushes to get on or off , no people on the roof and no need to risk life and limb getting on the train. Air conditioned carriages are very orderly to get on or off and inside being relatively clean (and cool), sleeper class is not too bad either though more people do tend to get in to this class without tickets causing it to be more crowded than it ought to. Unservered can get quite busy so don't take this unless you want a full body massage. 2 tier or 3 tier Air conditioned is the best class for foreigners to travel, in 2nd AC there are 3 sets of double bunks in each cubicle of the train meaning 6 people sleep and sit there. During the day everyone sits on the lower bunks and at night half the people climb up and enjoy a welcome nights sleep. Beware though the AC vents are at the top of the train and it can get freezing there, you may not need any warm clothes in India but pack some for sleeping in AC trains! In 3rd tier AC there are 2 sets of 3 bunks and a set of 2 bunks meaning 8 people sleep in each cubicle. This can sometimes be a little uncomfortable during the day as sometimes people's baggage won't fit under the seats forcing everyone to accomodate it somewhere. On the whole though train is a very comfortable way to travel India, it's cheap, comfortable and you get to see the countryside as you flit by.

After the initial struggle of finding our platform and boarding the right carriage the journey was very comfortable. We enjoyed the scenery and managed to get off at the right station Pathankot.

Food in India

2008-12-11T21:30:00.000-08:00

I'm working on a full write up on my recent trip around India but in the mean time though I'd share a few words on the delights of eating out in India.

Just outside the Golden Temple in Amritsar we stopped for lunch at a small punjabi dhabba and enjoyed a fantastic meal of Roti, Naan, Paratha, vegetable curry and dhal which cost my girlfriend and I less than $3 between us. It seems throughout India that the quality of food you enjoy is inversely proportional to the price. 5 star hotels tend to have the worst food - served in the most asthetically pleasing mannor at exorbatant prices. Roadside dhabbas and street foods on the other hand are pulled directly off the stove or fryer and will be bursting with exotic smells and flavours. The only danger is that street food and small restaurants have the nasty habbit of making you voilently ill, a punishment that is almost worth the succulent delight of eating the food. Minimizing the risk of getting sick is fairly easy, you need to steadfastly stick to three key rules.

1. Drink bottled water everywhere. Indian drinking water is notoriously dodgy, in the rainy season it comes out of the tap a murky brown colour! It is in your interest not to drink this, if you do you are almost guaranteed to pick up a nasty case of disentry. A bottle of mineral water costs between RS12 and RS25, about AUD30c-70c, a small price to pay for an enjoyable holiday and ongoing health.

2. Always eat (temperature)hot food. Anything that is freshly cooked and served on your plate hot can't hurt you too much! I didn't stick to this rule towards the end of my trip as the delights of the various chutneys, raithas and lassies on offer were too much to resist!

3. ALWAYS wash your hands before eating. It's too easy to forget this one and if you do you will pay dearly for it. A simple walk down the street will coat your hands and face in a layer of reddish dust containing all manor of bacteria just wating to get in your body. Grabbing hand rails and other items will only exaserbate this problem! Most places have a wash basin and if they don't carry around a bottle of antiseptic hand gel.

Following these three rules it's unlikely you will get very sick eating Indian food.

The variety available is mindboggling. Even the smallest restaurants will offer up a 'menu' that comes as a rather large multi page book. On offer are usually a large selection of Punjabi, south indian, pizza, pasta, continental and chinese dishes. A quick peak at the kitchens of small restaurants will reveal nothing more then a simple gas burner, small fridge and a couple of cardboard boxes stuffed with unknown possibly magical items. From this, through some miracle of cooking remeniscent of the best Harry Potter has to offer, will emerge any of the 100 or more items offered in the menu. This is truely Masterchef gone large! It's not as if quality will suffer either(although hygine certainly might). The food coming out of such a kitchen will be hot, tasty, filling and compared to western restaurants, CHEAP!

On my trip from north to south India I savoured everything, some of the highlights were:
The finest Tibetan food - Dharamsala
Possibly the best Pizza and Italian food I've ever had - Delhi
Outstanding Punjabi food - all over india.
Deliciously filling Gujerati food - Mt Abu
Marvellous Kerelean food - Allepy

Eating out is truely one of the great delights of visiting India. Make sure you come a few kilos light because you will certainly be going back a few kilos heavier!

It's been so long!

2008-02-26T02:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I think it's been almost six months since my last post and quite a bit has changed.

I guess the biggest change would be that I am now the proud owner of a one-bedroom apartment in Sydney! Finally getting out of my parents place has been quite a change, there's so much freedom now that I don't have to worry about getting the bus home anymore. A night on the town is always on the cards now! The unit's actually right in the heart of the city so it's easy as pie to get here. The best part about it is the 15 minute walk to work, it means some days I get home at 5:45 p.m. which is just ridiculously early - I even catch the end of deal or no deal(what a terrible show) sometimes!
I suppose the down side of living here is that when I don't have anything to do it does get a bit lonely. My girlfriend does come over from time to time which is good, I wonder if married people get lonely? Everything does tend to become a bit monotonous, go to work, come home cook repeat. The week turns into blur just waiting for the weekend, they usually come quick which is good but then so does the end of the year which is probably bad.

On the plus side, my wrists have managed to hold out so far. The RSI that I was suffering from last year hasn't come back so bad as to make me take any more time off work. There are good days and bad days though, think I've learnt how to manage it a bit. I basically try not to flex my wrists very much and it seems to be okay.

Another thing that's got me a little stressed is that the smoke alarm in my unit doesn't work, next week all the smoke alarms are getting tested. There's some kind of fine for those that fail. The problem is the model that I've got is no longer in production so I can't simply get a replacement and plug it in. I need to get a different model and get an electrician to wire it up. Anyway I should get the smoke alarm tomorrow and hopefully the electrician will come later in the week which will save me from getting any fines. Money is a bit tight now with the mortgage payments.

I think I'm going slowly crazy, for some reason now everything seems to make me angry. I'm not an impulsive person by nature so it doesn't show on the outside but I can feel it on the inside. I'm wondering if this is a natural consequence of getting older, old people always seemed to me to be crankier than everyone else. It could also be result of developing a bit of an ego. People challenging my ideas at work tends to annoy me a lot more now than it used to. I'll have to keep an eye on this, don't want to wind up as a grumpy old man. I've been meditating less recently, perhaps this has something to do with my growing anger.

Work has been really busy lately, I am basically working on two projects at the moment and both of them want their stuff done before the other one. Management hasn't allocated me enough time to work on both so it means the quality suffers. It feels much better to write good quality code so I've decided from now on that I'm going to do my best not to put any hacks in. It's very easy to get lazy and hack the shortest possible solution to a problem but actually thinking about it and solving it properly is much more interesting and satisfying. We'll see how long I can keep that philosophy up for though. I've always considered myself to be a reasonable code but lately I feel that no matter how much I do it's not enough. Hopefully the work eases up before I go completely mad.

4 Months now

2007-07-20T20:24:00.001-07:00

Well it's been 4 months now and work is actually kind of fun, I usually take a 15 min break in the morning and evening and then lunch for 1:15 which makes the day just fly by. The wrists are holding up ok with this schedule. I'm hoping they'll continue to hold up at least for the near future as I'm looking to buy a property in the city.

Working away

2007-04-15T00:06:00.000-07:00

Back at work for 5 weeks now and things are going OK. I am taking 1 anti-inflammatory per day and while there is some slight pain in my wrists it usually clears up after a nights sleep. For the 1st time in a long time I'm actually finding the work interesting, I'm working on bug fixing in an area of the system I haven't worked on before..

Oh no, back to work

2007-03-10T02:01:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Saturday, and I'm back to work on Monday next week after an almost 3 month break. I am afraid. Afraid because my wrist pain - the reason I took the break has not yet gone away completely. It comes back with a small amount of mouse/keyboard use. I am hoping that with the help of the anti-inflammatory medicine I'm taking now that I can scrape by for the next 5 months after which point I want to take a backpacking tour of India. If my wrists don't hold up it means that basically I am looking at a career change out of IT.

I feel the coming weeks are a big crossroad in my life..

The good things in life..

2007-03-07T14:41:00.000-08:00

Planing is not required.

How many times have you found yourself spending hours calling all your friends to organise a night out only to have it blow up in your face at the last moment? Grace's shoe's heel broke and the ground was too hot for her to walk bare feet on. Bob was partying too hard at work and decided you should come and meet him - he didn't tell you though. Shane was lying on the couch watching a documentary about worker bees thinking "why can't we be more like them"? Weeks of anticipation for the famed event, conversations about how good it's going to be, the hours picking out the right clothes (well - not for guys) all down the drain! The night gets cancelled and everyone, especially the planner, is dejected. The solution is brilliant and simple - NEVER PLAN!

How will things ever happen

A comon feeling is that without planning nothing would ever happen - as good as this would be it is not the case.

There will always be those friends of yours who want to schedule the next movie night three weeks in advance. The way to combat this is to give a non-commital answer when they ask you if you're coming. Some handy non commital answers you should know by heart in case of an unexpected invitation:

I'm too relaxed right now to make a decision, I'll call you back.
I don't know what my financial situation will be on
I think I might have something on that night - this one will sit particularly well with the organiser as he will just assume that everyone plans everything months ahead and not think twice about it.

Then once you have successfully postponed your commitment, you can decide leasurly on the evening of the event whether or not you wish to attend. Annoying for the organiser - granted but oh so much easier for yourself.

Should you yourself actually wish to instigate an event lets say a Friday night outing, there is only one safe way. At approximately 6:45pm you should send an email, instant message or sms to all those that you want to attend. The content of this message should be no more then a vague outline hinting of something happening that evening. If there are any people that you *really* want to attend it is acceptable to call them, though the call should be short and to the point - you don't want to waste valuable do-nothing time blabbing on the phone. At 7pm, provided you have received at least 1 response in the positive you can head to your selected meeting place. Ideally this will be wherever you presently are - work, home etc or at worst somewhere near to you. Once you meet someone at the meeting place the evening is ready to take off. What you are doing can then be decided.

Benefits of not planing

By not planing we save in a few key areas.

If an evening does end up happening spontaniously, nobody is responsible for it. In the event of your car breaking down on a freezing night in the part of town known for its hatread of people, no one takes the blame. Your girlfriend can't pin this one on you for having 'one thing to do and screwing it up!'.

If you try to instigate an evening and it doesn't end up happening due to people deciding they don't really like you, no one is bothered and you can attempt another evening the following week, or never, either way is good.

No one has to spend any time organising the evening, this is probably the most important reason for not planing. By not spending that time organising the evening you can spend it watching TV, or eating chips.

Action to Planing ratio

There is a useful mathematical formula you can use to determine how well your skills of not planning an evening have developed. It is known as the action/planning ratio.

X = action time/planning time

Where planning time is the amount of time spent planing the event.
Action time is the amount of time spent doing things.

This ratio should be at least 12 for a properly planned and executed event. This translates into 15 minutes spent planning and 3 hours spent doing. If it starts dropping below 8 then its time to cut your losses and call off the event. It's also clear from this why we want to leave the planning to the absolute last minute, it doesn't leave any time for the planing to blow out. You really have to think of you event as a mini project, the amount of time planing is like the amount of money you're investing in the project. Experts of the no-plan method can get their ratios up over 50 while grand masters will routinely operate in the 100+ range.

The "everything works out" effect

Once you start using this method you will find that things magically start working out. Organising that night on the town will take 10 minutes and work out fantastically. If you are need to meet up with friends and don't know where they are meeting just start wandering around, you will find them. I no longer need to call anyone on my mobile in fact I don't have any credit. This even works when driving, all you need to know is the general area of your target and somehow you will reach there. This is not a one off thing either, it will happen every time - but only if you don't plan. If you try to plan by calling and asking, or looking up directions the effect vanishes and you run the risk of having a lousy time.

The Half Dinner

When you have an evening planned (or rather not planned) and you don't know what the dinner situation is you want to cover yourself either way. A half dinner is suitable when:

You are visiting someone's place who can't cook yet says they are cooking dinner.
You have no idea whether or not dinner will be provided/available
You are vegetarian

Having a half dinner means you can comfortably sail through the night on entrees or nothing at all if required. You can get that warm contented look without having to eat someones bland tasteless food.

Why change a good thing?

When you are out having a good time it is always better to stay where you are rather then try to go somewhere else in the hope that the new place will be better. Newton discovered this originally, an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by a force. That force in this case is effort put in by you. As we have already seen no effort is better then some effort so it makes no sense to ever change locations once you are already somewhere. Changing locations also gives all the stragglers an opportunity to take off which you don't want. Arriving at your new location leaves you with a whole host of problems, finding seats, getting drinks, getting comfortable again etc. Why change a good thing?

Value of time

Free time is the most important commodity we have, and like any commodity the value of it goes up as the availability of it goes down. It is not a linear relationship either, probably closer to quadaratic or exponenntial. Lets look at this in more detail.
You have 3 hours of free time each night - lets say this 3 hours is worth 3 zorkmids
You decide to take on a second job delivering pizza (in the hope of scoring some free pizza) leaving you with 1 hour of free time each night
Your one hour of free time is 1/3 of your original amount of free time, however I would say the value of that 1 hour is now 9 or 27 times as much as your original 3 hours. This means you have to think 9 or 27 times as hard before you spend that final 1 hour

The Do Nothing

Many people are caught in the race to pack as much as possible into the weekend. We all know that by doing things in your time off you make time pass faster. Time passing faster dumps you back at work earlier then you would like. Thus the solution is simple, do as little as possible all the time. This has many benifits:

Time passes slower thus maximizing your free time
No motivation is required to get up and do something
As the great Homer (Simpson) once said "You tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is never try"
You get time to think about the important things in life - "what's for dinner" and "what time you should take that afternoon nap"

In order to do nothing we must define what constitutes as doing nothing. Generally things that are not productive count as doing nothing. The following list is not exhaustive:

Sitting around and not thinking about anything
Sitting around and thinking about useless things
Sleeping
Listening to music
Watching TV
Eating
Reading - Useless websites (such as this one), tabloids and novels are ok. Credible newspapers and science journals are not
Emailing/Instant Messaging/SMSing people (provided you are not doing so in order to organise an event)
Computer games

The list is ordered from doing the least to doing the most. If you fill your time with only the top 5 items you have already mastered the Do Nothing. I will bow before the greatness of anyone capable of doing the 1st item, it is the ultimate goal. If you find yourself doing mostly the last 4 items or items not on the list, practise diligently every day to elevate yourself to this most high plane of existance. Any item not on the list above requires effort to do and before undertaking such an item it should be carefully considered. Calculate each bit of effort required to do you non-list item and see if you can replace your item with one of the items on the list. Some examples substitutions are given.

Reading the financials - Reading a tabloid
Emailing people to organise an event - emailing people for no reason at all
Dinner and dacing outside - Eating and watching tv
A night on the town with friends - sleeping

With a bit of thought almost any non list item can be substituted for a list item.

Combining items on the list also constitutes as doing nothing because as we all know from elementary mathematics nothing times nothing is still nothing. Combining list items with non-list items does NOT count as doing nothing, despite how illogical it is. Give these combinations a try:

Listening to music while eating.
Eating and reading - the more you spill on the reading material the better
Sleeping and watching tv - this is actually possible, it just takes some practise. If a nobler persuit exists I'd like to hear it.

The Ideal Day

Once you get used to the Do Nothing you will wonder how you ever managed to fit anything into your day. Lets walk through a typical day:

Wake up fairly early, say 9-10am.
- 10-11am waking up this involves brushing teeth, taking shower, calls of nature, a little sitting around to fully wake up.
- 11-12 Breakfast
- 12-1 Read something useless
- 1-2 Watch some tv
- 2-3 Lunch
- 3-5 Afternoon nap
- 5-6 Waking up from afternoon nap
- 6-7 Thinking about dinner and watching tv
- 7-8 Dinner
- 8-12 Watching TV, surfing the net and reading useless stuff.
- 12pm- 10am sleep.

As you can see there's very little time in your average day for doing anything, let alone fitting in an 8 hour block of work. When I'm on holidays I often wonder how I manage to slip 8 hours of work in that jam packed day. From this it's clear that there is absolutely no time to do anything in the 4 hours or so after a day of work. No commitments should be planned during this time and in a perfect world you could spend all of it watching TV, though realistically things tend to interrupt leaving your TV quota for the day short.

The three day week

If somone asks you what your goals are and you tell them you want to reduce your work hours to 3 days a week several expressions will pass across their face:
Excitement - This is their subconcious mind bursting through crying "yes that's exactly what I want too!"
Confusion - This is their rational mind trying to comprehend what you are saying, perhaps struggling with the idea of doing nothing for a whole day.
Dissapointment - The culmination of their thought process, they will scorn and tell you that you should be motivated, inspired, driven to succeed in life!

If our goal however is idleness success is guaranteed and minimal effort is required, only the initial courage to demand your right to a 3 day week is required. Being idle during these three days will grant a person enough time to think about the important things in life and eventually to invent the next light bulb. If all of society were to become idle the flow of brilliant new ideas would be overwhelming, societies progress may actually be faster then in a 5 day a week society.

Three day weeks will also have a natural equalizing effect on society. Each person would be employed for less of the time therefore more people would need to be employed to complete the same amount of work. Unemployement would go down increasing the disposable income of the previously unemployed while the already well off may have to take a slight cut in their wages. The tradeoff of course is that everyone works only 3 days and has time for 2 days of golfing and cricket each week and a good two days to recover before the next week. The disparity between rich and poor will at last become smaller rather then bigger, white collar and blue collars will be playing poker together, CEO's will be smoking cigars with shoe shiners!

"Never put your eggs in one basket" is as true today, as when it was written. With a standard 5 day week lets say there are 3 people working on a project, each person is responsible and knows about their own little piece of work. One person decides to leave the company which means there is now no one left who knows about that persons work. The other 2 people run around yelling 'the sky is falling' then sit down, lose several handfuls of hair and work out what it was the other person was working on. If however the week was only 3 days, there would be 6 people in the company doing the same volume of work. Two people would know about each of the 3 areas. If any one person decided to leave the other 5 people would look around, comb their luxurious wavey heads of hair and continue as if nothing had happened.

When people are relaxed and happy they work better then when they are burnt out and miserable. People working only three days will naturally be happier then their counterparts working 5 days, and will therefore produce more then them. There is a good chance that anyone working three days a week regularly will produce as much if not more then a person working 5 days. The poor souls working 5 days a week will be miserable, unproductive and start wondering when it all started to fall apart.

Unfortunately the 3 day week can never happen while the 5 day week is in place. It is impossible for the two systems to run simultaniously because of the reluctance of a society as a whole to try something wild, untested and unproven in practise. This reluctance is completely illogical as the discourse on this page has proven theoretically that the 3 day week will work. As everybody knows, theory and practise always agree. If any person is so fortunate as to be living the dream, our hearts go with you, you carry the hopes and dreams of a generation - we will live on vicariously through you for eternity!

Best time to take holidays

Most people make the mistake of taking their main holidays during the holiday season The best time to take holidays about one month before the holiday season, generally about the October Novemeber mark. It will be possible to get a few weeks off in November to do your standard holiday items (see 'The Do Nothing') landing you back at work early December. This is just enough time to go back to work, catch up on the news and email then hang up your boots again for the Christmas/New Years period. It is quite easy to get the few days between Christmas and New Years off, everyone is doing it and people quickly forget that you have just been on a long holiday. Some people will marvel at your brilliance and perhaps learn this most valueable of lessons from you. Taking your holidays in November is truely a win win situation.

Jesus and Miracles

2007-03-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

I am not a Christian but I do have some Christian friends and they recently gave me a bible to read. I have some free time on my hands so I did start reading it originally with the old testament, but giving up on that because it seemed very childish, moving on to the more factual based books of the new testament.

The main thing that struck me was that the books of the new testament were written 40-80 years AD. I immediately voiced my concern to my Christian friends and was directed to
http://www.christianity.net.au/you/ and http://www.carm.org/questions_bible.htm which did help to clear up a lot of things, I'll outline the main points.
Jesus did exist
Jesus probably had some mystical powers
Jesus was crucified

Fair enough, I don't have too much trouble accepting these points. I suppose the main reason people put so much faith in Jesus are his supernatural powers, he is not unique in possessing such powers. These powers have been known for centuries by Indian yogis as siddhis, they can be attained by performing certain yogic practices after several months effort. People are born with these powers manifesting to a greater or lesser extent, Jesus obviously had been gifted with them to a greater extent. This is straight from the Wikipedia entry on Siddhi.

Parkaya Pravesha: Parkaya Pravesh means one’s soul entering into the body of some other person. Through this knowledge even a dead body can be brought to life.
Haadi Vidya: This Vidya or knowledge has been mentioned in several ancient texts. On acquiring this Vidya, a person feels neither hunger nor thirst, and can remain without eating food or drinking water for several days at a stretch.
Kaadi Vidya: Just as one does not feel hungry or thirsty in Haadi Vidya, similarly in Kaadi Vidya a person is not affected by change of seasons, i.e. by summer, winter, rain, etc. After accomplishing this Vidya, a person shall not feel cold even if he sits in the snow-laden mountains, and shall not feel hot even if he sits in the fire.
Vayu Gaman Siddhi: Through this Siddhi a person can become capable of flying in the skies and traveling from one place to another in just a few seconds.
Madalasa Vidya: On accomplishing this Vidya, a person becomes capable of increasing or decreasing the size of his body according to his wish. Lord Hanuman had miniaturized his body through this Vidya while entering the city of Lanka.
Kanakdhara Siddhi: One can acquire immense and unlimited wealth through this Siddhi.
Prakya Sadhana: Through this Sadhana a Yogi can direct his disciple to take birth from the womb of a woman who is childless or cannot bear children.
Surya Vigyan: This solar science is one of the most significant sciences of ancient India. This science has been known only to the Indian Yogis; using it, one substance can be transformed into another through the medium of sun rays.
Mrit Sanjeevani Vidya: This Vidya was created by Guru Shukracharya. Through it, even a dead person can be brought back to life.
Laghima: becoming almost weightless

Jesus clearly had some or all of these siddhis, as I stated before I am not a Christian and from the parts of the bible I have read Jesus can be seen to be excercising the following siddhis.
Laghima: Became weightless when he walked across water Matthew 32:58
Mrit Sanjeevani Vidya: Used this to bring Lazarus back to life, John 11:32
Surya Vigyan: Used this to convert the seven loaves and fish into enough food to feed four thousand Matthew 16:32

I have met men who have some of these powers including Swami Vikasananda of Nagpur who passed away recently (90s) and had the ability to change the size of his body and appear in multiple places at once(or possibly teleport). I have not personally witnessed this but my grandfather has on several different occasions and told me about it at great length. I met another man by the name of Rahul Rohith who had the power to heal bestowed on him by a Muslim holy man. He would use this power to cure serious illnesses such as cancer as well as less serious ones such as chronic aches and pains.

Then there are cases such as the meditating Buddha boy http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4479240.stm who went without food or water for 10 months.

Common things you will find with enlightened spiritual men are

They will never try to convert you from one religion to another

They will never actively recruit disciples

They will NEVER demonstrate their powers when requested by people, if they do use powers it will be with great care and discretion.

They will never speak of themselves as being great in any way

They will never say that their teaching is the only way to reach god

Some people who fall into this category, there have been many more but these are the ones I know of off the top of my head:

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Swami Chinmayananda

Eckhart Tolle

Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha

Swami Vikasananda

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (debatable due to the whole Beatles Mia farrow incident)

Paul Brunton (debatable but he was definitely on the path)

Unfortunately it is difficult to place Jesus in this group because he fails on all of the key measurements. He actively recruited disciples, encouraged people to follow only him, demonstrated powers without restraint and spoke of himself as the only son of god.

So it seems that either Jesus was misquoted or he was misguided. Still having hope that he was simply misquoted which is highly likely given the large gap between his death and the time the gospels were written I began to read the gospels of Matthew and John in the new testament. The rational here is that they are both eye witnesses with independent accounts of Jesus' life and teachings, if they agree on Jesus' teachings then it is more likely that his words have been accurately captured. Unfortunately it seems that the gospels do agree with each other suggesting that Jesus does not meet the criteria all other enlightened people throughout history have met. I will continue to hold on to the belief that Jesus was indeed a truly enlightened holy man but that his teachings have been diluted by the inadequacies of human memory during the 40 years between his death and the writing of the gospels. The teachings would have been further mangled by passing through a filter of the authors own interpretation and understanding of the words.

The words that have been placed in Jesus' mouth have caused countless deaths in wars and bloodshed over the centuries. This is unfortunate because it seems we will now never know what it was that Jesus truly taught. This is my 2c, please don't assassinate me!

Money and Happiness

2007-03-05T19:20:00.000-08:00

Well I know this topic has been done to death over the years but I thought I'd add my 2c worth of random rambling.

Firstly it is clear money is not proportional to happiness. Money is required to meet the basic living requirements of life which are:
Food
Shelter
Clothing
Utilities (Electricity, water etc)
Transport (To/from work/leisure activities)

In cases where these basics are not available more money may in fact mean more happiness or at least more comfort. Beyond this however the correlation is not so straight forward.

People who chase money to accumulate material possessions tend to have a raging fire of craving and desire burning within them. When one craving is satisfied instead of dousing the fire it is like pouring petrol on it. The fire rages larger and they move on to acquiring the next item on a never ending list.

Such an endless pursuit of money and goods leaves the person with very little time in which to enjoy the fruits of their labour. We only need to look in the more affluent suburbs
to the rows of mansions that act more like bed and breakfasts to the families that reside there. This lack of time to relax and unwind leads to the cliche of the modern stressed out go getter taking relaxation classes after work unable to play catch with his kids on a Saturday morning.

Once the wealth has been accumulated there is always the danger of losing it. This adds more stress and worry to an already packed schedule. We see large insurance policies, careful tracking of investment portfolios and a keen eye for any sign of economic trouble.

Status is another big reason for accumulating wealth and possessions, I mean who wants to be seen driving to work in a beat up old Ford? This leads to a largely inflated ego and a tendency to look down on those less fortunate in life. Why talk to the cabbie on the way home, what could he possibly have of value to contribute when he hasn't even got a university degree? Yet ironically its the cabbie who has the widest range of experience, hearing stories and opinions on a daily basis from the poorest to the richest members of society.

Yet no matter how much money is accumulated you can always find another who has more. This leads to feelings of jealousy, anger and resentment bubbling to the surface. Unable to see and enjoy what has already been accumulated the person can only see what they don't have.

What about those people who don't spend all their time chasing money and material possessions? Well I would have to say I fall into this category and it still does not lead to happiness. Having more time is fantastic, it allows you to do things you want to do and to ponder the unanswerable questions in life. You come to realize that money is not the answer but don't know what is.

Human beings may be genetically programmed never to be happy with what they have, this would make evolutionary sense. Always trying to get the bigger chunk of food or the bigger cave would give you the best chance at survival. To possibly risk your life to get it, you better have a strong motivation - the thought that once you acquire it you will be happy. Of course if you were happy once you acquired your cave, food, weapon of choice you would have no motivation to do anything else. In this way the mind has learnt to constantly dangle the carrot of happiness in front of our eyes and keep us blindly raging forward.

Perhaps the answer lies in spirituality and religions of the east which is the direction of my present search. Or perhaps it may be that money inherently leads to unhappiness, I.E if you have money you cannot have true and lasting happiness. The answer may be in the simple life of the farmer, who grows enough to feed himself and his family, trading or selling just enough to fulfill his basic needs in life, never knowing or caring where the world at large has gone. Ironically, much fame and wealth awaits the person who can find and spread the true solution to this problem.

The 7 Meditation Stages

2007-03-01T16:25:00.000-08:00

Years ago I was reading a book called Peace of Mind by Ian Gowler, the book basically dealt with a technique of meditation geared towards curing cancer. The most important thing I got out of the book was a clear explanation of the various stages of meditation you can expect to pass through as you approach liberation. Gowler has compiled the list of stages not just from his own experience but by taking a survey from many skilled meditators. This scientific approach appeals to me because it shows that these stages are not unique to any one person or magical in any way. If you continue to lay briks you will eventually end up with a wall, in the same way if you continue meditation you are bound to progress through each of these stages. I am personally finding this list of stages and the descriptions of body sensations to be quite accurate so this has confirmed it beyond a shadow of a doubt for me. I have copied the list below, have a look through, see where you are currently, then I will talk about where I am up to and how I got there.

Stage	Description	State of awareness-experience recorded	Body Sensations
1	RELAXATION PHASE. (This is not the Relaxation Response. It is a time for concentration on the method of physical relaxation – a transient stage leading from normal consciousness into a more relaxed mental state.)	Most people start by feeling self-conscious, particularly when first learning. They wonder if anything will happen, hope no one is looking. It is common to be conscious of mental activity (many thoughts usually) and to feel some frustration, especially if a beginner.	Feeling the body relaxing. Frequently you become aware of areas of physical tension and feel that tension relaxing.
2	PATCHY CONCENTRATION. The concentration is patchy - sometimes good, sometimes wandering off onto other things.	You are conscious of concentration on the meditation technique. There is a constant stream of thoughts that often you get caught up in. ( This is like watching a TV movie when you get so absorbed in the action you forget you are at home watching, you feel like you are in the movie.) Then regularly you come back to an awareness that you are thinking and want it to stop. If not careful, you can get frustrated. Highly subject to being distracted by diversions like inner thoughts or external sounds/activities.	Feel physically relaxed – often this is described as feeling heavy and warm, soft and loose. Actual degree of physical relaxation will increase with time and practice.
3	SUSTAINED CONCENTRATION. Single-minded concentration – now the attention is held on one subject. The thinking is still of an intellectual, analytical type.	The mind is becoming stiller and more focused and there are just occasional unrelated thoughts passing by that do not disturb this basically calm, relaxed state. The intruding thoughts may be current ones or memories and may sometimes produce an emotional response. Fairly regularly there is a conscious awareness of observing these thoughts now and seeing them in a more stable perspective. Often still feel aware of needing to use a technique to maintain this stage.	Body often feels like it is light and there may be sensations of floating. Very occasionally body movements like swaying occur. Usually described as a very pleasant sensation.
4	CONTEMPLATION Single minded concentration again, but now the thinking is of a more abstract, intuitive type.	Gaps between awareness of thoughts widen, and you experience moments of stillness. Usually you have lost awareness of using a technique. Sense the value of the stillness, find it very satisfying and want to enter into it more deeply – often find it elusive . Often gain minor insights and have creative ideas.	Often described as "funny feeling". The body seems light and as if it is expanding beyond its normal boundaries. Often strange at first, then described as extremely pleasant. The feeling in the head is often described as like having an anesthetic, or a state of reverie.
5	TRANSITION. A definite stage, bordering between stages 4 and 6. Most people are aware when they are in this stage, and it requires skill to pass through.	Feel like something is happening, like entering a new level of consciousness. Often described as being on the brink of something extraordinary – both empty and full at the same time. About 25% experience vivid fields of colour, 5% sounds, 5% visions. Often try to record the experience with their intellect and this mind activity prompts a return to level 4. Here people often consciously need to let go and launch into 6, which takes confidence.	Body feels light, expansive. Usually feels much bigger than normal – like blown up with a pump and is furry around the edges. Very pleasant once accustomed to it.
6	UNIFICATION	This is a new level of consciousness marked by an absence of everyday thought and a powerful sense of unity. There are several grades of experience: Poor recall. Not sure if asleep or not but it feels different to sleep. People who have this experience regularly usually not major changes in their health and wellbeing. Heightened alertness. A mystical experience that is difficult to describe to another. Comes with a sense of being an important part of something much bigger than yourself. Being conscious of old memories surfacing from the past. Being able to view them like a dispassionate observer and release them. After-effect is not to erase the memory but to take the intensity out of any pain that may have gone with it. (C can occur to a less effective extent in stage 3 especially; occasionally in stage 4)	No awareness of body or surrounding environment. An experience beyond the physical body, space and time – like death might be, and because this experience is recorded, it frequently removes all fear of death.
7	ILLUMINATION	Direct perception of Knowledge. New information comes to your awareness with the authority of a revelation. Produces a very assured, satisfied state of inner knowing. Invariably has a quality of a gift from a higher power, and again, produces a pervading sense of order and unity.	As for stage 6.

I have for the past several years been meditating and according to the list I would place myself as sitting most of the time in stage 2 and for brief periods of time moving into stage 3. On the 10 day Vipassana course that I recently took (see my post further down) I would say that I was regularly able to get to stage 3 and 4. Thoughts were still, mind was focused and the body was feeling quite strange. On the last day of the course I would have to say that I glimpsed for about 30 seconds stage 5 and as is written in the description felt that I was on the brink of something extrordinary. Since the course ended I am again back down to my usual stage 2/3 oscillation, I guess you need a lot of skill to be able to move higher amidst the din of everyday life. Stage 4/5 are amazing though and I long to glimpse at stage 6 and 7 in the pursuit of true and lasting happiness!

I thought I'd post this most valuable of lists so perhaps others could also start guaging their progress in a scientific manner, good luck in your meditation!

Vipassana meditation course

2007-02-25T16:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I got back from a 10 day intensive meditation retreat, intensive is an understatement, this is an extreme operation of the mind and body. I undertook the course in Blackheath, a small town located in the Blue Mountains about 2 hours west of Sydney. I have always been interested in spirituality and have been meditating for the past several years. During my meditations I have had enough strange and exciting experiences to convince me that there really is something worthwhile to be gained from meditation. I feel it is something which cannot be bought with money or learnt by reading spiritual or philosophical books, it just has to be experienced. I had a few months off from work and am going through a difficult period in my life so I thought I might as well try the course out, it would give me a chance to do some intensive meditation.

The main dining hall which is where the initial registration takes place has an amazing view of a valley dotted with small clusters of houses and large expanses of bushland. In the morning the fresh air hangs damp with a soft mist that excites the senses with the feeling that magical things are possible here. The sounds of the birds and the breeze penetrate into the layers and begin almost instantly to wash away the built up layers.

The course itself is 10 days, you are actually there for 12 though, one day either side to settle in and settle out.

The Rules

Noble Silence - This is probably the hardest to observe, essentially it means no communication whatsoever with the other students. This includes hand gestures, eye contact as well as verbal and physical communication. The idea is to make you feel as though you are on the course in total seclusion and achieves this goal fairly well.

Introspection - No entertainment materials - diaries, mp3 players, mobile phones books etc are all outlawed. This is a time for getting to know yourself rather than losing yourself in activities.

Segregation of sexes - The course is open to both males and females however it is split into two sections. The only time males and females see each other is in the main meditation hall but even here they sit on opposite sides. This is to minimize distractions, just as well because there were a lot of very attractive young women with me on the course. Had we not been separated I don't think I could have achieved anything with my meditation.

No dinner - Two meals are provided, dinner is not one of them. It feels like this would be a real killer but since you don't do anything all day except meditate you don't get too hungry. New students can have 2 fruits and milk if they wish at dinner time, students that have undertaken the course before may only have tea.

On top of this there are other rules but these are relatively easy to follow such as:

No killing - This as far as i'm aware includes animals and insects.

Strict vegetarian food - Food is provided and you can't bring your own so this isn't an issue.

No telling lies - Well because of the noble silence rule you'd have to be telepathic and project your thoughts into someone else's mind to break this one.

The Schedule

This is where it really gets you, essentially you wake at 4am meditate all day until 9:30 pm with breaks at 6:30-8 for breakfast, 11-1 for lunch and 6-7 for "dinner" and 9-9:30 for brushing teeth etc. Practically it works out to be about 10 hours of meditation each day. It sounds like a lot and it is, but once you settle in it doesn't seem so bad. The most difficult part are what I like to call the hours of pain, these are three one hour compulsory meditation sessions in the main hall. They are 8-9, 2:30-3:30 and 6-7, during the first three days students are allowed to shift their position during these hours but after day four everyone is expected to sit statue of Buddha style without moving for the whole hour.

Meditation in the hall is normally done by sitting on the floor, a selection of different types of meditation cushions are available and you can arrange these however you like for the most comfortable position. One amazing thing is to see the infinite number of ways these cushions get positioned. I used to think there was only one comfortable way to sit on the floor - cross legged but every person there managed to arrange the cushions and position themselves uniquely. If you are unable to sit on the floor chairs can be provided.

My Experience

Day 0 - Arrival

I arrived on day 0, as I stepped within the course boundaries for the first time I was flooded with a brief but overwhelming sense of peace. The only other times I have felt that is at the Vikasanada and Chinmayananda temples in Nagpur and Mumbai. I signed up and they showed me to my room, it was a 12 person dorm but there was only one other person in it, later that night even he got moved out leaving me in there alone.

I was a bit anxious about my ability to meditate for such long periods and talking to some of the other old(who had done the course before) students didn't help. They all told me that the first course is a nightmare and that I was right to be worried.

At 8pm on day 0 is the initial meditation session where you see the meditation hall, set up your cushion and sit for half an hour in a guided meditation from the teacher. As you approach the hall the cone of silence descends and you are instructed not to speak again until the end of the course. The first meditation session for me was terrible, I couldn't concentrate at all with the teachers voice blaring away. The technique they asked us to do was simply observe the breath, this is basically the technique I use at home so it was not a big stretch for me. My mind however was not yet still, it was buzzing with the hum of day to day activities and would constantly shoot off in every direction away from my breath.

So I went to sleep on day 0 with doubts about the usefulness of my being there ringing loud in my ears.

Day 1-3

Days one to three were fairly uneventful, we were required to simply watch our breath which I was to some extent able to do. One thing that was growing on me though was a strong headache. This was not the first time I had a headache from meditation, it normally comes when I sit and meditate for longer than 1 hour and was one of the worries I had going into the course. It was getting reasonably intense by the end of the day though it was significantly better in the morning. This started to get me a bit depressed, was it going to mean the end of my meditation efforts, the end of my chances of spiritual enlightenment? Asking the assistant teacher (the teacher is in India and teaches via tapes and videos) about it didn't give me any answers either, only a simple 'well sometimes these things come up just push through it'. In terms of actual meditation quality, I was tending to get one half hour of really good meditation. This was meditation where I had no thoughts and was able to keep focused on my breath, though short these sessions were giving me a growing sense of peace and balance. I made a resolve to do my best on the course and if the headache was still there at the end to give up meditation forever with the understanding that it was doing me harm instead of good.

Day 4-5

Day four is the day we were actually shown the Vipassana technique. This basically involves focusing the attention on every part of the body in sequence and trying to feel the sensations there. Eventually you start to feel a tingling and flowing energy throughout your entire body. After trying the technique for a while I felt I would get better results using my own technique which was simply to try to stop the thoughts (or let the thoughts stop rather) and turn the attention inwards looking for the answer to the question 'who am I'. The headache was there with both techniques and being more practised in my own technique I felt I could accomplish more in the remaining days.

By day 5 I was getting one to two good sessions per day but realized that the sense of peace that they imbued did not carry over into my non-meditation periods. This realization struck me hard - what was the point of meditating if it doesn't help us in our regular lives. The feeling while meditating well was great but coming back to real life brought back the same storm of thoughts and worries. By the end of day 5 my headache was quite bad and I had a strong feeling that the only lasting thing I would get out of these 10 days was a severe migraine. The rational thought 'you cannot possibly injure your brain by not thinking' was so strong in my mind that I refused to accept this headache was due to my meditation even though the correlation was quite clear.

Day 6-8

Well day 6 I decided to start experimenting with my eyes and forehead, I had read that sometimes frequent meditators get headaches from focusing too close even though their eyes are closed. So I observed my eyes and forehead and noticed that as my meditation got deeper my eyes and forehead became more and more tense. After trying a host of different positions for my focus, eyeballs, eyebrows and forehead muscles I settled on one with my eyes just slightly open, relaxed with my forehead/eyebrows ever so slightly raised. It was difficult to meditate with this position initially since my attention was constantly diverted to my face but slowly it started to become second nature.

Over the course of days 6-8 I noticed my headache improved dramatically, by day 7 it was almost gone and by day 8 it was completely gone, not even bothering me during the deeper meditations I was having. My meditation steadily improved as well and by days 7 and 8 I was having almost half the sessions with absolutely no thoughts and complete tranquility inside.

During the break periods I would find myself lying on the ground somewhere staring at the sky observing the clouds. When I was young it was always so easy to see vivid images in the clouds but as I grew older it became more and more difficult. Now, viewing the clouds with the calmness of mind that I had shapes and images materialized so easily, vehicles, animals, people all morphed seamlessly into one another in a smooth cotton dance.

By day 8 I became desperate my goals for the course were very unrealistic - I wanted nothing short of complete spiritual enlightenment. I began to meditate as much as possible, this included break periods and for the most part my meditation went quite well but did not seem to get me any closer to enlightenment.

In one of the last sessions of the day, while meditating in the hall I began to feel a pressure on my head and eyes. I remembered reading on some of the Erwod forums that LSD takers often experience pressure before the ego leaves their bodies. So I waited patiently the energy wasn't building but stayed constant until I felt a tingling in the top of my head followed by what could only be described as a volcanic explosion. I felt the energy pour out the top of my head and flow down over my face and shoulders, it left my swaying and I had to consciously steady myself. My eyelids started fluttering uncontrollably and I had to open them and calm down for a few minutes. Overall quite a pleasant experience, as if something deep within had been released.

Day 9

Day 9 is the last day of serious meditation because on day 10 the vow of silence is broken. So on day 9 I put all my efforts in meditation, every minute that I could I was meditating. The experience from day 8 was nice but again it was only fleeting, I longed for something more permanent. All through day 9 I had the worst meditation, my thoughts were all over the place and the doubts about the usefulness of the course were running high. After the 6-8pm video where the teacher discusses various aspects of the practise and philosophy I felt beaten, nothing was gained I thought as I had my night time shower and prepared for bed.

One more quick session I thought, so I sat down on a chair in my room and immediately my thoughts slowed and I made a resolve not to get up until the demon of sleep started banging on my door. My thoughts stopped completely sinking me in the deepest meditation of the whole course. After about one hour something quite strange happened - my thoughts were already stopped but for a few seconds I felt as if I had just been injected with some kind of opioid drug(I've never taken any but this is how I imagine they'd be). Then for the next 15-30 seconds or so I had the most intense feeling a nothingness I've ever felt. It was a powerful blank void and I saw a fairly intense red hue in my eyelids. Perhaps this is the preliminary stage of the ego leaving your body. As soon as this started happening my analytical brain kicked in with its thinking 'what is this, this is new, very nice, I hope it lasts...' and with that trickle of thoughts the state was gone.

I was still in a very peaceful state so I continued and after a little while something else started happening. I felt like my head was being inflated like a pump, it started out as a very subtle feeling and got more intense. As it got more intense I started to wonder if it was dangerous but realised all I was doing is sitting there so it couldn't possibly be dangerous. It got to the point where I felt like my head was going to explode and then just dissolved away. Not sure how useful that experience was but it was definitely interesting.

Day 10-11

Day 10 is when we broke our silence, I finally got to meet these 25 others who had up until this point been ghosts in my peripheral vision. I met some very interesting characters, the one thing I noticed about all of them was that they were not driven by money and career ambitions, this was a refreshing change from the people you normally meet my age in the city. Normally I get bored meeting people and making small talk but with these guys it was interesting to hear their experiences on the course as well as the tales of their lives. Most people reported having some physical experiences but were unable to correlate that directly with a tangible benefit, fairly similar to the way I felt. The really amazing thing though were the tales of travels everyone had. Everyone there had seen the world - really seen the world not some sheltered tour or by motel hopping from tourist spot to tourist spot. Really seen the world, living in different countries, hitchhiking/busing about, taking in the full experience. I was most astonished that almost everyone there had seen India in this way while I being Indian by birth still have not had the chance to do this. I made a packed that sometime this year I want to quit my job and tour around India looking for a Guru. It is said that to reach enlightenment you really need the grace of a guru and that when the time is right you are bound to find one.

Final Thoughts

The course is definitely worth doing, I don't know if there were any lasting benefits but the memory of my deepest meditations on the course will ensure I never stop meditating. The course itself is a bit of an emotional roller coaster but I suppose this is what you sign up for, if there was no challenge to it then it wouldn't be worthwhile. The day of returning from the course I remember entering my house and noticing things I had never seen before. The trees outside looked stunning, the yard and garden was beautiful and the whole area was peaceful. This feeling lasted for about a day but has now worn off. I haven't been able to get my meditation at home to anywhere near the same level as where it was on the course, the mind constantly shoots to useless thoughts. The best thing the course has given me is a glimpse of where it is possible to go with meditation when you are really focused, hopefully one day I can get back to that blissful state I experienced on the course and above all hold on to it. As part of this blog I'll try to keep posting any interesting experiences I have while meditating.

This is the end

2007-02-25T15:58:00.000-08:00

Well I've finally done it, started a blog. The primary motivating factor for this is to give excercise to my hands which have basically been on holiday for the past 2 months. You see about 9 months ago I developed what the doctors think is RSI, basically an overuse injury of my hands. I can't really understand how this can be since I hardly use my hands more than anybody else, I code during the day (not excessively and with breaks of course) and after work a little piano but mostly just watching TV. Anyway, the development of this problem last year marked the beginning of the worst period of my life. This blog will hopefully be both a physical excercise to my hands as well as a kind of therapy for my mind. I've got a few thoughts and views i'd like to get out there as well...