BODHGAYA

BODHGAYA

(NOTE: Sorry for not spelling everything correctly. For instance, promise instead of promisse in the previous entry.)

Bodhgaya is the place where Sidhartha reached enlightment under the Bhodi tree. It is a magical place, a place where Buddhists from all over the world come every year on pilgrimages. It is where the Dali Lama spends December and January. It is where the air blows a little ligther, the people move a little slower, but the sellers still remain strong, loud and often obnoxious (sp).

As previously mentioned, I went there randomly. I left Varanasi with the girls and got on a night train which was to leave at 6pm and left at about 10pm. I chose sleeper class again. This is the class where there are 8 berths (beds that detach from the wall in a boat or train) in a very small, enclosed space. It is where India travels. It is not the unreserved class as seen in The Amazing Grace or crazy movies with thousands of Indians hanging out the window, but it is the next class up, not too far up. And again, it was an experience. The process is that I get in the car and everyone, everyones stairs. I can see that they are asking - what is he doing here? He is a foreigner, why isn't her in 3AC or 2AC, the higher classes respectively? But, I got from Varanasi to Gaya on sleeper for about R200, in AC it would have been about R800. Still $15-20 you say, but when your daily budget is $25 it makes a huge difference.

Anyhoo, I found my seat and while the 12 people around me stared at me closing my bag, locking it, etc, I said a loud NAMASKAAR!!! They were startled at my saying Hello in Hindi and all nodded and said hello or namaskaar. I then asked how they were doing and for the next 4 hours we talked. It is always a crazy case of broken English, India English, loud train noises and lots of people coming around. At one piont there were about 30 people looking on, asking question, wanting to see my watch or something. It is a tough game of being kind, looking out for your stuff and giving someone attention while trying to figure out what they are saying.

I was tired, but the experience included:
--good conversation about NGOs with lots of names of people I should contact. None are actually useful to me as none are about trafficking, but I was very thankful, wrote them all down and smiled.
--the boy who asked his mom to put a bandana on his head like me. It was funny and we took pictures together.
--the boy (18) who was furious that I did not know one of India's prime freedom fighters who fought against the British. He said, HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW! YOU MUST KNOW! YOU CANNOT KNOW INDIA IF YOU DO NOT KNOW THIS STORY! I laughed and told him to teach me. He said he would send me things. He took down my email and my phone number. He has since SMSed (Instant Phone Message) me to tell me he would send things. He had one BIG FAULT. He loved Argentina's Maradona, so we fought a lot about good and bad soccer. It was fun.

My most Indian moment in the ride was after their dinner. Everyone asked me if I was going to eat. I said I already had, but that a sweet would make all the difference in the word. A barfi - condensed milk based sweet would make me so happy. LESSON: One should be careful what one asks for in the presence of an Indian family. One of the fathers made his son pull out their bag, looked all through it for a beatiful cardboard box from which he produced two barfies. Now, it was obvious from the wrapping that this was a special treat for the family. They probably picked it up in Varanasi and where taking it home to Kolkata, but still. He unwrapped the box and gave me the sweets. This for me, is India, this is the India I have chosen to keep in my heart every day, especially the days where I want to strangle rickshaw men.

We arrived at about 2am and completed the amazing feat of getting a rickshaw for 5 people for R100 for 14KM. It was hell, but well done. Unfortunately our driver was not so smart (or maybe too smart) and claimed not to know where the monestary we were staying at was. Instead he brought us to a hotel, which he would certainly receive a comission for. Her refused to take us. But, since in India you simply don't pay until you arrive, he had to fight with us, at 2am, until we showed him the way.

We arrived at the monastary and one of my funniest India experiences happened. Edyta is this short and powerful Polish woman (I am attracted to women like this - Nicole, Tricia, Tonja, etc). The monastery was TOTALLY LOCKED DOWN. So, after the rickshaw driver and yelled some, and we called for someone we saw a man put his pants on and come real slowly to our rescue. We looked at Edyta and we all thought - monastary...NAMASTE.

In a beautiful move Edyta put her hands together in a prayer position, bowed her head and respectfully said NAMASTE. When the guard looked at us as if we were crazy think he would let us in she promptly made a phone gesture to her ear and yelled - WE CALLED AND THEY SAID YOU WOULD LET US IN! WE CALLED! In his daze and confusion the man let us in. GO EDYTA bringing cultures together to create change. After I had to be firm that we agreed on R150 for single room with bathroom, and argue with another sleeping man a little we got to bed, at about 3am.

The thing to do in Bodhgaya is see buddhist temples. There are about 10 of them from around the world, and each is more beautiful than the other. So, we spent most of our time going to temples. OK, that actually was the second day. The first day Edyta and Magda spent the day shopping, and shopping, and shopping. I got a scarf and sat for chai. We did get a chance to go to the major temple and see the Boddhi tree. We were there for about 2 hours and it was perfect. We got to see a tour of over 100 Chinese folks coming for their pilgrimage. The pictures will tell a better story. But, we also just set in the presence of monks, and trees, and peace.

The 2.5 days there were filled with a lot of breathing and sitting under the tree. It was wonderful. Really great. I also met up with a traveler I met 3 weeks ago in the Himalayas. These moments are cool.

The other striking thing about places in India is what we experience in Bodhgaya with the kids. The number of kids asking for money and food are incredible. They are everywhere. It's tough because we get EXTRA approached since we are tourists. Many experiences:

-Money: Everyone asks for money. Women with children, children, disabled. A lot of Indians have told me not to give money since these kids are part of a business ploy where men make them ask for money and they have to bring a certain amount in everyday. Can you say CHILD SLAVERY?

-Pen and Books: A lot of kids ask us to buy books for school and pens. They know enough tourist English to say - I WANT TO BE A DR., PLEASE BUY ME A HINDI-ENGLISH DICTIONARY. In this scheme a tourist does this and the kids then sell the item back to a store for money.

-Food. I think this is the toughest. Why not give them food? It's complex and this experience should give you a sense of why. One of our nights in Bodhgaya we did not finish our food, we asked for it to go and gave it to the two kids who had been asking us for food (for 2 hours straight). This is was good, we thought. Yes, first, IT WAS GOOD. GIVING FOOD TO HUNGRY CHILDREN IS ALWAYS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. But, the next night at dinner 5-7 children were around our table asking us for food. One of the girls we gave food to was pointing at us saying we gave her food. This happens with mother and children. You give one an apple and suddenly there are 10 mothers with sickly children around you. It is crazy. And, in some way I have not yet negotiated with myself, you tuned it out.

My next stop, Mumbai/Bombay, India's Bollywood. It was a 30-hour train ride and I shelled out R2600/over $60 and it was a wonderful ride (wonderful in India terms), quiet, mostly clean (only 2 roaches), and I slept a lot, read a lot and had really nice conversations with the one other person that was in my area.

Next up - Bombay. I am trying to catch up to the city I am in. I am currently here and will be here until the 1st of November when the girls leave, go to Pune for 4 days at the OSHO Retreat Center and then back here to wait for Tricia.

Kisses to all,

Julio

"Into the Woods to Find the Giant..."
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