India *3

At 3am faint music tiptoed through my mosquito screened windows...the sounds of an errie carnivalesque parade...comming from blocks away, or maybe another pocket of time which likes to stretch its wings when everyone is asleep??? It re-merged with the night as I fell back into my anti-maleria medication dreams. And this waking dream of India, full of cows tied to barbedwire fences eating piles of garbage, little childern bundled in neon zipping by as motorbike prow pinochio figureheads, buses wide as streets plowing by with king kong trumpet horns deafening all stray dogs, wandering monks, and western tourists in sight... Days spill into each other here, washing back upon themselves like motorcar oil rainbows on parking-lot scalps after rainfall... I climbed to the top of the holy mountain barefoot a few days ago to watch the lighting of the masive torch that can be seen for miles...the top was black and slippery from burned holy ghee, drugging my tenderized feet...monkeys having sex in the sunset as the black smoke is carried off by the wind like an infinite flock of incense crows....dissipating into the night...and then descending in the blackness, buffered by shouts of indian children "carefull, carefull," "slowly, slowly"... We needed their feet's experience, and they our flashlights. Somehow we all made it back down from the peace and magesty into the christmass tree light spider web and hearbeat of car horns of Tiruvannamali below.

India *2

It's been one week since I arrived in Tiruvannamalai, yet time here has taken on a different feel. I'm enjoying wandering up this sacred mountain full of butterflies, monkeys, spiraling hawks, and incredible views. There is an overwhealming spiritual feeling here which draws many westerners (yet hardly any Americans). The strange thing is, most of these westerners avoid eye contact and rarely smile. Perhaps they are so caught up in the struggle of their spirit quest they forgot all of life is a waking meditation. The Indians on the otherhand honor your eye contact and smile back. The main Indian teachings profess that all is god/ultimate reality/Self/Truth/Coinsciousness. That explains the loving respect eyecontact, as well as the trash everywhere. If 'All is One' there is no difference between nature and garbage. I just wander around town with my sketchbook and camera, capturing little moments of this colorful life. I'll probably stick around a few more days and move on. I have met a magical little sadhu who wants to show me around...

INDIA *1

What if Jackson Pollock, instead of using paint, used car horns, sewage, colored fabric, moustaches, and shrines..... no, no, that still wouldn't come close to explain what you catch in one second of observation here.

I write from Tiruvannamalai, in the south east of India. Site of Shiva's holy mountain where many gurus have attained enlightenment and set up ashram base camps. I arrived with 2 million other pilgrims a few days ago for an annual full moon 14 kilometer circumnavigation of the mountain. The street was replaced by a thick human river. Unlike one old man pulling a giant orange paper traffic cone on wheels (hooked by wire into a football size growth on his back), one had better be going with the current instead of against it. Despite the beatific banging of the little drummer boy with the contageous grin leading him into the devoted crowd, the waves did not yeild.

At six they lit a fire on top of the mountain and fire works erupted all over the city producing an obscuring grey cloud. Later they burned smaller fires visable from below, which spread out of control and looked to me like 3 stacked circles, symbolizing two intertwined snakes I had seen on ancient stone carvings softened by the hands and time. I joined the flow at about 3 a.m. for the circular journey. I had been on the mountain earlier, where I could feel an undenyable presence in my skull at one of the sacred caves. There have been several places here where I have felt this same energy vibrating from an ancient site. Is the stone the source, or is it a recepticle for the devotion of the believers which echoes off the love? Hard to say, and I'd rather not let my rational western mind try to discect it. I am aware of the presence, that is enough for now.

Despite wanting to leave the intenCITY of NY, I have wound up in a little country town which seems even more intense. I offer no resistance to what is, but I will seek some more quiet and nature time for my next destination... until then I walk among ripe orange sadhus, full family motorcycles, lazy cows, heart breaking beggars, and westerners in clean white robes...

Love
O

The unknown

The earth is spinning me towards a new day, the night comes, and when it passes I will get on a plane for India. While I have beckoned this day for so long, I must admit I am nervous about this leap into the unknown. Perhaps it is just the horror of the attacks that happened recently, which woke me up from my post Obama victory dream state, where I believed we could all be safe to be seen as Americans again in the eyes of the world. On the flip side, I am definitely feeling the unbelievable love and support from my family and community of friends. It is humbling to know I am so cared for, and I feel so grateful to all of you who have sent me your positive thoughts and blessings. Thank You. I can't wait to share the old tales waiting to be lived again. Here's to safe travels for all of us!
Love
O

INDIA

After a two and a half year wait.....

leaving next monday

Thanks for the ants...

At the tail end of the Paris trip we took a quick jump into the Dali triangle in Spain... Figueras, Pubol, Port Ligat...