8 Sept 2012: Journal, Vellore, India

Today is Saturday and I have been here nearly a week. The time has gone so fast. We clowns are feeling pretty tired from clowning. I had to take a day off yesterday as I was exhausted. It is a combination of travelling, clowning and the heat. Although this is monsoon season, it is humid and many of us are adjusting to the heat.

I thought malaria may be a problem here but I am told by Gerri from Seb’s project that she drinks the water and it is sanitised, so she indicated it was safe to drink. The mosquitoes are prevalent and I do find I have a few little red marks where I am bitten. They like my ankles. I am not concerned about malaria. I do have anti-malaria antibiotics but I am trusting all is well.

We, as a group, are adjusting to being together all the time and sharing rooms. We Australians do like to live separately and are independent, so alone time is important. I am finding, given my own solitude back in Australia, that I am accepting being with people quite easily. Normally I take myself off to reflect spiritually as I really love doing that. However, I am open to being with others so am going with the flow.

I find I am more dependent on this type of group trip, whereas normally I would know where I am, I haven’t a map so I am travelling with others. I would go alone but need to know where to go. So I am working it out and enjoying their company. I am interested in the spiritual side of India so will check out the temples. I am aware some would be spiritual some would be religious, it is the spiritual ones I am interested in. We have an indian who is with us, Santosh, he is a spiritual seeker, and we have already exchanged. I think he has been surprised by what I’ve shared with him and his mind is very open. I sense we are here to learn from each other. He is a quiet peaceful man yet expressive when he needs to be, he reminds me somewhat of Gandhi in his presence. He found himself at Seb’s at the right time and was asked to clown with us. He is experiencing we crazy westeners and learning about the strengths and weaknesses of our culture.

We had a sing along last night. One of the clowns Ovidi is a character and a great musician. He has many talents for street performance. He is from Spain and has a wonderful warm smile. So he and Raul (who owns the guesthouse) played guitars and we all sang and bopped along. We had a mosquito coil going and incense burning. We were up on the top of the building singing our hearts out, dancing and chatting. They played western music we knew then brought out the flute and gazoo.

Some cultural aspects we are learning is that the wobble of the head means maybe or okay or acknowledgement. So not quite clear. Vellecome means hello and nagri means thank you in Tamil. We noticed bags tied to trees and wondered what that was, we were told that after a calf is born the birth sack is tied up in cloth and hung in a tree like a blessing.

There are lots of little shops around and people everywhere. When you get in an auto ricksaw it is very busy, cars, bikes, buses all tooting to get passed. It is the way they communicate on the road so everyone knows where everyone is. They concentrate very hard. I noticed that when we were dressed as clowns, as they didn’t have accidents. I thought we’d distract them. It was fascinating to see their serious faces and then a smile break out across their face. Really wonderful. To see the light of humanity is a pure joy for me.

One of our clowns is a mime, an interesting character. He does not eat or drink or indeed talk when he has his character on. He is a gentle soul. He is indeed unique as he put it and he has travelled a lot. He clowned for a quarter of a century and has a lovely smile when he is Puzzle.

Myself Jo and Nicole went out to the Darling restaurant to have some coffee and do some reading. I love to go places and sit and reflect, realign and sense my inner world. The girls offered to come as they also wanted low key and didn’t feel to go shopping. So we peacefully hung out together at this restaurant tried the local food and I had some coffee. The others had lasse’s which is delicious yoghurt drink. We were then told that the restaurant was closing at 3.15pm so we were instructed to go to Aariyas (new bus stand). It cost us 60 rupees to get to Darling restaurant and then another 50 rupees to get to Aariyas (restauarant guy said 20 rupees, so can’t be sure if it is legitimate or not. I did evoke Gandhi’s name to see if he was being honest. He muttered language barrier I thought he knew and smiled (but could be wrong). We had some food I had jaipur (medium hot) the others had fruit I think and no nuts as Jo is allergic. We had more teas and coffee (for me), it was nice. I was reading through an indian book that outlines the spiritual world here, there are many saints in this location. The girls were writing their diaries and the indians around us looked with politeness and curiosity. We were in air conditioned comfort, it was lovely.Then the last rickshaw from Aariyas to our guesthouse we were told would be 80 rupees. I gave the driver 100 rupees.

Mohandas Gandhi

“Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong”

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