9 Sept 2012: Journal, Vellore, India

We all had a dinner and watched a Bollywood movie at the pool last night. We were given a lovely dinner and I quietly chatted with a few of the clowns. I had a chat with our Mime in the group about Mime and learned about NZ Mime’s. I recollected one of my friends who is a doll mime and how she and her husband travelled around Europe as professional Mime’s. I marvelled at the motor control and artistry of Mime and am not lost on the power of it to communicate without words. Something like 95% of communication is body language, so it is a powerful medium. I recalled a Mime in Santiago Chile who hid behind a door and came out to engage passers-by. He had a striped top (long ways) and black pants with a bowler hat and slight body. He was very precise with his body movements sitting himself down to have a drink or intercepting people as they walked by, he would chat to them in Mime or flirt with the girls. There was a long barricade and I watched how people were lined behind there.

The Bollywood movie was long but nice and the traditional story of man loving girl and seeking to win her heart. Reminded me of my own experience of giving unconditional love and nothing in return, that is how you know it is real, there is nothing in it for you. Love is a magical feeling and anyone blessed with feeling the same with someone who feels it, is truly blessed. However even in unrequitted love it is best to just put it down to experience and not allow yourself to become bitter, you never know the next one may just be the right person. I grew a lot as a person and don’t regret being honest.

It was a late night last night and I ended up sleeping in until 11.30am. I didn’t get to sleep until 3am. I got on the computer and checked my emails etc. and felt strongly to climb Toad Mountain behind where we are staying. It is the most magnificent mountain and it has boulders all over it. As I walked up I felt the energy. Tears did form in my eyes as the energy here is unbelieveable. This moutain makes the rocks in Perth look like pebbles. The rocks were huge and I found myself questioning how the rangers in Perth could declare those rocks the oldest in the world. I am quite sure where I was today was older. It was magical.

To get to this mountain I had to walk along a road. I looked at the multi-story buildings and some were thatched homes. I saw two women talking whilst pumping water from a well with an old fashioned pump. I saw power lines running through the community so knew they had power, but piped water is unlikely. Where we are staying we do have water on tap, I think we are fortunate. The majority I noticed had to take big pots and fill them with water. I saw children playing in the street, some played soccer. I saw cows and bulls tethered in fields. It was lovely to walk into the countryside and I can see it was a rural area that became a city.

As I climbed the boulders on this mountain, I found myself overseeing a view that was spectacular. The mountains were surrounding the city of Vellore, some reminded me of the glasshouse mountains up north of Brisbane, they had peaks and unsual shaped tops and I sensed they were probably volcanic. I saw birds that I had never seen for the first time, others that blended with the bushes and interesting bird calls. Many butterflies fluttered around. Inoticed goats near the moutain, some were up there which I am sure they love. I noticed small grass like insects with long horns at the top, they flew onto grasses. It was interesting looking at flora that was different yet similar, grasses are green but slightly different, lots of little ferns as leaves, some little flower clusters that seemed to have water in their leaves. Given this climate water would need to be stored given how hot it is. I saw lizards with orange heads run across the rocks. I climbed higher and higher feeling the strongest desire to climb up the rocks to the top. I got to a high point and sat down and meditated.

I sat there with the breeze blowing my hair as I cooled down from the steep climb. I didn’t expect to go this far up but I could resist connecting with nature. I did contemplate whether cobras were here, I did note to myself it is winter so maybe they are hybernating. That awareness comes from living in Australia. I wondered about other wildlife and to note I am not in Australia. Most of the animals in Australia are amrcipials so here it would be different. I didn’t hear anyone say don’t go up here so I felt it was fine. If I fell it could be a problem although I had a map with my address on it. I didn’t feel I would fall. I sat there with my eyes closed and marvelled at my climb.

I sent love peace and happiness to the people of Vellore and felt my mind trace the Indian subcontinent and the world. To bring more love energy to this place with the intent that people would wake up and see that life can be different when we love each other. I saw the haze of pollution obscuring the other mountains and wondered at why we do it. How beautiful the natural world is. I thought of the planet and how much the planet had taken from it and the idea that many saw it as a quarry rather than an interconnected system supporting life, indeed a life form itself. So few in the West have that idea although I am sure indigenous people do. Even in the spirituality they speak of the divine mother.

I climbed down the mountain being careful with my footfalls. My shoes have no tread so sliding is a good idea. I get down low close to the ground and I let the sliding carry me down the slopes. I love the freedom and connection to nature and discovering another natural system somewhat different yet similar to Australia. We live on one planet and the diversity is breathtaking.

I came down the mountain close to the end of the road I originally walked along. Walked passed the paddock with the tethered cows. Decided to listen to Eckhart Tolle on detachment from the body and imagined I am not my body. He sang into my ears as I watched indians go past on motor bikes, buses, cars and walking, I was thinking about their desire for more material things and the idea that more means more of me, as identity attaches to what we own as our sense of self not who we are. When 1.6 billion start to think this way it has implications for the ecological footprint of the entire planet. So not separate but definitely affecting the whole. I thought of the changing desires here where once upon-a-time life was much more simple, now there are posters and advertisements where the global marketing is entering the collective psyche of indian people, particularly the young. I walked passed a woman watching a heard of goats. I wondered many worlds converging, the world of Bollywood where girls are wearing shorts and showing their legs, the world of tradition and simple living, the world of business, academic achievement and modernity. In the third world it is fast changing and I am sure socially it is difficult as the rules are changing and many of the older ones will feel values have been lost, not unlike the elders in Australia. They see a world that has become selfish and greedy, so not so different, the young do not know the difference they just absorb the weakness of the West (as Gandhi put it) to feel part of this modern world and get ahead as is encouraged. Australia receives a high proportion of indian students, so they will come seeking a better life for their families believing the life they had was primitive. They are attracted to the bright lights, although what they don’t realise is the Western style of life is rapidly sinking the planet and is not bringing happiness, which is ultimately what all are seeking.

I will rest now then head off to the canteen for some food and the pool for a swim. Tomorrow clowning is on so will need my rest for that.

Good to have time out.

Peace, love and joy to you.