Back Briefly to My Native Place

So, I’m back Maryland about two weeks now and am starting to get my bearings. There was a question on where I was to live when I got back but that has been resolved- I’ll be working in Mountain View in the San Francisco bay area. I’m excited to live somewhere new although I missed my ‘native place’ while I was in India and will miss it again. In India, one of the most common questions is “What is your native place”, or sometimes just “What’s your native?”. Being away for six months made me realize how much I missed my family and friends back here but it also made me realize I can make it somewhere new and be fine- if I could make it work in Chennai, I’m sure I can do the same in California.

What to say about my six months in India? I feel like I just scratched the surface but six months was long enough for me to at least get a taste of what life is like there. I am indebted for life to my coworkers and all the strangers that befriended me and helped me navigate just living life. I have a special place in my heart for India now and the country has truly left its mark (and a few scars) on me. There’s no way I can do justice to what I experinced there but some of my favorite parts were the generosity and caring of the people I encountered, the natural beauty, the incredible food- I swear I didn't miss eating meat the food is so good, the combination of ancient and modern cultures and the sense of excitement and progress in the air over there as India is becoming a world power at unprecedented speeds. I can’t wait to go back and I hope to bring friends and family next time!

So…. For the blog, I am officially back and my Indian adventure is over for now. I plan to be going back several times over the next bit but nothing is concrete yet. That being said, I would still like to use the blog to update people on what’s happening with me and also maybe some random thoughts I have/will have about India and America. I have a backlog of stuff from the Indian headwag and Prime Minister Singh’s recent visit to Washington (my native place) to swapping notes Chennai’s best bootleggers and the preservatives they put into Kingfisher beer over there. Stay tuned!

Dhyanalingam Temple

This weekend I got to go to the Dhyanalingam Yogic Temple, about 30 km outside of Coimbatore in the Western Ghats. Its grounds contain a temple to Shiva, a yoga retreat, and an underground spring where you can take a bath in holy water. When we got there, we wondered around the grounds, then put on lungis (those cloth skirt-like things I blogged about before) and took a holy dip, then went and meditated at the Shiva temple. Afterwards, we went and saw a huge waterfall in the Ghats, it was a great break from all the work we’ve been doing!

The three states of Shiva- notice his eyes and facial expressions as he mellows out into meditation.

The pillar at the entrance to the temple has the symbols of Hinduism, Islam and Christianity on it, and many other religions including Buddhism and Judaism on other sides, signifying that people of all religions are welcome to come and meditate.

The Dhyanalingam- no photos are allowed inside so I lifted these from the web. Those little squares you see behind the lingam are 5X5 recesseed little boxes that you can sit in crosslegged while you meditate to give yourself a little extra privacy. The thing in the middle is called a Lingam and is a symbol of Shiva.

Kovai Kutralam Falls- it was absolutely beautiful there and we got to get wet in the falls too!

Monkeys!!!

Timepass

One of my favorite concepts that I have heard over here is the idea of ‘timepass’. This basically means killing time, having a mindless activity to occupy yourself to let time go by. It can have both negative or positive connotations. If you call a movie timepass it basically means it was stupid and not very good but it served its purpose in killing time. I think many Hollywood action movies would be best described as timepass. It can also be a good thing, playing cricket or sitting around drinking chai and chatting with a friend would be a good kinda timepass. My plane got delayed back from Goa so I needed to find a timepass. I met an elderly couple that were supposed to be on the same flight so we sat around and shot the breeze to timepass.

It’s especially true with my work, when people see me with my orange vest on the side of the road a crowd of unemployed or underemployed people inevitably gathers. I was intimidated at first but then I realized that they were just looking for a timepass. It’s also relevant for me with my project- I’m on call 24/7 and in between the excitement there is a lot of down time- you need a good timepass to stay sane, especially when you're basically trapped in one place waiting for a call. Anyways, I like the concept and I hope to bring it home with me, I think I’ve been timepassin with my friends for years and haven’t even know it!


Okay- this is embarrassing but I’m not too proud. We had a good timepass the other night doing kung fu moves- I have cropped this pic to protect the identities of my fellow timepassers…

Divorce

Divorce rates in India are around 1% according to national statistics. Despite this, conventional wisdom here is that the amount of divorces are to rise, especially in urban areas. People blame this on the increasing westernization of urban areas in India, which I only halfway buy but I’ll save my thoughts on that for another day. I have been very open over here that my folks are divorced and have tried to use this take away some of the shame and stigma divorcees or children of divorcees might feel in this culture. Because I have been so free to talk about it, I have had several fascinating conversations with people about divorce, which is a very taboo topic over here. There have been several occasions where people that I hardly know have sought me out in private and asked about divorce (as they heard about me through the grapevine- news can travel very quick over here) and then told me confidentially that a divorce has happened either to a member of their families or to a close friend of theirs. It is nice to be able to comfort people and tell them that divorce can happen to good people and is not a reflection on them or anyone else. I am not ‘pro’ or ‘anti’ divorce but I know that it’s something that happens no matter where you are the world and it makes me feel good to be open about it and give people an outlet to talk about it.