Notes from the Eastern Front…
I was particularly lazy this week – both in doing things and in recording the few I did. The week also seemed to be composed of random instances and not smooth chronological sequences, so in this week’s post I’ll just blurt out some bizarre unconnected ideas and see how that goes. You may be saying to yourself, ‘Isn’t every week’s post like that?’
I’ll arrange things simply by ‘here’ and ‘there.’ Let’s start with the latter category, shall we?
There:
• NPR (National Public Radio) has some excellent podcasts. I highly recommend subscribing to at least a few, e.g. Groove Salad (music), Washington Week (politics), All Songs Considered (more music), and Sports with Frank Deford. PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) also has some good ones. Chime in if you’ve got some faves we should know about…
• Did you know that the sainted Laura Bush ran a stop sign and killed another driver when she was 17? I didn’t know that, until my friend Adriana mentioned it and I looked it up online. You can find the straight dope at Snopes.com, a site dedicated to urban legends/myths. I’m generally not one for conspiracy theories and ‘the man is out to get us’ thinking, but I found this factoid pretty interesting. One thing’s for sure, I wouldn’t want to get in a car with W. and Laura…
• Why the hell did I wait so long to subscribe to Outside Magazine? I’ve tried to keep my magazine load manageable over the years, but when I get Outside I just can’t put it down, it’s loaded with great stuff and has an edgy writing style that brings out the joyful cynic in me. The November issue had a winter skiing preview, and the section on Utah mountains suggested trying the local Polygamy Porter – ‘why stop at just one?’ Oscar Wilde might protest there – he felt that ‘polygamy is one wife too many – and monogamy is too.’ The December issue covered some serious ground: an article on Wal-Mart’s eco-drive (believe it or not, they seem serious), how to train for a marathon while on a pack-a-day habit, how to get laid in space, and a blurb entitled ‘Hot Box’ with the following text: ‘A 13-ton truck – with an exterior climbing wall, gear lockers, and room for 32 rock-hounds – will depart Nairobi, Kenya on January 2 for a seven-month cragging pilgrimage that will conclude in Cape Town, South Africa. Last time the Hot Rock venture took to the veldt, it visited 40 climbing areas in ten countries. This trip should be no less epic. $7,374; climbhotrock.com.’ Indeed. Are you in?
• Tom Waits is a musical god. His Nighthawks at the Diner is one of the most inventive and entertaining albums – I could listen to it every day. I like Frank Zappa, but I love Tom Waits.
• I’m waiting with baited breath (visualize that for a moment) for the ‘Iraq Study Group’ to come up with its recs. What will Junior’s Daddy’s friends have to say? They should at least insist on getting back the car keys…and then a public shaving of the heads of various neocons, i.e. Cheney, Condi, Wolfowitz, and Perle…preferably during halftime of the Super Bowl. Imagine the bliss of kicking back with a few Bud tallboys and a bucket of chips ‘n’ dip, with the Arctic Monkeys or Franz Ferdinand playing the halftime show and the neocons on a side stage, getting sheared and jeered. Sheer paradise, methinks…
Here:
• Was a pretty mellow week here in Goa…which, despite having one of the shortest possible geographic names in the world, many friends simply can’t pronounce. ‘Gao’ and ‘Goi’ are my favorites. Of course, those getting the name wrong all happen to be from the States…
• My merry gang of new buddies broke up this week. Prem Joshua, Sat, Kelvin, and Chin hit the road for a series of gigs up north. Before they took off, Kelvin and I rode up to Morjim Beach for a lengthy dip and debrief. Had a good discussion about ‘what next,’ for him and for me. Kelvin is a production guy – shoots documentaries and the like. He’s very good at what he does…but seems to want something more. As for me, well, you know, I always seem to be busy even without any clear job or initiative. In the end, we decided nothing…except to go get a cold Kingfisher. Exeunt…
• ‘Team Prem’ celebrated a good week or so hanging out together with a massive seafood blast-off at Souza Lobo Restaurant in Calangute. This place is famed for its tandoor kingfish…so famed that I went the previous week (see last week’s entry) for a sneak preview. And waddled out in a coma. This time we were joined by the ravishing and effervescent Sitara from Madrid, and her Indian boyfriend. We polished off 3 plates of Goan masala prawns and then 3 entire kingfishes. Should have taken a photo of one of those babies. But I was too busy stuffing my face. So you’ll have to content yourselves with a ‘Team Prem’ photo:
The boys will be back in Goa just before I take off, around December 8th. And I might go see them play in Mumbai if they lock in a gig there. So I have a feeling our paths are just beginning to cross.
• As I wrote last week, I’ve had an earache which has severely limited my time in the water. Went to a specialist in Mapusa, the local city, and he was very helpful. Gave me a few meds, told me to stay out of the ocean (I only cheated a few times), and said I should come back in 5 days. Went back, the problem had cleared up, and I was green-lighted for water fun again. On the ride back to Vagator, I was again waved over by traffic cops, this time on a motorbike. And again, I looked stupidly at them (this was just an act, of course) and sped on. They didn’t follow – I suppose they feed off compliant/dumb tourists who are scared of 3rd-world cops. I’m not – and if they came after me, well, my papers were all in order (including my bogus working papers), and I would have chewed them out for disturbing a ‘busy foreign executive’ trying to make his rounds in Goa. It’s really amazing how much respect white skin can get you out here. I was in the middle of the queue in the doc’s office beforehand, and he called me in first, ahead of a child in some pain and a few elderly folks. I thought about asking them to go first, but decided to just go with the flow…
• Kelvin had accompanied me to Mapusa, largely out of curiosity – Mapusa is an Indian city and those are best kept at arm’s length. But we had fun tromping around doing errands. We turned the corner soon after getting to town and almost ran into an elephant in the street – here he is, not the usual urban critter:
• I’ve been going to yoga class thrice-weekly, and feeling pretty damn good about that. The venue is a well-known local yoga center that recently changed management. Numerous classes on offer, but I’ve not been impressed by the quality of teaching, which seems no better than elsewhere. My two teachers have been British and American, and to be brutal both somewhat bulkier than you’d expect from a yogi. I don’t necessarily require an Indian guru, but was hoping for some real insight and character here. One teacher kicked off her first class by asking us why we practice yoga. I was busy formulating some hocus-pocus about my mat being ‘a small universe/sanctuary of peace’ and my need to ‘look more inward and stop being ruled by external stimuli,’ blah blah blah. But she came out and said she got into yoga to lose weight. Honest, for sure, but a bit of a downer. Why can’t she be as deep as I, who got into yoga to meet chicks??
• Got the quarterly magazine of Kripalu, a very cool yoga center in western Massachusetts. I went on a 3-day retreat there earlier this year and came out feeling like a million (dollars, not rupees). Highly recommended as an antidote to work. Noticed that Kripalu has volunteer programs: 1-3 months for grunt work, 3-12 for higher-order assistance, both with interesting benefits. Is there something in there for me? We’ll see…
• Goa has many, many odd folks. Cleo Odzer wrote a drug-fuelled, madcap book recounting her Goan experiences called ‘Goa Freaks.’ When I first got here, I was bemused – or appalled – by the level of tattooing and piercing all around me. How do I invest in the tattooing biz, I wondered. And I wondered too whether these people and I inhabit the same planet. But hey – they’re on their own trip and I hope it’s a good one. Our paths may not overlap, and that’s perfectly fine, it’s (still) a large and roomy planet. Kripalu has a relevant approach, summed up by the acronym BRFWA – Breathe, Relax, Feel, Watch & Allow. I think that approach is workable everywhere and I need to use it more often…
Changing channels…reader Ari chimes in with more RSS advice – ‘this is the RSS feed anyone can use for most RSS readers.’
http://blogs.bootsnall.com/mbsloney/?feed=rss2
Finally, I noticed that over 1,700 unique readers have checked out my Slog. That’s heartening, and I thank every one of you for taking a look at it. My buddy Rajan – mentioned in an earlier posting – advises me to ramp up my readership and coast along on ad revenues and other cash streams. Well, yeah, but that would require some actual effort. In the meantime, please go ahead and share this site with your friends…no matter their political leanings!
Sayonara for now…time to take a dip in the Big Wet.
Tags: Travel
mbsloney
Mike
Another great post. Its quite amusing to contrast your experiences cruising around India with my parents who’ve just moved back from Singapore.
They’re still struggling with a combination of inefficiency and slowness (annoying but understandable) and the general lack of consideration that people have for each other (which is less easy to get used to).
Enjoy your time there, and keep the posts coming.
Cheers,
Johann