Approaching the Month Marker

I’m approaching the one-month mark in India though it seems like I’ve been here much longer. This country is alive with the beautiful kind of chaos that foolish explorer types like me really dig. It’s been the kind of place that doesn’t want to give anything up to me. In my time here, I’ve witnessed people who realize this same fact but refuse to do anything but try to combat it head on. To those people I have only one thing to say: knock it off. India doesn’t owe you a damn thing. It was here first.
The best way to go about gun-slinging with a country like this is to allow yourself to be swept along to wherever the dusty wind might take you.
My music study is going well here. I’ve had several sitar lessons and, in addition to study of classical and basic technique and theory, I’m beginning to understand how the sitar functions beyond just the rudimentary, but how its really meant to speak (sounds like I’m becoming a flower child, I know. I’m not. Promise… mostly). The bend, in particular, is the feature of the sitar’s voice that is intoxicating. Toe-curling glee, really.
In the next few weeks I’ll be heading to Varanasi to study tablas, a set of Indian drums. I’ve already paid for a professional set to be made for me at a really great price. Also, while in Varanasi, I’ll have the opportunity to bathe in the Ganges River. Now, aside from being the holiest river in Indian culture, the Ganges also boasts one of the dirtiest and most polluted bodies of water in the country. Students who bathed in it last semester on this same program contracted typhoid because of their expedition. What to do what to do… I did get a typhoid shot before I left the States but I hear that they are only about 60% effective. It’d be rolling the dice for a chance to partake in a sacred tradition. Obviously, I’m quite tempted and will likely decide in a moment while standing at the river’s banks. We’ll see what happens.
My homestay family continues to be a constant joy in my day. Uncle and Auntie are very kind, and our two host sisters, Ruchita and Ichita, are both sweet and have no problem sitting down with me for over an hour most nights to help me with Hindi homework. Also, having a rooftop terrace to myself and two roommates, well, there could be worse houses to be staying in.
Even in my first weeks here, I can already feel and notice the changes that India has brought me. I’m creatively energized in a way I haven’t ever been before and am excited at the prospect of traveling to Rishakesh to visit the Ashram that the Beatles went for their own spiritual retreat. No doubt some heavy vibes will be floating around.
Also, as part of an independent study project, I will be writing and recording a fusion album during my stay here. Details of it are still coming together so I won’t say more than it will be a combination of Western ambient/freak-folk and classical and folk Hindustani traditions.
That’s all for now. Below are a few of my favorite pictures from the first weeks. Until next time, I’ll be staying on my toes, right where India likes me.