Reflections on India and Picture Update

The following quote is from a book by Paola Mastrocola which I only have in German I'm afraid. It’s about finding one’s identity and I was flabbergasted to read it at exactly a time when I was finding all these realizations in my very own experiences here in India. Read more about these in English further below.

Das folgende Zitat stammt aus dem Buch “Ich dachte, ich waer ein Panther” von Paola Mastrocola. Wie so oft im Leben kam es in meine Haende zu genau dem Zeitpunkt als ich das, was mir bereits durch meine eigenen Erfahrungen zugetragen worden war, nur noch in schriftlicher Form vorfinden musste, um es endgueltig zu verinnerlichen. (Danke Moni ^^)

"Am Anfang, wenn wir klein sind, ist es schwer, etwas ueber uns zu wissen. Ob wir duenn oder dick sind, gross oder klein, sympathisch oder entsetzlich unsympathisch, faul oder – wie man heute sagen wuerde – hyperaktiv. Wenn andere uns nicht sagen, wer oder wie wir sind, werden wir es nie erfahren. Aber zum Glueck (oder Unglueck?) auessern sich die anderen, sie scheinen sogar eigens dafuer da zu sein, uns staendig zu sagen, wer wir sind. Eines vor allem bringen sie uns bei: uns mit unserem Naechsten zu vergleichen. Durch dieses fortwaherende Vergleichen mit denen, die wir um uns haben, erfahren wir, ob wir dick oder duenn sind. Na wunderbar! Die anderen haben uns gezeigt, wer wir sind!

Oder nicht? Haben sie uns vielmehr verschleiert, verdeckt, fuer immer vor uns selbst versteckt? Entdecken oder verdecken uns die anderen? Sind wir tatsaechlich in der Lage zu verstehen, wer wir sind, oder werden wir vielmehr im Vergleich mit den anderen immer mehr zu dem, was wir nicht sind?

(...)

Ich glaube, dass es zwei Identitaeten gibt: eine innere Identitaet (der Kern) und eine aeussere Identitaet (die Schale), das, was wir in der Welt sind oder zu sein behaupten: Eine Ansammlung von Etiketten, zusammengesetzt aus Bildern, Rollen, Zugehoerigkeiten. Es ist nicht so, dass eine Identitaet wahrer waere als die andere. Beide sind wahr, wie eben der Kern und die Schale einer Frucht. Das Problem ist ein anderes. Dass naemlich die aeussere Identitaet die innere verdunkeln und trueben kann. Die verschiedenen Etiketten, mit denen wir uns im Leben so gerne zieren, machen es uns mit der Zeit schwer, die wahre Identitaet wiederzufinden, die in uns begraben, verdeckt, verkrustet ist. Als waeren wir ein Fels im Meer, einer dieser Felsen, die wir jedes Jahr wieder aufsuchen und – ach! – veraendert vorfinden: gruener von Algen, dichter mit Muscheln bewachsen, verkrusteter eben.

An diesem Punkt sollte, finde ich, eine neue Reise beginnen: Als wir jung waren, haben wir um jeden Preis nach Dingen gesucht, die uns Identitaet geben konnten, jetzt hingegen muessen wir versuchen, all die Identitaeten zu verlieren, die wir uns uebergestuelpt haben. (...) Ich glaube, dass man sich der ueberfluessigen Etiketten, Wappen, Medaillen, Broschen und Stickereien entledigen muss, mit denen wir unsere Kleider geschmueckt haben, bis sie zu Uniformen geworden sind. Ohne sie auskommen. Sich ein bisschen entbloessen, wieder leicht werden und wesentlich.

(...)

Sich von allen moeglichen Etiketten zu loesen, hat einen Preis: Es bedeutet wehrlos, schutzlos, einsam zu werden. Diese Etiketten beschuetzen uns und bieten uns Sicherheit, Geborgenheit, Hilfe. (...) Wenn etwas Neues und Gutes entstehen kann, dann nur ausserhalb der beruhigenden Angehoerigkeits-Etiketten: Und nur wenn jemand noch in der Lage ist, aus sich heraus und in absoluter Leere und Stille etwas zu schaffen (und sei es nur einer in jedem Jahrhundert), so hat er die Welt einen kleinen Schritt vorangebracht."

I’m in Mysore these days, my final stop in India, and it seems a good point of time for me to write about a few things which my experiences in this country have brought to me.

Through seeing many things in India which seem incomprehensible at the first glance, I actually realized how much of it we do ourselves in the West, only in a different or maybe simply more unconscious way. How can people adapt their whole lives to the expectations of their families and society? How can they care so much about what others say? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that we’re doing the very same in the “West”. (I actually really liked the word choice of Rico, our permaculture instructor by calling the “undeveloped world” “majority world” and our “developed world" “minority world”.) And through realizing how ridiculous I’m sometimes finding it here I realized how ridiculous it is of me to do so! At the same time, there’s of course also people in India who don’t adapt to the given standards – in fact that’s the main issue I’ve been concerning myself with for the last few months. The line between conservative and liberal thinking is a very fine one, but it divides two completely different worlds.

This is only one of many examples which have contributed to an expansion of my "box". If you keep encountering people who speak adoringly of Hitler and at the same time you are made aware of mistakes from Gandhi's side which people over here obviously must be able to judge better than us, things are being put into perspective!

One of the things which have been bothering me most in India has neither been the toilets nor the crowds. It has been the constant mistrust I’m encountering here. Not towards foreigners (rather the opposite), but towards each other. How can a person from a country mistrust a person from their very own country so much? Maybe all this also has a connection with the corruption system which is thriving so well in over here.

I have learnt things in this country which I believe I could never have learnt in any other place. The greatest change which has come to me through India is that before coming here, I was always thinking about how I could make more efforts, do things better, contribute more, and now I just think about how I can want to achieve less, live a more simple and humble life.

I’ve also learnt here what it *really* means to switch off one’s brain – not just theoretically (which is a contradiction in itself!), but very practically. I’ve also realized that doing so doesn’t make me irresponsible as I used to think – in fact responsibility has little to do with the brain, but much more with the heart and soul. Another thing which I’ve realized that the demand to always live in the present moment is not always adequate. It seems to have become a “mantra” in the West to always live in the “Here and Now”, but I would like to hereby allow myself to take this pressure from me and anyone else who is reading this. :) I've found that rather than my experiences themselves, the present condition I find myself in makes me see and feel about all these experiences in a completely different way. Yes, nothing is more valuable than creating a powerful and positive "Here and Now", but sometimes happy memories or future plans can also contribute to that.

Funnily enough, the probably most confusing country on Earth has helped me to clear a lot of my own confusion. Maybe I needed such a challenging environment where the only way to survive is to have a *lot* of clarity in onself. ;)

Btw, since I mentioned the toilets – I have to say that I very rarely encountered really dirty toilets in India. Plus, I’ve come to really like Indian toilets (I even read that the squatting position is more healthy for the rectum ;) ), and most of all I don’t understand anymore how people in the West can live without miniature water showers in their toilets. It seems so much more hygienic to me.

So with that, I hope you enjoy the pictures of my travels in Assam and Meghalaya and will upload the ones of my time in South India in my final entry.

And last, but not least, don't miss out on watching this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzD5UAbPES4

It will also tell the exact story of my passport hunt in Delhi :)

Many hugs to all of you!!!

Christian School in Guwahati

... and from inside ...

... and with a good student :) (my friend's cousin Yuvraaj)

Visit of the Assam Trade Fair

Typical Assamese fabrics

Spices and their explanation in Assamese

Assamese handicraft made from bamboo

Maybe IKEA could get some inspiration here? ;)

Fuer Vivi :)

In front of a nearby temple...

No church tax necessary here ;) ("seva" = service)

Assamese bamboo hut

My first dish in Shillong - even the states within Northeast-India have completely different cuisines

Christianity is the dominant religion of Shillong

With CS friend Phejin from Nagaland

Observing a lunar eclipse

My CS hosts' adorable kids

To visit the Indigenous Food Festival we had to drive a long way through Meghalaya which made me realise how amazing the landscape is there (quite European in a way)

A Church nearby the Food Festival

My CS host's wife, kids and Pheijin - it was pretty cold as you can see!

It's all about Slow Food...

Only one of many explanations of the local food of the different villages

Main ingredients of "paan" - pieces of areca nut (the whole nut to the left) with lime paste in a betel leaf

Also this candy floss is sold everywhere in India - in Hindi it is called "buddhi ke baal", "Old woman's hair" :)

Seems familiar...

Shillong has other worries than just spitting people ;)

Shillong city centre

In India even the movies are spicy :)

This is the impressive pickle assortment of a small dhaba (roadside restaurant)!

Back in Guwahati I visited the Kamakhya Temple, one of the mostly visited pilgrim centres in India

In Indian temples ghee lights are preferred to wax candles

Mohorsii and me on Neelachal Hill, the highest spot of the city

With fish being so important in Assam there's also a fish vendor who visits the houses every day

Another thing Assam is famous for is its silk...

... which is produced on farms like this one

Silk worm close-up

Assamese rice fields on the way to a small village to visit Mohorsii's relatives

The typical Assamese lunch I was offered - I love the brass dishes

I was the first foreign visitor of the village and most warmly welcomed

Remember the "paan"? This is the betel plant, climbing up an areca nut palm

Assamese weaving loom

Very Assamese picture... the landscape is amazing in a very simple way

Visit to a nearby temple...

... where the originals of very old documents are still being preserved

Guess for whom I took this pic ;)

The traditional Assamese hat called "Jaapi"

In Jorhat, a city in Upper Assam, I was able to visit the Agricultural University

With my friend's friend's cousin Gauri and her room mate Namita in the university hostel

Visit to the Tocklai Tea Experimental Station

Different kinds of tea leaves

The ferry which took me to Majuli, a large river island in the Brahmaputra

The first dormitory completely made of bamboo I've ever seen!

The guest house from outside

Bamboo bridge leading to one of the many Satras (Assamese temples) on the island

Entrance to the huge complex of the satra

In front of Garuda, the carrier of god Vishnu

With Manjeet who kindly showed me around on the island

Typical bamboo hut with fishing baskets

Another weaving loom

Gauri and Namita cooked lunch for me in their room!

In India Hangman is a very popular game ;)

Gauri & I on our jeep safari through Kaziranga National Park

Glimpse of a Rhino - Kaziranga is home of two thirds of the world's Great One-horned Rhinoceroses

A rubber tree from which latex is being collected...

... given time to harden...

... and dried in the open air

Thai house in an ethnic village where the houses of different tribes were recreated

Another typical Assamese plate...

A more tasty version of "paan"

Typical view of people sleeping at the railway station

At least in one blog entry I had to upload a picture of this tea tray which they distrubute on trains

The Navdanya shop and restaurant in Delhi

My Christmas Tree! :)

Christmas party with my Assamese friends Mohorsii, Subash and Konseng and Gazala from Rajasthan

At least the stolen passport gave me the opportunity to visit the German Embassy ;)

Und nochmal raten fuer wen das wohl ist ;)

Typical "Johanna loves fruits" picture :)

The most amazing parcel I received from Germany - thanks so much Moni!!! :)

In a Reggae style cafe in Delhi

Indian traffic lights - just do whatever you want ;)

And off to another journey... bound southward...