In a final attempt to entertain my readers before leaving India I present to you 'Incredible India'.

Fist things first, I recommend anyone and everyone at one time or another in their life to come to India. This country I have grown so fond of over the past three months will be part of an ongoing love affair with the east which will span the entirety of my life. I plan to return numerous times beginning as soon as later this year -when it start to get cold AGAIN in Canada next fall. Who knows if that will be the case, but I want you all to know that I loved it so much I would return that soon. If that isn't a good enough argument to get you out of the chair in front of your computer and come, I don't know what is. Like I said who knows if that will be the case, there are so many other place to travel to, so many extrenuous factors at large that I cannot begin to fathom the possibilties and opportunites that will arise in the coming months. Old friends may tell me of other lands which I must then visit. Money is always a big factor but lets no go there.

I am in Alleppey. It is known as the Venice of the east and would look like that if some of the canals were not filled with garbage and plastic bottles. I will break from the topic of the Venice of the east to rant about sustainable living.
Sustainable Living, part one of a series of lectures I will be giving on this blog. First though, I must say that although this blog is about my travels and the places I see it is also an outlet for me, it is a way in which I can attempt to change things I see and dislike. A way for me to change peoples perspective on the foreign countries that I visit (pronounced Wisit by Indians) and to try to make a difference for the growth and development of a country which I adore.

Lets begin by pointing the finger, no, not the middle one, I have been asked to tone down the swearing though I see little wrong with it. Lets point the finger at myself. I have come to this country as many many people have, with the intent of seeing it and living it. Of being right there, right in the heart of the culture. I have changed my dress to fit in better, I ring the bell when entering a temple. I stayed at an ashram in order to come into tune with the people here, BUT I also have to keep myself healthy. I do not drink tap water. I drink bottled water, it is treated water and will keep me healthy. The tap water contains numerous diseases which, given my immune system's upbringing, would hurt me immensely. What I am getting at is that we have westernized the east to the point where frequent short visits are convenient. The drinking water is there for us. Very few Indian drink bottled water, and I mean very few. The point I am driving at is, we have brought plastic bottles thinking only of ourselves. When we leave the country we do not take our bottles with us. The most important point to note here is although we have kept ourselves healthy we have littered all over the country and made other unhealthy as well as their living environemnt. I do not want this to be misinterpreted so I will clarify now. The Indian people have not done much in regard to garbage clean up, they are lazy and unorganized when it comes to this. WE have not helped. You can hold a piece of garbage in your hand for hours on end and not see a trash bin. The street is the trash bin for Indians, at times they seem to have no respect for their own environment, but that does not give me, the visitor, the right to litter in the street. The same old logic prevails, 'if you saw someone jumping off a bridge would you do it?' Hell yes I would do it, no no, that is not where this is going. With the introduction of new materials and new 'packaging' for goods must come instruction in sustaining the natural surrounding's. WE should not bring plastic bottles and not recycling. Just because we made that mistake at the beginning does not mean we should even remotely allow it to happen here. I will try elaborate on these thoughts later on. For the record and to protect myself from being called a hypocrite I must make it known that I have done little to help the recycling progress. I do buy the largest bottles I can carry and drink tap water when I know it has been filtered but that is not enough..
NEXT !

I have some great picture to add here but I cannot get this computer to work so you will have to wait, I hope you find it in your hearts to forgive me.

I am in Alleppey, I arrived a few hours ago but lets backtrack a moment. Four days ago I took a ferry from Varkala, a beach/temple town very close to the most souther tip of India, to the Amritapuri ashram. Amma, the guru at this ashram also known as hugging mother, is one of the most known gurus in India. She is also one of the only female gurus in India. I received darshan from Amma , which is a hug and a few words of 'wisdom'. People come from all over the world to recieve darshan and people cue for hours. Amma has been known to give darshan (hugs) for 22 hours straight without break. The ashram itself was nice, you have free and open mediation classes which I attended. You can do yoga on the temple roof which I did but I instead of attending a class I instructed one for four other people. This was my first real Yoga instruction and it went very well. I was given many praises after and was asked to lead the class again the next morning, which I did, with a few more attendants. As a side note, I think I will be giving classes in North Hatley this summer for a small fee, if I am living there, and recommend all to attend. The ashram was nice for this but it was also overwhelming. The events that took place at certain times were just like ones held in churches. The quest for peace went out the window and the worshiping of another flew in -at this moment I went out the window, figuratively speaking. It is too hard to explain but I realize if I am to find any answers they will all come from me. I think it is more a coming to terms with what I already know. I am here for a given time, I make up my own mind and my own destiny, I am the maker of my future and I should act ethically because it is what I think is the right thing to do not because I am forced or feared in any way but because it is what I want. This is becoming easier by the day, I spend hours thinking about things, about people, about what I wish to be (not as in occupation), about the things I have done in the past which I will not repeat. We should all take time to figure shit like that out. No more hanging on, no more thinking what if, no more defining yourselves by the things you own or the people who once cared about you or that you care about..I will stop now but I could go on for hours, I have spent hours thinking about it all.

Take that with a grain of salt!

I left Amma's ashram today to board the same ferry, three days later, to go further north to Alleppey. The ferry goes through many canals, the backwater of Kerala. The water is not all dirty just when arriving in cities like Alleppey. I saw hundreds of jelly fish and jumping fish aside the boast as we progressed through this tropic paradise. The south of India is a different country that the north, again not literally. It is littered with beautiful coconut palms and white sandy beaches.
Shanti, shanti, shanti.


Next stop Indonesia. Stay Tuned.