Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Stolen!














The lock on my door
Faith in the people around me
My peace of mind
Broken, Stolen

How does honesty bless one mind and not another?
Why, fair honesty, do you leave a brother
Abandoned in the darkness
Of the soul.

When I came back from the University my lock was broken open and people had gone through my things. They stole only money. The lock was broken open with a rock, delicate little thing that it was. At least they didn't take my passport or bank card.

My first reaction was just to leave early. I just didn't want to be here any more. I can my things right quickly enough and be gone on the bus in the morning.

But I stayed to finish my work. Today is my last day, and I'll take the bus tomorrow morning down to Dehradun, stay there for a night and head off to horrible, big, dishonest, polluted Delhi. As you can tell I'm not looking forward to it. I hope I can stay in the Buddhist quarter but the two hotels I would stay at I can't phone properly because the phones don't work well enough.

I long for the apparent honestly of the Malay people, or the Thai. And their competence in organizing systems too, like phone, bus, etc. And their general cleanliness. But I'll stay here for three more months, perhaps my next destination will refresh me.

I am going next to Kota to visit my friend Ram which I hope will be very nice.

2 comments:

  1. Take heart -- you can almost *always* get a room in Majnu-ka-Tilla north of Delhi. We never had trouble getting a room in the Peace House there and were always happy with it. Being able to sleep in that area was the only thing that made Delhi tolerable -- my biggest complaint was the horrible air quality: after 24 hours I always had a sore throat and the beginnings of a bad cough.

    At some point we found a way to not fight India, which took months for us; but once we did everything became so much easier.

    It's worth visiting Kutch in Gujarat, if you get a chance. We based ourselves out of Bhuj and saw so much in that area (Than, Nirona, Mandvi, Bada, etc.).

    Namaste,
    Rick

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  2. Dear James,
    I am sorry for what happened to you yesterday in India.
    But Your quest for Gandhiji touched me. Nuvvu Naaku Nachchaav (It is Telugu for I liked You). I am going to read John Ruskin 'Unto this Last' now. If I I write an article on it in our Telugu daily, it will be a a tribute to you.

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