indi 08 May 30, 2008
Posted by Administrator in : nomadika , add a commentdespite my best intentions to share our most recent escapade to India, to this date i have failed. those of you who speak spanish, can read a pretty detailed account here but unfortunately the lingering speed of indian time does not apply in Europe.
i wish for the chance to lie back and reflect on the amazing hospitality, high spirituality, ayurvedic cleansing and battery charging experiences we’ve had over the last month, and yet as soon as we landed in Madrid it’s been all go: catching up on work, finishing new home renovations and meeting deadlines all take precedence over digesting new experiences.
all i can say is that i will return to India again and again, hopefully for longer periods of time and adding new destinations to the essential stops that Mumbai and Mayapur have already become, when I say Mumbai I really mean Radha Gopinath Mandir, a welcoming oasis amidst the chaos of the city spearheaded by HH Radanath Swami Maharaj. Hard to forget early morning Mangal Arati, or even sweeter, the evening good night Arati that always seems too short. What a luxury to live in the urban sprawl of Mumbai but be able to nip in for darshan at a temple as warm and friendly as this.
i have felt less of an outsider on this trip since our first class host, VKD alias “the arranger”, took care of our every need. we have been greeted and treated like family by people whom we’d never met before, we’ve been stared at like martians in small towns with no tourists, we’ve paid too much for small items and we’ve been given delicious food and board at no expense.
we had the privilege of interviewing Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami Maharaj for our documentary on Vedic Culture and have received help on the basis of good will. must try and keep post-india glow vibrant within, even if external circumstances demand something else.
The whole album of photos from this trip are here
journey to the east - I March 24, 2008
Posted by Administrator in : nomadika , add a commentour journey to the east has started with a stop in freezing cold madrid: looks like we have to face the extreme cold before facing the heat of april in india. our itinerary will take us from east to west, visiting temples, admiring the deities, learning from philosophical lectures and trying to be useful wherever we go. we plan to finish “haribol!”, our video about contemporary vedic culture in bengal. after that we´ll head south to see how an ayurvedic pancha karma treatment goes, fingers crossed.
Here are some of my favourite images from the last trip east.
fan of children´s faces in mayapur
sunset at the ganges
child in his mother´s arms, bengal
Radha Madhava Gaura Purnima 06
sunset ferris wheel, just opposite Candradoya Mandir
The rest of the photos of indi 2006 are here
amanda + sai July 8, 2007
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my first jewish wedding, although not a very orthodox one judging by the fact the ceremony was held outdoors, peppered with Hawaiian influences and conducted by a female Rabi. I thought it was great.
dinner was inaugurated with that famous song you always hear in movies when its the jewish wedding scene (I´d sing it for you if you could hear me), and involved everyone dancing around the bride and groom hand in hand, of course the highlight came when they each sat on a chair and were raised up into the air a few times each. very wow. after such a display of energy it seemed weird to sit down for dinner, but that´s what we did. such occasions are always a great excuse to hook up with people you haven´t sen for a long time, and in this case the wedding signalled the return of skapista whom I spent most of the weekend chatting to since we had 2 years of gossip to catch up on.
the Berkshires are a beautiful area I may have never experienced had it not been for this wedding, green, lush and well-to-do, the kind of area where everything closes early (by Spanish standards) and seems rather expensive (by working class standards). in such areas you often experience how tough the law can be in the u.s.a, in this case it was on an excursion down to a beautiful waterfall where the groom was almost arrested for swimming in the river. of course sai is a resourceful chap and escaped the claws of the (power) ranger and the wedding took place as planned.
u.s. tour July 3, 2007
Posted by Administrator in : nomadika , 1 comment so farwe´ve covered a good number of destinations so far: laguna beach, los angeles, sacramento, berkeley and san francisco. we had a taste of so-cal surf culture, toasted our skin on a single beach excursion; and were lucky enough to spend a day hiking around echo lake before the big fires.
now its time to head to the east coast, to woodstock for a few days and then further north to amanda and sai´s wedding in the berkshires.
venice beach is always all about seeing friends, it´s been great to re-charge batteries by hooking up with like-minded souls. this is probably what i miss most now that i live in spain, people are nice, people are lovely, but people are rarely like-minded.
now that there are kids around, time takes on a new meaning: the snivelly baby crawling around on the last visit is a revolutionary toddler this time round, and there are beautiful new additions to the clan such as Maya, Robin and Carole´s beautiful five month-old. The most mellow child I have met in a long time.
I do feel people work at a crazy pace here, far more intense than in Spain. Inevitably this is always due to a project which will soon end and naturally one must put matters such as eating good square meals, sleeping and relaxing without external help completely on hold. This is one of the reasons I don´t live there anymore, but I do love seeing my people, they´ll always be my people no matter where I live.