Trust

Leopard poop was sighted.

An extremely good question was fielded "What if the leopard comes back?"

Luckily (for everyone but me) we determined that as a foreign-delicacy I was the first one to go. Sacrifices must be made. However, our wild-feline friend did not present itself again on our walk through the hills. I guess that was a bit of trust.

I am also quite sure to trust the ability to strenghten the community with dedicated work, passion and good intentions - not necessarily "expertise" like a degree (which I still intend on getting though). After learning more about and experiencing first hand some of the absolutely amazing work being done by the Uttarakhand Seva Nidhi Paryavaran Shiksha Sansthan (aka. a state specific NGO that works with local women in villages for environmental education, childrens' education and girls' education which ultimately has culmunitate in heartening women's and community empowerment in the most literal and inspiring sense of the word.

But mostly the trust I realized was in the fact that on my 60th Day of the my trip that I actually hadn't written down the emergency numbers associated with my credit card(s) and health insurance. So it seemed like a prime time to do so. That time was exactly while driving in the Himalayan foothills in a white Tata jeep with the windows wide open. That. That is trust.

F.R.I. on Fri

I went to my first museum in India today: the F.R.I. on Fri(day). I like it.

The F.R.I. has some beautiful natural sculptural works (that you aren't supposed to take pictures of) that they label as diseases with latin names - trees, fungi, bugs... but it does make sense since the Forestry Research Institute is just covering their mandate.

Natural Sculpture on display

 The shapes and textures and colours... were amazing!

This beautiful area and stupendous building (not only a museum but a large campus with a few different schools and a University that has M.Sc and Ph.D. programs in forestry and environmental sciences) were a great early afternoon adventure!

F.R.I. building (one of three wings)

Fuls (Hindi for flower) in the garden posing for a picture

Fools (English for those who wear goggles*) posing for a picture
(*note: googles are the Hin-glish name for Sunglasses)

 It was already well over 23C degrees at 10:30am when we started our adventure to the F.R.I. but that didn't stop me! Oh no! I was definitely going to see the uhh... at that time I did not actually know what the place was called... uh... the... um... National Forestry... something... say "Department" was the only way I could help poor Banita as she asked for directions. But in our defense it seemed that two of the five guys who could indicate our course of travel thought it was called the F.I.R. and one of them had no clue what we were talking about (and we were less than 1 km away from the place).


NWFP = Non-wood forestry Products

What did I learn today? Well... there is a lot of great information, beautiful design and important history associated with the forests in India and, by default all over the world. As one sign I saw yesterday said "a Tree is an International Smile." Awww. But really, after seeing the "Social Forestry Museum" and the vast array of non-wood products I hadn't even considered when I thought of forests... I was amazed!

I think this poster says it best...



word.



Ganges Experiment

Best Saturday morning activity? Yoga!

Afternoon? Well this past Saturday's 6km walk (one way) to a beach on the Ganges river with a picnic lunch sure hit the spot! It must have been 24 degrees (Celcius) and Even though we draw attention like a parade as we walk it was SUCH a beautiful day and a perfect little outdoor excursion. That was also a very inspiring moment: writing poetry in my journal, dipping my feet in the chilly mountain water and eating flatbread and beets and curried chickpeas in the sun on a rocky beach? Yes, I definitely love it here!

The Ganges was more then just a river. I KNOW I am not the first one to say that. Millions of people worship the sacred waters as a Goddess and there are daily rituals, offerings and chants all along it's 2506km. Many in India call her the Ganga Ma or mother Ganga.

foot in the Ganges

There were donkeys and dogs and oddly close-hovering middle-aged male swimmers that added, uh, atmosphere but on the advice of my inspiring-ly spiritual roommate I took a few moments of contemplation and give an offering to the river before dipping my feet in. I had a small flower and lots of respect for the beauty and power of the waters... and was brought to tears after my 30 minute river-gazing session. I felt inspired to write a poem or two and then even felt the bright blue sky with its wispy clouds smiling with sunshine. Actually though, I'm not sure I'll type the whole poem out here... I'll save that for my Tourist Candy blog; which will have to wait until next weekend :) I've got a test to study for!

Ecological Clock

tick   tick   tick

the environment is much better at keeping time than I am (even if I had a digital satellite watch... or something)

8:43pm - the dog choir has begun and I can pop in my earplugs and hit the pillow (if I haven't already).

5:30am - front bell is gong-ed (who needs an alarm? - likely no one in the neighbourhood)

6:28am - sun is rising in the middle of the morning yoga session (beautiful hazy eyes of the sky opening up to cast golden grey light over the top of the valley and colouring most of the clouds thick blue or subtle purple)

6:29am - wind starts HOWLING (for those of you in Southern Alberta think, a slightly more than normally windy day)

7:10am - we are doing sun salutations to the sun rise. The yellowy orange light is washing over the hills and you can start to distinguish the pinks of the rooftop, yellow of the walls and the tones of green in the trees.

8:01am - the sun is more then light. There is now warmth!

9:20am - Pigeons on the metal roof. Our class room/yoga studio is on the top floor and by now the silent meditation for class is over and the birds know it.

I should probably just throw my alarm clock out the window and focus on the wisdom of this natural cycle. It's even part of the yoga philosophy we are learning about... and validates my life-long reasoning that in Canadian winters "business hours" (and school hours and "anyone expects anything from Lyndia hours") should be limited to the hours of 10am-3pm. Which will now, officially, be a part of my life philosophy.