The Adventure Spirit

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Wednesday, July 19, 2006 4:04:55 AM

I have arrived in Paris safely. The flight was ok, but getting onto the plane and into the air was horrible. The flight was delayed by 2 hours and then we had to stay another 1 1/2 hours in the plane just sitting on the tarmac. There was something wrong with the plane because the engines would not start! which also meant no AC. It was over 40 degrees on the plane as we sat going nowhere at the airport. Everyone was sweating and a few people even fainted. I thought, “This trip is going to be a disaster. I could be in my nice comfortable bed at home with my family. Why am I here? And I am paying to go thru this hell?” This delay caused me to miss two connecting flights out of London and arrive way too late in Paris. At one point they even told me that I would have to spend the night in London. Did this mean I was going to lose my luggage as well. Which flight was my luggage going to take? In Heathrow the terminal was also without air conditioning and the British Airways employees were fighting openly with Air Italia. Again I could see a disaster coming. So when I arrive in London I was completely disheartened and I just wanted to go home.

Then I met an Australian traveler who reminded me of Gaur, the man I traveled throughout India with. I only spent a few minutes with this person as we stood in line for a snack, but I could see that he had the same “take the bull by the horns and charge” attitude as Gaur. This inspired my adventure blood. So I began to feel better. Finally I got a flight to Paris from London. On this flight I met a woman from Hong Kong who lived in Paris and spoke French and was willing to talk. So I started to speak in French. It was great. We spoke for an hour during the flight. She was great for tolerating me!

I eventually arrived in Paris after midnight, about 5 hours later than planned. I wanted to avoid traveling into Paris so late and in the dark, but here I was and everything was closed. The place was like a ghost town with no one to even ask for information. I felt lost. What to do? Then out of nowhere I met a French couple who recognized me from the wedding I did with the French groom on Saturday in Los Angeles!!! They came up to me and started talking in French about how much they enjoyed the wedding. At first I could not understand who they were or what they were saying, but then I realized it and almost fainted. I cannot escape being recognized even 10,000 kms from home! But I was happy. They arranged a taxis for me to travel to my hotel. The charge was 50 Euros and then I tipped the driver 10 euros more because he spoke with me for an hour as we drove. I was happy. I got to speak a lot of French! Much more than last time and I had just started.

I am now safely in my hotel in downtown Paris. Excellent hotel! Ever since the Australian man everything has improved because my attitude had changed. Now I am thinking my Paris trip will be a success if I can just continue to talk French. I even had a few minutes where the words coming out of my mouth felt natural and I even understood myself! All the study I have done in the last two years is turning out to be fruitful. After a hard start things are going well.

Traveling is a matter of attitude. Compare traveling to being at home and you set yourself up for a disaster, but look at it as an adventure, full of opportunities, and everything changes. I thank my Australian mate! I have been told by one friend that I should only travel as part of a tour, that if I did this I could avoid all of the trouble, and I am sure it would make life easier. But then I think, in a tour I would not meet the Australian, nor could I meet the Hong Kong Parisian, the French couple in the airport or the taxi driver. I would have missed so many opportunities to interact with the French. I know it is harder, but when I travel I do not want to live in a tourist’s bubble, I want an adventure.

The Girls of Paris

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Saturday, October 1, 2005

My trip to Paris can not be considered complete without some comments about the girls of Paris. The first and most obvious thing that I noticed was that there are no obese people in Paris, this includes the girls of Paris. In fact I found them bony and thin. They are also very modest and understated in their dress compared to what I am used to. And like all of Paris their colors are dark and dull.

Paris and its inhabitants are dull and grey. I wanted to wear a pink shirt in Paris. What a funny thing that would have been! I conclude that bright, light and lively colors can be found in lower latitudes, while dark and somber colors go with higher latitudes. That pink shirt is quite appropriate for my world, but not in France. Hence the girls of Paris are thin and somber.

I also notice that they show very little flesh. They are always covered, so they appear modest. I do not know if this is actually true, but this was my impression. Their hair tends to be short and they wear very little makeup so they appear on the masculine side. Their skin is also not clear. Parisian girls are not that attractive.

Drawing by Lalita

By contrast California girls are very attractive. Fashion of course is a big thing in Paris and the shops look very fashion trendy. However, what I saw on the streets and around Paris was not impressive. There are also a lot of Muslim girls, but they are all covered and that is a whole other discussion. I did have to laugh a few times seeing really fat and ugly Muslim girls all covered but wearing a ton of perfume. It reminded me of fat American girls in spandex.

I originally wrote this installment while on the train to Rome. I am typing this from my notes while in Rome. Now that I am here I wish to make one further comment that only occurred to me when I arrived. Parisian women have no breasts! No breasts means no cleavage. Here in Italy, immediately after leaving the train station, life looked normal again and I recognized this point. Here the Italian girls have some substance on them and so they have nice breasts and cleavage to show if they wish.

Smoking in Europe

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Saturday, October 1, 2005

Smoking in Europe

Here are my conclusions regarding smoking in Europe. There are huge cultural forces at work. In the US smoking has been attacked in the law courts for almost 25 years and mostly they have lost. Huge advertising campaigns have been waged against the smoking industry. I have seen one television ad that goes “Would you kiss a smoker?” It shows a non smoker man attempting to kiss a smoking woman. He almost does it, but can not because of the smell. He then leaves her for a non smoking woman. You see them in a “french kiss” at the end of the ad.

The courts have made the smoking industry pay for these kind of ads, and there are many. Packages of tobacco even have to have a warning label on them stating that if you smoke you may die or get some horrible disease like cancer or emphysema. It is amazing to see this. The courts have forced them to do this (BTW the alcohol and the firearms industries are also being attacked in a similar manner in the US) Doctors and all medical institutions speak out strongly against smoking. As a result much government legislation has been made against smoking. It is now not permitted in most public places including schools, subways, restaurants, bars, taxis, trains, airplanes, on public beaches and even in the streets of some cities. With so much propaganda against smoking it is no wonder that the cultural perception has changed. It is now “uncool” to smoke. You still see smoking in the movies, but even this is changing. Years ago even my mother and father and other adult members of my family smoked. In other words, respectable people smoked. This is what I see going on in Europe today. Europe seems about 15 years behind North America. It is still “cool” or sexy here. As I write I am seated in a first class train compartment with a respectable gentleman in his 60s. He is from Belgium and he lives in Italy. It is obvious that he is educated and yet he has just gone outside to smoke. I have seen this many times in Europe.

In the US and Canada, who are the people who still smoke? Mostly adolescents who are naturally rebelling. It is “cool” in their world, but if they do not become addicted they will grow out of the habit. In general lower class and uneducated people still smoke. Other groups who smoke are from the ethic communities, people from Mexico and South America and Europe. They come and bring their habits and pass it on to their children. It takes a few generations for these people to “Americanize” and drop the habit. I know of no one who smokes.

I still maintain my position on this matter. Smoking is not “cool.” It is unhealthy and it is unclean. In Paris I watched a cook in a restaurant smoking as he was cooking. Ashes were falling into what he was cooking. Ah, the secret of French cooking! lol

 

Paris Ramblings

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Wednesday, November 30, 2005 4:32:13 PM

Paris is the city in which one loves to live. Sometimes I think this is because it is the only city in the world where you can step out of a railway station—the Gare D’Orsay—and see, simultaneously, the chief enchantments: the Seine with its bridges and bookstalls, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Tuileries Gardens, the Place de la Concorde, the beginning of the Champs Elysees—nearly everything except the Luxembourg Gardens and the Palais Royal. But what other city offers as much as you leave a train? *

As an American visiting France it is a must to walk along the Champs-Elysees up to the Arc de Triomphe. This one street and this single monument alone ignite the magic of being in Paris for the American mind.

It is like visiting Times Square in New York for a European. It is just one of the “musts” while traveling in Paris. I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the crowds as I made my way along the Champs-Elyseest. I almost had to fight my way through crowds at times. I was taken a back by the large number of car dealerships on such a street. The amazing thing was how an upscale dealership like Mercedes or BMW can operate through just a single storefront. In America a single dealership alone covers a whole block. Two or three of them in a row cover many football fields and here I was passing Mercedes, BMW, Peugeot, Citroen and Renault in the same time it would take me to walk past five MacDonalds! Who in North America can imagine BMW flanked on both sides by trendy furs and jewelry shops? Even a single car dealership in Times Square, let alone half a dozen, is inconceivable. Europe and America are so different!

The Arc de Triomphe is positioned within an extremely busy traffic turnabout at the top of the Champs-Elysees. You don’t dare cross this traffic circle. Instead there an underground passageway that connects with the Metro that crosses over to the monument. Until I climbed the stairs and emerged under the Arc de Triomphe I never knew what this monument’s purpose was. It is a war monument complete with an eternal flame! I saw dozens of French war veterans manning their posts around this monument with great devotion. This is a sacred site and they stand proud. As North Americans we fail to understand the proud nationalism that exists in France. I did not feel this as much in Italy as I did in France. In France the feeling is decidedly militaristic. Evidence of past war glories pervades French culture and the city of Paris is a virtual open museum to war history. The Arc de Triomphe stands at the top of the Champs-Elysees and rules over all of Paris as the king of all monuments in a city of monuments. The hand of Napoleon is everywhere.

 

*Margaret Anderson (1886-1973), U.S. editor and memoirist.

Bill Boards and Art

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Thursday, September, 29, 2005

Clean French Countryside

I did not mention yesterday, but the bus ride out to Chartres from Paris allowed me to see the beauty of the French countryside. Paris and its environs are most beautiful. I did not see any of the garbage and graffiti that I saw on the first train ride from Charles De Gaul to Paris.

They should clean that up because it makes a poor first impression for visitors. What I saw on the way to Chartres was a most prosperous and clean countryside. The freeways are first class, and what was most interesting was the total lack of billboard advertising. In America billboards litter the freeways and countryside everywhere you go. It is terrible. In case you do not know, in America billboards are huge signs that stand 40 meters high 40 meters wide with lights shining on them even at night. They sell virtually every kind of product from cars to food to breast enhancements.

These are just part of life in America, but in fact they pollute the environment. Such things exist in America because of freedom of speech rights guaranteed in the constitution. Within

The Ubiquitous American Billboards

certain wide limits anyone is allowed to say anything in America which includes the placing of bill board all over the country to even the televising of criminal court cases. So much freedom is both a blessing and a curse.

If I complain about the garbage and graffiti in Paris I must now offset my remarks by stating the overall beauty of the city. The French seem to have a pre occupation with art and sculpture. It is everywhere! I have never been confronted with so much art. What a pleasure this is. In America we have some nice building, some are even outstanding, but it is nowhere near like it is here. Art confronts you everywhere. In the same way that trashy bill boards confront every American, so art confronts every Frenchman, and perhaps Europeans in general. I have not seen enough of Europe to draw this conclusion.

Art in Paris

Of course the average Parisian takes all this treasure for granted. You can only stay in awe for so long, but still on the subconscious level the work of art is going on, in the same way that the work of bill board advertising is also going on in the psyche of the observers in America. So what can I say other than “garbage in garbage out.” Anna, we tout America as the center of the universe. In America you get a feeling that the rest of the world lives in utter deprivation and suppression by their political systems, that only America is free. But I know this is not true because of being a Canadian, but after so many years of being bombarded by the America media regarding this point this trip reminds me of the foolishness of such a view. The French are not suffering, thank you. They are living amongst the most dazzling splendor. My God, the shops are filled with consumer goods. Somebody must be buying all these things. And with petrol at over $5 a gallon the French are still living. Oh how I suffer from the xenophobia of America.

The Cathedral in Chartres

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Thursday, September 29, 2005

Chartres

Today I went to Chartres Cathedral in the town of Chartres about 100 kms outside of Paris. The ride and tour cost me 53 Euros. ($60) Well worth the cost. In fact this one trip alone has made my trip to Europe worth it. I can not describe the breath taking experience of seeing the cathedral from a distance. It is overpowering! The cathedral is perched atop a hill in the center of the town. Stepping into the cathedral is no less overpowering. In fact overpowering is the word that best describes the whole experience of Chartres. In our language it is pure aisvaya-bhava. You feel like a speck inside this place and yet you feel face to face the divine. It is pure dasya-rasa.

If we describe the underlining purpose of puja as mystery and communion, this cathedral

Stainglass

has certainly achieved that purpose. It is like standing before General Shermon up in the Sequoias. stand in the center of this cathedral with a ceiling two hundred feet above your head and with incredible stained glass windows on all sides raising a hundred feet with shimmering bits of colored sunlight dancing at your feet. Even the most staunch atheist can not escape power of this place. Anna, I can take a thousand pictures and still not capture the gravity of this monument. The splendor of Chartres is truly awesome. Our tour guide was expert in describing the details of the cathedral, how it was built a thousand years ago and was nearly destroyed by fire in the 1500s, and how it was spared from the bombing in World War II that destroyed the town of Chartres, but what I got out of the tour was something much different.

I remember my first visit to Vrindavan, the land of Krishna, and on that trip I was expecting to see something wonderful. After all, this is

Chartres

one of Hinduism’s most sacred sites. Instead I saw filth, broken and unappealing architecture, human feces and garbage everywhere. Then I was told that this was just the external Vrindavan purposely hiding the sweetness of Krishna underneath a sad joke and if you spend more than just a few days in this wonderland of lila you are sure to come down with hepatitis or typhoid fever due to the filth. What a let down that was! This is one of my greatest complaints against India and Hinduism, the disregard of its sacred sites. But here in Chartres I found what one would expect of a world class religion. And not only is the Cathedral clean and spectacular, the town of Chartres, which receives over one and a half million pilgrims and tourists every year, is also clean, first class and non commercial. I was most impressed.

After the tour they gave us a half an hour to walk around the town, so I went and sat inside the cathedral to be alone and feel the impressions of the ages. I touched the stone

Chartres Entrance

steps where people have bowed and prayed for a thousand years. The stones are smooth from a billion hands and heads that have lovingly caressed them. I felt the stone walls which have been rubbed soft and smooth from a thousand years of devotees. I could not help but feel the devotion that is still pulsating from these stones. Tears came to my eyes as I felt their devotion. This cathedral is not merely a collection of stones, instead she is a living mother who has received the love of her children for a thousand years.

First Day in Paris

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Wednesday, 28 September 2005 18:30 Paris

The Arc de Triomphe

I have just completed my first full day in Paris. I now know why Parisian are all thin. They walk. I have never walked so much in one day it seems. Taking the Metro is just another way of walking. And even when you are in a Metro train you stand. The trains are crowded! Now that I have traveled around Paris a little, I no longer think that Parisians are any more sickly than any other northern climate city dwellers. Neither are the subways any more ethnically diverse than what I have seen in New York or Toronto. Yesterday, when I arrived I was traveling through a lower class area of the city. Today I was in the downtown and, for sure, tourist area. You see hardly any graffiti in this area of town, in general Paris is on the dirty and run down side of things compared to say San Fransico a comparable tourist city that I know.

I took the Metro out to le Jardin Des Tuleries for a bus tour of the city. For sure I was a

War Memorial

TOURIST today, complete with camera around my kneck! What can I say? Paris is absolutely overflowing with culture and history. My dear Steve, what in God’s name are you doing in Riverside? After spending years in Paris why would any one want to be in America. Paris in wonderful! On this single bus tour I saw so much culture and history I can not absorb it all. Afterwards, I walked along the banks of the Seine, through the Jardin Des Tuleries and up the whole Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. By the way, it is a living war memorial complete with an eternal flame. I did not know that. The Champs Elysees is like Times Square in New York only much bigger. The crowds are overwhelming. At any given time Paris must have hundreds and thousand of tourists! You can tell the difference between the Parisians and the tourists because the Parisian are smoking. And what is the fixation that Parisian women have with little dogs? in pairs no less! It is hilarious to see.

The food is wonderful. It is worth coming to Paris just to eat. I have never seen so many restaurants and food shops. They are everywhere and yet no one is obese. I have yet to see any diet sodas or non sugar sweeteners. And no one is fat. Can it all be attributed to walking? The cheapest gas I found so far is 1.19 Eruos. That is over $5 a gallon, but there is no shortage of cars or things to buy, so Parisians must have money. I can also see that Steve Jobs is having a major love affair with the Parisians. ipods everywhere. So far I have yet to find any internet access. The wi-fi revolution has yet to hit Paris.

Mylene Farmer

Today while I was eating some lunch in a restaurant I could hear Mylene Farmer singing on the radio. The waiters were whistling to her singing. When I mentioned this to them they could not believe that I knew who she was. I made major brownie points for America with recognition and positive comments about Mylene. Parisians love her.

 

Astrology

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004 8:03:50 AM

 Let me tell you about the inner working of astrology. It is true, like you noted, that astrology and religion are separate things in Christianity, but in Hinduism religion and astrology are still part and parcel. Many Indians (not all) take it seriously and regularly consult a priest or full time astrologer for direction in their life. Mostly they want to know about money and relationships, etc. In short they want to know the future.

Like you I have always been curious about astrology, so one day I decided to study it in detail. I spent about seven years studying it. Now people come to me regularly for a reading. I do it because it is part of the job of a Hindu priest. If I wanted, I could easily make it a full time profession. What I have found is that the rules of astrology are so wide and open to interpretation that it is possible to see just about anything you want in any horoscope. At the same time I have often seen an amazing correspondence between a given chart and a person’s life. I think astrology can work because of the power of “ambiguous specificity,” so I like to use astrology to help people understand their potential, get over their fears and think about their life situation. However, the business of predicting the future is foolish so I stay away from it.

I say that astrology can work because human psychology is extremely complex. There is something in the human heart that allows astrology to work. It is not because of the stars and planets, but because of the amazing nature of the human being. For this reason astrology can be very helpful and at the same time very destructive. If I tell a person they have a real problem in their chart and that bad things can happen, then it puts a kind of curse on them. This tends to lead to a self fulfilling prophecy. In the same way, if I tell a person they are capable of things beyond what they ordinarily think they are capable of achieving, then they tend to achieve higher than they might ordinarily achieve. I have seen this.

The workings of astrology are purely psychological. And it has everything to do with the relationship between the client and the astrologer. A good reader can do amazing things. If I tell you that wearing coral or a pearl will help your life, then it probably will because you will feel better about yourself if you wear it. I am empowering you to empower yourself. Is the coral or pearl actually increasing your power? No, It is what you think about yourself when you wear the coral or pearl that increases your power. In addition, when people see you wearing jewelry they think better about you. Similarly, if I drive to someone’s home to perform a religious service in an old beat-up car they will pay me less than if I drive to them in an expensive new car. Believe me, I have personal experience of this. In dealing with people psychology is everything and you have to deal with different people in different ways. Therefore the rules of astrology are so flexible that they allow the expert astrologer (psychologist) to adapt to any situation.

So now you know the inner workings and secret behind astrology. I hope I have not ruined it for you by taking all the fun away.

*Image Source: forastrologyzone.com, colettebaronreid.com

A university education should never be wasted on a job.

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4/28/11
Dear Radhika,

When I heard that you had been selected for Berkeley and that you had elected to attend this school, I was delighted. Berkeley is a top school, not because some rating agency says so, but because of its diversity of classes, its location in the San Francisco Bay area, and its strong traditions of questioning and challenging standard conventions of thought. The Bay Area pulses with energy. San Francisco is a truly world class city. It is on the cutting edge of innovation and new ideas, especially in the sciences, the high tech field and the humanities. The scenery is world class and it faces the pacific rim to receive all the ideas of the orient. You were not alive during the 1960s and 70s, but the Bay Area and this school in particular became the heart of a revolution of change in politics, social issues, art and music—some of it good, some of it not so good—that swept over the country and much of the world. Berkeley forged its reputation as a seat for non conventional thinking, which it has maintained ever since. The ideas emanating from the Bay area are still a powerful engine that drives change in this country. Berkeley is a university’s university.

Radhika, when I was your age I would lay in bed with the University of Toronto’s catalogue of courses in my hand and I would dream of all the different subjects I could study, subjects that one could never find in a high school. The University of Toronto is a unique place like Berkeley because it too was big enough to offer a huge diversity of subjects. It had classes in Egyptology including hieroglyphics. There was a center for Medieval Studies. It even included a huge Asian studies program with Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese, and a department of Sanskrit and Indian studies. One could learn Pali and even Tibetan at the University of Toronto. In other words, the University of Toronto was one of those world class schools where one could find training in just about any field of studies, even the most obscure. Berkeley is like that too. I remember telling myself to try something different. Take advantage of the huge array courses and study something that touches your heart, at least one course. Don’t just think in terms of getting a job. And, of course, you know a little of what path I chose.

I would like to see one of our children discover warp drive. And I mean this both literally and metaphorically. Warp drive, as it was conceived in the mythology of Star Trek, is a means of propulsion that allows a space ship to travel faster than the seed of light. It is pure science fiction, but I’m sure it’s waiting to be discovered. Someone should develop it and you, Radhika, with your mathematical genius combined with the nonconventional traditions of Berkeley could do this. But in a metaphoric sense, I ask you to reach out for the stars and attempt the seemingly impossible, push the limits of creative thought, “follow your bliss” and take full advantage of what a large and diverse school like Berkeley can offer.

But there are dangers that go along with an education coming from a school like Berkeley. I’ve often warned parents not to send their children to Berkeley for an undergraduate education. I advise them to wait until their children’s minds are more mature and less able to be influenced by the radicalism, distracted ideas and disillusionment that can also come from a school of this caliber. Simply put, Berkeley can be dangerous. How many suicides have occurred by students who have jumped from the main bell town in the center of that campus? These were young people unable to cope with the universe of ideas that enveloped them while at school. Usually we worry about our children leaving home for the first time becoming pulled off course by parties, sex, and “rock’n roll.” But at Berkley we worry that our children will become pulled away by political movements or social causes. Radhika, chaining oneself to the front doors of corporate America, demonstrating in the streets, or burning one’s draft card or bra in public is not the best way to effect change in the world. A better way is to take the reins of power through education. This is my concern. If you want to effect change in the world become a chief justice, a Nobel scientist, a secretary of state, a Pulitzer prize winner, become the best in your chosen field.

So, Radhika, you are about to attend one of the best schools in the world. It is located in a world-class place and it has a reputation and history of pushing the limits of thought and experimenting with new intellectual ideas and values. My years in college were some of the best years of my life. I hope you enjoy yours. Remember why you are there. Don’t become disillusioned and don’t become pulled off course by the topical issues of the day.

Love Pita