Recent Wanderings

Just some crumbs for the many who won't hear a squeak from me for the next 30 days or so:

Vipissana meditation was perhaps the 10 most meaningful days of my life, certainly the most introspective (but what do you expect when you're not allowed to talk) I will be promoting it to all my people in the US when I return, but please don't write me off as another wide-eyed American college student who went to India and came back enlightened. The meditation is exactly what the Buddha taught before a religion sprouted up in his name. Vipissana teaches you how to keep track of your personality and emotions through long hours of observing bodily sensations. Once you learn the technique you can replace pain with a uniform flow of tingly-feeling while meditating-- kind of hard to describe how cool that feeling is. Go to dhamma.org if you're more curious about all that, or just wait for my testimonial in June.

My feet are throbbing from 5 hours of snack-walking in Calcutta. Never been in a hotter place in my life for such a long time, much less been walking around in the sun. I'm quickly retreating to Darjeeling in Sikkim, near the border of Bhutan. I think I've spent at least 3/4 of the last three days on trains or buses. And if you think that makes my life sound exhilarating, don't overlook that fact that I haven't had a shower in as many days....in India.....in the sun....with not too many clean clothes. Scumminess is not a crime, and for that I am thankful.

Soon after I get to Darjeeling I start the 28 Basic Mountaineering Course at the Himalayan Mountaineering Course. Plan to get trained in ice crevasse rescue, being cold, and hopefully a little bit of ice climbing. Getting permission and funding for the course required an impossibly lucky turn of events, props to parents and select Rotarians.

And then, it's my last month in India to wind up. Should I be expected to "take it easy" and spend my last month in Jalgaon, or does an addiction to movement demand that I stuff each moment and only get sleep when I reach the airport?

I'm a happy, grateful dude, and am hyped to get back to Brick City. Most of my mind wanderings during silent meditation involved my first few moments of getting home and the much anticipated pre-college summer of 2007. Send me an email while I'm out. It's gift gathering time....