Last words

I'm home. Arrived this morning. So much I didn't get to write about - eg last weekend's trip to Periyar National Park. The last days, the goodbyes, the leave taking etc.
I'm at that point that many travelers experience when they come home - not wanting to let go of the experience, tightly clinging to the journey with a fear of losing it if I loosen my grip, not knowing how to integrate it with being home, not wanting to be home (but also looking forward to some things, especially reconnecting with loved ones) I loved the whole event so much. I loved the learning and the living and the connecting and the loving that I did. I liked who I was while I was away, and I'm nervous about whether I'll get to access that person now that I'm home. We'll see. I know I will be back to Aranmula and VKV (God willing) in December, for yet another different experience (not the same)
As I expected, my beautiful new mridangam was taken from me at customs and will be sent to Melbourne to be gamma-rayed, so I don't know what condition it will be in when I get it back. I tried to argue - Subhashji told me that his student from Melbourne had no problem when he brought his mridangam home. But like last time with the tablas that I brought home, my mridangam and I were parted. I won't see it for 4 - 6 weeks. In the meantime, the one I have at home is in a very bad state and sounds like the kind of drum kindergarten children make when they attach a balloon to an icecream container. My tablas are not in good shape either, but I hope some work on them will fix them.
Anyway, all will be well.
I had been offered to be met at the airport but chose to arrive in my own space and get a taxi home. The cab driver was a Punjabi sikh and he had Bangara music playing in the car, so that was a fun arrival.
For the first time in all my traveling, I come home to my own house. That's definitely a good thing (though should I sell it and quit my job and go back to India? Just joking)

And so, the last words of this blog are not profound - I don't have the energy to make a profound synthesis of what it's all meant. Talk to me about it when you see/communicate with me.

Tabla Tony

Ayyappa pilgrims dance at Eremely

Ayyappa pilgrims to Sabarimala, if they do the full pilgrimage, have their last stop before Sabarimala itself at a town called Eremely. In the main street of the town are 3 important places for the pilgrims - at one end of the street is a temple at which the pilgrims bathe and pay respects. Then they adorn themselves with coloured powders all over the head, face, arms etc and dance up the street to drumming, sometimes also wearing masks and carrying assorted props. It's wild and manic - Paula from Rio said it reminded her of Carnival. At the other end of the street is another temple and also (interestingly) a mosque which is also a holy place for the Ayyappa pilgrims. As January draws on, the amount of pilgrims increases and the amount of dancing in the streets of Eremely also intensifies, causing traffic jams. Here is something of what it all looks like:

Some photos

My 2 closest friends at VKV - Leonore from France and Yossi from Israel. We made a great team - all 3 of us emotional refugees searching and hoping for wholeness and healing and direction. Leonore was here when I arrived and just left yesterday. She studied yoga and Carnatic singing. Yossi came 2 weeks after me and will leave 1 week after I leave. He is learning tabla and Hindi. We shared a house and our lives. I will miss them both very much, and hope that there's a way to connect with them in the future.



































Since these photos are from Yossi's collection, he is in most of them. Here he is with darling Paula from Rio, Brazil - she is a professional dancer with a gentle spirit and big heart. She was
learning kathakali.









And here Yossi is with Lucy from England. She is studying mridangam and Carnatic singing. She is an amazing flautist and has been teaching flute to Yossi, Leonore and me.









On the steps of Aranmula Krishna Temple - the 3 of us again, and Evelyn from Scotland. Evelyn and her partner Laurence were doing the 2 month intensive yoga course (along with Leonore) and then stayed afterwards, while Evelyn did Carnatic singing and cooking and Laurence continued with yoga and also woodcarving. Evelyn and Laurence joined with me in French lessons with Leonore. Also Evelyn joined with me and others in learning beautiful gypsy songs from Leonore. Evelyn sang and played guitar often and it was a delight to discover she loves Joni Mitchell. She and I sang "A Case of You" and she played the guitar so much like Joni it was amazing.











My tabla guru, Ashok, with his favourite students - Yossi and me.












Ashok and me with my dear friend Santosh, the Carnatic singing teacher.

My mridangam guru, Subhash

Subhash's wife, Manju, who is a singing teacher. She was a student of Santosh, so the connections are all very web-like

Meals at teachers houses and New Year

Ashok, my tabla teacher, with his wife and 2 daughters. Yossi (another tabla student) and I went to his house for dinner. They live in a rented house in Chennganur (12 kms from Aranmula) and he comes to Aranmula ervy day by bus. Their house is very simple. It's interesting that Ashok, a Keralan, chose to be a scholar of tabla, which is a North Indian instrument and part of the Hindustani music tradition. Keral, being in the south, is a part of the Carnatic music tradition and so the tabla is not used in classical music - the mridangam is. We have see "fusion" music here where tabla players are includeed with Carnatic music, but to play real Hindustani classical music Ashok would need to live in the north. He likes Carnatic music but his love is Hindustani. He started playing when he was 10 and at something like 14 he left home to go to the north and live with a tabla guru to learn.

I also went to my mridangam teacher's house for a meal the other day. Subhash also lives in Chengannur but he comes to Aranmula on his scooter. Subhash's wife is a singing teacher at VKV. They both also teach local Chengannur students in their home, so when we arrived at their place Manju was teaching singing to a group of little kids in one room and Subhash was teaching mridangam to little kids in another room. We met a 10 year old boy who has been learning mridangam from Subhash since he was 6, and he will have his arangetram (debut concert) next month.

New Years Eve was an enjoyable time with VKV students and staff. Some of us went to Khozencherry (the closest town) to have a drink first (no alcohol allowed on VKV premises) and then we had a party in one of the centre's houses. I led African singing and taught an African dance, and (as I did last time I was here) played plastic bucket drumming which was fun. This turned into a drumming circle with staff and students playing plastic buckets in a mix of African and Indian rhythms as well as the universal sound of people banging on plastic buckets. We also had various dances and songs and some bopping. Just before midnight we all sat in a circle (Indian, French, English, American, Dutch, Brazilian, Israeli, Australian) and took turns saying words which conveyed some kind of hope for the coming year. At midnight Swami (the yoga teacher) suggested that we do some "Om" chants, and he led us in that. It was a good wholsome event. Some of the students said it was their first New Years Eve without alcohol and NY day was their first time of starting a new year without a hangover. Indians don't celebrate new year (except young groovy people in Mumbai or Delhi who want to be like westerners) so there were no other parties going on in the village. Walking home at 2am through the village with my two closest friends and housemates here: Leonore (from France) and Yossi (from Israel) was a warm and heartfelt moment in a silent village under a beautiful starlit and moonlit sky. Beginnings of new beginnings at the beginning of a new year.