...

illuminating, eccentric, vibrant, colorful, colorless, aromatic, rancid, filth, jubilant, smile, trains, complicated, simple, religious, harmonic, faithful, reverential, lassi, thali, dal, lorries, frenetic, self revealing, buttered nann, seekers, hustlers, charlatans, elixirs, holy men, curious, desperate, afflicted, rupees, slow moving, dry, ganges, buddhism, hinduism, sikh, gems, fabric, copper, brass, haveli, holy cows, ghats, prayers, candles, ego and the lack of ego, the have's and the have not's, congested, population, sari, forts, shiva, krishna, vishnu, brahma and the brahmans, bodhi tree, buddha, deities, monkey's, muslim, playful, no shield syndication, tired, aarti, punja, searing, extreme, mercurial, flowing, still, chai, cricket, laughter, anonymous, transformation, strangers, friends...

these are a few. but there are none really. words i mean. grand statements i'm going to stay away from...there are some things, as previously mentioned, that a person should keep to themselves. i'd like to think that my journey has been watering a seed planted a long time ago.

i will however give a parting story.... i did an interview for emmy magazine while i was here. the irony will not be lost on those that know me best. they're doing an article entitled "PEOPLE TO WATCH" for an upcoming emmy nomination this july. they've picked 5 men and 5 women to center this story on. i was one of the 5 (men that is).

the interviewer asked me how getting nominated for an emmy might change my life. i was very tired at the time, not thinking clearly. i don't really remember what my answer was. thinking about that question in the days that followed, my truthful answer became very clear...

"before i wouldn't have been nominated for an emmy, afterwards i would be nominated for an emmy."

now, asking myself the same question about India, about the last 5 weeks of my life, my answer is the same...

"before i hadn't come to INDIA, now i've come to INDIA."

i can't wait to sit and listen to the various happenings in your respective lives. i trust that you are well.

see you soon.

walton

breaking bread

i met two members of a tribe, a group of sentient beings that everyone reading this blog belongs to. the curious and the compassionate tribe.

this man and this woman, this couple, are journey people. they're many things, to many to mention in this correspondance but there is one recently acquired skill that took center stage in our communion. jewelry making.

i have a momento from their efforts to mark 3 days of enlightened conversation. it was nice to have the company. thoughts on the past 72 hrs:

a conversation with a stranger can turn into dialouge with an intimate friend

if you extend, if you comprehend the endless connection of

all organic things.

we all want to share, to be shared,
to compare ponts of view... hues from a colorful life...

it's simple really, it takes an ear.

a willing ear and the lack of fear to learn anothers narrative. a

story that could dramatically effect our own...

we are not alone...

fellow journeymen are to be found in every situation.

sometimes all it takes is a simple hello.

w

(the other photo... well that's just a cool fucking t-shirt)

HOLI

i look like a coral reef... or better yet some strange, distorted, distant cousin of a parrot fish yet to be discovered. for three hours i swam the streets of PUSHKAR in a school of other nameless vertabrates. an undulation of color and music was our sustenance. colorful and colorless, we greeted each other with a simple phrase... HAPPY HOLI.

this exultation of spring came after a moon filled evening here in INDIA. streets were overflowing with drummers, dancing men and a variety of digital cameras. at one point a woman broke thru the crowd and began dancing right along side the other men. i thought how bold it was her to stand in that circle, how graceful and salient her movements were. i found it tittilating, bordering on salacious until a traveler sitting next to me pointed out that she was a man. a sari clad man.

the festivities culminated with a prayer, then an offering of merrigolds, holy water and incense to 25 bushels of wheat assembled in the town square. the wheat was then set a flame.

i had been hearing about the HOLI festival since my arrival in INDIA almost one month ago. the festival is a celebration of spring that takes place over 2 days. the full moon hoedown i was telling you about? that's the opening act. at 8 oclock the next morning madness begins. an assualt of colorful powder in every direction. IF YOU LEAVE YOUR ABODE YOU WILL BE ATTACKED. this final day of HOLI is a celebration of spring with color, lots of color. color that doesnt' fade for a week. that is unless you know what the INDIANS know... baby oil before you leave and shaving cream when you return.

i must admit i simply wanted to participate as an observer. i even took refuge in the foyer of a HINDU temple thinking SHIVA would protect me. my efforts were in vain. 5 young men, suspecting my reticence, snuck up behind me and began smearing paint all over my face. i broke the grip of the biggest one, began running down the street, only to have my escape route closed off by 20 teenage INDIANS, who looked like they'd been on the road with THE GRATEFUL DEAD for 6 months. tackled to the ground i was, color stuffed in every orafice. i surrendered. i happily surrendered.

happy holi everyone

morning prayer at mosque in bhopal

people