Mr. Ro met me and
picked me up at 5:38 am, but train was late, in Dalton Ganj … interesting name
re my Dalton letter about love (city is grungy in the early morning)… The word Ganj
has something to do with gathering place, (in addition to my association with
marijuana)
32 languages in the
area around the Palamau Tiger Reserve
Legacy of British 200
years in India has faded even more than the legacy of the 1960s, but it’s still
present
Betla is on edge
of amazing natural area Palamau Tiger Reserve
Felt very
connected and connecting in this natural area … ecosystem preserve in contrast
to much of India
Very local peoples
(trippily local in a cool way) were eating groundnuts just inside Palamau Tiger
Reserve entrance near Tourist Canteen (with Heart shaped pool in cement,
curiously – re Harbin)
Walked in to the Reserve
itself in afternoon … another Indian started tip toeing or ‘egret-walking in’ kind
of in a 1960’s way, as if he could be dramatizing tripping on acid discovering
a new world, and as a kind of dance, or even becoming a wild animal himself, at
one with nature in this preserve … as I, by myself, was walking in feeling my
way into this biome for the first time, sitting on a log here with beautiful
pattern … seeing these beautiful deer then different beautiful birds, hearing
an owl … The Palamau Tiger Reserve is teeming with life, visually and
beautifully …
*
Intercultural
communications are interesting to observe and play out differently than in U.S. and uniquely to India
Hindu (Kolkata) –
Buddhist (Bodhgaya) – Muslim (Betla)
Bengali – Hindi –
Hindi Mugli language – 32 languages …
The village of
Betla is beautiful … mostly Muslim
Muslim call to
prayer … school children (k-6) next to Hotel Van Vihar (government housing, I
think) … singing their lessons … nice …
interesting … it’s a public school I later learned.
*
Anthropological
sites for students galore in and around Betla and in Jharkhand, in many ways
Linguistically …
ecosystem wise … unique tribes … plant wise and culturally and vis-à-vis World
University and School … ethnomusically and tourism studies-wise … E.g. How do
tour guides in the three main religions in Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand, - those
with much experience, for example, and who have developed a reputation –
navigate the cultural differences and conflicts around this business, vis-à-vis
their religious and world view differences and vis-à-vis the new category of
subjectivity called tourists?
Indian guides’
communication is also very interesting with each other and in terms of
employees +
I saw monkeys,
langurs, deer, Gaur (bison), kingfishers, peacocks all in the reserve from a
jeep. The guide, dark skinned, and from Betla, had striking resemblances to my
cousin, SB, in Oregon.
*
Jharkhand
separated from Bihar over resources in 2000 … how, in Dehli, did this work and
on the ground? Who benefitted and what are some of the narratives vis-à-vis
Indian religiosity?
Off soon at 7 am
for tour in preserve …
Indian guides’
communication …
Palamau Tiger Reserve
*
3:30 pm
Tourism guide
English instruction in a Google + group video Hangout to any language, … beginning,
intermediate and advanced … vis-à-vis WUaS … with volunteers … and Tourism
guide Hindi instruction
The guides I
traveled with today, Aman and the pilot Tasauar-Ansari, both Hindi speakers, to
Bodiradhi (town?) and to a nearby Parvoti Temple, where we climbed up steps,
then to a picnic on the beach of 3 rivers coming together (the Koyle and two
others), then waiting and watching the construction of a small road over
railway tracks, - where I met Bobeanand (sp?) , chief engineer of the project,
whose father in law lives in Mayapur, with its Krishna Consciousness temple (ISKCON)
– and then visited the amazing, extensive, Palamau Forts, old and new - both
don’t speak English very well. Their knowing English would be invaluable. Maybe
WUaS could help focus this in a Google + Hangout …
Betla seems a
little bit farther removed from the religiosity of other places in India.
Perhaps it’s the Palamau Tiger Reserve natural area influence, or the Muslim /
Mohammedan influence. The new and old Palamau forts were extensive – really
extensive - fortifications from the 1600s I think.
January 7?
Yesterday evening,
I played my bagpipe in the Van Vihar hotel briefly then just outside it. About
10 people gathered around, quite a few from Bengal, and after I had played a
few tunes, I asked if the girls in a family of 4 would sing, and they started
singing a Rabindranath Tagore Bengali song of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ … somewhat
different but recognizable … interesting ethno-musical potential, too … then I
played some tunes. Later we talked in the lobby of the hotel and exchanged
emails. The girls didn’t seem shy when singing when they’re father robustly
started singing and they followed suit … perhaps I’ll do such with my kids
eventually … wonder about Bengali song and this hybridization … as well as the
Scots in Bengal when Tagore was writing, - culturally.
After our talk, another
man, Satyendra, asked if he could accompany me to the little, very little,
shops in the center intersection in town. I said yes … I’m not entirely used to
Bengali’s openness and connectedness and friendliness … and we walked in and he
looked like he had a slight disability, walked with a photo slightly pronated
and could have been epileptic or something, but we talked, and he went in to
get rum asking if I’d like some – no, I don’t drink – paid possibly less that
was asked in this 3 sided stall of a liquor store with a heavy gate and lock
across it, and whisked away with his hand any possible protest from the sales
person – Indians tend not to get upset and keep from erupting in anger in
general … so I’m not sure about this interaction. Satyendra had first bought be
two packs of chocolate biscuits, partly possibly in thanks for my piping – he
said he really likes musicians. He might possibly have been coming onto me in
an Indian way … not sure … but he was also friendly and it was interesting
talking with him a little.
Someone in the
hall just said that Bengal was under the British for 200 years … and didn’t
seem to mind … a lot of cross-fertilization …
I bagpiped in the
area in front of the Palamau tiger reserve and in the public school this
morning.
Elephant riding
this morning at 7am was a delight … just me and the guide, named Imam Udin (sp?)
- the elephant driver guide could have been the person who ‘tiptoed through the
tulips’ in a very egret way yesterday as I was just beginning to explore the
Reserve … I think he’s smart and am not sure about the extent of his English …
India is so old …
Just got my
laundry off the line on the roof and took a much welcome shower … my clothes
hadn’t dried yesterday, so they stayed out overnight, and were dry after a day traveling
around … Back to the gate to the preserve for a ‘safari’ at 4:30pm.
Heading to the
town of Neterhat tomorrow, at the southern end of the Palamau reserve, then to
Ranchi, which used to be a capital city under the British, and is the capital city of Jharkhand, and which could be
interesting, although played down in Lonely Planet guidebook.
More piping this
evening …
Around 7pm …
knocks on my cold hotel room door for the second night in a row … not used to
such … who’s knocking I wonder, and where’s my happy light
within, Hindu / Buddhist consciousness, being of service and connecting
inter-culturally? … a friendly Bengali and two relatives this time, inviting me
out to play my bagpipes … he was mentioning curious allusions to sharing the bus … and something
about a campfire … I go out to play my bagpipes ...
In general I feel
safe from theft in India (although I'm also careful) – India seems to have much integrity, significantly due to its
religiosity, I think.
*
Wednesday, January
8, 2014
The room is cold
in Betla and the sun is shining outside, as I awake. I depart from this little
Muslim village next to the Palamau Tiger Reserve in a little more than an hour
for Neterhat and then Ranchi, Hatia train station (one of two stations in Ranchi).
Mr. Ro, the tour operator, one of two partners with Mr. Asla, a Muslim, has
been helpful throughout. He speaks English quite well, and has navigated the
slightly stronger energies for me of dealing in a Muslim world of little
negotiations about money and about tour itineraries for example. In addition to some unanticipated
guide fees, only partially mentioned in Kolkata with VF (a Hindu,
first wearing a forehead mark and a leaf on his head when I went in with Main Majumder), the Jharkhand tour operator, who arranged much of this trip, I gave
Mr. Ro 500 rupees extra yesterday about the 9700 rupees I paid in total (plus
guide fees for about 5 days). Negotiating about itineraries and money with hints
of latent anger with Muslim Asla is part of the process, and VG was
good, in general, helped get me a cheap price for this trip, and has to
negotiate much of these processes, too. Mr. Ro has been a skillful mediator.
His phone number is lower on the Betl Tours’s business card, where Mr. Asla and Mr. Ro are partners.
Privacy in the
states in India is different here than in the states, culturally. And family
and extended families seem much more significant. Subjectivity – social roles –
are very different – in terms of what’s possible, what exists - for example, religiously, souvenir stand-wise,
musically, tourism wise, taxi wise, monk-wise, doctor and lawyer and engineer-wise, than in the US. India has so many people!!!
As I was talking
with the Majumder some days ago vis-à-vis World University and School, expanding circles and networks seem to be important - how to expand the networks of academia – Cornell, University i (Sat,
Main and my father were all professors in the same department at the University in Pennsylvnia), of
extended family (and in Bengal), of Google, of the SF Bay Area, of Reed, of companies, for example
– as WUaS grows.
Dogs trot past the
window. Sounds of mostly Bengalis and their kids (including the African
Bengalis I played my pipes for last night, and who later came into my room), I
think, on holiday, in the corridor outside my room, in this slightly run down
hotel.
It’s time to pack,
and then walk into the Palamau Tiger Reserve once more to commune there in its
beauty. And to eat a bite of the 3 little Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate bars,
one pretty young Bengali and the African Bengali, I think, Rintu Ghosh, by
name, gave me after my piping.
It’s time too to
continue to revise my Harbin ethnography and finish doing this. And it’s time
to put an 8-10 WUaS slideshow presentation together for Chennai and with
PV.
Also, I’ve been asked “Are your married?” many,
many times … it's one of the most oft asked questions … in addition to “What is your name?’ and
“Where are you from?” asked in very friendly ways. India is quite traditional
and friendly in some ways.
...
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