8. GIVE AND TAKE

Nobody does Give and Take better than the Indians. It's the most beautiful thing about them. It's possible to write a book on what is negative and downright rotten about them but I must dedicate one posting to this very Indian trait which I like the most about them. India is another planet.

On train travel, quite often, I'm unable to get a low berth and am given an upper berth in which I have to climb, very often in full view of everybody as I'm foreign, so they watch me. I've done that only once and hated it although there's more privacy on the upper berths. What I've learned to do is, ask a fellow passenger, usually male, in the same cabin to switch and it's always 'no problem' - cinta matkaro.

On a plane, a family of 3 is seated separately, on their own initiative, some fellow Indian passengers will switch so that the family may sit together in one row.

On the auto pickup taxis, which are overloaded with a total of 5 passengers and the driver makes 6, whenever female passengers are picked up, the men sitting behind will jump out for the ladies, and they will sit on each side of the driver in the small, narrow front seat, holding on to each other for support and balance. If you've been in an auto you'll know how tiny they are. The driver's seat is made a little longer (it's actually a plank) to hold 2 passengers at each side but they actually occupy the seat with just half a buttock - but heck! nobody's complaining. It's cheap, it gets them to where they want to go, the ride is short......life goes on......cinta matkaro.
 
Apparently, it's illegal to pick up 5 passengers, but the guy's got to make a living, live and let live - give and take! After all, he does provide a service which is in great demand. 

An auto driver will pick up a policeman or any uniformed personnel who stops him and gives the guy a ride where he gets off without paying. As long as he dose'nt have to pay a bribe, he obliges. An auto driver will also give a free ride to his friend whom he meets along the route....mind you, these chaps don't earn much. 

Back to the trains - the Indians carry their entire house with them, some are moving home and the trains are the only mode of transport that allows them so much bag space. The cabin can be so full of one or 2 person's stuff that one can barely walk, fellow passengers help to rearrange everybody's bags to make room for each other's belongings and to allow some movement. When that's done to everybody's satisfaction, everybody sits back and starts to get to know one another.

When someone has a newspaper or magazine, other passengers in the train will ask to borrow, even if all they get is one sheet. The papers and magazine go around, circulating even to other compartments but eventually finds its way back to the owner, intact. Even if they don't read English, they will flip through to view the pictures.
 
An auto may turn into a one way street and a huge truck comes along in the opposite direction, but lo! the trucker pulls to one side to allow the auto to pass - without a curse. There are many more instances of this wonderful give and take and I'm humbled by each episode I witness.

7. BRAVING THE STREETS

 

Life out on the streets is TOTAL CHAOS! It's not for the faint-hearted, but it's extremely exciting. It gives me an adrenalin rush to go out into any street in any city in India, brave the traffic, come home in one piece and be able to reflect on the adventure and write about it.
 
Every imaginable contraption that has wheels and 4 legs share the same road space - cow cart, donkey cart, home made cart....stray dogs, cows, mules. For such a huge country, I've only seen a handful of cats. Despite the filth everywhere, I've not seen rats...in one home, there was a little black mouse, must be the family pet! 
 
In one neighbourhood, boars roamed the roads, not those white or pink piggies but BOARS with tusks. They scavenge among the ditches and rubbish heaps and are tame. Mongrels however don't seem to like them.

The 3 wheeler autos are cheap, so are the rikshas which are bicycles with a back seat for at least 2 which takes one over short distances. Travel at your own risk as there's no insurance cover. The autos can go like the wind if not asked to slow down. Being 3 wheelers, they are not terribly stable, so hold on for dear life when they take corners, run over very bumpy roads and potholes. 

Autos and rikshas cut through one way streets in the wrong direction, they take short cuts all the time through back alleys which are truly bumpy, filthy and smelly.
Autos run on some gas which is flammable. If one is unfortunate enough to be in a serious collision, one goes up in a fireball and become barbequed meat.

Strangely enough, traffic keeps moving despite the chaotic mess. In some countries with more traffic lights than Indian cities, traffic very often comes to a standstill. I've yet to see serious accidents involving deaths, I've witnessed some motorbikes turning over spilling its occupants on to the roads but no one died nor was injured. 
I've witnessed occupants falling off their riksha in near collision, landing one on top of the other, but they got up, dusted their saris and scrambled back on their riksha and life goes on. Should there be a collision, the guilty party merely takes a quick look and noting that you're still alive, hops back into his car and drives away. Cinta matkaro - no problem!

Motorists have no respect for road signs, traffic policemen and pedestrians. You'll need nerves of steel with total surrender to the Law of Karma and your God, to cross the streets. They respect only cows for I've yet to see a dead or injured cow.

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6. MY 7th TRIP - JAN-FEB '05

Bullshit!

A rural scene in India

The cow's dung is lovingly patted into shape, arranged in mounds to dry.....is an important source of fuel to the rural poor.
 
Winter in the North was bearable, less dusty. I'm not sure though if I can take the Summer heat and dust when temperatures hit the 40's. I'll melt!

I had a chance to live like a local, staying with several families in 2 cities, perhaps this was my test to see if I'm able to stay on for a longer stretch.

The Indians have a saying - the guest is a God. Boy! Did my hosts treat me special! They served me hand and foot. They were always feeding me. They were always concerned for my comfort and happiness. They were most kind and caring and thoughtful towards me.

I've stayed before with Indian families in Pune, Bombay, Bangalore and Gorakphur whom I did'nt know but they hosted me for a few nights. The Indians are very family oriented and close knit, at least, those I've got to know at close range. Others, I've observed on the trains and buses.

At the other end of the scale, in the course of my service work, I've encountered those who were badly treated by their own families, particularly the newly-widowed.
 
The families I stayed with this time are an exceptional lot. They have roots in Singapore. They are a compassionate and loving people, opening up their hearts and homes to children who are not their own.

I was most comfortable staying with these various families, they seem comfortable having me around. In Madras this trip, I was invited to stay with a family on my next visit. They open up their homes to visitors so readily.

I have felt the pulse of India. I have seen the future. I hereby declare that this century will be the Indian century. Its a people who are clever, streetsmart, quick, think on their feet, hardworking, open to learning new things, able to switch from one course of study to another, adaptable, adjustable, flexible. They have a huge young population below 25, larger than China's ........ and they are hungry for knowledge and material success.
 Out on the streets in the various cities, the energy is palpable, it's vibrant, it's go, go, go. The Indians can operate a business out of a hole in the wall, out of a tiny cubicle where they sit crosslegged the whole day as there's no room to stretch their legs. They operate in conditions that seem so harsh and hard and uncomfortable yet they are there 7/7, long hours, rain or shine, cold and hot. 

They are oblivious to dust, fumes, heat and noise. They do not close for meals nor leave for the toilets. (they simply do it there!). They get by with simple meals, live frugal lives, waste nothing. They are a resilient and hardy bunch.
At the other end are the filthy rich with their favourite hobby - conspicuous consumption.

In Little India, Singapore - Serangoon Road - the same palpable energy is felt as one walks along that 2 km stretch and the lanes where all the action is. It's throbbing with energy. By contrast, Singapore's Chinatown is a pale shadow of its former self because of too much meddling by urban planners. The main Serangoon Road has stayed the same for a long while, it was pretty much left to grow and spread naturally with limited urban renewal.

5. MY MASTERS

I've received a couple of curious queries as to who the Masters are. The World Teacher, my Guru, is Sathya Sai Baba of South India. Master who 'arranged' to pass me his Autobiography of a Yogi is none other than Paramahansa Yogananda.

His book was put into my hands by a Sai Baba devotee at a Sai Center - is'nt that beautiful - the Masters work closely with one another, they do not differentiate between seekers. The man who passed me the book was quite stunned to hear of my experience (related in post 2 - Journey to Self-Realisation). He revealed he liked Yogananda very much and from me, he discovered that a Yogananda Center exists in Singapore and since than, he's been a regular at their weekly meditations. I was also led to The Theosophical Society by a small ad in our local papers which caught my eye. It surprised me that one exists in Singapore and has been around for more than a century.  This Society was mentioned in just one sentence in a book I read on Sathya Sai Baba but somehow, its name stuck in the recesses of my mind and it was instant recall when I saw the ad.  I discovered that the Society had 2 Indo-Himalayan Masters, Kuthumi and Morya, whose job was to bring the study and knowledge of spiritual science to the West way back in the 18th century. Their conduit was a Russian woman, Helena Blavatsky, again, someone not from an English speaking society. She wrote volumes on profound esoteric science which could have come only from those in the know.

Link: post 2 - Journey to Self-Realization

Link: post 28 - The Big O

Another World teacher whom I consider a Master despite his critics is Osho. 

Osho's a Master after my own heart. Through his modern, simple language, he tells it as it is and his wisdom is relevant today and I suspect there's a world-wide revival and a great deal of interest in his discourses.
He's a Master way ahead of his time. Like many other great Masters, they have operated in hostile environments in every era and what they had to say were truths which hurt so much that those whom they criticised - chiefly, priests and politicians - had to get rid of them, and they did, using rat poison in Osho's case.

Throughout the ages, philosophers have killed no one but a good number of them have been killed/incarcerated by priests and politicians. I first read snippets about Osho in the local papers back in the 70's and 80's when he was better known as Rajneesh, operating out of his commune in the US. Somehow, those gossipy snippets caught my eye and the name of Rajneesh ( later Osho) stuck somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind.

In 2001, I found myself in Bombay, some friends suggested spending a weekend in Pune, several hours by train outside Bombay. Instantly, I recalled there's an Osho Center in Pune. I made my way to the center, unsure whether the center still stands after the passing of its founder, and for the first time, saw Osho's face - somehow, it felt like I've known him a long time. I left Pune with 2 armfuls of his books.

Osho's wisdom tells me that it's AOK to be a non-conformist, a radical, a rebel, a liberal thinker, a non-follower - in fact, it's now become very fashionable in Singapore to possess those traits. Even the staid, straight-laced, uptight Singapore system has loosened up a lot to embrace non-conformists.
 
I plea guilty to all of the above, a closet one for a long time, due to society's and family and religious conditioning, but not afraid to step out now and be counted as an independent thinker. In reading Osho, I've discovered I think like him on many topics. Long before I discovered him, in discussions with friends and family, I've articulated my 'opinionated' opinions on subjects which are controversial, almost untouchable. When I started studying Osho just lately, I discovered some of the things he spoke about are my sentiments exactly, right down pat to the exact words. 

I love all my Masters. They love me enough to come to me in their quiet subtle ways to offer me their wisdom, when they knew I was ready, open and receptive, that I will process it all independently without becoming a fanatical follower . I have chosen instead to live their teachings.

There is a common belief that when a student is ready to receive, the Master will come. I have several. I've been blessed many times over.

WHEN I AM GONE, DO NOT WORSHIP MY FORM - BUDDHA