Today is the initial toe dabbling in the water of Blog. I am here sitting in our orange living room, and bright as the "mango" colored painted walls may be, the clouds have cooled the summer air outside, making for a relaxing moment here in June, in front of the Spanish animal channel on the tube. Right now there are big elephants on display from India. There are people who have taken charge of these animals and seem quite comfortable steering them with their bare feet from above. There was also some tribal dancing with sticks at a night activity meant to bring some good fortune to their relationship with the elephants I am guessing. I have not seen any direct references to Ganesha (the elephant looking Hindu deity of good fortune) but it would seem appropriate given the animal on hand. I am not a Spanish speaker so this makes it a bit more difficult to understand what is being said. When I was in India I came across a couple of elephants, but never rode one. I can't say they looked too happy, at least the one I saw dressed up in a town. Painted and decorated for display, and relatively small as compared with African elephants, the one elephant I came very close to seemed calm and somewhat dignified. Although I didn't stop to ask. Compared to the other animals starving on the streets, the elephant looked quite healthy. Other animals roamed around eating scraps wherever they could find. Even the sacred cow ate plastic bottled and bags. Dogs, goats, some pigs, all had ragged exteriors and seemed on edge for survival at times. Other times everything seemed to be just as natural and copacetic as possible, giving that 'all is right in the world' feeling while seeing all these creatures coexisting in such an human environment. The monkeys never seemed to be in peril, as they were not shy about taking what they wanted.
The walls in this living room remind me of India in a way, as the baba saddhus wore bright orange and in general I have heard the color been described as being of the nature affecting psyche. There are different takes on the use of color affecting emotions and mental states, such as blue being good for learning, green calming, etc. The baba saddhus, although I am not sure about the details of the culture, were from what I observed, spiritually invested men who shared a kind of fraternal support system with each other while living in material simplicity. Often taking journeys individually, and making their home wherever they are, a small polished stainless steel pail usually served as a container for asking offerings from the general public. I read somewhere that according to reincarnation beliefs that often older men having fulfilled duties to their families will go off on a spiritual journey in preparation for the next life. But also I have seen young boys dressed and living in the saddhu way of life, and I am not sure if this is like the Dalai Lama reincarnation thing where an old soul is detected in a new born or whatnot, or if it is just somebody's son. I would lean on the side of the latter, but really have no idea. Circumstances often create new realities, and one thing that India is full of are new realities.
That bright orange singes memory into the the soul, but has both bright and dark qualities. I would like to know why the saddhus choose this color.
One thing that never fails to amaze me are the endless interconnections between people, places and time that occur endlessly, but we only observe now and again. Like the starting of this blog was choosing the color of the living room, which thankfully made finding an available blog name quick and easy. Then the tv came on with the India elephant stuff, creating a broad platform for me to remember and wonder aloud in type.
I have been wanting to start one of these for a while. We'll see how it holdsup. Right now is an exciting time in life- getting ready to get marriedto Bonnie this summer, living in Brooklyn, and enjoying the weather.
My friend Craig had told me I should start a blog about gout, as I was recently informed that it is possible I have gout. Gout blog may be coming to a theatre near you, but I have not checked into whether there is already one out there. It would be kind of funny and maybe even informative. Its a new world out there for me and gout. Its not fun to have to watch what you eat so much, but probably healthy to do. Anyway, I hope I don't have such a medieval sounding disease that is painful. I was vegetarian and skinny in India, and gout wasn't even on the map of my reality. But like India, eating rich foods and drinking alcohol without regular exercise has led to a new reality for me- one of gout in daily life. That would be the darker shade of orange. Like the Halloween orange of trick, not treat.
C'est la vie. (After I wrote this a French speaking Marie Joseph Paul? came on tv for the cartoon about American revolution) ahh, the endless synchonicistical connections. Somewhere a bird is flying. Another place a man dropped a chili-cheese dog on his pants.
What an amazing place the world is.
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