India -chaos dirt disorder civilisation beauty and joy

I'm not sure that what I'm about to write will merrit a title with such hubris, but I'm reading a Truman Capote book and he uses lots of fancy words so I felt inspired to also.

If you want to look at some snappy titles check out maya's blog - mayamolseestheworld.blogspot.com, I haven't made the link yet (or put photos up or anything....) , but I will

I think I didn't write about India for such a long time because I couldn't make my mind up about it or I was too busy wretching or slowly dying of dysentry or on the back of a camel or the computer was just too damn slow.

So now that I've left, if I had to describe India suscinctly, I'd say it was like being in the mindscape of a schizophrenic person - crowds of people which induces a kind of paranoid claustrophobia interspersed with monkeys grabbing at your belongings and out of the corner of your eye you'll see an elephant or a camel amidst taxis and man drawn rickshaws. Up above eagles and vultures fly, raptors looking for the next kill. People on street corners with lamps with everso long thin spouts, asking if you want your ears syringed , showing you books with comments of satisfied customers. Jar baby beggars who move with agility and speed on all fours like animals, but their lower legs were thin and brittle and child sized because their parents had prevented them from forming properly in the hope that it would make them better beggars. All this in a piss scented haze with a constant ringing and honking in the background, a city buzz that felt like torturous white noise. Now this all sounds negative but somehow, you become transfixed by it all. Perhaps it's the people, who speak in better english than you do and talk to you as if you've known them all your life and somehow they are so joyous and generous and kind and you wonder how they have such tranquility in a place so chaotic. And you wonder if the acceptance that all life is suffering really does bring them peace? But that;s as far as I went with the whole spirituality thing. Although this is the first landscape that comes to mind when I think about india, it is so different and diverse - himalaya - snow capped mountains, coniferous expanses and lakes, desert and dunes and big open skies and at night with infinite layers of stars that seem to sink into you as you stare up at them, and as you go to sleep you keep peeking out from beneath your covers checking to see that you are not in a bedroom but out in the galaxies and universes amongst the stars, those falling and diminishing and those burning bright. Rajasthan - the land of warrior princes and forts and palaces and romance - mausoleums built by maharajs in honour of their wives and maharanis in rememberance of their husbands. Excellence in architecture, war, politics, love and art. Forts that were built specifically on hilltops with right angle turns upto it to slow the battle eplephants and foot long metal spikes on giant gates to end them. Hand prints carved out at entrances of maharanis on their final entrance as they go to perform sati on the funeral pyre of their beloved husbands - a timeless reminder of their bravery and dignity and honour - as much as any great warrior.Great banquet halls where rajputs met with lattice covered alcoves where the maharanis hid to catch whispers. All this and I only visited North India!

Anyway because it is all so chaotic I've decided to separate everything into topics.

But before I go any further I want to say hi to Carol Maya's mom, because you make me feel like someone reads my blog and doesn't think it's dull or boring, so thank you!!!