Photo: http://picasaweb.com/lostconversation/SouthIndia
few adventures, but much culture . I'm getting old.
Everything 'we now call East and' party in India, so I found my place in the shade watching and studying the history, the millennia that intertwine Hindu, Buddhism, Islam and Hi-tech.
It starts from Ajanta and Ellora, where the first settlements took place a few centuries Buddhists after the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama aka Buddha in the north.
Here the monks dug into the rock caves and places suitable for meditation, where they could be detached from the world and follow the teachings of their guru without distractions. The caves soon became places of worship and the faithful flocked to the safety of placing bids on earth.
huge Buddha hidden in the caves, where the only light filters, amplifies the mystery of the research of our ancestors, enhance the desire to pay homage to the planet and to seek answers to impossible questions.
In time Buddhism and Hinduism alternate and mingle, so to understand something sevono solid foundation.
Nothing more solid a giant temple carved entirely out of the rock, a huge hole in which there is magnificent temple in honor of various Hindu deities, including Lord Shiva, his wives and several children in different avatars and incarnations.
loads of tourists in India are mobilized in pilgrimages and school trips, to learn that centuries before their civilization was in the vanguard global
Most make offerings and prayers to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, but also with his face Ganesh elephant and 'always well covered.
After this trip back in time to jump pie 'of Goa, with its attractive beaches and full moon party and catapult me \u200b\u200binto Kerala in the deep south. I am suddenly
in the world of theater and to assist in Teyyam, performances in the middle of the night where ancient rituals are carried out beautifully with brightly colored masks and worthy of Rio de Janeiro. Nothing but ass dancing, alas.
people jumping into the fire, which is strange tattoo on the body icon, who plays drums and sings backing vocals looong pounding and hypnotic.
atmosphere and 'truly magical and as I wonder how much and above all because' we believe these south Indian so much a giant gargoyle swoops me dancing before my eyes and between the screams of the crowd jumps on the coals to prove that evil can be defeated by force of thought. Pretty cool man!
After arrival other dances in Tamil Nadu, where the Hindu temples are so beautiful, colorful and full of gods' that compare to this religion a role playing game in which every child of 8 years knows everything about all the hundreds of characters. And here
pilgrimages are serious stuff, or at least are in vogue because each statue is' a festival and every festival, there are thousands of people crossing the state to pay homage and be a part of everything from babies to nonagenarians, each with its own branded stylish.
E 'pooja time, or time of prayer, and the row of hardcore Hindu accumulates at the entrance of the temple, eager to receive Darshan, blessing, and earn some karma points useful in the future. The time
'delicate for all the pilgrims, a small mistake in the ritual can' cancel the entire pilgrimage, so a bit 'agitation emerges from round-eyed faces of these Tamil blacks, whose combed and' impeccable and aroused in me a bit 'of envy. We
closer and closer to the center of the temple, he puts a few rupees in the proboscis of an elephant (vero!) that, full of flowers and body painting, thanked the pilgrim's head, stroking his long nose and nice. Finally
before the main hall, where access to non-Hindus and 'refused, I see the corner of an offer to the Brahmin: among flowers, milk, coconut and cash in cash in their own way you buy credits, thanks Shiva and is slamming his third eye on the next.
Once outside you and 'most everyone happy, beautiful barefoot and rickety one deserves a nice meal in true Indian style, you eat with your hands on banana leaves, drinking chai prepared by acrobatic barman, you share every inch of space and the loud music and a little Maranza adds exoticism and positive mood.
Once again I catch the fact that so many religions coexist in unison, for each temple there is' a Christian church and a mosque, an unending chain of prayers and ceremonies. As always
stranger and 'treated with respect, and a thousand times a day he meets the big question:' Which country do you belong? - Where is your house? - What place? - Good name sir? - You America? - Africa?
Ilari discussions of every shape and color, including this one, between Marco and Ramesh:
(Ramesh to read with accent type Apu of The Simpsons)
A: What is your name?
M: Marco
R: Which is your country?
M: Italy
A: Oh very nice, what is your age?
M: 27
R: Are you marriage?
M: No, not yet, are you married?
A: No, not yet, I will get marriage in 2016
M: How do you know this?
R: Because... Oh yeah i know in Europe white people believe in love marriage and don’t believe in arranged marriage... (giggling) my family knows me very well and find a good wife for me and I will marry her when I will be 26, and I know she is be my perfect wife because my parents choose her for me, because they know me very well, and they know what is good for me, so I don’t have to worry!
M: Wow, are you sure about this?
R: yes yes for sure, and you? How do you believe in love marriage? If you find a girl and you tell her that you love her, how do you know that she loves you? How do you know that your marriage will be succesfull if you don’t know this girl?
What is the percentage of succesfull marriage in your country? Eh? Eh?
I am puzzled, technically the numbers give reason to my friend!
Southern Women are indeed mysterious object, hidden by yards of saris and glittering jewels, their young faces are hidden in the super-soft and colorful, as the distant worlds and distinguished tradition sees men and women, arranged marriages families are common as loaves of chapati, so my peers in India are found in schools, holding hands and hoping for the day live in the place, listen to Bollywood music from their phones polyphonic slurp juice and samosas, waiting day that the father would guesses in choosing his wife! The
India and 'land of prophets and the hundreds of figures stand out for some wisdom and know-how, the various Sai Baba, Aurobindo, Vivekananda, Osho leading to their common name where hippies are looking for a global world that is not laffuori' more 'even in the imagination of the people, who would settle in 2010 only to spiritually' and harmony?
E 'but nice' to see that these experiments work in the small, more 'or less, keeping the flame of the soul. After
Madurai and other holy spots in Pondicherry and Chennai French air you breathe can not breathe right, then I move to the north, Andhra Pradesh.
Hyderabad and 'the capital of the new hi-tech india.
The center is a maze of beautiful Muslim mosques, full black burkas, punjabi, goats and business street.
Anupam brings me running in the city 'new and everything changes: the streets are broad, clean, new buildings with giant posters advertising western style bars and clubs with people dancing and beautiful girls who want to vent their modernity'.
The new India, in the little space available, has its own cards to play.
Curious and 'we Westerners come to India to know that we're losing: the past, the history and life is not electrified, traditions that were on the brink of oblivion pin entire civilizations, lifestyles that now define hippy why the clash against modernism frantic exponential pumped from the West. The new Indian
us were born here, certainly not forget what they have seen and learned the lesson just fine: swallowing trigonometry books and e-marketing are building the other side of India, one facing forward, which aims to be No.1 in the world, leaving the past in its place and build the future elsewhere, keeping the two separate worlds but connected.
The Closet, poverty 'in the streets and' overflowing, but young people are eager for revenge to the world and their dreams are, first of all, now that everything 'possible.
India and China are defining the new global ' that can not 'be more' western-only call, 'cause they be in India and China is what the average western and' exotic and far defined.
So the brothers were born in Asia and Eastern traditions with Western television growing up, lies in the contrast energy flow ... I have no idea of \u200b\u200bthe final result, but I have the feeling that the new man must 'necessarily be re-born from Asia to find new stimuli.
Everyday Heaven and Hell alternate, disarming smile from a dying helpless, India does not leave you indifferent. Life goes on.
Photo: http://picasaweb.com/lostconversation/SouthIndia
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