Palampur June 25, 2009

I keep on having to remind myself that I am awake and that this is my current experience of this reality. I woke up at six this morning to go on a hike. "Go on a hike" would have to be an understatement here, seeing as this trek up the mountain was one of the most mystical experiences of my life. Four of us headed out without any real idea of where the trail was - just heading straight towards the mountains. We walked through the rice fields which host a sense of calm that could only come from the still water nesting amongst the bright green rice shoots. We walked through thin dirt trails past children bathing in the irrigation, then into a huge field where we dodged cakes of poop from the grazing goats and cattle. We walked across a suspension bridge over the parched river (still waiting on those monsoons) and then alongside a rushing creek looking for a place to cross. Finally we found a narrow enough point to leap over and onwards into the hike itself. There's a myriad of thin, barely tredded trails scratching across the entire face of the mountain from the workers who collect pine sap from the trees. About half the trees are scratched with rusty metal cones nailed into them for collecting the sap. I felt completely invincible on that hillside, even with the pine needles slipping around underneath my soles. My own soul was melding with the mountain and the trees as I moved my energy through the thick scent of pine and closer towards the Himalayans themselves. 

Lauren and I were commenting on all the trash that they leave on their beautiful landscape here, and how frustrating it is to see it all. We're going to try and organize a pick up trash day to promote the awareness of keeping this land clean and pure. We also mused on starting our own non-profit organization and then having a legitimate excuse to come back here as much as humanly possible. 

I'm so eager to connect with these kids on a deeper level. I also want to cultivate a friendship with the teacher, Swadesh, who's a very kind woman and puts in her best effort to communicate with me. I'm so intent on teaching them something, but what with the language barriers it's sooo hard to get through! I'm trying to keep my frustration at bay and just accept this situation and work with it from there. My Hindi is definitely improving so that's promising. 

We wandered back towards the field later on in the day and came across a huge statue of Krishna - the blue skinned god. Amazing. There were three girls standing on a huge rock a bit off in the distance waving to us and one yelled out a few times that something was coming. We decided to just go for it and walked towards the rock to say hello and find out what was coming. When we asked what she meant by it, the girl offered her hand to help us climb up the rock. When we got to the top and inquired yet again, she said nothing was coming and laughed. She had a beautiful singing voice, and for only eleven years of age was very outspoken. Yet, when I asked her about the krishna statue, she tried to say something about how we are human and dying, but when she couldn't fully explain it in English, she would giggle into her hands. I want more of these sorts of interactions with the people here.