Getting into arguments again
Mar. 17th, 2006 11:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhyllFirst off, if you want to see some pictures of holi, you should look here.
Yesterday I spent mostly at the library, although I did have some adventures with post. I had a Family Thing to post, and when I went to the post office I was immediately accosted by a Helpful Indian. (Note: I come across Helpful Indians fairly frequently. Occasionally they are actually helpful, more often they are merely the signal for an expensive - by Indian standards - encounter.) He took me off to his shop, sewed (grammar?) my parcel up neatly, and dropped me back at the counter.
In the evening we walked to an ashram and listened to some Indian music. It was kind of nifty, but I ended up getting into an argument (after we got home) about whether it's right for a guru to have a big glittery auditorium and fly around in helicopters and such, even if he does live a simple life. ("Simple" seems to be one of the highest praises I hear in India, eg. "He's a simple man".) It doesn't sit right with me, for various reasons which I shan't go into here as I'm sure my ranting would be quite unnecessary.
In other news:
* either my phone or the network here or some combination of the two will allow me to either hear people or be audible to them, but not both. If you've tried to call me recently, I apologise.
* Shayla taught me the salute to the sun morning yoga thingy. I quite like it, and aim to do it regularly now. (There are a few Indian things I want to do at home. Yoga, chapatis, using less Stuff, chalking patterns on the doorway to show everyone that your family is ok, all seem nifty.) I have a feeling this is part of their generally attempts to try to redeem me from my dreadful heathen state. They have been telling me more about god than I care to hear. It is kind of weird staying with a very nice, socially conscious, intensely patriotic, religious family. Some matches, some incredibly dissonances.
* Rachel: I headwobble all the time now.
* I read a delightful article yesterday about a literacy activism group that discovered women involved in the group lacked confidence in part due to lack of mobility. So they made bicycling a part of their activism, and taught thousands of women how to cycle so they could reach interior regions in the state to teach others how to read. Books *and* bicycling - this is most definitely my new Favourite Thing Ever.
Yesterday I spent mostly at the library, although I did have some adventures with post. I had a Family Thing to post, and when I went to the post office I was immediately accosted by a Helpful Indian. (Note: I come across Helpful Indians fairly frequently. Occasionally they are actually helpful, more often they are merely the signal for an expensive - by Indian standards - encounter.) He took me off to his shop, sewed (grammar?) my parcel up neatly, and dropped me back at the counter.
In the evening we walked to an ashram and listened to some Indian music. It was kind of nifty, but I ended up getting into an argument (after we got home) about whether it's right for a guru to have a big glittery auditorium and fly around in helicopters and such, even if he does live a simple life. ("Simple" seems to be one of the highest praises I hear in India, eg. "He's a simple man".) It doesn't sit right with me, for various reasons which I shan't go into here as I'm sure my ranting would be quite unnecessary.
In other news:
* either my phone or the network here or some combination of the two will allow me to either hear people or be audible to them, but not both. If you've tried to call me recently, I apologise.
* Shayla taught me the salute to the sun morning yoga thingy. I quite like it, and aim to do it regularly now. (There are a few Indian things I want to do at home. Yoga, chapatis, using less Stuff, chalking patterns on the doorway to show everyone that your family is ok, all seem nifty.) I have a feeling this is part of their generally attempts to try to redeem me from my dreadful heathen state. They have been telling me more about god than I care to hear. It is kind of weird staying with a very nice, socially conscious, intensely patriotic, religious family. Some matches, some incredibly dissonances.
* Rachel: I headwobble all the time now.
* I read a delightful article yesterday about a literacy activism group that discovered women involved in the group lacked confidence in part due to lack of mobility. So they made bicycling a part of their activism, and taught thousands of women how to cycle so they could reach interior regions in the state to teach others how to read. Books *and* bicycling - this is most definitely my new Favourite Thing Ever.