Hello again,
I am back in Mussoorie after the last trip of our program - we visited Corbett National Park, spending three and a half days there. Yet again, we stepped into another version of India. We stayed at a place called Camp Hornbill, and I absolutely loved it. We slept in mud huts, and now I am convinced I need to learn how to build one myself. I loved the homeyness they project, the smooth edges and the way the light interacts with the red tinted dirt. It was so much fun to live in one. Our beds were also covered in these comforters that weighed at least five pounds, and I loved them. They were extremely cozy.
We took the night train again, and while I like being able to lay down while I travel, the night train holds this atmosphere of anxiety for me, and I spend the night more worried than I would like. Also the bathrooms are quite terrifying, but I made it back home in one piece and don’t know when I’ll be on a train again.
Our first day in Kyari we went on a safari into Corbett. National Parks in India are different than the parks in the states, here you are not allowed to walk in the park. The only way you can go inside is if you are in a designated jeep with a guide. They check your passports at the gates, and it felt much more regulated. There are also sections of the park that people are not allowed in ever called “core zones.” The overall effect of these fundamental differences created a national park experience that was framed differently for me. We rode in open topped jeeps (my face and eyes were wind burned after the first day) and the only people we saw were also in jeeps. There were still plenty of people, but everyone was contained in a way that was very different than how people generally move through space in India. We saw lots of deer on our safari (chital, barking deer, and sambar) and lots of monkeys. Barking deer don’t have antlers, but they actually have little fangs and I think it is kind of hilarious. The highlight of the first safari was when we saw a Brown Fish Owl in a tree right by the road. He was a cute little fella.
The second day we went on a forest walk, and it was really cool to follow a trail of tiger pug marks (foot prints) and scrape marks. Did you know tiger urine smells like basmati rice? I can vouch for this, interestingly enough. We never saw a tiger on this trip, but after seeing the claw marks in the trees I am content not having seen a tiger while walking through the saal and teak forests. After our hike and lunch, we went “body surfing” in the canal. It was fun, and so so goofy! We all had life jackets on, and to keep your butt from hitting the bottom, you had to lay back with your head completely down. We made a human chain and laughed lots.
On our third day, we spent fifteen hours in the jeep on safari – we saw elephants! It was surreal to have this massive tusker (male elephant with tusks) walk onto the road about fifty yards in front of my jeep. Our jeep was the first one to see this elephant, and it was crazy how many cars piled up behind us. I was in awe of this elephant – he was huge! I was a little nervous because this elephant was in musk (you can tell by the marks on the sides of his face that come from a secreting gland), which usually makes them more aggressive, but this guy was in a good mood and happy to share space with us. We did not see many other animals, but on the way back out we saw an elephant herd and our tusker friend made another appearance. Again, our jeep was the first there, and it was a cool interaction.
A huge highlight of this trip for me was the campfires every night. We would gather in this gazebo with a thatched roof with a smoke hole, a mud floor, and fire pit in the center. We would have dinner together sitting on woven mats. We were not allowed to have a fire this semester until this trip, and so this gathering around the dancing orange and blue flames was magical. During this trip, I was reading the last book in a seven-installment series, and I am so enamored with how I can lose myself in a story – the pure emotion I experience when enjoying a narrative that isn’t my own. What a gift.
There was also a puppy at camp who brought everyone such joy – her name is Chile, and it was great to have that bundle of joy with us. During this trip I was also working on my final project for my Sacred Himalayas class. My thoughts during this process built a mental space I really enjoyed. I was creating something extremely meaningful, giving words to the truths of my heart and soul. This project was a capstone piece for me, and it was really beautiful to pour my soul out while being surrounded by mud huts, campfires, and puppies. The assignment was to give a ten-minute presentation on what sacred means to you and how you have experienced it while in India. I have attached the video of my presentation, as well as my script and my slides, and please forgive the nervous tremor of my voice if you watch it! I am really proud of what I did here and enjoyed walking through the entire creative process. I have a sketchbook with my mind map that turned into an outline that turned into a paper, and the development makes me extremely happy. I wasn’t sure how my class and professor were going to respond to my work because it was very much a personal presentation, but it landed very well. So well in fact that my professor offered to publish a photo essay version of the piece on her website. She was excited to tell me how much she enjoyed the presentation, and that she believes I should start getting my writing out into the world, so people will start to get to know my work. I am telling my story, and people are resonating with that – how much bigger can my heart get? It is already so big in my chest.
As I finish up writing this, I have finished my classes for the semester. I still have a project to finish up, but on the whole, everything is winding down. I have absolutely loved having the space to create here, to become more. I have also attached a picture of a piece of artwork I did here I am calling “Himalayan Images.” Some of the most striking images I have experienced in India are the way the mountains fold on themselves, the layers upon layers of ridges and how they build, then how people’s houses are stacked one on top of the other and in the creases of the hills, and finally the way the fabric of saris move on the back of the many bikes on the roads here. The images in the foreground of my piece are made entirely out of scraps of fabric and trash I collected in Mussoorie and Rishikesh, and the dirt of the road comes from the path above the Hanifl Center. I hope to have captured some of these images in this display. My piece is currently being displayed with an exhibition of art in the Woodstock High School, which is crazy to me.
I have been so many places this semester, moved through so many realities, and learned so much about myself and the world I am living in. Continually in awe of this experience, and continue to learn and grow, curious to see how I move in the spaces of home after having this adventure. These last couple of days I have had this shadow of fatigue following me around, filling the space behind my eyes. I don’t quite understand it, but I am curious about what my melancholy is trying to show me. I am reading this beautiful book called “Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change” by Pema Chodron, and I love love how what she has to say resonates with I have been learning and implementing, and I appreciate the advice she has to share. I think this book is going to be important in my transition, and I am glad I am reading it now (I found it in a book store in Rishikesh). I have twenty days left in India, and this transition back to the states is looming on my horizon. I am determined to adjust bravely, and as gracefully as I can, maintaining the beauty of the person I have discovered and created this semester. I have become so much, and I feel like I move through space differently – how is this going to translate and change my spaces of home?
Love from the Himalaya,
Regina
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