h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Following our verbal repartee in the Limericks thread I thought I'd pop over and see who it was I was sparring with!

Intrigued as I said ... that recipe for chai, just gonna have to give it a go. Trying to describe the assault on the senses that is a cup of chai is like nailing jelly to the wall if you haven't tasted it ... if you have tasted it, all it takes is someone to say a cup of chai and your whisked back to the sub-continent and the sensory overload that it is ...

Anyway, just stopping by to say Namaste, or Tashi Delek if you will.

Ekki

Oh my dear Master EkkiEkkiEkki sahib, you are indeed most eternally welcome to the humble hovel of the roadside chai-wallah. Please may I be addressing you henceforth as Ekkiji isn't it? I am also greatly enjoying your poetical outpourings, which have excellently stimulated my own modest efforts at the prosodic arts only.

When you were in India? Where and for how long only?

Namaste for now,

Jai Shree Ganesh

Chaiwallah

Many apologies for the tardiness of my reply ... been kind of busy at this end!!

Was in India back in 94/95 ... 6 months in West Bengal teaching english to Tibetan Monks in exile ... utterly incredible ... more chai than you could shake a stick at ...

You bin?

Waah, Ekkiji,
That sounds like an amazing way to spend time in India. To West Bengal I have not been, but have travelled around India a bit. Three visits in total. I got there relatively late in life, for which I am very grateful. I didn't go out on the original hippy trail, though I planned to. ( Went to San Francisco instead!)

I went first to the Mahakumbh Mela at Allahabad in 1989, and to Dharmsala for a TSG conference in 1990, and then to the recent Mahakumbh Mela in 2001. The last time I also went south for the first time. The whole trip was mind-blowing, from the Mela, which was utter bliss, to meeting HH the XVIIth Karmapa at Sarnath, to being blown out of my kurta pyjama by the vibe at Ramana Maharshi's mahasamadhi shrine in Tiruvannamalai. Am hoping to go back in November for a three-week jaunt down the Ganges from Dev Prayag to Calcutta.

But it's very late now, I'm heading to bed. We must talk more about all this.

Namaste

Chaiwallah

It was absolutely incredible ... I've never met a more hospitable, friendly, compassionate bunch than "my" monks ... saying goodbye to them was utterly devastating.

I'd go back at the drop of a hat, if only I had one to drop ...

Your trip sounds like quite an adventure ... have to say that india was one of the most mesmerising countries I've ever been to. They talk of a total sensory overload (although who they are is open to debate!) ... India seeps into your every pore and clings on like nothing else I know ...

Absolutely addictive. Two nights ago I spent a glorious couple of hours watching an unedited video of India taken by a friend of mine who had just returned from bringing his ( rather reluctant ) mother round the triangle, Delhi, Agra, Jaipur via Brindaban. I could almost smell it. Can't wait to go back.

Where do you live, Ekki? Have you never been back?

As for Tibetans, well, they just do seem to have a special something, a "good heart" as HH the DL says. Though I have had dealings with some pretty slippery ones too at the higher end of the political spectrum through my work in Tibet Support.

Bye for now,

Chai.

I can't help but wax lyrical about the place ... totally phenomenal ...

Currently living just south of Glasgow in a money saving move ...

Haven't made it back as yet ... seriously considering going this summer though ... so much to see, so much to do ... so many places to see!

Met a couple of slippery customers when I was there but my students and the Tibetan community where I was, more than made up for one or two indiscretions ... the old adage about power corrupting always holds sadly ...

Where do you do your Tibet Support stuff?

Hi Ekkiji,

I do my Tibet Support stuff here in Dublin ( I was one of the founders of TSG Ireland back in 1988.) By the way, there used to be a guy called Ek who used to help out at the Tibet Foundation in London, a good mate of Phuntsog Wangyal ( whom I know well.) That's not you, is it?

Tashi delek,

Chai