8.10.06 - Two Months (Minus Some) and Counting

The excitement is palpable!

I must admit that the nearer the date draws the more anxious I feel too.

For instance, the world keeps throwing surprises out there that make me ponder the wisdom of travelling abroad for cultural education. There is so much madness outside of the safe borders of the U.S..

Do you see the humor of that notion?

Today flights around the U.S. and Europe were thrown for a whirl with the threat of liquid explosives. Is evil truly trying to make its way to the U.S. again? Well it's likely already here, but honestly what can be done?

Isn't there some saying like 'evil begets evil' or something like that. If 'we' continue to isolate ourselves from interactions and knowledge of the world as a whole and all of its lovely sub-cultures and sub-sub-cultures then 'we' cannot change our evil ways of begetting evil.

And yes it truly is all a matter of perspective. I'll challenge anyone to out talk me on that point.

Interestingly there are roughly an equal number of people in my life who think my three month jaunt is fantastic-good and fantastic-crazy.

Isn't this exposure going to change me? For the better? Let's hope.

I cannot abide by those who would live their life in fear when so much joy is granted from living life in love.

I'll just have to trust in the notion that even the crazies of the world generally don't want to die even if the devotees are willing to do so. And since it seems that the crazies are running things and not the devotees the world should still be safe enough to endure my temporary exodus from the U.S..

A Pink American

5.10.06 - Introducing A Pink American: In India

Well I am pink, but I'm not quite to India yet.
Just a quick background to the titular selection.

Let's set the scene...
One fine autumn evening several years ago in New York, I was riding on the subway to catch a showing of Nueve Reinas (The Nine Queens ...for those not in the know an excellent Argentinian output). On this ride I was asked a very interesting question.
My boyfriend (now husband) was curious if I ever felt out of place when we hung out with his group of friends. He and they being Indian and I being 'not'.
I told him that I didn't because as far as I could tell I wasn't any different from those I hung out with. Since I don't walk around with a full sized mirror I don't notice that I'm not Indian. And while I was sure other people noticed it, no one bothered to point out the obvious to me. Therefore I didn't feel out of place.

Fast forward fifteen minutes.

We were then standing in line at the theater (7 or 8 of us as I recall). We purchased tickets in pairs with my boyfriend having bought ours first. As we waited for the others--and as we were speaking with one of our group--the cashier said the most remarkable thing.

"Does anyone else need a ticket?" (no that wasn't it).
"How about the pink lady?" (Bingo)

Well honestly it is true, I am quite pink, as I said above. The irony though was just a few minutes before I had assured my boyfreind that I never felt like I didn't belong. But there it was, laid out before me, I was a 'pink lady' among Indians.

It's unfortunate that this is probably the only time I'll ever be able to recall to any of my friends having felt like a minority in the US. And when I say 'feel like a minority' I mean in the loosest sense of the word. My skin color was literally, and for one time only, mindlessly used to address me. I won't pretend it gives me any real insight other than I thought "what if this happened ever day, hundreds of times...I'd stop feeling like an individual human and start feeling like particular hue."

So, there you have it...the unwitting muse for this title was a box office cashier.

And so now begins a long awaited chapter in the epic which is my life.

The tickets are purchased and the date set: October 3.

This blog will see inputs from the days preceeding, during and proceeding my three month voyage to and around India.

'Dear God...if I believed in you in the Christian sense I'd ask you to please bless me with the ability to write with wit, clarity and emotion. Since I border on being an agnostic (mainly with regard to organized religion), it will have to suffice that I send out my humble request and hope that my living an honest and decent life is good enough to see a response of sorts.'

Sincerely,

A Pink American



PS
I have been to India once before for 3 weeks, but there is still so much left to explore....