Well, I’m leaving for India. There’s a small chance I’ll have Internet connectivity via either my laptop or my sister’s iPad, so I might be able to post some photos from my various travels. Wish me luck, people. You can’t say anything about dirtiness, disease and weirdness that I haven’t already heard from friends who have visited South Asia. Also, pretty much everyone I know seems to think I’m going to wind up in a weird Indian hospital with some malady or another, so your well-wishes would be appreciated. No, I don’t know where to find rare ’60s Indian 78s of the Beatles or Rolling Stones, nor do I know where to find a treasure trove of R.D. Burman soundtracks. So if any of you reading this have been to India and know where to buy vinyl in Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Pushkar or that other place I’m going…let me know. It might not hurt to remind me that no matter how good the street food looks I shouldn’t eat it. Sometimes the stomach just wants what the brain knows could very likely kill me. For example at the camel festival in Pushkar…there are going to be animal sacrifices and free, fresh animal meat and organs getting passed around. As much as I’ll want to take a bite…tell me not to. Also, remind me to order all my alcoholic beverages “neat,” because the ice cubes might kill me. Are you sensing a pattern here? Good. Remind me again what the pattern is.
On a serious note, I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am to have the opportunity to travel to India. The country, its customs and its spiritual history, have been of interest to me since college (I took a class in religions of India! Marika was there! She let me use her books because I was lazy and spent my book money on drugs!). As lighthearted as my approach to life typically is, I intend to treat this adventure with the proper reverence. No antics, no fucking around, just seeing the sights, meeting the people, and reporting back what I find.
Okay, time to go. I’ve got a non-stop 15 hour flight ahead of me. See you on the other side, guys.
Moholy-Nagy – Homeless Comet
