Mussoorie!

[The pictures I put up of Mussoorie are old ones, simply because I got in today, but I will take more pictures of course, and will get them to you shortly.]

Yo yo,

So Mussoorie has welcomed me with cold rain and cold winds, as if to say; "Go back, we don't want you here!" And I had heard that it has been beautiful weather for the past month...

I have arrived in Mussoorie, wearing two sweatpants, a shirt, fleece, and jacket, and it's probably colder in my room right now than outside. I think that's just the way it is going to be, the days will be warm and beautiful, but as soon as the sun goes down...

I don't know how I'm going to take it, but in the interests of education (learning Hindi), I have got to do it. I'm here instead of beautiful Kerala in southern India because the well-known "Landour Language School" is located here. It is an institution that has been teaching Hindi as well as other Northern Indian languages for many years. So this is the place to be for intense studying, and I'm here to get my game on.

I think I travel too much. Every time I come to the Himalayas, nature conquers mind and rationality, and I simply stand stupefied at the wonders in the natural world that lie beyond my ability to imagine. The Himalayas: this is the stuff that poetry is made of, the type of stuff that Robert Frost sublimed over, the perfect beauty that (must have - I think) helped give birth to the haiku. It's inexplicable and hard to capture in words; to put it simply, seeing is believing. I still feel that way, but the childlike wonder has definitely reduced. I'm not sure exactly why that is, but it was with me last year, and is much less now especially since I'm so preoccupied with achieving my goal of learning Hindi and ending my current career as a bum that likes to travel. When people in India ask me what I do for work, I go through this complicated explanation of how I am learning Hindi to help further my career, and I wish I could just say "I do so and so for work." I feel like some rich American that refuses to earn his way like the rest of the world's people. I am not, I tell you, I am not! But anyways, back to sublimation; I want the wonder back, I feel like I am missing out on the necessary human experience of being able to lose yourself in something bigger than you. For me, that thing is the Himalayas, and I don't think there's much in the world that is bigger than the Himalayas.

It's wonderful to be back, but I do wish I had some friends to share the experience with, simply because secrets are the most fun when shared with a few people, and Mussoorie, though well known and visited by Indian tourists - with bazaars and a hotel industry that seems to double in size every year, still feels like a well kept secret. Maybe it feels this way because of the lonely backdrop of the mountains, or maybe it's just that a town with one main road can never really contain that many permanent residents. Also, there is not the noise pollution of other places in India; cars are not allowed once you get into the main part of the city, and so a mysterious quietness that does not feel like India blankets the city. And Mussoorie seems ever conscious of it's spectacular natural beauty: on the road up into it I saw multiple signs promoting the planting of trees and references to Mussoorie's age old appellation "The Queen of the Hills." I have a feeling the British had something to do with that.

Please wish me luck in focusing on getting this Hindi done - it's way to easy to get caught up in the experience of another culture and forget your here to achieve some goal. Hope all is well with everyone!

Heading to Mussoorie in just a few days

Hey all,

I'm still in Faridabad, after looking for classes in Delhi. There is a school in Delhi, it's good but a little expensive. So I'm going to head up to Mussoorie for a little while to study and otherwise visit a place I definitely fell in love with, and then perhaps take some classes when I am back near Delhi again. I wanted to take classes in Delhi even though it can take up to two hours from Faridabad just to get into the city during rush hour (not to mention having to suffer through overcrowded buses), simply because I wanted to get the experience of the city, plus have a different challenge than last time (I stayed in Mussoorie my last trip to India last year). But oh well, that will have to wait.

Here are some pictures of what I have been up to since I arrived (not much to say the least, and I have this burning itch to get moving). First are some pictures of Diwali, which I celebrated in Faridabad: The first is a picture of a set up that my neighbor made, which includes some diyas as well as a picture of a deity, I believe Saraswati but I may be wrong, all of which was placed on top of a rangoli, which is a pattern made on the ground out of colored powder and chalk. She did a beautiful job. The second is a picture of a kid lighting a spinning firework thing.

I also went to Delhi to visit the East West Language School, the place I was thinking about taking classes, and ended up going on an archaeological tour of Mughal history simply because I got off on the wrong bus stop. Delhi is like that, full of hidden gems that are not really so hidden, ready to be appreciated by you and most likely you only. The first one is of a tomb of one of the Mughal Emperor Akbar's 9 ministers. The second one is of a woman doing yoga with the aid of the central part of the tomb.

I have "mobile internet" now, yes, you can get wireless internet in India for a start-up fee of 70 dollars and about 15 dollars a month. It's blazing fast in the major cities, and a little slow everywhere else (yes, I can go to a little village and use my internet - at least they say I can). And people say India is not connected :P So, I'll be in much better touch!