Life
So contrary to the indications on this website (complete lack of input from me for the past way to long…) I’m not dead. In fact, the reason for the lack of input is that I am currently extremely alive – and thus to busy/unable to sit down and write stuff for here. Given my current plans, this state appears as though it will last until into early November – the time that I finally call an end to this year+ adventure and make it back to good old NS.
For the curious, here’s a quick outline of what I’ve been up to:
- Mid June – Called it quits at PSI 2 weeks early. I’ve meant to summarize the PSI experience, but there’s so much to it that I don’t think it will happen. Let’s just say that I was glad I did it, but also very glad to have it over. I learned a lot (no such thing as bad experience) but it was often not what I wanted/expected to learn, and it was not always learned in a positive environment/way. Guess that’s life though. I wouldn’t go back and change my decision to join PSI. Big thanks to the team I worked with on CP (Sunil, Sapna, Bimla and Bendari) for the wonderful 6 months I spent with them. I won’t forget it!
- Late June – Jeevan Vidya: Went for a week-long workshop up in Mussoorie on this philosophy called Jeevan Vidya (Hindi for Philosophy of Life) knowing only its name and that it was supposed to be really cool. I finished the extremely intensive week closer than I have ever been before to calling myself a “believer/follower” of any religion/philosophy (but still a way from it), with a whole lot of questions in my mind about life, its purpose, and how to go about this process that we all mostly take for granted, and with a larg group of new friends I had grown very close to over the course of exploring ourselves (nice to have some similarly aged, similarly minded, similarly orientated friends in this country – a first for me so far). I won’t describe “Vidya” here – it takes the full 7 days to get a fair taste of it – but may try to introduce some of the concepts/questions here later. It’s something that I’m planning on exploring more, once I get the time/headspace/environment needed for this kind of thing.
- Early July – kicked around Mussoorie for a few days after the workshop to relax and enjoy the mountains, and then jumped a bus and headed out to Gangotri (the souce of the Ganga – the holy river of India). Hiked out the 19km from the roadhead temple to the glacier that marks the true source, and spent a wonderful day sitting on the glacier contemplating life and trying to absorb everything that has happened lately. The natural beauty of the inner Himalaya (a valley surrounded by snow-capped peaks, sitting on a glacier at 4100m in the monsoon mist) was pretty magical. By the end of the day, I felt like a snow-leopard guarding my den (a rock shelter I found and inhabited). Coming back to civilization was strange…
- July – Friends!! Jamie and Sam landed in Delhi and I spent three amazing weeks with them traveling around northern India. While we spent most of our time in Ladakh (you have to go – though in some ways you really shouldn’t) I toured them through the experience that is Old Delhi, and we also touched the hill resorts of Shimla and Manali. What a world. It was so nice to have some good old friends around (ones you have a history with, and fee completely comfortable with), a nice change after 9 months of solo traveling.
- Early August – Jamie and Sam left me in Ladakh, but I stayed on for a few days to enjoy the region and continue my escape from the Indian monsoon. Met a photographer on a truip to a gorgeous lake in Ladakh and befriended him, so in addition to getting yet another place I can stay in Delhi, I was pushed/drawn to really focus on my budding hobby of photography – with some impressive results (which I will display later – soory, but you have to wait until I have the time/computer to process them). Then it was back to Delhi (and the resulting culture shock) on Aug 2nd.
- Early August, Cont. – Had some time to spare so I decided to go out and visit Varanasi (especially now that I was full of photographic desires). Wandered around the old city (which now replaces Old Delhi as the place where sterotypical “Old India” is best experienced) and then crasehd with a friend out at nearby Sarnath. Going from Tibetan Buddhism in Ladakh to the Tibetan University in Sarnath was a bit strange, but nothing exceptional for me these days.
So now I’m in Sarnath – trying to recover a bit. I’m back to Delhi tomorrow to pick up my family (parents and broher are coming to visit!!!) and then we’re all goign back to Ladakh again – I can’t wait. Two weeks of trekking and enjoying the scenery there will be followed by a week in Dehradun reacquainting them with the city we used to live in, and then they’re back to Canada for work and school. I on the other hand head down around southern India (see previous post) before my visa runs out at the end of Sept. An expiring visa means my time in India is done, and my trip back to Canada starts on Sept. 28th when I fly to Japan. I’m spending 2 weeks there exploring that crazy country with friends before I arrive on the far coast of Canada on Oct. 10th. From there, the idea is to slowly make my way across our wonderful country (something I’ve never done) and catch up with everyone I know who are now scattered everywhere. Current plans suggest I’ll be in Vancouver around Oct 10th, Kelowna Oct 15th, Calgary Oct 20th, Saskatchewan (the only province/territory I’ve never been in) around Oct 24th, GTA around the 28th, Kingston around Nov 1st, Montreal shortly after, and then finally arrive home in the first or second week of November. This is your advance warning – if you want to see me, all you need to do is let me nkow where you are, and what your availablility is like around the time I’m planning on passing through your neck-of-the-woods (and with a trip like this, there are very few places in Canada that I’ll be too far from to find you, so I want to hear from everyone!) and I’ll make it happen.
Alright, my time quota has run out, so that’s it for now I guess. If you want to get in touch with me for the next 3 months, email is a much better bet. I should even be able to tell you more about what’s happened/going to happen as the personal connection makes it much easier to write stuff. In the meantime, hope everything is going well for all, and I’ll try to update this when possible (unlikely, but who knows…). Til then, keep on living and make the most out of it!
This is the online home of one Shane Warner, my place to attempt to tell some of my stories, as well as just spout off whatever comes to mind.
