To prove that I do have Hillbilly cred, I submit this photo. It's 1953 and I am teething on my step-grandfather Dell's hook arm. He lost his hand at a sawmill or on the railroad (there was another missing limb in the family and I can't remember which was which). [published on All This Is That, April, 2005] ---o0o---
Kellen "Bobo" Jones is my second cousin, the son of my cousin Dave, and his wife Kelly Jones (I am half Jones), and brother of Dylan. He died tragically, with two of his best friends in Ballard on Easter. Kellen was a football legend and well-loved boy about Ballard. . .the guy everyone likes, and about whom people always have something nice to say. My heart goes out to Dave, Kelly, and Dylan. This is heartbreaking. But it is also a time to celebrate how many lives he touched, and read and listen to the many testimonies of people who loved him and were touched by his generous heart.
We're all in this together, but there is no way we can know or really share the depth of loss this great family feels.
Another great performance from the Concert For Bangladesh. One of the great songs from George's "All Things Must Pass" album. . .I assume the "chanting the names" he sings is a reference to Krishna, because they do indeed believe that chanting the names of the Lord over and over leads you to the celestial gates. I heard them just doing that recently in Udaipur...
Awaiting On You All By Geogre Harrison
You don't need no love in
You don't need no bed pan
You don't need a horoscope or a microscope
The see the mess that you're in
If you open up your heart
You will know what I mean
We've been polluted so long
Now here's a way for you to get clean
By chanting the names of the lord and you'll be free
The lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see
Chanting the names of the lord and you'll be free
The lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see
You don't need no passport
And you don't need no visas
You don't need to designate or to emigrate
Before you can see jesus
If you open up your heart
You'll see he's right there
Always was and will be
He'll relieve you of your cares
By chanting the names of the lord and you'll be free
The lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see
Chanting the names of the lord and you'll be free
The lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see
You don't need no church house
And you don't need no temple
You don't need no rosary beads or them books to read
To see that you have fallen
If you open up your heart
You will know what I mean
We've been kept down so long
Someones thinking that we're all green
And while the pope owns 51% of general motors
And the stock exchange is the only thing he's qualified to quote us
The lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see
By chanting the names of the lord and youll be free---o0o---
The Aga Khan Palace - click all pictures to enlarge
It was here, in the Aga Kahn's palace in Pune where Kasturba Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi's long time aide (whom he thought of as a son), Mahadeobhai Desai died. The palace that once belonged to the Aga Khan (whose son became the President of the League of Nations), served as lodging for the imprisonment of Gandhi and his wife Kasturba as British rule in India drew to a close. The Gandhi exhibits housed there are very homey and casual, and yet it is a thoughtful and moving collection. Seeing Gandhi's artifacts made him and that era resonate--we saw his cooking pots, letters and books, his sandals, photos, his Bhagavad Gita, even his bathtub, and a memorial with his ashes, in the garden near where his wife and friend's ashes are buried.
This is something to see if you're ever in Pune. This 1892 palace was built by Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah Agakhan III and was donated to India in 1969 by Aga Khan IV. It became the Gandhi Memorial. I loved this place. It was a funky and moving tribute to, as Lord Buckley called him, "The Hip Gann." The Mahatma's presence and vibes reverberated in the palace and grounds like a celestial choir.
A pretty moving story about Gandhi's close aide dying within a week of their imprisonment. Click to enlarge.
A memorial where at least some of Gandhi's ashes rest.
The curved brick wall we began calling Gandhi's half-pipe
A folky painting, kind of in the Soviet tractor style of
What a great bunch these three were to travel with. We had a great time, and saw far more, and met more people than we ever hoped for. I will write more soon. . .I've just arrived home after a 28 hour road trip, and two long long flights from Bombay to Seoul, Korea and four hours later Seoul to Seattle.
Anyhow, thank you Claire, Colin, and Keelin. Click all pictures to enlarge...
a rickshaw/auto-rickshaw/tuk-tuk. Many have shrines for Krishna, Buddha, Ganesh
or another deity above the center mounted steering column (handles, not a wheel)
One of the things I've enjoyed most about India is watching people drive--trucks/lorries, scooters, cars, bicycles, and most of all, auto-rickshaws. You witness the most insane traffic situations and traffic jams, but the one thing you never see is people getting angry. Yes, the horns are constantly honking, but never in anger. People honk to let you know they're coming around you, or cutting across you, or just letting you know they are there. In fact almost every truck and lorry in India has a sign emblazoned on the back, something like "Please Honk," or, "Horn Please!" Let me say I don't want to drive here at all; it's far more fun as a strictly spectator sport. I was tempted, however. But this was nothing like driving in Turkey.
Adding to pedestrian difficulties for non-British visitors, of course, is the fact that they drive on the left side of the road. You have to remember to look the "wrong way." And in smaller towns, or late at night, red-lights are really more a suggestion than a command to stop. On our first night, coming into Bombay at 3 AM from the airport, our driver probably blazed through thirty or forty red lights
It takes a while to get your pedestrian legs here. Once you understand how they drive, you learn when to walk, and how to walk. By the end of our two+ weeks, we are easily able to navigate even the most insane intersections and crossroads. Here are examples from YouTube of traffic in India. This was fairly typical. And by the end, we could jump right in there and make our way to the other side.
I can't tell where this video clip is from, but it's fairly typical, except in our travels, we would generally see less cars and trucks and far more auto-rickshaws. And, as I said, in the end, we could jump right in there and cross the street. Let me say here too, that I absolutely love the auto-rickshaws, as noisy, smelly and harrowing as they can be. They are extremely cheap--we could pile three or four of us in one and go across town for less than a dollar.
If you are going to go around a truck, they want you to honk so they can pull aside, or be prepared--because they never know when an auto-rickshaw or pedestrian may cut in front of them or triangulate both of you. Honking is encouraged, and it works amazingly well. In all the extremely traffic-snarled cities we've seen--especially Bombay, Aurangabad, and Pune, we never saw an accident.
It's not that surprising, really. I also never saw an Indian angry (I compare this to my commute to work, where it's a rare day when someone isn't angry, or exhibiting road-rage). I'm sure they do get angry, but in general, it's not part of their DNA. Somehow this crazy stew of vehicles and foot warriors cooperate, despite all the confliciting inputs. Even when I saw close calls, the drivers would often just smile. and wobble their heads (more on this later--I want to write an entire post on the head wobble), and one of them would back up or swing around the other. One contributing factor to the amazing harmony on the roads, streets, paths, and expressways, is that no one drives particularly fast. Of course, scooters and auto-rickshaws in general can't, which helps a great deal. And the comparatively small number of cards helps too. There were a fair number of cars in both Pune, and Bombay, but in most places it's the smaller vehicles that rule the roost. In Udaipur, for example, with 550,000 people, there were virtually no cars or trucks at all, except for the occasional taxi, or delivery truck.
I am really going to miss this place and the people of India (we head out tonight for a 28 hour journey back via Seoul, Korea...Claire and Colin, lucky dogs, are staying two more months).
