Saturday 5/26/2012 "Gautam"

I can’t believe that sometimes Neel and I can really go on talking for hours on end like today. He woke up quite early this morning at 4 am and I got up not too late after that. While I went to bed at about 11 pm, I was able to fall asleep quickly and comfortably because I slept in a mosquito net that Neel had prepared. We started talking this morning at about 4 and we went on and on until 7. Now that I am writing this in the evening at 6pm I don’t remember half or most of the stuff that we talked about. Sure enough we do not agree on everything, and we do sometimes argue on our differences but never too passionately or angrily. There is an openness on my part to see where Neel is coming from and I embrace our differences or at least make clear to him that he has a good point but so did I and we leave it there. We talked so much this morning, that my excuse (which is not really an excuse at all) to him was that I needed to write my blog and catch up on the news.

One student came this morning for yoga Harshan, and I got a chance to talk to him. He sounded like an interesting dude, age 32 married for five years with no children. After a while living in India, I found myself cutting to the point pretty quickly (i.e., asking people how old they are, marital status, etc...). Those kinds of questions are considered intrusive in the West but it’s perfectly normal here.

We were supposed to attend the Sanskrit class but given how we talked so much, we couldn’t make it to the first class. For breakfast today, Neel found me a cook who will probably be making me breakfast everyday at 9 o’clock. It is a little late for my usual liking which is at 7:30~8am, but I think it is rare for Indian families to even eat breakfast at that time. While the food was simple, it was a little on the heavy side lots of yellow saffron rice and mashed beans--delicious and healthy. After breakfast we talk some more and by this time I got so tired talking to Neel that I made him agree to a period of silence so I could just zone out, relax, and listen to music.

We went to Tilak Maharastra Vidyapeeth (the Sanskrit University) where Neel wanted me to mingle with the students. It was pretty cool though because I get to practice speaking Sanskrit with all of the students and I learned how to speak some basic Sanskrit greetings. Oh by the way, Neel has given me a Sanskrit name of Gautam (the surname of the Buddha) because it is much easier for Indians to understand and pronounce than Quang. Here is what I said to all of the students:

Quang: Namo namaha! Bhavantyaa yaaha naama kim? (Greetings! Good madam what is your name?)

Students: Mama nama ‘their names...’ (“My name is ....”) and then I introduce myself

Quang: Mama naama Gautam. "My name is Gautam."

Everyone that you see here in these photos are all Sanskrit school teachers in their villages. There are lots more that Neel still hasn't introduce to me.

अहं बुद्धमुनयोः विंशतशतकस्य अवतारः अस्मि । “I am the manifestation of lord Buddha in the 21st century.”

After all of this introduction, Neel wrote on the board a silly statement about me that caused a rupture of laughter among the Sanskrit school-teachers. I also got a chance to talk to a possible teacher who will be teaching me sahitya (literature). And afterwards, we went to cash my traveler’s cheques and to my disappointment Thomas Cooks did not give me the exact exchange rate that I had hope they would. On top of that I had to wait 15 minutes for someone to serve me. Neel was out waiting in the rickshaw when I waited, finally he burst in asking the teller why the hell no one assisting me or that no one had informed me that I had to wait for someone to come back from lunch (the customer service in India is very pathetic) and I was rather glad that he took it upon himself to give a good yelling at the tellers. I told him that because I am a guest in a foreign country, I did not feel that it was my right to raise hell even though back at home I would readily give hell to anyone who don’t inform me why I am waiting for so long. Well we were told that someone would be with us after 2 minutes, and after 5 minutes when no one showed up, we decided to come back after some errands and lunch. Lunch was really good at a mid level thali restaurant with air condition for a change. 

Neel said that this shop (Ocean of Sanskrit Literature) is the best shop in all of Pune for Sanskrit texts. The shop is rather small for my liking but seems very promising. This will clearly not be the last time I will be here.

very good thali. I enjoyed the rice, tomato, mango, and the stuff in the center.