india, again

I am sitting in a net cafe in Paharganj, Delhi, India, and in 6 hours i will (hopefullyy-- they aren't answering their phone) get on KLMs big fat aircon jet and fly to the exact opposite of Delhi, a place where weed is legal and dirt a crime (Amsterdam) and from there home.

Before i go i will shower and take more stupid videos of cyclists cows and street kids whacked out of their heads on solvents. and also fatten myself with indian food. its hot here-- like 35 degrees. today it dumped rain and about every fourth autorickshaw fucked up cos when there's enough rain puddles get big and then water splashes into engine compartments and things stop, often in the middle of vast brown sea-puddles that the rain plucks at and through which the drivers then haul their machiens in sandaled sloshing feet to dryer ground, where they wriggle underneath and then flick at dashboard wires. I went today to the Bahai temple in south delhi. which is an amazing structure, like an unfolding 200 foot tall lotus of marble, and the bahai have the good sense to not allow talking inside it. any religion can come and use it but nooooo preeeeaching. smart moves. it may be the only still place in this city that reeks of sex, dirt and an edgy energy that glints out of the bulging peculiarly hindi eyes of the crowds of local guys that you see in the streets, which are reserved for men and dogs, the women (and cats) generally confined indoors.

Coming back from Tibet, you realise just how sexual India is-- from the women's colours to the crazy music to the lurking energy of the men. a friend noted how similar a Paharganj street is to an Italian piazza. such a different vibe from nepal-- where everytyhign is calm-- and tibet, where the altitude and buddhism make the inhabitants really well dressed friendly space cases. In India, people want things; in Tibet, people just kind of look around and just accept the world. And in Nepal, people are on the make, but they have enough good sense, or Buddhism, to know hwo to sit back do nothin'.