Dig Your Own Hole.

Dig Your Own Hole

It's like this...

Did you ever have one of those times when the more you try and explain yourself, the deeper you dig your own hole? Seems I'm in Ditch County. In my quest to prove my sanity, I have somehow worried a number of you. I think that my wry, dry, cynical, wrinkled sense of humour at times reads as being really sad or bitter. I assure you, except for my momentary vegetarian tirade, I am downright jovial each and every time I send an email to y'all. No kidding.

I know that this travelogue missive has included a lot of the inner workings of Craig-India forces one to really evaluate life-everything is magnified here. I like to think that India is intoxicating perfume and the stench of death in the same breath. I promise to stick more to the travelogue and to lessen the sessions on the couch. I just kinda feel that not including feelings of a trip is tantamount to describing a trip to Disneyland with "It's got a big parking lot." Yeah, it does. But a whole lot more, too.

Back to Travel Times.

I just got back from my 2 & 1/2 day tentacle crush, uh, I mean, camel safari in the Thar desert outside Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. Camels are great to ride, if , somehow, you could magically levitate into the standing camel's saddle. Sans levitation, it involves resting your entire body weight on two very fragile little friends. But enough of that.

The desert was beautiful. Each night we slept under the stars in complete silence(except for the incessant belching and farting of the camels). As to the camels, they seem to be a very significant source of natural gas. And they make sounds EXACTLY like Chewbacca when they are doing something they don't want to do.

But I learned a very important lesson in life. The path you want isn't always the one you'll go on. But it's the correct path, nonetheless.

I also learned that if you want someone/thing to pay attention to you, you must hit them/it very hard with a stick and say "huuuyytt."

Or at least it worked with Kalu, my camel. I can't wait to come home & try it with each of you!

But I was really struck by the path, or The Path.


As the sun was setting over the Sam sand dunes, I watched as two scarabs paths intersected and went on their separate ways. It struck home with a lot of my trip, which seems to be a sort of microcosm of the macrocosm-a little bit of life. My path has crossed several times in mysterious ways, like:
1. running in to a friend from New Zealand in a book store in Puttaparti- same aisle, same day, same town.
2. running into Simon on a deserted beach in Goa.
3. meeting a friend of a friend in a restaurant in Jaisalmer who had been following my travel notes via forwarded emails from a friend. Same day, same restaurant, same time, same city.
I heard life described like this once(paraphrasing): "Life is like an oriental carpet. At first it seems like a random chaos of color and shape. But in turning over the carpet, there is a very discernable pattern."

And it's really fun when you begin to see it. I think God must have an AMAZING sense of humour.
Okay, back to travel, off the couch...
Jasisalmer is gorgeous. If you were dropped here, you might think you were in Spain or on the set of Arabian Nights. It is really romantic-I went for a long stroll holding my own hand(the cow got nervous when I held her leg).
Today I leave for Jaipur for the elephant festival. Which coincides with Holi, a countrywide water/paint ball fight signifying the end of winter. Should be fun.
So, friends, I leave you until the next...
Love
Craig
PS a Romper Room moment for all those kiddies, like me, who the Romper witch never saw through her magic eyeglass...
"I see Phyllis, and Lorna, and Isa, and Simone, and Simona, and Christos, and Maurino, and Tore, and Pinky, and Pickles, and Viola, Juliana, Geeta, Rose, Daniele, Nona, and Allie, and Exene, and Jade, and Misty etc etc etc..."
And "Hi" to everyone else, too.

3/10/2000