Legjoints

I went to an ashram down the road from where I’m staying to see if they had any rooms. The room I’m in has no window and is a bit expensive. 200 Rupees a night. 300 for a room with a window. They said come back in the evening. Walking out of the place I …

I’m waiting for the train for Delhi but have just realized I don’t need to go to Delhi. I want to get up to the mountains where it’ll be cooler and was thinking of heading first to Rishikesh and assumed to get there I would have to go via Delhi, but I could have got …

When I was cycling I was looking forward most of the time. Now, editing the video, I’m looking back. When I watch some of the footage, riding along some road, I can usually remember quite well what comes next: each bump that shakes the camera, each truck that passes too close, each signpost. Though now …

A day of live music, two dead bodies, a procession of boats and dirty linen. I had to be an irritating fussy tourist earlier when I moved to a new room, since the one I was in last night didn’t have a window. They told me the new room had been cleaned but it hadn’t. …

In Varanasi it’s impossible to walk from A to B without several people asking where you going? what you want? hashish? opium? come this way. good hotel here. you want cheap hotel? very nice room. rickshaw? This morning I tried the quiet mumbling tactic with the first guy, head down, not making eye contact, quietly …

I was woken by drums. Sun festival, I found out later. A small procession going around the area. A couple of drummers and a keyboard player on a cycle rickshaw plus about ten or fifteen people, women and men. I go out onto my balcony, or ledge since they haven’t built the fence yet, and …

Bollywood music drifts in through the open door of my room. I put my headphones on and listen to my own music: Leonard Cohen, The Specials, The Boards of Canada. The thing with the Buddha and his enlightenment, which I was thinking earlier today while I was supposed to be meditating, is that we only …

Another power cut. The generator starts up. The first day in Bodhgaya without illness. The Lonely Planet said that the Japanese Monastery offers free Zazen meditation sessions every day at 5 o’clock so this afternoon I went along to give it a try. On the way there someone who I think maybe I met earlier …

The power keeps cutting out. Every day several times a day. The guest house has its own generator but it’s so noisy I wish they’d just leave us without power. And for the people who live nearby it can’t be very nice. They have to listen to the noise but don’t get any of the …