A Fortnight Has Passed

Whew... This is the first post (I've always cut deadlines close. It makes me feel alive.). I'll start off with a bunch of "I feel" stuff, just to get things going. I feel like I've been here forever, and I feel like I just got off the bus. I'm starting to feel comfortable, like I'm at home, which is weird. Navigating Bylakuppe and Kushalnagar (the nearest town with groceries, internet cafes, shopping, etc., about ten minutes by rickshaw from Bylakuppe) is absolutely no problem, and we have mastered the art of catching and riding rickshaws. We even haggled 10 rupees off our price with Raju this morning. I speak enough Hindi to get by without serious discomfort, and most people speak enough English to fill in whatever gaps there are. It's no more strange than going to the more legit Mexican food places in Phoenix, where legit = no hablan ingles y las comidas es muy bueno. I've become more and more grateful for the Hindi classes I took last year, and I'm even more psyched to learn more when I get back in the fall.

A road in the Kushalnagar outskirts

A road in Kushalnagar proper. Our favorite tailor has a shop just off the right of this picture - buying clothes off a rack is so American, so 2 weeks ago.

I feel a little restless, as our Protected Area Permits have not yet cleared and we have to be, in our host's words, "a little invisible" in the community because we are, in all truth and technicality, illegals. But I only feel a little restless, because our stay at Karuna Home (known to locals as the Ashram) has been wonderful and more productive than I could have guessed. We are saving loads of money, about 700 rupees a day, and we are in the wonderful company of Khube Rinpoche and his incredible staff. Just this morning Rinpoche, who was a monk for decades before disrobing and opening his home for the disabled, gave us teachings in meditation and Buddhist philosophy. If you want to talk about a gatekeeper into the community, he's the best. He knows everybody and is respected by the same. The police are turning a blind eye because of his assurance that the PAP is coming soon, and our transition into the community has been smooth and easy, if a little less sudden than we were expecting. There's even a certified nurse on staff full time at Karuna Home, so the little acclimatization sicknesses travelers to India are prone to have been carefully watched and compassionately cared for. Aja Nurse, as most call her, is a great friend and a hilarious conversationalist, excited to use her English and get to know a couple of Westerners. Our interest in the Tibetan culture has been warmly received by the folks we've explained our projects to. Aja Nurse and Tsering, the music teacher at the Karuna Home, broke into song when I explained my project to them. They sang the wedding drinking song (if you don't finish your bowl of chang at the same time the song finishes, you have to drink another one), and Rangzen, the Tibetan freedom song written by the famous Yak Band. So, as I said, our time here has been productive, restful, and only a little restless.

The red rectangle shows the location of the Karuna Home

This is an older picture - the grounds are much more filled in with greenery now, and there are a few more buildings, but you can see the offices in the foreground, the classrooms on the right, then the dining hall, then the housing for the children as you move towards the background. The housing for volunteers, teachers, and folks like us is on the left. They have built a playground and more housing for volunteers since the time this photo was taken.

Lori and I both feel excited, though, to get into the community proper and begin the projects we have planned. We contacted the Organic Research and Training Center about a week ago, and Damdul is excited to have her come on board. I have an in with the SOS school, and I have presented myself as a gratis drum teacher. Also, we love our lodgings in the Karuna Home (hot water, good electricity, and 3 square meals a day? This is India?!), but living in Namgyal's backyard is appealing as well, as we will get to deal with the trials and joys of living in the only slightly tamed jungle. I'll put up pictures when I get to a computer that has a card reader and isn't in an internet cafe, and you'll see what I mean. Namgyal is the man, too. He's more than a little bad-A, because he's ex-military, but he is as nice as can be and understands the questions and unknowns we are dealing with as first-timers in a Tibetan community. He is very laid back, and reminds me of the islanders I've met.

So, this basically sums up our story so far! We have met many people and learned many things, and I, for one, am grateful for the opportunity to live with and learn from the people in this remarkable place and community.


For those of you who are interested in the Karuna Home, here are two links. One is a testimonial and the second is the official site. Aunt Sue would be especially interested, methinks.

http://yourpresenceheals.com/a-miracle-of-compassion-karuna-home/
http://www.karunahome.org

Comfort Buttons

My wife left me.


But only for a few days. Ha - got you goin'.

Disclaimer - those of you allergic to sap may want to skip this paragraph. For about a week in the Fall I went to a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in San Diego to present research on the Nigerian Udu drum. It was hard being apart from my wife, but I was so busy and excited to be presenting (and enjoying the beach when everybody back here was bundling up for snow) that it wasn't as terrible as it could have been. This time things are switched - Lori is in AZ with family, attending her brother's wedding. It's been much harder than I thought it would be - I've had plenty to do here, but it feels so empty without my love by my side. I have wonderful friends here, but nothing and no-one can replace the companionship and comfort my beautiful wife provides. I am realizing more and more that we are as one, and living without her is like trying to live with only half a body, half a soul. She flies back on Tuesday - hecks yes for Valentine's Day!

When I was on my mission, our mission mom gave a lesson on "comfort buttons" - those things that make the world feel okay when everything seems to be going wrong. The problem for missionaries is that many of those comfort buttons - family, friends, foods, entertainment (movies, video games, music), and even things like particular blankets, beds, stuffed animals, whatever - are gone, and cannot be had. Her encouragement was to develop other comfort buttons, to find things in mission life that center and ground you and make you feel at home. These could be things like a particular letter from home, or a picture of the family, or taking a moment to revel in the lush green of Seattle, or going out for lunch to a place that has exactly what you love, or a particular verse of scripture, or taking time during breaks to do a hobby like drawing or listening to some favorite classical music, or... Every person is different, and will find different things that work.

Going to India, I am lucky that I will have my greatest sources of comfort with me - my wife and my faith. I have learned, though, through experiences on the mission and afterward, that it is good to have some other things around as well. What are some things I should take? Let's brainstorm a list:

I'm going to have an iPhone by then (thank goodness for those free periodic phone upgrades - this saves me from having to take a laptop or suffering through having to use only cafe computers for doing homework), and iPhones are beautiful storage devices. They have up to 64 gigs of memory (I don't know if I will be able to spring for that one or not, though - the price jump is considerable), but even 16 gigs will hold the most important things.

1. music. A list of "comfort button" music will be forthcoming. But it will at least include Dave Matthews Band - there are a lot of other bands that I love, and I don't even listen to DMB that much anymore, but one snare hit of "Ants Marching" brings me back to the band that got me through high school and served as a bonding point for my brother, my best friends, and me.

2. pictures of family and friends.

3. skype ability. Lori and I just skyped for over an hour, and the sight and sound combination makes the world feel like a much better place.
4. a camera. The iPhone has an 8 MP camera, so I might even consider just taking that and not bringing my little 11-ish MP digital. I wish I could have an SLR with me, but it's just not practical or safe to lug a big, expensive, gaudy piece of machinery and gads of film all over the place in the Indian summer.
5. books that have nothing to do with my project. I wish I had enough money for a Kindle, as that would save tons of space, but unless a miracle happens (like maybe catching a leprechaun) I will have to make due with deciding on a paperback or two for project-unrelated reading enjoyment. I'll let you know what I choose.

A little fantasy...

And a little reality.

6. arts and crafts time - I've loved doing photographic collage journal entries ever since Photo I in high school. It's a good way to visually express emotion and actually do something with all those newspaper and magazine clippings. I might pick up one of the larger moleskine journals for that. Lori is thinking about looking into what the local people use for paints and dyes as a side project (Lori is an incredible painter, for those of you who aren't aware), so that would be fun to incorporate.

This isn't a journal, but it's the kind of idea I use when I make journals - this hot spring near Strawberry, AZ is one of mine and Lori's favorite places on the planet, and has sweet, continually updated hippie art. Dig.

So, what else? This list is making me happy. I am obsessive when it comes to packing light - ask Lori - and most of the above items will fit nicely inside the iPhone's memory. It will be good to take some time to come home mentally, relax for a few hours, and then go back to our little slice of Tibetan-Indian heaven.

I'm looking for crown participation on this one - for those of you who have done this kind of traveling, what were/are some of your "comfort buttons?" For those of you who haven't, what things do you think just can't be left behind?

The Matrix (of Influence) Part II

Looking in an easterly direction:

CHINA! And the rest of Asia!

 

Jay Chou - Way cool Taiwanese pop/rock/R&B superstar

The incredible popularity of a few pop superstars in Asia, combined with what seems to be a pan-Asian love for karaoke (notice the pinyin lyrics in the video), takes erhu pop straight into the Tibetan mainstream. Both of the Tibetan weddings in Mantras & Misdemeanors, Wednesday's annotated source, include at least a little Asian pop. I'm not sure how widespread the love for Asian pop is in India. It is interesting, and will be a subject of further inquiry, that deep fear/discomfort/hatred/[insert negative emotion here] that one would expect from Tibetans towards the Chinese doesn't seem to reduce their ability to enjoy music from the east. The Chinese government's efforts to dilute Tibetan culture may be working, or it may be that most Tibetans are above hating a people simply because they don't agree with their government. The latter is the vibe I've been getting most.

And, finally, back up north to the homeland:

TIBET!

There is a constant influx of Tibetan refugees, fresh over the Himalayas. One estimate says that about 3000 Tibetans escaped per year in the 90s, most into Nepal then on to India. This ensures a continual influx of Tibetan culture straight from the homeland to the camps.

Most interesting to me so far, from the Tibetan folk music side of things, has been shepherd song. Many societies with a history of pastoral emphasis have beautiful songs, inspired by long days in the middle of nowhere with little company except the flock. Again using the weddings from Mantras & Misdemeanors as examples, the young men were quick to take the stage to sing the nomad songs of their homelands, with vigor and nostalgia.

"They stand in front of the crowd, strong and happy, and sing beautiful nomad songs, their voices undulating over high calls emanating from deep in their throats to low languid notes. One after the other Tibetans get up and take the bottle to sing; sometimes alone closing their eyes, sometimes spontaneously joined in by others swaying happily in their seats. Just when I think there is no one left, someone else will get up and launch into beautiful, unabashed nomadic wailing." p. 110, Vanessa Walker

A similar scene occurs about 150 pages later, at Vanessa's own wedding. I am excited to see if this is typical of social gatherings, as the only recordings of nomad songs I have are lacking in immediacy and, without visual feedback, are without the degree of emotion described in the book.


So, there you have it. According to Kiela Diehl, these are the main influences on the Tibetan diaspora. With ease of internet access continually increasing, I would not be surprised to find other interests and fads influencing the youth in Bylakuppe. Crazy things happen - my Hindi teacher told us several times about the influx of Latin and Salsa music into India, and how all her friends want to learn Spanish and learn to get down like they do south of the border. We live in an amazing world, and boundaries disappear with every click of the mouse.

Annotated Source

Mantras & Misdemeanors: An Accidental Love Story by Vanessa Walker, forward by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

So, I picked up this book when I first got interested in Tibetan refugee communities. I opened it the other day, just expecting a good read - you know those days when academia is just repulsive and you can't take it anymore? Yeah, it was one of those days (truthfully, it's been one of those months). I was surprised to find that it is not only a good read, but is also a treasure trove of firsthand accounts of the crazy lives these exiles live. Vanessa Walker, an Australian convert to Buddhism daylighting as a journalist, had traveled to India several times for spiritual reasons. This trip was purposefully designed to gather material for a book. She lived in Dharamsala, and, of all things, fell in love with a former monk and they got pregnant (I haven't gotten to read about the birth yet - just wait!). Mantras & Misdemeanors is one of those wonderful books that combines serious journalism with compelling, often hilarious storytelling. Hearing her Tibetan boyfriend/husband (it's ambiguous which) tell her in all seriousness how lucky and auspicious it was that she had a double chin just like the Dalai Lama about killed me. It easily and transparently transitions into transcriptions of interviews with some of the most important figures in the diaspora, some of those with whom an interview must have been a miracle to arrange. She sits down with the prime minister, the leader of the resistance movement (not all Tibetans are for the Middle Way approach of non-violence), the spirit-medium of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, and has frequent dialogue with her boyfriend/husband and other former monks. Their varying stories, opinions, and insights go a long way to show the complexity of the situation. The Dalai Lama's stamp of approval in the forward adds a powerful degree of legitimacy, and also shows how honest and open His Holiness is - several of the people Walker interviews are openly critical of the Dalai Lama and his politics.

One interesting and telling event, from an ethnomusicological perspective, is a wedding party Walker attends. The MC invites any who wish to come to the stage and sing songs, and several young men from Amdo (a region in Tibet) storm the stage and vigorously sing traditional shepherd songs. After the traditional repertoire is exhausted, a karaoke version of "Hotel California" is performed, and the rest of the night is spent bumpin' to techno. All of this is led by Tibetans, quite without regard for any Westerners who might be in attendance. It's simply what that group liked. It seems that, for that particular crowd anyway, tradition is beloved at the same time that modernity is embraced. Cool.

The Matrix (of Influence)

Thanks, rem, whoever you are, for inspiring this blog post. At the beginning of this blogging adventure, I kind of jumped in and started picking apart some specifics of the Tibetan cultural issue without giving a more general framework. It's-a time for the framework.

Taking Diehl's cue, we'll do this spatially, assigning different cultural influences to each of the cardinal directions. We'll start with south and west. To the south (taking Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, as center), we have:

Bollywood! And all the other -ollywoods!

Shahrukh Khan, my freakin' hero. Ladies, there are much better pictures of his muscles online, but I'm keeping this strictly BYU-rated (really though, I just don't want to make all the guys jealous of Shahrukh's raging pectorals).

The beautiful and graceful Aishwarya Rai. If you want to try and find pictures of her pectorals, be my guest, but Bollywood queens are, as of 2012, quite a bit more modest than their Hollywood counterparts. This is, sadly, changing, but for now we can enjoy good ol' family friendly entertainment from most of India's silver screens.

My wife and I have gotten into Bollywood films over the last few months, and I'm starting to feel that if a movie isn't three hours long with at least one redirection of plot and an incredibly dramatic hug at the end, then I've wasted my time and money. The millennia old Indian penchant for dramatic storytelling - the Ramayana has been popular in India for literally thousands of years - has translated easily into film, and is taking the world by storm. Netflix just recently added a sizable Bollywood catalog to their on-demand playlist, including classics as well as brand new offerings.

There are -ollywoods from all over India, each of them having their distinctive style. I don't know much about these other cultural centers, but I will make a point of researching them so I will know their influence if and when I see it in Bylakuppe.

Now to the West:

Hollywood and MTV!
(Though I'm not sure how relevant MTV is anymore - does anybody out there know?)

Katherine Heigl - Lori and I just saw this, and we think she rocks.

Jay-Z and Alicia Keys - two of my favorite and, I think, two of the most honest-to-goodness talented people in the biz today

  The movie and music industries of the West, of the US particularly, are without question the biggest influences on pop culture worldwide. K'Naan grew up in Somalia listening to Tupac and Biggie, gamelan kids in Bali wear Metallica T-shirts, and Disney is ubiquitous worldwide. The internet has made the whole library of western media available anywhere with a connection, and cheap pirated copies of CDs and DVDs are available in most countries. The flash, glitz, and freedom of western expression is particularly attractive, especially to traditionally "repressed" people. Musicians and actors in the US do whatever the hell they want - so it seems and so it is. Rock and roll, particularly, represents for many cultures what it represented when it first came to the scene in the US - raw expression, freedom, sexuality, and rebellion. Tibetan rock, from my little knowledge of it, represents a bit of a counterculture - not against HH or the Tibetan mainstream, but against Chinese oppression and domination. It's rebel music, as much as Bob Marley's was.

Note the leather jacket and shades! James Dean, Elvis Presley anyone?!

So, there you go. More to come in the next exciting episode.

What does it mean to be a rural Tibetan youth in modern India?

The picture many of us have of what it means to be part of a rural community is fast changing in India. As the picture above shows, it is no longer necessarily incongruous to be a farmer living an essentially ancient lifestyle while also using a smart phone on India's incredibly widespread 3G network.

How has this affected the community in Bylakuppe? As the existence of the Protected Area Permit attests (any person wanting to stay in Bylakuppe for more than a day trip is required to get what amounts to another visa specific to the place), the Tibetan community there is purposely protecting themselves from the negative effects of globalization. However, the Dalai Lama is nothing if not forward thinking, as much as he cherishes the rich traditions and religion of Tibet. His encouragement for all Tibetans to become fluent in English, the training of Tibetans in new technologies for text preservation, and the emphasis on updating government to a more democratic model all support this modernization.

The funny thing about kids, I think, is that, for the most part, they/we (I'm not stuck up enough to think I'm more than "one of those dumb kids!") don't care too much about preservation efforts. Depending on access of the youth to internet, I would not be surprised to find Tibetan kids with MP3 players rockin' and hip-hoppin' to everything kids in the states listen to, and thinking of Tibetan music as "stuff for old people and monks."

The thing is, though, that I am also not stuck up enough to assume that all kids all over the world have the same self-centered worldview that plagues and empowers my generation in the US. Perhaps, as is the case in Bali, there is no problem in maintaining musical heritage while still venturing into new, primarily Western territory. Or perhaps there is a stigma against Western forms of musical expression.

Though I doubt there are very many "rich kids," such as those described in this week's annotated source, I wonder to what degree the Bangalori attitude of the Third World being the "other" and the Western world being the "inside" has affected the Tibetan kids. Where do the Tibetan kids in Bylakuppe identify themselves? Do many live in a translocal paradigm that is perpetually and adamantly "the in-between," or is there a close identification with Tibetan tradition? How do kids define "Tibetan-ness?" Perhaps the question "what does it mean to you to be Tibetan" could be slipped into conversation here and there with people of all the strata found in Bylakuppe.

I love these pictures!

Annotated Source

Arun Saldanha

MUSIC, SPACE, IDENTITY: GEOGRAPHIES OF YOUTH CULTURE IN BANGALORE 

Nightlife in Bangalore. Notice the conspicuous absence of anything appearing Indian!

Saldanha explores just what the title implies - how youth culture utilizes music to define space and identity in Bangalore. This is particularly interesting because Bangalore is the closest major city to Bylakuppe, and to what degree Bangalori youth culture is reflected in Bylakuppean youth culture will be important to watch. Saldanha studied, specifically, the "rich kids," as he calls them - the wealthy elite that are able to make full use of the globalization found in Bangalore's shopping malls, car dealerships, and record stores. 

An interesting question is asked, and a succinct answer is given - why youth? Because youth are most involved in translating tradition in the face of globalization, and youth are they who must most fully come to terms with the presence of the West. Bangalori youth, as is typical of youth in many places, are most conversant with the technologies that bring other cultures home. MP3s and music videos are consumed in large amounts, and much (perhaps most) of what is being consumed is strictly western. Notable to me as a musician is that hybrid styles, such as bhangramuffin, which is a combination of dancehall reggae (raggamuffin) and Bhangra music, (http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/The+Best+Of+Apache+Indian/4112865), are almost completely ignored by the communities from which part of the hybrid came. 

This stuff is popular all over the world, but not so much in India

Saldanha concludes with three remarks. First, Bangalori youth's consumption of and identification with the Western world's popular culture is geographically contingent - that is, the way Bangalori youth take on the West is a specifically Bangalori way, and produces an entirely new sense of place that may be termed translocal, rather than global or local. Second,  this consumption has a distinctly political dimension - for the youth, Third World India becomes the "other" and the Western world becomes the "inside." Wealthy Bangalori youth, in particular, are able to separate themselves from "locals" through their ability to consume and understand in a greater way the things the West has brought, from expensive jeans to pop music. Third, studying music, space, and identity requires turning to "the actual sites where music attains its meaning," rather than isolating it in purely musicological, political, local, or other spatial paradigms. An integrative approach which considers the contributions of each of these paradigms and searches for other useful realms of thought for analysis will be most effective.