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Ins: A study tour of infrastructure, hospitality and cross culture communication: 1: Roads funded by alcohol taxes - handy to work out where to buy booze. Grade1 roads = military base close to big drinkers grade 5 unfit for any purpose other than drinking your own pre purchased grog while wiring on your muffler. 2: hospitality: a tailor made cigarette may make you impotent or kill you faster but it will make you safer, healthier and happier than you would have ever thought possible in rural India. How rich you are is not what you have its how much you give. There is such a thing as too much service it seems to directly correlate to how much data you don't have. 3: cross cultural communication black caps, sir Richard Hadlee and Brendan mcCullum we owe you each a case of kingfisher. How to speak Hinglish.
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Why are you speaking English to each other? "70% of Indias population is less than 35 years old, 1/4 of them have English as a first language, education is king, the English left a British school system. We dream in English we think in English." - our hosts at "The Farm" near Japiur confirm much we have questioned about India's direction and future. This guest house is an eclectic trove of sublime upcycled palace parts, art, quirky pieces, reconfigured every year when the hip and charming proprietors return from their three month sojourn abroad. Tonight a week before they pack down we are their only guests joined by two inspiring young entrepreneurial designers, stunning sisters who share their latest cover on Conde Naste Traveller and explain that even in their strict Jain family traditions are changing -fast. They dabble in non veg and dress high fashion lamenting that their petite frames look as though someone has thrown fabric at them when they don traditional saris while still agreeing when (not if) they marry they will HAVE to wear one. The juxtaposition of modernity and tradition is rich with emotion and color. We put 335 kms away on our Rickshaw Run from Jodphur to Jaipur yesterday and the truckies, road bandits and places we chose not to stop obviously can still not read the memo. They have no English, no meat, are lambasted in fabric and dirt, they dodge rubble on freeways still under construction. Some help push our auto over road blockages some attempt to become one to force us off the road. We swerve around them or run straight at them determined not to find out what they would have done with that. India jumps technology, no need to lay copper wire go straight to mobile. Agriculture struggling with climate change convert a paddock to solar so you may educate your children. On the road we are seeing massive movements of new military equipment, tanks mainly and then wind turbines so many parts I've lost count and have stopped fumbling for camera as blades pass. E-motion = energy in motion. In India it sits on the surface, oil on Dahl tarkha. It can pool and puddle, heightening flavours, attacking senses. Leaving friends in Jodphur working hard on construction increasing their frugal home two fold, even poppa carrying buckets of sand to the roof top, chipping stone blocks by hand, famine and disability outweighed only by their hospitality and warmth. I cried thinking we may not Jai me Lang ge, see these folk again. The adrenalin truly running for a day, pushing the Tuk over road blocks, dodging bandits and truck drivers who are in a p fueled frenzy of Lane changing. To a sanctuary of bird song, gentle manners and chic industrial urban style. Where the pool is clean, the baby spinach organic and adopting a dog or a child is what you do because you should. India is on the move. What are you really doing in Singapore ...5 staring it I hope?... Ha.Team speedy kiwi yesterday was neither team or speedy. As being deported from India is my fault you can imagine 5 star rewards are not that forthcoming. After canceling all stars that were pointing to India by my inactions, Dad recommended our hotel Grand Park City Hall perfect, central $160-180 a night here at Easter is brilliant. Rates are up over $500 for other 3-4 star hotels this weekend. Some say Singapore is pricey, to kiwis it has parity with home - what does that say to us about NZ? We have been doing the visa dance which is frustratingly complex especially over easter. 9-3pm just to complete the on line applications as the Indian system kept crashing. A huge thanks to mum at home, Arrow Ridge we are now one step closer to seeing our new baby tuk tuk soon. Efficiency evaded us, A closed high commission, a travel agent wearing disconcerting cat eye contacts, sweating rivers her not I as she struggled pregnant with disabled hands to gesture that as foreign nationals here we have no hope, call home. Thank you God for mums. For my mum, form filling by phone in NZ exchanging scans and PDFs by shear will power. I'm close to 50 years of age and still a child. When Maslows hierarchy of needs is challenged humans focus on the level it crashes out at. For us right now it's level 2 safety and security. No matter how old we are its our mums and dads we long to hear from and be reassured by when we are vulnerable. I'm blessed. TC my mum jet lagged and only minutes in the door home herself yesterday after a month working in Europe is no stranger to travel dilemmas. We passed like flights in the Asian sky at night on Anything but good Friday. I couldn't wait to hear her voice. I knew she would help me to make things right. Mum had said just before we left ...As your children grow up they will still need you, not all the time - they'll do their own thing, they go away, don't ring enough or stay in touch, or share things with you, but there always comes the day that they pick up the phone cause you have the connection and they understand that it's you that they need. I didn't realize she was talking about me. Maslow level1 is physiological. And being deported from India took us out at the floor. We've retreated. As in paragliding comps sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards. We are Resetting ... Having survived a near divorce flight we've realized sleep now run later may be a good strategy. Its good to acclimatize to the heat and adjust from home, to acknowledge we are on holiday, together.We've yelled, cried, slept and eaten. Healing. To begin to spice things up again. Level 3 - social in Maslows world, ensures we adjust our cultural drift. Our dress code, our slang and accents are getting a polish up so others understand us and will connect. Manners matter when you want and need to get out of the schmoo. Yet it's always the peak of the pyramid you set your sights on the self esteem and self fulfillment levels. I'm ok stuff. Reclaimed here. By doing the freakin work. Making good on mis-takes and being authentic and acting with integrity. Self actualisation is the pinnacle, Maslows peak. Creation. Singapore is a future, the architecture and systems are incredible, fascinating, engaging, exemplary. Art, education, innovation. We are going local and getting all over it. Learning, studying, exploring knowing that being here is part of the big picture adding to what it is that we do after this. What we will take away and contribute. About what it is that we are here to give. For the blog..Do the work, demonstrate TLC...These notes are written as we are being deported from India. Option A do nothing has led me to me stuff up our visa process for the rickshaw run, we are enroute to Singapore not knowing what is next. Visa on arrival is not. What it should be is Visa pre applied for granted after you do the freakin work. Do the work is the lesson today and everyday from now on. Those who know of my workshops and D.A.R.E rituals will know about TLC, an opportunity to meditate on what it is we are Thankful for, what we have Learnt and Commitments to carry out before the day is done. Ideally TLC is of value daily, at times of loss, confusion or pain perhaps a life raft or just something to DO when you don't know what else to do. So here it is and so it is; I am Thankful for: The love understanding and support from friends, family, and randoms, kind words and offers of support are more helpful than you think they will be and do help healing. Safe keeping on our journey we are alive and safe. That we are ok even if broken spirited. For dad for always answering the phone when I call with bad news and being there for me always even when at times I didn't know or ask for it. For Heather and Warrick together on our journey even when we are not. For my husband tested together in love spirit and purpose. For my children - brave and blessed. For the kindness of those on service. For faith that there is a plan. For trust that it will work out somehow. For calm in the face of adversity. For the will to do good. For the higher plan of least resistance. For belief in something, anything at times. For Scotch. Learnt: I'm sorry Being present is crucial. Follow up when one doubts. Sometimes things cannot be achieved or controlled through will alone. India is not the place to fight the system. You can't tell someone something if it is of no relevance to them or they have no interest in hearing it. Live more awesome is about more than a holiday. Sometimes there is little one can do other than surrender and release. I fucked it up. Unrouted and unsupported is a strong manifestation statement; as is ask for help. Checks and counter checks sometimes fail as does failing to check at all. Not knowing is only half ok and more than half not. Never turn down a free bottle of scotch when it's on offer you may need it later. In fact take all three. Some you win some you learn. Commitment: Good work and contribution is what makes me feel of value. Writing helps me to process. Authenticity is easy even when embarrassing. Surrender and release. Ask for help Pray Do the work. |
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