the darjeeling hum

i've had many odd encounters with cows and monkeys, but chickens seem hard to come by. week one has passed and i finally found my chicken. unfortunately i wasn't sitting next to it on a bus, but i figured this was close enough.

as each day goes by, it gets easier and easier living in india... i don't think i'll ever really blend, but at least i'm not just wandering around looking lost anymore. i am getting pretty comfortable with the constant noise, the dusty air and the foreign food... and being stared at everywhere i go.

my yoga practice starts at 7 a.m. during the week. i wake up at 5 a.m. just so i can absorb the silence. it's not too often that india is actually quiet. i wake up slowly... i'm doing everything slowly these days... that's just how it's done here. i stretch out a bit on my bed and play a song on my ipod before my feet even touch the ground. This never fails to bring a huge smile to my face. It's nice to lay there in the dark and just smile for a few minutes.

softly, in the distance... i hear a street vendor pushing a cart through the neighborhood, calling for pineapple, watermelon and papaya... soon after, Kellashrani, the elder in the house calls upstairs to wake the family. the birds start chirping. a horn sounds. a car drives by. a gate creaks open. the old man coughs up a loogie. a bike bell chimes. a conversation in hindi is being mumbled in the next room.

slowly these sounds start to merge into one giant clash of sounds. one car has turned into a bajillion cars, all honking at the same time. they honk for everything here. when they're turning, when they're passing... when they're going to hit something... when they pass a temple... sometimes i think they honk just to honk. each horn seems to have a different sound, so it sounds like a symphony of chaos. i'm still laying in bed and notice, this is very india... it was completely silent five minutes ago.

i find that my senses are amplified here... i wonder if it's because i'm in a foreign land or if it's because i'm starting to quiet myself... or maybe i just cleaned my ears.