Hi folks,

At last I find myself at a computer with an empty inbox and the mood to write a
message to the world... I've now been in India for almost 3 months and it's
been a very hot, sticky and often wet 3 months - the monsoon.

At first I had to go through a period of major readjustment, after having been
living the high-life in Japan (clean streets, punctual trains, air-con), and
coming to the simple life of India (rubbish heaps, cows, rickshaws, fans &
daily power-cuts). In Japan, I was working a 40 hour week, enjoying lots of
great food (including regular doses of seafood and chicken) and drink and a
luxurious lifestyle. I weighed about 82kg. Now in India, I often practise 5-7
hours a day, eat 95% simple vegetarian food and never drink. I now weigh about
73kg.

So during the first few weeks my mood was pretty up-and-down. It was a lonely,
simple, hot life - wake, yoga, shower, breakfast (fantastic mangoes!),
practise, lunch, practise, lesson, practise, dinner, practise, sleep... And
those daily power-cuts during the hottest part of the day were really
draining. But it was great to see my Guru-ji again - 86 years old and still
going strong, treating patients with Ayurvedic medicine every morning and
teaching tabla every afternoon. He really is an amazing man, always full of
inspiring stories and advice. At that time (July), the inspiring advice
was "Practice is for difficult conditions, not sitting on a comfortable cushion
with fan and good mood..." Recently he told a great story which began, "In
January 1952, I was become a hero of tabla in Calcutta..." A story in which he
performed for a total of about 11 hours in one night at 3 locations with
artists including D.V. Paluskar (great vocalist) and Nikhil Banerjee (great
sitarist) and another few hours the next night! (Visit
http://www.ethnosuperlounge.com/guru-ji.htm and
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ethnosuperlounge-brisbane/message/38 for more
info about Guru-ji.)

In my tabla studies we first did a major review of teentaal (the most common
taal - 16 beats) and worked on my weak points - relas (the very fast style of
playing) and bayan (the left-hand, bass drum). Recently I've been studying
Char Taal ki Sawari (11 beats), a very interesting taal which I may only be
able to play in tabla solo as very few musicians can actually play it!

Anyway, as the monsoon progressed, the Ganga river rose and rose and actually
reached a 15-year high a few weeks ago, in the process flooding quite a few
houses. It's since dropped but it's very high for the time of year. It's now
Durga Puja, a nine-night festival in honour of goddess Durga, the Demon-
Slayer. There are statues of Durga all around the city, one of which is about
5 stories high! It's very busy at night with families walking around to visit
all the "pandals". This Monday night, the roads will be full of processions of
statues and portable music-systems as everyone makes there way to the river to
toss the statues into Ganga-Maa. It will be interesting to see how it's
negotiated with the river so high this year, with no ghats to load the boats
from. (See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ethnosuperlounge-brisbane/message/53
for my story of intense tabla practice during Durga Puja back in 2001.)

My other big news is that a few days ago my lovely girlfriend Sayaka arrived in
India for her first time, ending my 3 months of solitude. I went to Delhi to
meet her at the airport and accompany her back to Varanasi. It's so nice to be
with her again, and our apartment in Munna House is now complete. She brought
lots of delicious Japanese, Thai and Italian ingredients so we'll be eating the
best food in Varanasi. It's also great to see India again through the eyes of
a newcomer, and relive the surprises and shocks that India offers.

My current plans are to stay in Varanasi in October and early November, up to
Dev Deepavali (in which the city is strewn with beautiful little ghee lamps),
then travel with Saya-chan until December. At that point I'll have to go to
Nepal to get a new Indian visa, then return to Varanasi for Saraswati Puja (a
very special event in Guru-ji's house), do lots more lessons and practice until
April (Sankat Mochan Sangeet Mela - 5 nights of top-class music) and then head
to Japan and Australia for a couple of months, hopefully to play lots of
concerts and teach some tabla too. At the moment I'm not sure whether to go to
Japan in May and Australia in June or vice-versa (Oz first in May and then
Japan). If you have any advice on this question, please let me know.

And the last little bit of news is that after a 2 month hiatus, my website is
now back online. Visit http://www.ethnosuperlounge.com - I want to update it
more often if possible, so if you have any feedback or recommendations please
email me. I especially want to expand the Links page so please send me any
interesting links, particularly for world music artists and organisations.

Until next time,
Love to all
Shen
Aum Mani Padme Hum

shen@...
http://www.ethnosuperlounge.com