Namaste, Konnichiwa, Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!!!

I hope you're having a great New Year season and doing whatever you wish to be
doing.

I've had quite an interesting couple of months, having been on holiday from
tabla lessons in Varanasi travelling around India with Saya-chan. The
highlights & lowlights of our journey include dengue fever, theft of my
passport & other valuables, shaking the Dalai Lama's hand, lazing on the beach
in Goa and mountain biking around 500 year old ruins and much older enormous
boulders in Hampi and culminate with me spending Christmas in funky old
Kathmandu...


BREEZY BENARAS
October was quite a breezy month with the arrival of my girlfriend Sayaka from
Japan. Munna House was full of a nice bunch of people from Japan, Finland,
Thailand, Denmark/New York, Canada & Spain and there were many delicious and
enjoyable shared dinners, some good music sessions and lots of chatting and
chai. In early November we were able to see some famous musicians and dancers
performing in the Ganga Mahotsav on a big stage with the Ganges River (Ganga)
as a spectacular backdrop.


DELHI DRAMAS I
After this very pleasant period it was time for Saya-chan & I to take a holiday
from music lessons and see some of India. But we were to encounter some bad
luck on the train to Delhi. Sayaka started to complain of headaches and heavy
fever, which continued in Delhi. After a few days, a doctor diagnosed dengue
fever (transmitted by mosquitos) and recommended a few days in hospital. It
was a very modern private hospital, all paid for by Saya-chan's insurance
company. After a few days she recovered well and has been in good health since.

At the SAME time, on that unlucky train to Delhi, my shoulder bag was stolen,
including my passport, Visa card, all ID from Australia and Japan, MiniDisc
walkman, digital camera, a few books and so on. With Sayaka in heavy fever
alongside me I didn't really feel too sorry for myself and tried to get the
paperwork out of the way quickly so that I could take care of her. The first
stage was to get a new passport, which involved Rs4700 and a 2 week wait.


DHARAMSALA DHARMA
So once Saya-chan felt well enough we caught the overnight bus to Dharamsala,
the "capital-in-exile" of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people. It was pretty
cold but wonderfully sunny so we had fantastic Himalayan mountain views and
some great hiking. We also had the chance to shake the Dalai Lama's hand,
along with a few hundred other questing souls...


DELHI DRAMAS II
Back to smelly Delhi. Stage Two of the stolen-passport-recovery process was to
get a new visa stamp in my new passport. The timing of our return to Delhi
with a Muslim national holiday, a Sikh national holiday and a weekend meant
that it was going to take a week to get the necessary paperwork together to get
this new visa. So we skipped town to Goa.


GORGEOUS GOA
Until now, I'd never been game enough to take the 2 day journey to South
India. I'd never felt I had enough time. But I won't hold back in future
visits to India - the 33 hour train trip from Delhi to Goa wasn't so bad after
all. Lots of reading, card games, snacks and sleeping, and then we were in
paradise. Ten days in Goa spent swimming, eating fresh seafood, drinking cheap
beer and otherwise relaxing to the max were so welcome after our recent
trials! While it was quite busy it was still quiet and peaceful, and reminded
me of the Thai islands (except without Thai food!).

Seeing as I'd taken the time to come all this way south, we caught another
overnight ("sleeper") bus to Hampi, which is the site of the capital of the
14th-16th century Vijayanagar empire. It's a very interesting and peaceful
place, set in a landscape of piles of enormous boulders interspersed with 600
year old stone ruins.


DELHI DRAMAS III
Then it was time. I had to head north because of my Delhi dramas, followed by
an exit from India into Nepal to get a new 6 month visa. Sayaka, on the other
hand, still has 3 months on her visa and so had the opportunity to stay in the
wonderful weather and beaches of South India, especially to pursue her studies
of Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine) in Kerala. So I caught 2 trains and
arrived in Delhi 2 days later. This time everything was resolved smoothly and
by the end of the day I had a stamp in my new passport permitting me to stay in
India until Christmas Day.

That night I met up with Japanese sarod player Shuuji Yamamoto and his Italian
(Kathak dancer) wife Sylvia. We had a great music session. Two days later in
Varanasi I met 3 more Japanese Indian musicians and around this time I also
received an email from another in Kolkata asking when I'll visit there. India
is such a great meeting place for us global gypsies!


NIPPY NEPAL
After a few days in Varanasi, I took the harrowing 2 day bus journey (9
hours/day) to Kathmandu. Along with 43 hours train journey from Hampi to Delhi
and 14 hours more from Delhi to Varanasi, that made 75 hours of intercity
travel in the last week!

Kathmandu is a very cool city - one of my favourites. It has a great
combination of old & new - old wooden temples & other buildings, narrow lanes
and roads, shops filled with magical-looking Nepali & Tibetan artifacts yet all
the modern conveniences of any big Asian city.

Unfortunately for me, this is my first Christmas away from any friends or
family so I'm feeling a little lonely here in Kathmandu. To top it off, it's
quite nippy (cold) here and I've come down with a cold in the last few days.
And not only that, but my plans to settle in and watch the exciting Australia-
India 3rd test cricket match this week seem to have been scotched, because the
sports channel here comes from Hong Kong rather than India! Oh well, that's
life... No attachments... Stay happy...


PLANS
Once I get a new visa for India, my plans remain much as before. I'll be
staying in Varanasi until April, which should be a most excellent period of
musical development. On January 26 there is the Saraswati Puja concert in my
Guru-ji's house, in honour of the Hindu goddess of music & learning. This
period is the peak time for foreigners in Varanasi, so I'll be meeting lots of
musicians from Japan and elsewhere (India is the global gypsy meeting place!)
and seeing lots of concerts, culminating in the 5 night Sankat Mochan music
festival in April. After that I'll be playing music in Japan in May and then
Australia for June and possibly July/August too, then back to India for another
session of tabla lessons!

I'm really looking forward to 2004 and I hope you are too!

Love to all
Shen
Aum Mani Padme Hum

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