Jan 11

Day 3 in Amrtisar. I’ve seen very little of the city. I’ve even seen very little of the temple itself. I’m not particularly interested, to be honest, but I will try to spend some time tomorrow there in silent contemplation and meditation. I’m looking forward to it. In the meantime, I’ve pretty much spent my time here at the net café, catching up on work, dealing or trying to deal with the Erin issue, and taking occasional walks around the area, even got lost for about 10 minutes today, which was a first for me. It was interesting, but at no point even nearly threatening. Not being able to smoke in the vicinity of the temple has meant that I’ve had to walk around to find a spot far enough where I wouldn’t be sneered at or felt to be disrespectful. My net café buddy’s girlfriend came in today. A small Japanese woman who hardly speaks any English. How they hooked up I can’t quite tell, but he has good energy and probably talks enough for both of them, and she’s cute so they may seem an odd couple but they make me smile. He’s traveled around a lot and plans on taking her to a few places while she’s here, possibly even Shimla.

I’m back at the dorms, got a bottle of water, first in the past few days. My body I’m sure is grateful, though I feel no different. It seems I’m somehow capable of going very long periods without water. I can’t explain it. Bathroom moments are few and far between as well. Maybe 2 pisses per day, 1 shit every 3 or so days. Sometimes, 5 days go by before I need to crap. One meal a day on average since I left the family. I feel no different.

While typing this I was interrupted, or I should say I attracted one of the sikh guards who, like all Indians being interested in technology, felt compelled to take a look, ask all the same questions, how much in rupees? So I took it upon myself to find out a bit about him, while he asked a bit about me. Forgot his name tho, maybe kulmar jeet. Not sure. Anyway, he’s 32 but looks like he’s 45. Married, as they all are and it’s always the second question after “what country?” 2 kids, 5 and 3. 1 brother, 2 sisters, all of whom are married. He works here 30 days at a time, then 30 days off, which he uses to return home and do some farming. I guess he farms wheat since he said he makes chapatti. His English was poor of course, and he didn’t seem to be the brightest man, pretty trepidacious(wrong word but you know what I mean), but that may have just been due to the English factor. Seems like a nice guy. Saw Kate here again tonight. I think it’s her 4th night. I asked for permission from Kulmar to stay one more night and it was granted. You're only supposed to stay a max of 3 days according to the rules of the gurwara. Makes sense, it's not social housing just a place to accommodate pilgrims and travelers for a short while. Kate I met the day I got here. After disembarking from the train and being rushed onto the free bus to the temple, she came on a few minutes later as it waited in the station before taking off. The guys, seeing that we were both foreigners, pretty much forced us to speak to each other. It was pretty funny;, those guys were pretty funny. So, she’s Aussy, been in Nepal for 2 months, and has come straight from there to Amritsar. Seems like an interesting person who’s absorbed quite a bit in terms of information while she’s been here, quite in contrast with me. I find most people are managing to absorb more. Maybe it’s cause they’ve been here longer, maybe they just have different priorities and more authentic experiences, I don’t know. I mostly don’t care, but I do find myself a bit envious. I don’t know how they do it. I can’t remember any names, any words. Maybe it’s cause since being here I’ve been exposed to 3 different languages, not to mention dialects, which I couldn’t tell anyway, but between Kashmiri, Punjabi, and Hindi, I’m completely lost. I’m not sure I’m really trying either. I started writing some words down, but I don’t know which are which anymore. I’ve since given up. Hell, let that be their experience, mine is different. I’m not touring the ruins or the temples, or the forts, I’m just floating on the breeze that is India, and wherever I’m lead I will take in with as much pleasure as I’m capable of. This is my reality and I am getting what I expected, even if I’m not making all the regular tourist stops, but really, I’m not too far from that either. But I expect more from the south and even from Rajasthan. It does suck that I have to work.