Back after a few day break

It’s late afternoon on Sunday and I am sitting down to do some writing after a few days break.  I spent a couple of days in intense practice getting ready for my Friday night concert at MUWCI (Mahindra United World College India).  I performed outside in a stepped area near the Fine Arts Complex.  The event started at 8:00 pm with a big crowd of students in attendance.  School president, Jonathan Long and his wife Sue showed up, but I didn’t notice other faculty, although some may have been present.  Ben Clark and his finance, Sindhu were there since Ben organized the event. It all looked beautiful with good spot light placement and some candles.  We picked the site because of its good natural acoustics.  I played a mixed program, with half original compositions and the other half from my classical repertory.  I was very focused and expressive and the students responded with youthful enthusiasm.  It felt good to play my first concert in India.

Since the kathakali performance, 2 days earlier was feeling slightly out of sorts.  At that performance, I had not yet moved up to campus and was not dressed in any warm clothes.  By the time the show ended, over 2 hours later I was extremely cold,  a cold that sank down to my bones.  On Thursday I took naps during the day, trying to hold off the ill feeling.  By Friday night the sniffles were increasing, although the adrenalin rush of performing kept me in focus.  After the show I went over to Ben’s house and had some dinner and conversation with Ben and Sindhu.  By Saturday morning I felt wiped out and spent most of the day in bed except to get up and do extended periods of guitar practice, which is my meditation practice, and do some yoga type stretching.  In addition to my physical down I was noticing my spiritual sense was feeling somewhat out of balance.  It was good to look at the thoughts that would pop into my mind and come to some new realizations about my stay here in India.

This morning, Sunday I arose around 7:00 am, showered and did some laundry by hand.  The Sunday brunch starts at 10:30 am and by that time I was not 100% but feeling considerably better.  After brunch I set out with my backpack for a walk through the villages near the campus.  All together I walked around 8 km.  By the time I started walking the steep 2 km uphill to the campus I was extremely tired.  After a brief deep nap I awoke feeling better and looking forward to this “cold” being a thing of the past.

The area around the UWC is entirely agricultural with many small villages scattered about.  As I walked along the road people were out in their fields plowing with oxen, irrigating, planting and harvesting.  In the area there are sugar cane fields, rice fields, various vegetables such as greens and beans, flowers and other crops.  At one point I stopped and talked with a family who was plowing and irrigating their field, getting ready to plant later in the day.  The people in this area don’t speak Hindi, rather their local language, Marathi, but there was a teenage boy working the field who spoke good English.  He goes to school in Pune and commutes the 3 hour round trip daily.  He told me his brother had studied at the UWC here and was now at a Lutheran University in the U.S.  There is a concerted effort by the MUWCI to include some local students in their regular academic program.  (There are 2 UWC students from one of the local villages studying at the UWC in New Mexico) The uncle of this high school student, was hanging out and not working.  He was quite  drunk and because of his looseness was the first to wave and talk to me. Eventually continuing on my way, I headed off the main road towards the river.  After walking in that direction for around 1 km the path ended at a house.  People, mostly women were working the fields dressed in their colorful sarees.  As I would pass women on the road almost none would make eye contact with me or acknowledge my greeting.  I expect this is very common throughout rural India.  The men were a bit more responsive.  The younger children were generally full of smiles and would sometimes try out their few words of English with me.  At this time of year many of the fields are green or prepared for planting.  I am told that over the next few months things will get continually drier and parched with fire danger increasing.  The monsoon season hits around May.  Then it is water, water, water everywhere.

Regarding upcoming performances.  This coming Wednesday I will be going to Pune with Ben and Sindhu to meet Jehindra, the director of the Pune Music Society.  In my communications with him before leaving for India I was lead to believe that I would be performing in Pune during the 3rd week of January.  That is not happening.  When we meet next week we will be setting a performance date in February.  Over the next few weeks I will also be playing at various local village schools, a home for the mentally handicapped, another local private college and possibly a hospital.  I am looking forward to all these opportunities to get involved, through my music, in the local culture.  I am also hoping that Jehindra recommends me and will put me in contact with other large urban music societies where I can perform.  Time is moving forward and it will not be long before I will be leaving the UWC and hitting the road.  Next weekend and during the coming weeks I plan to visit some towns  within a 5-7 hour train or bus ride.  From the readings in my travel book there are some amazing places to visit in the vicinity.

That is it for now.

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