It is Monday morning, March 1, which is a holiday here in India called “Holi” the festival of colors. It has a long history in Hindu tradition, but in its most basic sense is a celebration of spring. It is a day of joy and love with people celebrating by putting colors on each other. In modern times this is often done by the youth by throwing colored water balloons at each other. Here at MUWCI, where the celebration has not yet begun, I was told that students often use mud to cover each other, as the balloons and coloring are limited in supply. I am not sure at this point how involved I will get in the festivities.
On Wednesday afternoon, March 17, I left MUWCI in the staff commuter van heading to Pune. I was dropped off and caught a auto-rickshaw to the home of Arnaud & Shakuntal where I had been invited to dinner, before catching my overnight sleeper bus to the beach at Ganpatipule. They have a 2 apartment situation. In one apartment they live and the other houses Arnaud’s organ. After a few moments in their living space Arnaud and I went next door to see and hear his 4 manual Johannus organ which is manufactured in Holland. With a large wall almost entirely filled with high quality speakers the sound was breathtaking. Arnaud focuses much of his attention on practicing Bach and it was wonderful to hear him play various chorales and a toccata. After he played form some time I asked if I could give it a spin. I was playing simple improvisations but the sound was amazing and I could have sat there for hours. But dinner and my bus beckoned so we headed back to their living area. My friends Jehanger and Binaifir had arrived, so we settled in to a light dinner but very tasty dinner, plus wine, beer and whisky which put me in a very mellow mood for the long bus trip ahead.
Binaifir and Jehanger drove me to the bus station after dinner. After a while the bus arrived, I said my goodbyes and boarded. Because the bus was not crowded I got to use a larger bed. The bus was second class and had no air conditioning but nights are still cool this time of year. We left Pune around 11:00 pm and arrived at Ganpatipule at 7:30 am on Thursday. I had a restful night except for the load engine noise, extreme rocking, bumps, bright lights as we passed through town, twisting hair pin turns through the mountains, stopping and starting. Upon arrival I found my way to the MTDC resort which is a government-run lodging chain throughout India. At Ganpatipule they have a large main complex and then a smaller area 1/2 km down the beach. I rented a small cottage with bathroom at that location. My cottage was located around 100 yards from the beach with a view from my window of the Arabian Sea. Located in a coconut grove and near a beach restaurant I found the situation perfect. The food at the restaurant was good and very reasonable in price. The beach was mostly deserted except near the main complex so it was a time of mostly relaxing solitude. I spent my 4 days swimming, walking the mile long beach, exercising, playing guitar and meeting people. In the next door cottage was a woman from Switzerland, who was on her last stop after spending a 2 month solo journey in India. Over the 4 days we became friends and enjoyed spending time together. I also got to know some of the staff and other tourists. This resort is used almost entirely to Indian tourists. During my stay I only saw 5-6 non-Indian travelers. You can check out photos of the beach and area on my Picasa site.
I arrived back in Pune at 5:30 am after another all night bus ride. After receiving some bad advice when getting off the bus, I finally found my way to the location where the MUWCI employee van would be picking me up for the return trip to the college. It was still dark when I arrived at that spot and I really enjoyed watching the city wake up. . . the early morning women street sweepers, the daily newspaper seller setting up, the gradual increase of traffic, the morning dogs making their rounds.
Back at MUWCI I had a very busy week ahead. On Monday I taught my regular guitar students, practiced and caught up on a little sleep from the bus ride. On Tuesday I taught the beginners guitar club and worked with the 4 more advanced guitarists. I also worked with Martin, the German cello player, and asked him to perform with me at my upcoming Saturday night UWC concert. He is a good classical cellist and I have been doing some work with him on improvisation, which he had never done before. He has a great natural feel and good harmonic knowledge. We began rehearsing “Summertime” for the concert. I also taught Carla a lesson. She was in the process of learning one of my favorite classical guitar pieces “Recuerdos de la Alhambra”. Carla has never played any classical guitar and it is a joy to watch her learn the piece by memorizing it measure by measure as I played it for her. She almost instantly has developed very good classical technique and ended up learning the entire piece in around 6 practice sessions with me. She has great talent and when she returns to Australia she intends to study music full-time.
On Wednesday I performed at the boys mentally handicapped facility located at one of the nearby villages. I went with around 8 UWC students who go there on a weekly basis as part of their service. After playing various games I got out my guitar a played for around 20 minutes. We all had a great time and the boys loved the music. See blog photos of that event.
On Thursday I performed at the Mercedes-Benz School on the edge of Pune. The school was originally founded to teach the children of administrative employees at the Mercedes-Benz factory. But in the past 5 or so years the area has become the center of IT development in the Pune area and possibly the largest in India. Huge company building complexes are going up on a monthly basis. So the school is serving to this segment of the Indian population, as well as the international people who are also working in the area. I gave a 3 hour workshop with around 15 students and then after lunch played a 45 minute concert for around 60 of the older students. One of the guitarists, a 16-year-old Indian, who grew up in Peking, China, where his father working as an executive at some large company, played with me during my show. He is a strong player and writes original music. I had him do some improvisation with me which was great for his fellow students and teachers to hear. I received an honorarium for that work and am starting to earn just enough to meet my expenses while here in India.
On Friday I performed a concert at the National Chemical Lab (NCL) in Pune. That concert came about because a fellow, Pankaj Doshi, had attended my concert a few weeks earlier at the Pune Music Society and arranged to have me perform at NCL. On short notice he did a wonderful job of arranging the event. I played to an audience of around 150 at their large auditorium and well very well received. After the concert I made some contacts with Doctoral students working at the Lab who volunteer fore and organization that promotes Indian Classical Music around the country. The organization has many branches around India. One of these fellows, Siddarth, is going to be contacting other members to help me meet some top Indian classical musicians and hopefully help set up performances for me as I travel.
On Saturday I performed my last concert here at MUWCI. After in opening number I had Martin come up and we performed two selections together; Summertime and Romance de Amor. He played very well and is looking forward to exploring more improvisation in the future. That concert was my public goodbye, as I will be leaving MUWCI on March 4. It has been a wonderful 2 months here. I have had the opportunity to enjoy this amazing campus with its great students, faculty and staff.
On Saturday I also attended a final meeting of a 2 day conference being held here a MUWCI. The conference was centered around environmental sustainability. It brought together some leading Indian people involved in environmental Science, reforestation, banking and business. The idea is to create, here at MUWCI, a self-sustaining, environmentally balanced institution, in cooperation with the surrounding communities, that can serve as a model for institutions around India and the world. It is a very exciting project which I will be discussing further at the Montezuma UWC when I return home. I had the opportunity to get to know some of those involved and will hopefully be meeting up with a few of them during my future travels here in India.
On Sunday evening I attended a student music/theatre showcase performance in the Space. This is usually a bi-weekly event but because of the series of weekend plays was the first since I have been here. I am glad I got a chance to see it and was impressed with the variety of talented students here at the college.
So I have spent my morning writing this blog and missed the Holi mud/color event. This afternoon and evening I have some teaching to do. On Tuesday I plan to make a quick trip to Pune for some necessary shopping and then teach in the evening. On Wednesday I will be getting organized for my departure on Thursday morning.
And then on Thursday I fly to Bangalore for around 6 days to teach, perform and check out the area. I will then take a train or bus to Mysore where I will also perform a concert and explore the area, which I have been told is very special. More on all that in my next blog entry. Until then, be well.
http://picasaweb.google.com/musictou3/Ganpatipule?feat=directlink
Carl Bernstein's Blog 
It’s hard to believe that you’ve already been at the school for two months! Sounds like you made the most of your time there. Bon voyage for this next phase. I look forward to reading about the next phase of your journey.
Janet