From the Himalayas to the Sierra Madres: This Buddhist Monk Is My Bro

This post will be a bit long; I have a lot to cover since my last post. My week in Rishikesh ended up being very relaxing. I was living in an ashram, which is a center of learning and healing through either the ayurvedic, naturopathic, or homeopathic style of medicine depending on the ashram’s focus. The one I was staying at was a naturopathic ashram. I hadn’t learned anything about naturopathy in any of my previous rotations so I was excited to learn a lot. Naturopathic doctors do not prescribe medicine, as they believe “food is medicine” and by eating certain foods in varying amounts (fasting included) they can cure disease and sickness. Here’s how my day went: 8-9 AM yoga; 9:30-10 AM breakfast; 11-11:50 lecture on naturopathy given by the doctor in the ashram; lunch from 1-1:30 PM; 4-5 PM meditation/relaxation class; 6 PM dinner. As you can see, I had a lot of free time. During all of my free time, I would read, go into town, and meditate (to my best effort). On the second day in the ashram I met Anna and Surrein, 22 and 27 years of age respectively, and they were also staying in the ashram undergoing treatments and relaxing. Surrein had been in India for a year and was a complete hippie, through and through. The 22-year-old from Germany was much more like myself, much more independent (some would say liberal) in my political stances. The friend from Holland was extremely nice and compassionate but would say things that Anna and I thought were jokes. We were wrong on a few accounts. I had to train myself to simply nod my head when she would say things like (Anna told me about this conversation she had with Surrein), “I just visited Jupiter and saw my family on Saturn. They’re doing great.” She admitted that she was close to reaching enlightenment, which I just found fascinating, as most monks don’t reach this state over a lifetime of praying, meditating, and studying. I think I remember responding, “Wow, that’s amazing. Good job.” Anna and I would have more normal conversations on our own, which was nice. Don’t get me wrong though, I very much enjoyed conversing and getting to know both girls. That’s one of the main reasons I’m in India, to listen and learn from those who are different from myself. I had planned to go to Dharamsala two weeks later (where the Dalai Lama lives) for the weekend, and so too had Anna. So we parted thinking it would be great to see a familiar face in the future, but if not, we thoroughly enjoyed the week getting to know each other. I think Surrein wanted to stay in India until September when her visa expires. She was so nice, and I really did appreciate hearing about her perspective and her friendliness in general.

Thanks to the efforts and flexibility of the directors and coordinators of CFHI, I was able to switch programs halfway through the month so that I could experience two weeks of the Public Health rotations in Delhi and the city of Chandigarh. I am so grateful for the switch as I have gotten to see some very interesting things that I wouldn’t otherwise have seen in the Dehradun rotation. This past week my new group headed a few hours north by train to the city of Chandigarh to work with the program SWACH – Survival of Women and Children. This NGO blew me away. The government is adopting their programs to implement them nationwide. I have learned a lot about the mainstream Indian perspectives on family, health issues, and other topics of debate including homosexuality. SWACH is running some programs that are very progressive even by American standards. One of these programs includes “Harm reduction among Female Sex Workers” due to the fact that the STI rates are so high among the FSW population. Over the past few years, they have been trying to get in contact with as many of these women as possible to educate them about HIV/AIDS, proper condom use, and other safe sex practices. They provide free medication to all women in need, and will take any to the hospital to get tested for sexually transmitted infections. They communicate with over 3,000 FSW in the area via direct communication with peer educators. These peer educators are prostitutes as well, but have been trained and educated very thoroughly on the aforementioned subjects. Over just a few years, they have seen a significant decrease in sexually transmitted infections among FSW, and therefore, among the men they have had sex with as well. We went to a few different hidden brothels throughout the city, including one in the slums. For those who have seen Slumdog Millionaire: the movie did not dramatize the living conditions in the slums. I have a few pictures below. On the second day of the rotation, we sat down with about 20 FSW and asked them whatever we wanted. Here are some of the surprising/interesting things I found out: almost all FSW are married with children, however, most of their husbands are alcoholics and don’t provide financial assistance so they must make money to support themselves and their children; most would prefer not to be prostitutes, but were happy with the fact that they were putting food on the table for their kids; no one in their families knows what they are doing, and if they did, they would be kicked out of the family forever. Throughout the day, I found that the women were very easy-going and nice. They got along with each other so well. SWACH has brought them together and provided a network so that if anything ever goes wrong on or off the job, they can call each other for help. A latent effect that has come about is the fact that this network has improved their business. If a FSW is called for a job and cannot meet with the man at the time, she can call another FSW to please the man. I found this very interesting. The main criticism we had with this program was the fact that there was not much encouragement to pursue other vocations. We suggested that they use funding to provide paid training to the FSW so that they can go into another field qualified and not behind financially. We asked the women why they don’t do something else, and they responded by asking, “Why would I risk going into another career unsure if I’d make money, while I have a paying job now that provides food for me and my family?” They mentioned that they’d prefer to have a job they could be more proud of, but at the end of the day, all that matters is whether or not there is food on the table. I felt the program was amazing for all of the education they were providing, but it almost seemed like they were putting a Band-Aid on a broken arm. This program will solve these problems short term, but to be comprehensively harm reducing, they should be leading these women into a field where they won’t regularly be threatened and in danger. I was so impressed with the staff and progress the program has made.

Later in the week, we met with the gay community in Chandigarh. Homosexuality is extremely frowned-upon in Indian society. In fact, there is a law that is currently being amended to legalize the act of consensual gay sex. These men were so fun to interact with because of their very outgoing and perky personalities. Like the FSW, almost all of these men were married with children, mainly to mask their homosexual nature. Meanwhile, they were wearing heels and preferred that we refer to them as Ms., not Mr. It made me happy that they had somewhere they could meet together and be who they were. I always sympathize for the LGBT community because they have to hide who they are in many situations in fear of judgment and discrimination (cough Notre Dame cough). I could see the contentment in all of their eyes due to the fact they were being themselves and with others like themselves. Also like the FSW community, their families and communities did not know they were gay for the same reasons the FSW would keep quiet. They talked to us about everything from where they would meet to have sex, to the safety measures they now take thanks to SWACH. The gay community has very high rates of HIV/AIDS so that is why SWACH is working them.

We lived with a very nice Indian family in Chandigarh. I befriended the brothers Krishna and Rama who are 20 and 19 years of age respectively. We all wanted to see Batman on Friday, which was so freaking amazing. However, I had found out just before the movie about the incident in Colorado. I was pretty shaken up, and still can’t stop thinking about the madness of it all. I feel so bad for those who were killed and their families. My heart really does go out to all families involved, I simply can’t imagine sending my kid to a movie and not having him or her return. So unbelievably sad. After the movie, I went to the bus stop to take a bus to the town of Dharamsala. Long story short, my 11:30 PM bus did not stop where I was, so I missed it. A bit frustrated thinking I was going to be spending the night with the dogs in the station, I stumbled upon four guys my age asking if I needed help. I said I was trying to get to Dharamsala and that I missed my bus. They then told me that they too were trying to get to Dharamsala and that they were waiting for a 1:30 AM bus. I was so gracious for their help. We immediately became friends and spent most of the weekend together. On Saturday, I was on my way to a restaurant to take cooking lessons when a Buddhist monk stopped me and asked me if I could talk with him for a while so he could improve his English. I immediately said yes thinking, “How many times will a Tibetan Buddhist monk come looking to me for help?” We ended up talking for about five hours and went to his favorite momo café for lunch. It was delicious. I learned that he was a Tibetan refugee, and he walked over the Himalayas at the age of 13 in fear of Chinese oppression. This problem continues to go on without much international intervention due to the fact that China is a world superpower now. They have killed over one million Tibetans and forced many others into exile. What amazed me was the modesty in which these monks spoke. They had climbed some of the biggest peaks in the world wearing nothing more than the clothes they had on their backs at the time of exile and walked for 20 days. He told me that the first couple days were hard, but the rest were normal after having accepted the conditions. I loved talking to Tsudu, and I consider him a good friend now.

Walking to another cooking lesson after not making it to the one I had originally planned on going to, I spotted Anna from Rishikesh walking around. We caught up and she introduced me to some other friends she had just met in Dharamsala from Wales, Belgium, France, Australia, and Palestine. My friends from the bus station included, we all had dinner and a few drinks that night. The environment could not have been better. We were sitting on the rooftop of a cafe with the stars out, looking at the silhouette of the Himalayas, listening to some Tibetans play their bongos and guitars, performing The Wall by Pink Floyd. That to me has been the most fun part of traveling alone: meeting new people from around the world and getting along so well. Even though I only got to know them for a few hours, I will miss them greatly.

I am now sitting on my 12 hour bus ride back to Delhi for my last week in India. I do feel ready to get back home, but I am already getting sad thinking about leaving the country I can now call home. I will especially miss the people. I have only met the nicest of people since being here, and I will always remember India for that.

Well, I should try to get some sleep, although it will be difficult, as the Bollywood films playing out loud are not fit for the tired.

Namaste,

Clayton