PLACES ON MY BODY IT TOUCHED

there's still some marks on my body from the trip. places i fell down and got bloody, there are lines and little red dots, i know they are from india, evidence of something, a place, a clown move, some kid's laughter. also scars from the bedbugs or fleas, they might've been fleas, from our last night in chennai, laura and i drinking KING FISHER beer outside on the stoop, hiding every time one of the hotel workers came close to the glass, because we weren't supposed to be out there, my ankles were itching then, i thought it might be mosquitoes. but i think, those were the fleas that got me, jumping up from the sand.

i woke up today and put some water on to boil. the tea bag said CHAI and it smelt like some dream i'd had once, i had to add a ton of sugar and milk before i got the ratio right. it was close enough to transport me. not exactly right, but close enough remember.

....

this arrived in my email a week ago.
from one of the boys, our boys, in delhi.


" Circus Across Cultures

March 14, 2007

It was the day which I can’t forget

When I made myself proud and my dad.

It was the day which I can’t forget.

It was the day which changed my life.

Now I will not be afraid with my enemy

Even if they have sword or knife.

I will never put my feet behind.

‘Cause it was the light which shows the way,

Even to the blind.

It was the day which I can’t forget.

It was the day when we didn’t get nervous before 500 people.

It showed us how to become determined,

Face the problem with great encouragement.

In the audience mind become a person called legend,

Attract the face of the crowd in your way.

We learnt all those things on this day.

It was the day which we can’t forget.

By Gulshan

Vivekanand Camp Part 2

Chanakyapuri
New Delhi, India"

....

and there was also this from gulshan:

...

" Clowning: The last, but everybody’s favorite, clowning, was my favorite too. I would like to mention one thing here that while practice sessions on first day when we did clowning we all felt pain in our stomach at night. Evhan, who taught us clowning, was a very calm and very fun loving person. When we were learning clowning we felt that when we are going to audience, our audience will not laugh at us. At that time, Evhan guided us and gave us a teaching, that while doing clowning, do whatever you want. You only will know that it is wrong, but the audience will think that he is a clown and that is why he is doing all the wrong things. He taught us way of talking between two clowns, the way of walking of a clown, the way of falling down, and the way of bumping our head on a wall. The most interesting thing he taught us was how to slap and how to hit chairs to anyone ahead of the audience. Everybody liked doing clowning.

During the practice session, we all (all the boys) used to meet in the morning and start talking about the stunts we learnt and which incidents took place during the session. We all used to encourage each other if anyone felt pain, although we all had pain, but we didn’t want to cause a problem in our unity. And at the time of practice, we all met together and used to do our prayer at our camp (outside of A.E.S.) Prayer is “God give me power that I will not cause any problem for my friend and if he is in trouble I will not go away.” And after that we all use to hug each other and go for practice.

We had to warm up first and then training. We were enjoying the training and use to think it would be very beautiful if the training would be for 6 months. We worked very hard and learnt all those stunts.

Then, after six busy days, the day came for which we all were waiting. It was the 14th of March, the day when we had to do a show. Our dreams became true for which we all worked hard and gave our 100 percent. We all wanted to make it special for us and for the audience who were watching this show. We all said to ourselves that we don’t have to do any mistake. Do it better then best, and make proud all the teachers. It will be our Gurudakshin (A gift which students have to give at the end of their study to their teacher). I didn’t know if we could give that to them or not, but we tried very hard to do it. On that day we were very, very excited and determinative. The whole day passed like a second, and n the evening, we all came together and went to A.E.S. When we went in the A.E. S. gyum, we all got T Shirts for the similarity. We colored our face, and did some final rehearsal for the show. After half hour, we went to the theater. When we entered in the theater, we found that some of the people were already waiting for the show. Then we did some settling, and waited for more people.

After half hour the show started. We were divided in two groups: A and B. Each group had to do all of the stunts and each person had to do two stunts. Both groups showed all the stunts. At first the stilt walkers of Group A came on stage and performed head of audience. The audience was fascinated by their performance. Now clown group of Group A came to perform. The Audience became convinced and was laughing. The whole theater started humming. Now the aero group came and showed their performance. We can’t forget the rope group too, and their ---------.

The same process worked with group B. And, after an unforgettable one hour the show ended. The audience enjoyed the show. We were very proud because the whole show went very well. We couldn’t stay pleased for long time because it was the time when we had to go aside from our friends, teachers and we had to come our from our vision. We had to go back in our old world, but this time we had something special with us which was a blessing of our teachers and power of love from our A.E. S. friends.

This time we were ready to struggle with this world. Our life took a turn. We all understood the meaning of our life. We didn’t want to waste it. We started our new life with great determination and discipline. Those boys were Gulshan, Roshan, Pramod, Haridas, Sukhpal, Prashant, Kishan, Moglee, Sonu I, Sonu II, Kailash, Bhupender, Umesh, Pradeep, Nitesh, Bablu, Paramlal, Deepak I, Deepak II, Rahul, Ravi, Chhotoo, Kanhaiyalal, Govind, I, Govind II, Rakesh, Suresh, Rammilan and Raju. I am very, very proud to say that I , Gulshan, was one of those boys.

Once again we want to say thank you to our teachers, and everybody who gave us a helping hand. We are very thankful to Mr. Gene Harrell and Ms. Barbara Hegranes for all their help because without their help, the dream couldn’t become true. We can never forget to say thank you to A.E.S. for their help in giving us all the facilities and allowing us to do the show.

In the end, I want to tell all of you a teaching which I learnt from my teacher. Always enjoy your beautiful life because ‘Who knows what tomorrow brings?” "

....

i wrote back:

....

"thank you for sharing gulshan. you have a great gift for writing. continue to use it. and please share with me what you are writing as time goes on. i would love to read your words. you have a great heart.

your clown friend,
evan

ps. tell everyone at the camp i say hello. i miss you all. and please contact me anytime. i love to hear from you."

....

his reply was:

....

"Hi Evan
Thanks for you unforgetable love and support you gave me. I am writing another book which i will share with you.

Gulshan"

....

i have been showing people the pictures. calling everyone in my phonebook so i can say the same words over and over, keep repeating the stories.

don't lose it evan. hold on.