yippee its depam!

Its Depam, the big celebration where they turn Arunachala into a bic lighter for 10 days. due to the huge crowds and closed strets and cafes, i havent been able to get to the internet for a few days. its all crazy and doesnt change the days are a funny mixture of trying to get somehwere and going nowhere, wanting and not getting, doing and nothing gets done. the life gets washed out, the old life the one that isnt here anymore, just a few notes and pictures that show up on facebook, the rest is empty, theres no life anymore, just rooms and places to stay, settling up accounts when you can and the slow drain on the finances that sounds like a toilet flushing . what is meaningful, the meditation the chants, the quiet walks, all suffer during depam. just driving today, the second day of the celebration, is a dangerous business as thousands still wander the streets. On the first day 400000 indians invade the tiny village that surrounds the mountain and turn the streets into a living nightmare/party/bathroom. its amazing. the 14 km route around the mountain is sacred and all the folks walk it from dawn to midnight barefoot and dressed in dhotis and saris everyone hurrying or going slow but definitely toe to toe and head to head, not an inch to spare. I left at 10 am and stopped atthe ashram for a visit and the daily invocation of the 1000 names of god, little celestial energy from bhagavan and simran is always a boost. then it was back on the road an hour later. everyone stares at my sneaker clad feet but since i'm a white guy they dont threaten to castrate me or run me out of town on a burning log covered in boiling oil, which i hear is the usual punishment for such offenses. it was a hot and overcast day, muggy and dusty, not too bad for a long walk. the crowd was constantly being split by cars and motorcycles going through, even though the streets were supposed to be closed. at least half the vehicles were police and they must have pulled up all the reserves for this one, and half were very lovely indian women looking quite attractive in their field brown uniforms. everywhere, loudspeakers blaring and gaudy colored street signs and advertisements and every inch of curb space covered in small stalls with every indian trinket and doodad available. the walk was a long three and a half hours and i was so glad to walk down shit alley to my house, the side streets were all covered in human waste serving as open air toilets for the multitudes. after a long shower i felt human and ate everything in my fridge. sleep was long and restful and the mountain lit like a bic at 6pm, though the flame seemed fitful for the first hour and definitely small compared to the almost full moon filling the misty night sky. the spirit of arunachala is Shiva, the destroyer of untruth, and certainly i felt destroyed after being massaged by thousands of moving bodies all day, each having their own delightful, boring, exciting, necessary experience  at the annual depam festival.