The Snake Charmer

Yesterday Christopher and I came across a snake charmer. Excited to see something new, we moved in for a closer look. As the charmer played it became apparent that the snake was less than charmed. In fact I think it was on a sedative. Being true to the crazy ass-backwards world of Indian culture, he hit the snake on the head with his flute. When this failed to rouse the snake onlookers stifled laughter. In a strange way it was charming to see such an odd sight, well, everyone was charmed but the snake. In spite of his apparent lack of rapport with the snake and his penchant for animal abuse, I gave him 10 rupees; I’ve always tried to support the arts.

This morning I got up early_ it was a beautiful day in paradise. Yesterday I met a beautiful Israeli woman, Shirley, who also practices yoga, so I invited her to join me at the river. Again it was such deep practice . . . is there any other kind of practice in this magical place. Again I bathed in the river with the sadus. There is such Chaos here. Nothing is organized and poverty abound. In spite of all that, these beautiful people have there own strange logic and spiritual faith that allows them to smile in the direst circumstances. I am finding that each of them has volumes to teach me about life, death and the deep joy that is available to all of us if we simply let go of our preconceptions about what that looks like.