Four Pink Eyes, Two Typhoids and a case of bacterial somethingorother

Last updated on: September 27, 2010 at 12:12 pm by Justin Whitaker

Four Pink Eyes, Two Typhoids and a case of bacterial somethingorother 2010-09-27T12:12:00-06:00 Justin Whitaker

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Such is India.

A stupa at the Burmese Vihar at the end of my floor, pleasantly called the “Deva Floor” as it is reserved for teachers and meditation masters.

The first wave of illness has made its way through our students and faculty here at the Burmese Vihar in Bodh Gaya. Nothing serious, fortunately, but plenty of trips to the clinic. In all, about a third of the group has dealt with something, mostly minor colds or a quickly passing stomach illness. I myself came down with the latter, leaving me in some pain Friday night and generally exhausted (fluid loss, many short sprints to the bathroom) through the weekend, but otherwise doing just fine. After a quick self-diagnosis with the Lonely Planet – Healthy Travel – Asia & India book, I went on Cypro and will finish off a 5-day cycle tomorrow just to make sure.

Beyond that things have been fairly uneventful – busy, to be sure, but the excitement is all ahead of us. This weekend marked the start of Pitr Paksha, a Hindu festival celebrated here in Bodh Gaya, which will last through early October. The name literally means something like ‘over to the father(s)’ and Hindus from around the area will come here to make an offering to their deceased relatives. After that, festival and Buddhist pilgrimage season kicks into full gear, culminating in December and January with the influx of Tibetan lamas and their students from around the world. Hopefully by that time I’ll be caught up on all my teaching and other duties and I can sneak out for some teachings and more photos.

The temperature has cooled considerably since we arrived – when another teacher measured it at 95 degrees F in our rooms in the evening, cooling only to 93 degrees by morning, with high humidity. We’ve all faced heat like that before – Taiwan, Kansas, Spain, even in Montana – but never the combination of heat, humidity, dust, lack of A/C, and frequent power failures, killing even the merciful cooling effect of ceiling fans. Oh well. At least then no one was sick. In the next week or so the temperature is expected to drop even a bit more and the rains (which thankfully did arrive at least a bit) should almost completely subside for the cool-dry (winter) period here.

The hallway outside the library, my home away from home (and just a floor below my room).

As mentioned, my life here is very busy. I wake each day around 4:45am for meditation at 5:30. A silent breakfast follows and then a break (language classes) to prep for my own teaching, which is 3 times a week for 80 minutes. On my off-days I do more prep or related reading or, rarely, venture into town for some shopping or to see a temple. I’m also managing the small library here, which for the topic of Buddhist studies and related fields is better than most university libraries I’ve been in. This is a daily task, taking up more time in the first couple weeks and growing less now that we’re getting the hang of it. It’s run on the ‘honor system’ so, with a little help and upkeep, it basically runs itself.

After teaching, from 8:30-10am we have tea, often spent discussing philosophical topics of the day with students or administrative matters with fellow professors and our director. Then it’s off to the library before a rest – the days here are much more exhausting than one might think. Then lunch, more library time, prep, and/or rest before evening tea, an hour and a half of meditation, and dinner. In the evenings there are often special events to go see (festivals, guests to meet, and the likes), or Hindi instruction – which I’m sadly too tired and impatient to keep up with, or more reading and rest.

The weekends sometimes bring a break – but also are opportunities for more in depth explorations of the area. This coming weekend, in fact, most of the students and some faculty will be going to Varanasi. Soon we’ll visit Rajgir and Nalanda, and a trip to Calcutta is also planned.

This week we also begin plans for the students’ independent studies, which is an exciting opportunity for them to craft their own projects and then to go do original research here in India. Many in my group hope to head to Sikkim for their studies, so there is a good chance I’ll go there too.

Time went very slowly for the first couple weeks here – it seemed like months as we met in London, then traveled first to Delhi and then to Bodh Gaya. But since we’ve settled in and established a rhythm, time has ‘snapped’ back in amazing fashion, this last week flying by like a flash of lightning. Speaking of which – I’ve missed afternoon tea and am in danger of missing meditation too if I don’t rush back to the Vihar. All my best 🙂

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