sunrising over the fireflies

I've only slept 4 hours in the past 2 days, but with good reason... Yesterday morning we arrived in Bangalore after taking a 19 hour train from Kanyakumari, with Jake heading off to the International Haiku conference at the Art of Living ashram outside the city, and me heading off to couchsurf in the city. I'm staying with Dilip and his beautifully kind and fantastic family, and they've been treating me well- keeping me warm and fed- which always makes me happy. Dilip and his friend were going to a music festival at an ashram called Fireflies, right by the Art of Living ashram, so Jake and I planned to meet up later in the evening for the all night fest of sacred music and dancing underneath a huge banyan tree in the woods. Dilip and I arrived in the afternoon to find that we were among the first to arrive on the beautiful grounds. We walked around, and met up with a traveller coming from Auroville, who was American, and had spent time at Mount Madonna Center (this doesn't even surprise me anymore). We also ran into a group of American students who were doing a study-abroad program at the ashram, studying social justice and spiritual movements in India. The program was from none other than Ramapo College, which is right where I live (I attended Ramapo High School), and all of the students are from the familiar towns of Hillsdale, Ramsey, and Belmar, NJ. A short while later a woman approached me and asked if I was the girl from Wyckoff- when I said yes, she said that she, too was from Wyckoff, and she was visiting her son who was on the program. Not only are they from Wyckoff, but from Lincoln School area Wyckoff, so we literally all live within 2 minutes of each other. Her son, Paul, is two years younger than me, but we recognized each other, and played the Ramapo name game, re-living a bit of the past. So there we all were in India, a bunch of Jersey kids, talking about the DQ and Boulder Run (Jake gets to be an honorary Jersey kid, since his mother is from Clifton and he's got family in Oakland. I know he's so proud). I've given up commenting on what a small world it is- the energy of those kids was incredible, and it was nice to be around some familiar folks and accents for a night.

The festival itself was positively insane, lasting until 8am this morning, with a sizeable crowd at that. There was indian classical music, jazz, rock, blues, jam, and all kinds of imaginable fusion. I loved just sitting up top, drinking chai, and talking to people, or going down to the backstage area and dancing up close to the musicians. At one point, the students took us up to this tower overlooking the whole concert, and we danced and danced to the most incredible indian percussion. Got to hand it to the Indians- they know how to put on a good show, and keep the energy going even to the morning sun.

It was a bittersweet night and dawn because it was the last night Jake and I spent as travelmates for awhile. The dancing fools are going to part ways for the time being, though I can't imagine a more fantastic farewell evening. We danced in the paths, we danced behind the stage, we danced in the tower, and everybody stared at the white kids doing strange movement, but then everyone told us they really appreciated seeing us move so happily and joyfully. It's quite a trip to spend a little over 3 months with one person, traveling in a by no means "easy" country, and I'm so thankful for this dear friend of mine. Though we have the same goals and values (and silly sense of humor) especially regarding travel, we also have some very different interests in this great big world. Jake is most likely going to go study painting more intensely, and/or WWOOF around, go trekking, and stay with people he's meeting at the Haiku conference, while I'm going to study yoga, look into learning about the Indian prison system, and go to a woman traveller's conference in a couple of weeks, organized through Couchsurfing Independent Women. I'm also going to learn what it's like to be a solo traveller, which I think will be an incredible (albeit sometimes difficult) experience. Though as a woman I met last night pointed out, that in India, you're never travelling solo because people take you in as their own, and the hospitality and generosity (as I've learned) is just astounding. That said, we'll see what arises, and the dancing fools had a hell of a time taking on south India to the very tip... Now Jake is actually going to have to write blog posts, so look our for some alternating tales, adventures, and craziness, as only we know how to do.