Year of the Golden Pig Reading 24: "Jesus Lived In India"

The year of the Golden Pig is coming to a close. Actually since it is the Chinese calender I still have another month to go. This is a good thing, since I promised all of my dear readers (one) that I would finish twenty five books this year, and I am now just on number 24.

Number 24 raises some interesting questions, none of which the writer truly answers. The authors speculates about the connection between Buddha's and Christ's thoughts. There are some amazing parallels, but from that I think he takes it a little too far. His belief that Jesus lived and died in India is interesting, but really could use a little more support. There are some interesting ideas here, but it just needs more documentation.

I sometimes wonder about my book choices. This one started to remind me of some of the books that my mother used to read. So many I haven't fallen too far from the tree after all. I guess life is just that way.

Well happy new year. The year of the Golden Pig will continue for a little longer. but 2007 is almost done for.

Year of the Golden Pig Reading 23: Burmese Days

When travelling I like to read works that I am currently interested in. I couldn't think of anything that intrigrues me more at this moment than a novel on Burma. This one was by George Orwell. Actually it is the second book I have read by him (the other being "Animal Farm"; believe it or not I have never read "1984"). It deals with life in a small Burmese town and all of the difficulties of living there. It is particularly about a man named Flory, who suddenly decides to get married. He is friends with an Indian doctor and this causes a lot of trouble with the other English in town. They think he is a Bolshevik.
Reading at this time was very opportune, but it still hasn't made my mind up about next year. Believe it or not I am still sitting on the fence. Part of me wants to go but another part tells me I still have a few more good years in me in Kuwait. I just don't know what I am going to do. I guess I should decide in a few weeks.
Be warned this novel doesn't have a happy ending. I guess you really shouldn't expect one with Orwell. At least there was no rat in your face.
Well toodles.

Trip Update One

Well I have now been in India for about six days. It feels like eternity. India really always feels that way.
I have had a pretty good trip so far. The first day I flew into the New Delhi Airport. My friends failed to pick me up. The flight left really late and I was exhausted, so I ended up going to a more expensive hotel for a day. Afterwards I met my friends Cindy and Jennifer. We hung out for a bit in Delhi, taking their new subway in the process, and then we left the next day for Amritsar.
In Amritsar we saw the Golden Temple and went to the Pakistani border for the closing ceremony. It was quite theatrical but a little too patriotic for my blood. Amritsar is a big dirty town. The hotel was okay, but a little cold. On the first night I froze, but on the second I had a heater, until the electricity went out. Fortunately I had brought mosquito coils since we had to kill about 20 before the ligths went out.
After that we headed to the moutains to a village called McLeon Ganj, which is where the Dali Lama lives. I have yet to meet him or to even hear him speak but I was able to have bacon for breakfast this morning. I liked that. Also the walks around here are amazing. Tomorrow my friends want to head elsewhere but I might have to leave them and continue to just stay in the mountains.
Well I will update more later. Now it is time for dinner.

Year of the Golden Pig Reading 22: "Temptations of the West: How to be modern in India, Pakistan and Beyond"

Whenever I travel somewhere I like to pick up a book about the region. Since I am going to India at Christmas, I decided to read a little more about the region. This book, by Pankaj Mishra, was the perfect read to find out what the situation was like on the ground for the countries covered. The book was mostly focused on India, and I learned a lot about the rise of Hindu nationalism there. In India, Muslims are killed by Hindus. History has a way of sorting things out and in India the Hindus are currently trying to reclaim their heritage by killing Muslims, who they see as invaders. Remember they are mostly just the same Indians, but with a different religion. No reason to kill really.

The book has a nice overview on Bollywood, what is wrong in Kashmir, focused a bit on the Afghani problems, both in Pakistan and in Afghanistan proper, and then too quickly focuses on Nepal and Tibet. Those last chapters seemed kind of tacked on. They could have easily made up another book.

So now I am looking forward to my trip. After this one I really want to read more about the situation in Afghanistan. I has pricked my interest.