BURLAP BAGS AND OLD DELHI

Dylan's song Love Sick is playing.

The words remind me of what I felt when I was walking through India.

Again, I must emphasize the intensity of sights and sounds that I experienced while I was in India.

Ugly and death-like smells came later.

The carnival-like scenes of day had now melted away.

No carnival now.

Somber and gray air was everywhere.

The temperature had decreased.

I saw a dog who curled up and laid down on the embers of a fire to keep warm...or to commit suicide!

I walked.

I walked.

And I walked some more.

This night I was outside of New Delhi and had entered Old Delhi.

Old buildings.

Eerie shadows.

I saw a camel lying in a street's gutter. It slowly raised its head up and then moved it back and forth as if to say "No, no..."

I did not think that this was a good omen.

I kept walking down darkened streets.

Then I came upon a narrow street that was more brightly lit.

There was a small post office on a corner.

I entered, wondering if I could mail a letter, and then walked out.

I came upon a large truck and the back of it was piled high with fat burlap sacks.

I had no idea what the sacks contained.

Then I climbed on top of them.

Why?

Maybe I thought that I could hitch a ride.

Where?

Good question.

A man with a hooked tool was pulling up more bags.

I decided I'd better get off of the bags or I might have something sharp inside of me.

I continued walking and walking until the next sunrise.

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES

SOUR MILK AND THE BRAHMA BULL

I found myself outside of a wooden fence with an opening.
I entered and saw women and children.
One woman said something to the children and they soon appeared with a cot.
They took the cot out through the opening.
I followed.
Then the woman indicated I should lie down on the cot.
I did.
Then a child brought me a bowl with a white liquid in it.
I drank a little.
It tasted warm and sour.
I guess the family took one look at me and saw someone who needed some nourishment, which I certainly did; but I couldn't drink much of this liquid.
I got off of the cot, thanked my hosts, and then a child suddenly ran up to give me this beautiful quilted blanket of many colors.
I started walking again with the colorful quilt wrapped around my shoulders.
It wasn't too long before I came to a place where there were people standing with some cows and one beautiful white Brahma bull.
I turned around and saw some other people getting onto the wooden platform of a cart.
Then for some reason I turned around and there in front of me was that beautiful white Brahma bull.
His horns were just inches away from me.
Although I have read that bulls are color-blind, I wondered if this particular bull wasn't.
Maybe he saw the colorful quilt and came up for a closer look.
I got onto the wooden platform, and the cart began to move away.
During the ride an old man lightly touched my ribs.
It felt strange.
I think he was checking to see how emaciated I really was.
I wrote a poem about this part of my journey.
Here it is:

Lost In India Part I

I was thinking about India and
The white Brahma bull.
I was just standing around.
Wearing a colorful quilt.
When I turned around.
The Brahma bull was touching my nose.
Life's movements
Quickly move like that Brahma bull.
Attracted to colorful motion.
Suddenly it is here.
Life.
Death.
Romance.
Then I got onto the cart.
Being pulled by a different bull.
The dark Indian man lightly touched me.
Felt my ribs.
Wondering in silence.
Who was I?
Why so thin?

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES

CRICKET X-RAYS RABIES AND WARM BEER

Piccadilly Circus at Night by Ernest Dudley Heath

I walked down into what seemed to be an arboretum of some sort.
It was fenced off from the rest of the city and was a like an enormous bowl.
I gradually climbed up and out of this wild wood, and found myself on the front yard of a church where some boys were playing cricket.
I saw a hose and asked if I could get some water, and did.
Then a boy asked if I wanted to play and I said "No".
I kept walking and the sun was setting.
I saw a large house and for some reason went to it.
I knocked and was invited in.
I explained that I was lost, that a wild dog had bitten me, and was now fearful that I might get rabies.
A woman who seemed to be the owner of the house listened to my story.
I forget what she said.
Another person brought me a plate with popcorn and a hot dog, but this food didn't appeal to my nonexistent appetite.
My journey from this point becomes a blank spot.

The next moment that I remember is when I saw the Peace Corps nurse who was with another man, and with whom I would fly to Washington D.C. after a stopover in London.
They got me some new clothes.
On the flight to London I was given valium, but even it didn't help me sleep.
I still didn't have much of an appetite, and I don't remember what I drank.
I did have a small taste of a warm beer in a pub in London, but didn't like it.

A short digression:
An amazing thing happened.
(I believe this happened right after I was "rescued" by the Peace Corps nurse and her companion.)
I ended up being taken to the very same medical clinic which I had accidentally found on one of my nights of walking around in India!
Inside my room a nun brought me a Gideon Bible which I still have.
The delivery of the Holy Book made me believe that I might be nearer to death than I really believed.
In this small clinic I was X-Rayed by the oldest X-Ray machine on earth.
It wasn't a speedy exposure.
It was noisy, too.
I think it took about 2 or 3 minutes for the X-Ray to stop...after sputtering like an old car when its ignition is turned off.
After this I was given the entire series of Rabies shots.
The shots were given in my abdomen, and man did they sting.
As I started getting pricked by one more needle I started thinking that I shouldn't have been so worried that my biting dog was rabid.

The plane landed in Washington, D.C.
And a new adventure was about to begin.

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

DAY OF THE JACKAL

I now was walking in a suburban part of New Delhi. 
Streets looked more like American streets.
The traffic was not as fast and furious.
I kept seeing advertisements for the Day of the Jackal (a movie that was released in 1973).
It felt as if jackals might be ready to attack me.
I got off of the main streets and walked into a neighborhood of family residences.
After a short amount of walking, I came to one home that for some reason attracted my attention.
I walked closer.
I couldn't believe my eyes!
In front of the house stood someone who looked like one of the apes from the movie Planet of the Apes. 
I didn't know if I was hallucinating; but how could it have been anything else?
The person who had moments before looked like an ape now was human.
I don't remember what I said.
Maybe I said "I'm lost."
I was invited inside the home.
An American greeted me.
He asked me if I wanted something to drink.
I think I said "A screwdriver".
The servant brought my drink to me on a fancy tray.
In another room I heard the voice of Jimmy Carter speaking, then I heard the man of the house say to someone else,
"He seems to be on drugs or something."
This irritated me, but I didn't want to offend my host, and so I ignored the accusation.
The next thing I know he said that I would be taken somewhere safe.
I got into a small car and was on my way to "somewhere safe", but in my paranoid mind I saw death waiting for me.
I told my driver "Stop! Stop!"
He shook his head and kept going.
I screamed "Stop now and let me out!"
He slowed down and almost stopped when I opened the door and hopped out.
I started running.
A dog started barking and chasing me.
Then the dog bit me.
I was sure I would get rabies, and began looking for a hospital.
I walked for hours.
I remember it was about 2 in the morning.
I came to a gate that had the name of a medical office.
The gate was closed, but I opened it, walked in and knocked on the front door.
A man came to door and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
I apologized for the late visit.
He asked "How can I help you?"
I told him that I had been bitten by a dog.
He asked me inside.
He asked me to show him the bite.
Then he got a bottle with the name "SPIRIT" on it. 
He put SPIRIT on some cotton, dabbed the bite, and said that it would be fine.
I left and started walking.

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

TRUMPSPEAK

Get out!

Get out, you thugs!

How can I make this country great again when you continue to interrupt me.

I'll make you pay!

I'll sue all of you.

Go home to mommy and daddy, all of you babies.

I'm self-funded, I'm rich, and I'll make this country great again.

Punch these protesters!

I'll pay the legal fees.

I'll build a great wall around these punks and protesters so they can't bother us.

Hail, trump!

Hail, trump!

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

SOME MORE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

PISTACHIOS

COLUMBIAN COFFEE [especially organic beans freshly ground]

RED RADISHES

EXTRA SHARP CHEDDAR CHEESE

ALL BOOKS BY DEAN KOONTZ

BEETHOVEN AND BOB DYLAN

 POPCORN

 MOVIES WITH NICOLAS CAGE 

 AVOCADOS

THE ALEX CROSS BOOKS BY JAMES PATTERSON

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

TRUMP SPEAKS

I am a rich man with very big hands.

When I am president I will give orders and THESE ORDERS will be followed.

I will torture anyone I LIKE...I MEAN DON'T LIKE.

MY ORDERS WILL BE CARRIED OUT.

I will make this country great again.

I will build a great, great wall.

It will be terrific.

When I am president China, Mexico, and Japan will start paying their dues.

I will bring so many jobs to America that your head will spin (or is it swim?).

I will make this country great again.

I'M REALLY RICH!

I AM FLEXIBLE!

I AM A MAN WITH AN ANIMAL UPON HIS HEAD!

I WILL BE A GREAT DICTATOR!

JUST WAIT AND SEE!

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

LOST IN INDIA

Traveling to India remains a blur in my memory.

Perhaps I had been unconscious.

I certainly had been sick.

But here I was in busy, colorful India.

I remember I bought some books, then looked for a place to sleep for the night.

I also wanted something to eat.

I left the books in a room that I had rented, and then went to a restaurant.

I remember that I ordered something with curry (but in India everything seems to have curry).

I suddenly didn't have an appetite.

I went back my room, but I couldn't sleep.

A radio kept blasting some news.

The word shah kept getting repeated.

I left.

I began walking.

*

I wasn't walking to find anything.

I just wanted to look at everything.

I continued to walk and walk.

When they finally found me I was only wearing pants.

My socks, shirt, and shoes had been gone for some time.

Since I hadn't bathed in about two weeks, I didn't smell like a rose.

I had eaten very little for two weeks.

I had lost about forty pounds.

My corrective eyeglasses were also gone.

I was blind as a bat when they found me.

It had been a walking nightmare.

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!