e-travels with e. trules

or, as gandhi would say………. july, 11, 2006 (the new “7/11”) 6 pm mumbai, ind-ja well, while you were sleeping............. 6 or 7 bombs just went off in the train stations today along the “western line” in mumbai (bombay)! check out CNN. luckily, you won't see me in any of the footage. i was too busy seeing gandhi's house and being overwhelmed by bombay’s unbelievably intense and stifling heat, rain, & humidity, its extreme filth, poverty, deprivation & density of human flesh, and by the recognition of my own middle aged bourgeousity! i haven't slep

baga beach, goa, ind-ja, namaste, amigos, i’ve now heard that i wasn't the only “gora” (gringo) to consider getting right back on the plane after landing in bombay. you've seen the pictures: whole families living right on the pavement or in "slums" (coming in 2 kinds, legal and illegal), amputees sleeping under bridges in the railway stations, kids begging on every single street, millions of dreamers and workers, now homeless, come to the "big city", bombay, to chase their dreams and catch a glimpse of the bollywood stars. not much different than LA, eh, except much much poorer a

fort cochin, india chai! chai! chai-ya! chai! chai! chai-ya! payam! payam! paiy----am! chai! chai! chai-ya! chai! chai! chai-ya! biryiani! biryiani! biryiiii-ani! chai! chai! chai-ya! tati vellum! tati vellum! vellum! vellum! vellum! chai! chai! chai-ya! always chai! chai! chai-ya! the cacophony of the shoeless, mundi-clad hawkers' voices singing and barking from the platform, as the train pulls into every railway station in southern india. chai - the omni-present sweet indian tea with milk and sugar. first thing in the morning, chai! chai! chai-ya! the whole day long. tati vellum (mis-sp

still mumbai hola, compadres, it seems i'm a very popular guy in mumbai. i just did an interview with the AP (associated press). they grabbed me, literally stepping off a boat at the "gate of india" (bombay's british sort of l'arc de triomphe landmark from the days of the raj), having just visited the hindu caves at elephanta island, full of wild macaque monkeys and gigantic cave carvings of shiva & his infinite avatars. still wondering what i'm doing in india. so that's what they asked, "what are you doing in mumbai? how do you feel about the bombings?" well, there's 2 sides of th

ft. cochin, india they say india is where the heart opens. love is all you need, right? in the face of such overwhelming population, poverty, heat, starvation, and fatalism, india has.... love. acceptance. of life. of struggle. of pain. of death. generosity. towards others. towards strangers. compassion. for its weakest. for its starving. tolerance. warmth. wisdom. india, the docile cow. india, love………. so, yeah......... i have this radical idea. a bad-ass, anti-american, love is all you need idea to - open up my e-mail list. you know, i get so many fantastic mails from you all, an

kumily, india namaste, ninjas, a monsoon flashback: i remember when i first moved to LA. i had this instant and artificial network of friends from signing up for this psycho-acting workshop. we'd wake up at 6 am every morning to "do" the business of acting. headshots, postcards, showcases, phone calls, whatever it took to get a job. jobs, of course, were few and far between, but the friendship was thick as thieves. so this group of insta-friends was shocked when i told them i'd never been to disneyland, nor did i ever have any intention of going. they thought there was something wrong w