A Mind is a Terrible Thing

Hello again friends and Imaginary Readers!

I’d thought by now I would be writing you from the ashram again by tonight, but it is not to be.  Yesterday, while out shopping (what else?), we got a call from a friend at the ashram.  They advised us that there were going to be local elections in the district again, and that travel to and from Penukonda simply was not advisable.

At first, our thought was, "Oh no, not another day in the city…"  Later, we realized it needn’t be so much a burden, and that we could put the time to good use.  Thus today included several events:

• Because Stephanie has been asked to be among the designated ‘official’ photographers at the ashram, and therefore will be using our Canon 10D digitial SLR most of the time, we got a second smaller camera (mainly for my use) — a really neat little Olympus Stylus 700, an ‘all weather’ 7.1 megapixel point-and-shoot camera, about the size of a deck of playing cards.  We also got a sturdy tripod and a professional-level telephoto lens for the D-SLR.
• With our friend Virginia, we hired a Ballal car and went out to Lalbagh — a HUGE botanical garden and plant nursery area in the south part of the city.  There we bought a few plants to pretty our respective places back at the ashram…and I of course completely forgot I had this new camera in my pack, missing a really nice opportunity to take some photos.  Oh well.
• Dealt with insane weekend traffic to get back over to Commercial Street yet again.  This time to pick up the clothes we had altered and/or tailored at Fazal’s, to find some screw-type light bulbs (most here use the simpler bayonet base), and for Virginia to order herself a propane stove.

After a brief break, we went back out to get the tripod (which wasn’t ready quite yet), so we met up with Virginia yet again (she’s been staying at the Shangri La on Brigade) for… more pizza!

This time, we tried Pizza Corner, and I have to say that although the Leela Palace’s smoked salmon pizza was outstanding in its own way, the Pizza Corner was better overall as Just Plain Good Pizza.  (And certainly far better than the one from Pizza Hut the other night).  I got a deep dish crust personal-size pizza with spicy sauce, and topped with mushrooms, garlic, and jalepenos.  Yum.  The extra garlic bread and ‘potato wedges" (not far from steak-fries, if you know what I’m talkiing about) were also quite good.  We also kind of enjoyed the 2nd floor (1st Story, here in India) view.

After that, we checked in at the camera shop for the tripod.  Virginia is thinking about buying a camera like our new one.  And we went our separate ways for the night.

In all, not a bad day.  I even did a little more of our grocery shopping, which we’ve been doing in increments, a little each day. Tomorrow, I think we’re down to bread, cheese, butter, fresh produce, and maybe a few last snack items.

Still, being in the city is wearing on me.  Each day’s been a little more tiring, and I just want to get back to Penukonda.

On one spiritual-type note, just to let you know that not all is secular here:  There are a few tiny shrines, scattered here and there, as well as tons of temples, churches, and mosques, large and small.  Over on Dispensary Road (near Commercial) I saw a 1st-floor walk-up for some kind of ashram (must be a small one).  But I find the tiny temple-shrines the most fascinating.

I’ve even seen several up at the end of Residency Road, near where it meets MG Road.  These are really not much larger than newspaper stands, yet are maintained as lovingly and devotedly as large temples.  The priests come at certain times, open the little shrine temples, and anyone nearby can come, get a blessing, and give their thanks to whatever deity it belongs to.  Kali, Ganesh, etc.  I’ve not been to one while it was open, but Virginia was today, and she said it was an amazing oasis of peacefulness, right there among the crowds and traffic and noise.

With that, I shall bid you all a fond goodnight.  Hopefully my next post will be from the ashram…and I think it will soon be time to start writing more about ashram life, and not so much about technical stuff like Internet access and so forth.

Another note here:  I was getting too much spam, so I increased the sensitivity of my filters.

 I did add a few absolutely critical email addresses to my white-list (those who get through no matter what), but I’m sorry friends, I simply can’t get to everyone in my contact list.  So if you send me email and it bounces, rejected for being spam, please either call me (if you have my cell number), write to Alx or JohnM (if you know those names, you may know their email addresses) and ask they notify me, or best of all, leave a comment somewhere here in this blog.  Pick any post, since I get reports on every commented submitted.

Thanks,
Becca

I don’t usually put up posts dunning services and products, but in this case I think it’s somewhat deserved.  I know that in India, one often has to deal with spotty coverage and services in things, requiring a certain degree of flexibility.  But Canova contracts with Wireless NNU, based somewhere in the US or Canada — and it’s the latter I think are a bunch of hapless incompetents.

Ever since arriving on Wednesday, I’ve been trying to get online.  Only Wireless NNU’s page for Canova simply stopped existing at some point.  Now, there’s a login page, but as I write this, when you try to log in, it says the login.cgi can’t be found.

Only through some forehead bashing and genius-level Technowitchery have I been able to connect — and that was by kludging some URLs and getting myself to a "Sample Login" page.  Gets me the cookie I need for web access, but I can’t log out properly.

To add insult to injury, NNU’s "contact us" support and help email addresses fail.  My emails reporting problems with their systems all bounced back today.

Anyway — it just seems to me that this was just a level of poor service that reflects badly not so much on Canova — which I’m sure just contracts out to Wireless NNU — but the latter company, which through URLs that go nowhere, shows they really don’t understand how critical access can be for some.  Grossly unprofessional.

Oh, and guys?  (If by some chance the NNU folks read this…)  You really need to apply for and USE a security certificate that actually matches your sourcing domain.  Looks really lame for me to have to tell my browser that even though the cert belongs to rap.nnu.com, it’s okay and to ignore the owner mismatch.  Someone less technically savvy than myself might freak and actually believe they’re being hijacked.

Thus endeth my rant.

(Update 29 July:  Well, not quite.  Guess what I can do?  With a few little tweaks to URLs, in my attempts to login/logout properly, I can get a login screen to their network management systems, including the CN3000 Wireless Access Controller.

Isn’t that special?)

This was another of those poems I wrote, which I almost could not remember writing afterwards.  These ones seem to come from other realms.  I try to write like this more often…but these poems only come when they want to, never on my schedule or by my command.  About all I can say is that when I’ve been busy with the spiritual work — the meditation, the quiet mind — they come more often.

Stephanie said it reminded of her the turning of the age of Kali Yuga.  Hope you like it as much as she did.

A Darkness Arrives

Though the dawn
breaks clear
sun supposed to rise
then its rays
strike
just so
through the arches
landing at the holy place
upon the temple floor
below which
a hundred saints’
took their final
samadhi

A mote
a shadow grows
on the sun
spreading
consuming the light
like a cancer
consumes the body

No cloud this
nor the preordained passage
of Lunare
across Helios’ fiery disc

Darkness gallops in
on a mad black stallion
the beast’s slick coat
clotted with a froth
of sweat and dirt

Its hooded rider dismounts
cloak swirling as he strides
to hammer a gauntleted fist
upon sealed gates
and denying him entry
is not an option

Seek you now shelter
and the pooled light
of gathered candles
the warmth
of shared comforts

When the peak
of the storm
has passed
do not hunker down
but go forth now
with your candles
for there will be
a multitude
of hearthfires
that need relighting

Do you not have
a candle?
I know a man
who makes them
by the crate

Need a flame
to light yours?
Here, then
I will share mine
with you

- Becca Morn, 28 July 2006

Hello friends from afar!

Needless to say, this post is pretty much its heading… today we spent virtually the entire day shopping, crossing one thing after another off our moderately lengthy list.  Fortunately, we had a Ballal driver to help us with our swag.

Starting with a stop at the bank to get some cash, we then continued to Commercial Street.  Main reasons to go there were to return a voltage stabilizer that seemed to have been fried.  In a moment of total weirdness, the girl at the store plugged it in — and it worked fine!  I said, "But there was smoke coming out it it before."  "Ah madam, sometimes there is dust inside, and it was probably the dust burning off when it heated up."

Boy did I feel sheepish…but glad the stabilizer was fine.  So we also got a hot-pot (smaller than the other one we own) and two extension cords, plus a few fuses to repair one in a power strip I blew out early in our Penukonda stay.

Next, Fazal’s, where Stephanie needed to get some of her tailored punjabi dresses let out a bit.  They’d made them too tight in the chest area.  Meanwhile, I ordered four pairs of pants made to Ms. Alx Utterman’s style specification, which is WAY less baggy than normal punjabi pants and rides lower on the hips.  After that, we visited a hardware store and got some superglue for a friend and some Xacto knifes for us.  Another less expensive store to get a few clothes I could wear around B’lore and feel less conspicuous in.  Basially loose tops and flowy pants…a kind of simplified punjabi, but shorter.  I just felt like I was showing too much "T" with the clingy knit cotton top I’d been wearing.

After that, we got some small shoulder bags — just large enough for a cell phone and maybe some money and a notepad.  A bit bigger than string bags though.  Another large shoulder bag for Stephanie.  Some pillows to use for meditation.

Then we had to chase down our driver, who’d wandered off somewhere… eventually we found each other and then went to the Leela Palace for lunch.

Oh. My. Goodness.  I thought the Oberoi was ritzy.  The Leela puts it to shame.  Think Raj-era opulence, in the modern day.  Luckily there are lots of westerners there, in all states of dress, so I didn’t feel too much out of place in my jeans and with my backpack.  The food there was simply superb.  I gave in to my pizza jones, and had a great smoked salmon pizza, with basil, red onion, and cream-cheese.  Stephanie went for a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich, with fries — which also looked excellent.

Afterwards, more shopping at the Leela Galleria.  Rather upscale there, too, and we each got a few things at the bookstore, but that’s all.  Most everything there on the three levels of shops looked insanely expensive.

Then to Lady Curzon Street, to order 11 custom frames for various pictures and yantras of ours, and to pick up some Ayurvedic medicine for an acquaintance.  Next, a lamp store we’d been told about, and bought a desk lamp and a small table lamp.

Back to Ballal, where we gave our driver our thanks and took a brief break.  But wait, there’s more!

After a brief rainstorm, we dared the streets again.  I needed to find some house-slippers and Stephanie wanted some sandals.  I went to Cauvery to buy incense and a holder, while Stephanie split off to find a bookstore on MG Road she’d heard about.  We met up there, as I finished first, and then got some office supplies at the same bookstore.  Then to Jamal’s for kitchen goods (bowls, salt & pepper shaker, bottle opener, and some nice glasses).

Back yet again to the Ballal to drop off more loot.  In the meantime, our friend Virginia had called, because we’d talked about having dinner again tonight — which we did do, not finding we’d felt quite as exhausted as we thought.  Guess what we had?

More pizza.  This time of a more ordinary variety, at a Brigade Road Pizza Hut.  Yum.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Indian food these days, especially the authentic stuff.  Give me a good masala over bland casseroles any day.  But in the last month or so, I have been craving pizza so bad, it’s insane.

So, here we are back again, with the bags and boxes in the room multiplying.  Not as bad as during our previous B’lore stay, but quite a lot anyway.  I think tomorrow is going to be mostly groceries, picking up our picture frames, and anything else we come up with.  Maybe try to find a gardening store, since Stephanie’s been helping a lot with Swami’s rose gardens at the ashram.

Alas, the wireless Internet still isn’t working, so I’m still on cell phone hook up.  Can’t have quite everything…

Until next time!

If you’ve traveled much, using Internet services from hotels, Internet cafes, coffee shops and so on, there’s a good chance you’ve had problems sending email — that is to say, for those of you using POP/SMTP-based email.  Webmail users, likely no problem.  The trouble with webmail though is it only works when you’re online.  You can’t compose stuff while unconnected, then connect and upload your messages.

I’m really wedded to MS Outlook, and have simply hated all of the webmail systems I’ve ever tried.  I use them only when I have no other choice.

But as for trying to send email when traveling, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  If I’m lucky, my hosted service doesn’t think I’m a spammer, like when I was using the wireless at the Ballal Hotel in Bangalore.  Or about 75% of the time when using the shared dial-up here at the Penukonda ashram.

As noted in my previous post though, I’m now using my cell phone and GPRS to connect — and I can’t do my regular SMTP at all.  The error message is that Spamhaus is sure I’m evil.  (Not those words, but you get the idea.)

Well, casting about for solutions, I found a very easy one and so far it’s worked great.  Even better, it should work anywhere.  Google’s "GMail" offers free POP/SMTP access.  It requires a little bit of reconfiguration and a working GMail account, but using their SMTP server so far has worked well.  They also have options that let you set automatic forwarding and custom "reply-to" addresses on our mail — so that if I send a message through their SMTP server from my main email account, I get replies back there, and not to my GMail addy.

I highly recommend this as a solution, and one that doesn’t need fiddling with every time you change locations.  Just get a GMail account, click on Settings, and look for the section on POP email.  Enable it, set the forwarding and reply-to addresses as you like (you will likely need to get some confirmation emails and enter codes confirming the addresses are actually yours) — and voila.  Done and done.

Cheers!
Becca

Greetings again from Penukonda, my dear Imaginary Readers!  Miss me?

Alas, it has been difficult finding time and opportunity to get onto the single shared dial-up line currently available to most of the ashram residents.

But have I let that stop me?  Nay!  I am the Technowitch — she who finds solutions to problems, and in this case, the solution included (1) Sony Vaio laptop with Bluetooth capabilities, (2) One Motorola MPx-220 cell phone with GPRS, (3) a cell phone carrier here in India offering data services for a very reasonable 499Rs/month for unlimited connections.

It’s still pretty slow, about the same as regular dial-up, but I am completely wire-free.  Or would be, if I didn’t need to recharge both laptop and phone after some rather lengthy time spent online getting email and doing some research for the ashram staff.  I even figured out how to send outgoing email through some SMTP kludges.

As a result, I should be online more, and yes — I shall be turning comments back on, as of this post.

cheers!
Becca

Hello dear friends and Imaginary Readers,

I don’t have much time because I’m on dial-up and don’t want to tie up the line long.  We’re here safe and sound in Penukonda and only in the last few days have I managed even to get online enough to check my email.

It was a mind-blowing Guru Purnima here at the ashram, with lots of activities and much meditation.  Today, I also managed to blow up both my desktop computer and laser printer (voltage incompatibility)… hopefully a couple replacement power supplies will fix those.

Meanwhile though, I still have comments turned off, because it may be days between communications.  If you want to reach me, email at admin(at)rebeccamorn.com is the best way to go (fix the at with @).

Take care and I’ll be online again soon!

-Becca