STK: Shaun Kadlec's Fulbright Journal
Journal: March 3rd, 2003
Hey, y'all!
A week or so ago I returned from a 5-day trip to what may be the most relaxed, laid-back region in all of India. The Fulbright crews in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh were all invited to India's annual mid-year conference, held at the Toshali Sands hotel near Puri, Orissa. It's on the east coast a few hundred kilometers south of Kolkata (Calcutta), at about the same latitude as Mumbai (Bombay). The conference lasted three days, and we had an extra day to sightsee before flying back to Sri Lanka. One might suspect a jaunt to central India from nearby Sri Lanka would be easy and quick, but the travel time was about 16 hours in each direction. Lots of waiting. We had enough time on the way back last night in Chennai (Madras), where we changed planes, to hop in a cab (a vintage, Indian-made Ambassador, which looks like something an Eye-talian gangster in the 40s would drive) and pop over to a nearby hotel for mojitos and gin and tonics in an intimate, hardwood smoking lounge which claimed to "combine the best of colonial heritage with modern convenience and efficiency. . . ." Our flight from Chennai to Bhubaneswar, a city about 65 km from Puri, was operated by Indian Airlines, the government-run, domestic carrier for India. Wow. You have the sense that important components of the aircraft are probably held together by Krazy Glue and twine. And the pilots are not shy about banking and diving. Noor, whose father is a Sufi scholar, taught us a Sufi protection chant which we utilized during takeoffs and landings. I'm pretty sure that's what got us there and back.
Puri and environs are really lovely. The climate reminded me of coastal southern california in early summer. Mild aridity offset by seabreezes and low but noticable humidity. Temps in the 80s during the day and 60s during the night. Very pleasant. Puri is one of the four major Hindu pilgrimmage sites in India, home to the famous Jagannath temple (pronounced something like "juggernaut"). Jagganath is a truly fabulous god. An incarnation of Krishna, he looks uncannily similar to a South Park character. I'll put some images of him in the photos section. It seems likely that he was a local, pre-Hindu god who was incorporated into mainstream Hinduism. You usually see him in images hanging out with his sister and brother, Shiva and Brahman, also looking very South Park-ish. Unfortunately, most functioning temples in East India are not open to non-hindus, so we were not allowed to enter. There was a small incident when one of the American Fulbrighters, who is Hindu but not South Asian-and who has a certificate from an official somewhere verifying her Hinduness-was not allowed into the temple despite her proof. She was literally pushed out of the entry by one of the Brahmin gatekeepers. Many people were outraged by such a display of racism and elitism. But so it goes. Unfortunately there are a lot of folks who are dedicated to fantasies of purity and exclusivity in their group identities.
Anyway, we went to the 13th century (and non-functioning) temple to the sun god at Konark, which is famous for its erotic carvings. Not quite as famous or "creative" as the kama sutra carvings at Khajurao, but I was impressed. There was no lack of explicitness. Trust me. Quite enlightening, actually. I didn't get any good pictures, but I'll try to rustle some up. The artisinal quality of the carving is astounding.
The conference itself was a great experience. The crew of South Asian Fulbright scholars is an impressive bunch. Most of them are working on Ph.D.s, and junior scholars like me were a minority. It was inspiring. People are doing work in fields as diverse as post-earthquake structural engineering in the Gujarat, scholarship of ancient Sanskrit philosophical treatises, film making in Bollywood, Ayurvedic medical practice and philosophy in Tamil Nadu, analysis of the impact of new Information Technology in rural areas, and so on. It was great to talk about grad school and scholarly life with people who are now in the throes of its ecstacies, agonies, drudgeries. I've definitely been convinced to spend a few weeks in India and maybe Nepal during the course of the next six months.
And after all of that stimulation, I had hoped to come back to Sri Lanka with improved focus on my project and a battery charged with refreshed enthusiasm. But I've had a couple of weeks of moderate wishy-washiness. I've had no problems working on writing, but editing and journal development work has been harder to get into. I spend little time making actual decisions, and a lot of time being an administrative assistant to the journal. It's OK, of course. After the first issue comes out, I will begin devolving my enormous amount of power and decision-making authority to a group of Sri Lankans who will eventually take the project over completely. I'm hoping that those hypothetical people will cross my path soon and be charmed enough by the initial work I've begun to want to continue it.
A few fun things have happened on the writing front. I gave a reading, or performance of the poem I was working on about the burning of the Jaffna Public Library. I'll try to get it up on the website soon, but I have some formatting issues to work through first. It's for three reading voices and has sections in English, Sinhala and Tamil. It was great fun to work with translators in both languages. It was quite well-received at the conference, which was also great fun,--as you all know, I'm a hound for positive reinforcement. I also just found out that the Palm Springs poem, which is on this website, was published in can we have our ball back?, a sorta fringy, anti-commercial, lo-fi online poetry journal. www.canwehaveourballback.com, issue 16 if you wanna see. Gotta love the diagonal blue gradient background.
Well, y'all, I'm going to sign off. I've detached and expanded a section of this journal entry which will be put up seperately in the poetry section within a day or two. A discussion of stylistics, a rant about delusional mediocrity, and thoughts on creative writing in non-native languages. Yummy. I can see you salivating in anticipation. . .
Before I go, though, I've realized that it's been a while since I publicly thanked Paul Kittredge for designing and maintaining this website. He's a freakin' great collaborator, and my heart is perpetually warmed by his continuing dedication to a project that brings him very few direct benefits. Here's to Paul and his barefoot, poetic soul. Also, thanks to those of you who have written to me in response to the content of the site. I've gotten behind in letter writing, but I promise real, personal responses very soon.
Wishing you the best, the best and more,
Shaun