2 months in India

The first 5 months of my life post-high school have been spent in New Haven, Connecticut doing a Discipleship Training School with YWAM (Youth With A Misson) Axiom. The first 3 months of the school were dedicated to lectures and spiritual seeking while living in community, and during that time we took a week trip to Lancaster, PA (to stay with the illustrious Jim Ehrman), as well as a week working at an apple orchard in Centreville, Nova Scotia. The other two months were "outreach phase", with one month spent doing volunteer work in New Haven and New York, and the final month spent working at a children's home in Pune, India, southeast of Mumbai (Bombay).

The place we worked at in Pune was Hope of Glory, a Christian project taking in orphans and street kids from the city and giving them a home, education, and love, and we were able to help out by playing with the kids and taking some of the large workload off of the staff by taking care of the kids and doing cooking and cleaning around the home. There were 16 kids in the home, and they were all beautiful, sweet-spirited and loving people wh I will remember forever.

We flew into Mumbai on the night of December 31, just as they were celebrating New Year's Eve, then arrived early in the morning in Pune on the 1st of January, 2008. The outreach ended and our team left again from Mumbai on January 24, leaving us a measly 3 1/2 weeks in India. I really didn't like the idea of blowing the $3,000 cost of outreach (which was supported by incredibly generous friends and family) for such a pathetically brief period in such an amazing country, so I booked the ticket for my return flight out of Delhi on the 28th of February, which leaves me with almost 5 weeks to explore India with a backpack, a couple clothes, 4 disposable cameras, 32,000 rupees ($800 USD), 2 journals, 1 Lonely Planet "India" book, and no concrete itinerary. For the first 2 weeks until February 5 I am blessed to be travelling with Michael Cotton, who was one of the leaders of our outreach in Pune.

Anyway, on January 24 Michael and I said goodbye to the team and saw them off at the airport, a bittersweet parting and time to say farewell-for-now to some great friends that have made over the past 5 months. I'm very glad I did the DTS - I don't think I got as many theological answers or learned as much in the classroom as I thought I would, but I feel like I learned lots about family, community, and the importance of intimacy. After we left them at the airport at 20:00 PM we took a taxi to the Mumbai Central Train Station and found out which platform our train to Goa left from the next morning. It was late already and our train left early, at 6:55, so we slept in the train station, if "slept" is what you call it. It was pretty uncomfortable, but very memorable sleeping in the waiting room of the train station, but we boarded our train on time and got good seats. The train ride from Mumbai to Goa was great - extremely scenic, and certainly a must-do experience while in India. It was only marred by the fact that I ate some dosa which was a bit off, and my stomach revolted, resulting in numerous trips to the latrine and vomits off of the side of the train (to the immense enjoyment and laughter of the Indians in our train car). We arrived at the Old Goa train station of Karmali around 9:00 PM and quickly took a taxi into the hub city of Panaji. In Panaji we wandered around for a while searching for an available hotel since our planned lodging was full up for the night, until a strange man pulled up in a jeep and asked if we would like to stay at his place for the night since he had only 1 free room. We agreed out of desperation and were sped off to his place, where we collapsed in exhaustion.

This morning we woke up and rented a scooter from the proprietor of our hotel, a businessman overly interested in furthering his own assets, and spent the rest of the day exploring Panaji, a delightful city with a distinctive Portugese flavor, and zoomed north along the coast to check out Goa's trademark beaches.

EDIT: I'm sorry about the shoddy writing and the formatting and paragraph errors in this post- these internet cafe computers are as crappy as they are expensive to use.

Movies: Issue #1

The Namesake (2006)

Bad dialogue and acting wreck what could have been an interesting movie about the lives of Indian-American immigrants, their offspring, and the connections tying them to their homeland. The movie performs the easy task of making us want to visit India, but even then its portrayal of the country itself is shallow and never dives beneath the surface. Bollywood stars Irfan Kahn and Tabu perform dutifully as the family's parents, but the younger cast turns in often groan-inducing performances, no thanks to the hokey script. A mess.

3.9 out of 10

Spirited Away (2002)

A truly magical film. Spirited Away creates an vibrant and fascinating world that is a joy to spend time in, populated with totally original characters and depicted in inspired, swooningly beautiful animation. An oasis of imagination, and a masterpiece.

9.2 out of 10

L'Avventura (1960)

Pretentious "masterpiece" of Italian cinema. When you combine beautiful cinematography with bored, upper-class characters doing nothing interesting, you end up with an agonizing, joyless viewing experience like L'Avventura. Blah.

3.6 out of 10

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

Wes Anderson's most under-appreciated film. Bill Murray and the rest of a wonderful ensemble embark on a voyage like no other, with characters that are a pleasure to be with and a zany, conversational sensibility pervading the whole movie. Garnished with a smashing art design, groovy music, and oodles of wit and heart, The Life Aquatic is sublime.

9.0 out of 10

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

Good gravy, what a classic. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is beautifully filmed, written and acted, and emerges as one of the most magestic, captivating movies to come around in a long time. Brad Pitt exudes menace and intrigue as James, and Casey Affleck steals the show, literally embodying the Coward. Writer/director Andrew Dominik uses the two-hour forty-minute running time to its fullest; the entire movie glides slowly, inexorably along toward the eponymous event, and when it finally happens, the dramatic impact is awesome. This is assured, epic filmmaking - epic without effects-laden battle sequences and legions of soldiers, but rather with two characters who by the end of the movie have become so iconic, so important, their inevitable clash is more terrible than that of any army.

8.8 out of 10

No Country For Old Men (2007)

From the fantastic Coen brothers comes this grim, expressionistic piece set in the sparse, yawning landscape of West Texas. Javier Bardem rivets as Anton Chigurh, a ruthless killer in the absolute, and a supremely unsettling presence. When he is on screen, evil has a face. Tommy Lee Jones appears in a haunting, low-key performance conveyed as much by his words as the deep grooves of time etched in his visage. The Coens have painted a bleak, nihilistic picture full of portent and dread.

8.2 out 10

Stage Beauty (2004)

Claire Danes and Billy Crudup star in a period drama set in the 1600's and centering around the legalization of women playing women on the English stage, and the subsequent effect on Danes, an aspiring actress, and Crudup, an acclaimed actor who was trained to play women his entire life. It's a promising premise, and Danes turns in an admirable performance, as does Crudup, in a dizzying, genre-bending achievement. However, Stage Beauty never forges a genuine emotional connection between its characters and audience, and as a result remains only a mildly affecting exercise in wit and conceit.

5.7 out of 10

The Painted Veil (2006)

A poignant tale of love lost and regained between a husband and wife set against the backdrop of a cholera outbreak in 1920's China. Edward Norton continues to prove that he is one of the great actors of his generation, and Naomi Watts is stunning and graceful as the unfaithful but vulnerable wife trying to reconnect with the man she has alienated. Featuring elegant cinematography and an involving, touching love story, The Painted Veil overcomes its weak-ish ending to prove itself a moving, romantic period piece.

8.0 out of 10

Thoughts on Into the Wild

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter.

Sean Penn's 2007 adaptation of Jon Krakauer's nonfiction book Into the Wild was released in September and wow, I can't remember the last time I was as moved by a film. The true story of Christopher McCandless pierced me, not because of the skill and craft with which it was made, but because I identified with McCandless more than any other character I have ever encountered, fact or fiction.

I understand why he left his family and hitchhiked across the country, eventually into the freezing Alaskan wilderness. I understand his desire to get away from empty normalcy, to experience the ferocity and truth of an unbound world, the independence and "ultimate freedom" afforded by a solitary existence. I understand the disgust with sameness, consumerism, and ordinary life - being in love with the romantic idea of a footloose, rambling life. For a long time I have been discontent with my present placement on the globe, desiring travel and adventure. I'm always dreaming of getting away from the place I'm currently at, escaping to somewhere better, unknown...

The part about Into the Wild which hit me hardest and hurt the most was seeing how his desire to keep moving and not lay down roots caused pain to those around him. McCandless's drive to continue traveling, to break away from ordinary life, meant that every time he left a place, he tore out the hearts of the people there who loved him so much. His family were left with the heartbreak and torment of knowing that their son was out there somewhere in the world by himself, and he hadn't cared enough to tell them where he was going or even write to them. McCandless realized at the end of his life that his quest for isolation and truth had rendered him just that - isolated and left with the truth that "happiness isn't real unless it's shared."

Into the Wild is a finely-crafted film, a potent ode to a transcendent human yearning, and a beautiful elegy for a courageous young man whose story deserves to be told. It has helped to put a new lense over how I view my own life - consummation by wanderlust and constant focus on "getting away" means forgoing the essential human treasures of friends, family, companionship, and love. Questing for independence, we deny that which we really require - interdependence.