Musings: Song - Affirmation

This is one of my favorite songs.

If only more people around the world believe as I do, as clearly written in this song, then there would be less prejudice and discrimination...

I believe the sun should never set upon an argument
I believe we place our happiness in other people's hands
I believe that junk food tastes so good because it's bad for you
I believe your parents did the best job they knew how to do
I believe that beauty magazines promote low self esteem
I believe I'm loved when I'm completely by myself alone

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love 'til you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

I believe you can't control or choose your sexuality
I believe that trust is more important than monogamy
I believe your most attractive features are your heart and soul
I believe that family is worth more than money or gold
I believe the struggle for financial freedom is unfair
I believe the only ones who disagree are millionaires

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love 'til you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

I believe forgiveness is the key to your unhappiness
I believe that wedded bliss negates the need to be undressed
I believe that God does not endorse tv evangelists
I believe in love surviving death into eternity

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love 'til you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye(Repeat 2)
Until you say goodbye
Oh no no no no no ( Repeats itself many times fading)

Artist: Savage Garden

Travel Photo of the Day: Bangladesh train during Eid holidays

And I thought this happens only in the movies or in the yellowed pages of Discovery magazine or National Geographic journal.

This is a normal scene during Eid holidays in Bangladesh. I took this photo while inside the train myself. The carriages were already cramped, with literally no leg room for you to stretch your legs. You need to go to the toilet? Forget it. You wouldn't get there unless you trample on the countless bodies of women, children, and the elderly that have claimed the train floor as their seat, or in some cases, bed. Besides, the toilet would be far from clean in this crowd, to say the least.

During this particular time when I took the photo, our train was stopped for more than two hours a few kilometers from a bridge. Apparently, there was an accident in the train behind us: one man was decapitated by a bridge. He was standing on the roof of the train probably looking at the other end with his back to the front of the train, not aware that the train was about to pass under a bridge, or maybe he miscalculated his height and that of the bridge. However it happened, the important thing is it did happen.

He was one of the passengers who had the misfortune of not having a ticket, still desperate to get to his family and made the fatal decision to go ahead and stay on top of the train despite laws banning it. Yes, riding on the roof of the train is actually prohibited in Bangladesh. But I did not see any police or railway official trying to implement it this time. Either they did not have the heart to deprive the people the opportunity to see their families, or that they did not have the courage to face what would surely become violent commuters if anybody tried. Or maybe both. They have done this for so many years anyway. But as the story of the decapitated man shows, laws are there for a reason. In this case, it is actually to protect the citizens, and not to prevent them from going home.

Travel Photo of the Day: Tibetans Praying in front of Potala Palace in Lhasa

This is an early morning scene just outside the gates of the Potala Palace in Lhasa.

The best thing about Tibet is that you feel like you have left your mundane issues of daily living with the world below. Every single day of my two-week stay in Tibet I walked around without any specific destination in mind, letting my feet take me; greeting strangers with a smile as local practice dictated, observed people as was my training, and simply soaked in the good clean air without a care in the world on where I would get my next meal, or if my boss has emailed me.

It was on one of these days that I found myself walking just in front of Potala Palace at around 6:00 in the morning. That's right, a cold 6 AM. But instead of empty streets that usually characterize any urban setting at this unGodly hour, albeit a very high one but urban nonetheless, I was amazed to see that there were already quite a number of Tibetans up and about. Not only that. What was more remarkable was that not all of them came to the palace to pray. Rather, most of them were only pedestrians on their way to work or to some other destination, and yet, they never failed to stop and do their praying motions. This is what I'd call devotion.

So, what are the Tibetan praying motions? You put your palms together in a typical praying position, then you raise it above your head, just touching the base of your palms on the top of your head. With the palms still together, you then bring your hands to your face, touching your thumbs to your forehead. Then, with the palms still together, you bring your hands to your chest, touching the thumbs again in the middle just below your collarbones. Finally, you get down on your knees and slowly prostrate yourself on your belly, with your hands palm down and your forehead touching the ground.

I have actually tried this myself, twice or thrice, when one of the devotees in front of the Jokhang Temple kindly explained and showed it to me. I felt awkward and I guess their constant practice must have made them look more graceful and fluid. He also lent me his mat. Most of the Tibetans who do this for one whole day or days always have mats and some soft cushions for their hands. The cold hard ground can be painful on your palms, knees and chest if you do this tens of times in a day.

I've also asked the Tibetan devotee what the three positions of the hands meant, and he told me that it symbolizes the Buddha of the past (top of the head), Buddha of the present (forehead), and Buddha of the future (chest); the last one symbolizing hope. They actually have names for these three Buddhas, but I can't remember it now. I also can't get any information on the internet to corroborate this explanation. So, I will just have to take my source's word for it.

The Tibetans whisper a prayer while doing these motions, but I didn't get to learn that. If you're into Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism, maybe you can start with the generic prayer of "Om Mane Padme Ohm" which is recited over and over while turning the prayer wheel. I don't know if the prayer for this praying motions are different. Maybe somebody more knowledgeable can tell me that...

Cairo: Of Pyramids and Sphinx

If you plan on going to the Giza Pyramids in Egypt, you better allot one whole day. It’s not because of the distance from Cairo. On the contrary, it is very near Cairo. It is because you’d need time to walk around, stare at the pyramids, line up to go inside, observe people around the compound, and just soak in the pyramid landscape. You have an option to go on a camel around the pyramids if you have trouble walking. But it is very expensive and tones down your experience of trudging in the desert and getting sand all over your sandals or shoes. Also, the tickets to enter the Great Pyramids are sold only at 1:00 PM (I think they sell all morning tickets to the group tours).

For this reason, I went to the Giza Pyramids twice. My first visit to the Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx was hurried. They say that the easiest way to go to Memphis, Dhashur and Saqqara is either by joining a tour or hiring a cab yourself. I opted for the latter. I hired a cab to go to the Giza Pyramids first, and then on to the three sites. I believed it when they said that half day with the Giza Pyramids would be enough. They’re wrong, especially when you are into these ancient architecture and civilization like I am. As I learned from this experience, it is a bad idea to lump the three sites with the Giza Pyramids.

Aside from the fact that the compound of the pyramids is quite vast to cover by foot (I decided to just walk around instead of hire a camel), I also wanted to stare at the wonders, observe the people and take a lot of photos. So obviously, I had no time during that first visit to wait for the tickets as I had to rush to Dhashur, Saqqara and Memphis. All sites in Cairo close at 4:30 and these three sites were much farther than expected.

I left the Giza pyramids at around 1:00 pm, getting a shwarma and soda along the way to Dhashur. It was quite far from Cairo and I had less than two hours left for the three sites. I just took pictures of the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid in Dhashur before dashing back to the cab to go to Saqqara. My cab driver talked to another driver who suggested that we go to Saqqara first before Memphis since Memphis only has a museum. By the end of the day I was so tired and dissatisfied. I wasn’t able to enjoy and examine the sites to my little heart’s content.

Thus, it was only on my second visit that I spent some time staring up at the Great Pyramid and wondering how the ancient Egyptians could have done such feats. The pyramids must be the most photographed structure on Earth. Children from all over the world grew up in this era learning about the pyramids and how it is the only surviving ancient wonder. It is in world history books, scientific journals, travel magazines, and the National Geographic and Discovery channels.

When you look at pictures, you’d see the pyramids towering over tiny people in the background and you’d wonder just how huge it must be. And yet, when I saw these giant wonders, I was disappointed. It didn’t quite measure up to my expectations in terms of size; it didn’t seem as big as shown in the photos. It, however, measured up to being a wonder.

Each block of stone that made up the whole structure must weigh a ton. Without the machines that we employ nowadays, it’s a miracle that the ancient Egyptians were able to put one on top of another in a very engineering-accurate way. I walked around it, looked up at the top when my lower back and neck would allow, observe the people, took photos with different lighting from the sun and from different angles, and basically just marveled at the pile of stone that majestically rose up to the sky.

I also stayed with the Sphinx for quite some time. But unlike the pyramid which you can actually examine closely from all sides, only one side of the Sphinx was open to the public. It was undergoing major maintenance to arrest its slow decay; the Sphinx is already being eaten away from the inside, with the water from the Nile River slowly eroding the foundations. I observed that they have tried to reinforce the base. This is obvious at the rear end of the Sphinx, which is seldom seen by the public. I don’t know if the Sphinx ever had a tail, but it was definitely missing. Also, like most statues in Egypt, the Sphinx is missing its nose. If you follow the Egyptian belief that the dead would need everything for the afterlife, then the dead would definitely need his/her nose. So, I wondered why robbers and tomb raiders break the noses.

I also went further to the other excavation sites across the pathway from the Sphinx, just beyond the Great Pyramid where camel drivers take their clients to see the city beyond. There was nothing much to see but more rubble and sand. However, it gave me the creeps. There were underground openings (could be man-made or a cave) that were fitted with wooden doors and padlocked. The whole area was practically shouting “ancient” and I wondered what the tomb robbers could have taken from there, or what other undiscovered relic could still be lying underneath all the stones and sand.

How to go to Giza Pyramids: You can take the metro to Giza (only one Egyptian Pound) and then take a cab from the Giza metro station to the pyramids (should not be more than 15 LE). This is the cheapest and easiest way.