A tryst with China - Part 3

Love is my freedom,

Work is my play,

Art is my expression,

Creativity is my passion,

Joy is my emotion,

Sole is my boundary,

Relax is my style …

I saw these lines written on the glass door of a stylish shanghai leather goods shop. I couldn't stop myself from noting it down. It expresses so much of me that is hidden inside me …

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I have been to shanghai 3 times now. It’s great to feel the world’s largest city. People from all corners of world reside here. Most of them are here for business, some for teaching languages. There are around 3 million foreigners in this city, 1 million out of which are Indians. The night life of the city is one of the most vibrant in the world because of these foreigners. They earn according to there living standards back home, in $, while residing in china. That makes almost everyone of them capable of going out and partying.

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I lived with an American couchsurfer Matthew, exactly my age, a computer science graduate from Berkley, working for a computer games company in shanghai. Earlier, I had couchsurfed with Aaron, a Chinese guy, exactly my age, a finance graduate from shanghai who would be working for Deloit. I couldn’t stop myself from comparing the life style of two of them and then relating it to mine. I must say, it was a great learning experience.

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I went to a Chinese university to meet Jo, a Norwegian couchsurfer, where she is doing her internship. The vibe of the place reminded me of my days at iit kharagpur. The excitement, the buzz, the die hard wish to live … not to make a living, gives the university environment a special charm that no other community has. And I realized that I would love to go back to a university as a student … not because I have any interest in studying or academic research, but because I want to live this life again. And I am glad that I am going there very soon!

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There is this huge hype in the media from past 2 days about slumdog millionaire wining 8 Oscars. Some are wondering on why it won, and some are wondering on why India is celebrating this victory so much! CCTV 9, a Chinese international English channel made fun of this by quoting that even Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh congratulated the team … despite of the fact that producer, director, backing studios etc. are all from US and UK. They showed movie clipping of Indians celebrating on streets and laughed over it asking why? … I thought I will tell them why … this movie won Oscars because it’s a movie from the land where heart is the king … this movie won Oscars because it gives a message to the world about mad love and mad faith, two feeling which are so imbibed in every Indian soul … imagine jamal sitting on the hot seat on his last question and imagine lathika picking up the phone … and then imagine the few moments that followed … you feels like a human being don’t you? … madly in love … and this movie is all about these moments … and these moments are so much a part of everyday Indian life. That is why we were celebrating on streets. We were celebrating because the world celebrated this feeling for the first time, we were celebrating because world realized how much love and faith and belief India is filled with. Off course, the direction and the technique and the publicity are also a big reason of the victory and without international collaborations, this may not have happened … but we are celebrating because the mad Indian love won hearts all over the world … To understand more the reason of our celebration, I would recommend readers to read “Shantaram”. It’s a novel about a life of an Australian in Mumbai slums. He wrote it, and he did a magnificent job, it gave me goose bumps … and it did the same to readers all across the globe … but I celebrated it … because it was the victory of Indian mad love and faith … I hope this satisfies the CCTV 9 correspondents!

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As far as my life in china goes, I am not working at all, I don’t give a damn about shipbuilding, I surf on internet all the day, I spend all the weekdays planning my weekend … and I have been having really nice time till now :) … and I have realized that I am not a self driven person … it would have been the same if I would have been in any other field and someone would have left me completely free for 3 months expecting me to learn something!!! … if you want some work from me … you will have to stand on my ass … leave me free and I will fly … to see the world from my own angles!

Here are some pictures:

Just listen to the music! :)

chinese kiss!

Look who is hiding? :)

I have my piss in the waters of Canada, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Malaysia, Germany, UAE, Nepal and India ... what an amazign feeling it is :)

:)

Pagoda jump!

Chinese english! :)

Jo, lost among thousands of wishes...

First chinese friends :)

Can there be a kid more cute then him/her :)

With love, as always ...
Karan

A tryst with China - Part 2

Well, I was getting a spiritual thought, so I thought I should write it down before it disappears. During my travels:

1. I saw 2 young Chinese kids fighting like sumo fighter, imitating as much as they can remember from tv, just as I used to do with my brother when I was a kid.
2. I couchsurfed in shanghai with a Chinese guy of my age, his parents took care of me as if I was their son. They cooked for both of us with equal love, his mother put quilt on my feet when it got displaced at night, just as my mother would have done.
3. I saw a young Chinese couple seeing into each others eyes conveying everything they want to say as if their souls were talking with each other through the medium of their vision. It’s a language which only lovers know and speak all over the world.
4. I saw a serious street fight emerging from simple ego of 2 Chinese car drivers.
5. I saw a father helping his son in burning fire crackers during Chinese New Year Festival.

All this makes me feel like I am a part of one big human race, one fraternity, with one common reason of creation and one common god. Generally we see or hear people from a distance and make a general notion about them, like for example: Muslims are orthodox, Chinese are dumb headed, Japanese follow the rules, all Indians can dance, all white westerners are sex starving etc. etc. … these all are just the projections of their material self which is highly governed by events which happen in their life and how that relate from ours. You live with them and you realize, we are all the same, one big race … humans! This is definitely a much stronger feeling then for example being an Indian or for that matter, Hindu.

This is one of the important reasons why I like the couchsurfing concept.

Regarding my recent adventures, experiences and travels, I will just paste a photo gallery here and will leave the rest for you to wonder!

Shanghai CS meeting-28th Jan'09, representatives from China, India, US, France, Norway, Australia, Canada, Germany, Latvia :)

With Shanghai CS Ambassador - Philip

One fine morning in china :)

After solving a puzzle in a beautiful shanghai cafe!

Shanghai KTV :)

Clubbing @ Shelter in Shanghai! :)

Result of playing truth or dare after a Chinese hot-pot meal: Sing "My heart will go on" with a Chinese girl holding her hand :)

Zo!

After eating duck, frog, chicken, pork, shrimps, mule, jelly fish ... its time for an octopus meal! :P

Lots of love and keep rocking!

Karan