Pic from Johnnylubber!


Since Madame Zhou has us stumpted, let's look at some of the wide swings of life in India that Lin goes through. Greg was very careful to show the vastly different living conditions in India.

Would you want to experience normal, everyday life in a not so remote village where electricity comes and goes all day and where there is no hot and cold running water on demand (you have to pump it out of the ground to take a bath)? What sort of things would you take away with you from such an experience and would you have a greater appreciation of your own everyday life?

Hmmm...let me think for a minute...umm....NO!!!
I'm afraid I have a resolute and unyielding need for plumbing!
I understand that Lin needed the routine of farming and living close to the earth that the village life gave him - and Prabu's wonderful salt-of-the-earth parents who
were so quick to embrace him and make him part of the family - but that life in not for me. I don't even like to go camping! I'd be no good in a rural Indian village. One needs a strong constitution to live like that - I've no doubt it would literally make me sick. Give me chemically treated water and air borne particulates any day! :D

We have an accord! :lol:

:lol: We're we separated at birth?

My husband, only a few days ago suggested we take the kids camping in the school break, to which I replied, "Well if you find a camp site with a Travelodge close at hand you can camp and I will have my bed, TV and bathroom!" :lol:

I agree with everything you say Parlez. That life just isn't for me, I wouldn't last a day.

If I was forced to live in that situation, then as everyone would, I'd adapt. Even Lin worries about how he will cope in that situation...
There was silence for a time as I slowly turned off all the appliances I'd come to regard as essential. No electric light. No kettle. No televisions. No hi-fi. No radio. No music. I didn't even have a Walkman with me. How would I live without music? (pg112)

So to answer the question: What sort of things would you take away with you from such an experience and would you have a greater appreciation of your own everyday life?...
I would without doubt take away a lot of unpleasant memories because I would have been forced to live like that, but yes, it would make me appreciate what I have in my everyday life a whole lot more.

Like Lin, I'm aware of how pathetic I sound (pg 113), but that's just me being me.

Well so far it's unanimous!
I could never live under those conditions nor would it be an experience I would like to try!
When I travel, I always enjoy experiencing everything about the country or place I'm in, "when in Rome..." and all that, but this would not be for me! I can barely handle a blackout for more than two days!

Of course I would walk away with a greater appreciation for what I have, but I also think I'd feel an admiration for people who have so little and yet seem so content.

And by the way, I love all of these pictures that are posted here!
Thank you Karen and Johnnylubber!

I'm loving the pictures too, Karen and Johnnylubber! :thanks
I don't mind a little cultural immersion when I travel either, Rose Sparrow, and I think the thing that separates us from Lin is we have a choice about just how immersed we want to get. Lin had the choice of staying in a city slum or accompanying Prabaker to his family village...not much of a choice really! It could be that he decided to go to get a break from the other hellish situation he was living in! Certainly he must've enjoyed a reprieve from having to do all the daily petty crimes in Mumbai. The rural life might look downright wholesome by comparison! (Yikes!)

I absolutely would not choose to live (or even visit somplace) under those conditions but it is something I categorize in my "jumping out of a plane catgegory..."

Let me explain... I have a friend who has lost 100 lbs. When she met her weight loss goal, one of the things she rewarded herself with was a tandem parachute jump. (me, I'd go for a spa day and a new wardrobe :lol: )We were discussing the experience one day and the question was asked who else had a parachute jump on their list of things to do. My response was, "absolutely not, but it is something I could do if it were necessary." (Save my or others' lives, for example.)

So, I think, like Jesse says, if I were forced to live in that situation, I'd adapt. And hopefully, coming away from it, I would have a greater appreciation for the things I do have, but also a better understanding of what I am capable of surviving.

I agree with you Parlez, Lin was making a choice between two hellish situations when he agreed to go with Prabaker to visit his family.

Great points and reasonings all! This is such a great discussion!

That's an interesting p.o.v., irish! It reminds me of Captain Jack's immortal "what a man can do and what a man can't do" speech to Will on the beam. Most of us have never had the chance to find out just how adaptable we might or might not be to dire circumstances.
One thing about India is that it pulls away the layers of so-called civilization and gets down to the raw life-and-death stuff of existence in a way no other country can or does. It likewise tends to pull away a person's identity in terms of who they think they are and what they think they can and cannot do. Lin had already undergone that particular transformation before he got there - his identity was already in shreds - so he was more open to, shall we say, redefinition?!
Plus, I think when you get to India you either take a breath in - like 'what in the world am I doing here' - or you take a breath out - like 'ahhh, I'm home'! Lin felt at home and safe in India and in Mumbai right off the bat. I think that helped him cope with living there.
Even so, we see throughout the story how often even Lin is brought to the brink by the endless poverty and extreme conditions he finds in India.

Very interesting comments by all. I agree in the story that Lin living in Prabu's village was another way for him to fully understand the Indian people. I'm sure it was also a relief to get out of the slum as well.

No, I wouldn't choose this at all. My husband and I used to camp all the time when we were younger and even when the kids were small. We even used to backpack for a week at a time in the mountains. Looking back now, those were great experiences, but now, I'm in the give- me- a- hotel -with- a- nice- shower- camp.

I also think it takes a certain personality to be able to live the way Lin did in India. Yes, part of it was because of his circumstances, but he could have left. He seemed liked the type that was adventurous at heart and liked experiencing new places. I have an aunt that joined the Peace Corps and lived in a small African village for 2 years with very primitive conditions. She joined at the age of 65----something I could't see myself doing at that age or any age.

First off, what an INTERESTING question. Currently in my life, Mr. Depputante is taking off for at least 3 years, to Bangalore India. I have forced the issue enough, that he is considering giving us the opportunity to go with him. However, we have kids. Now, somehow I"m suprised that everyone said no.
A ha...here she comes, the ONE person (and it just had to be me) who ...would want to give it a try, for a while. See how it goes , so to speak.

If I were Lin, sure. HE sees the people for who they truly are, not what they look like. (He spends a whole page at a beginning talking about it. p.8, middle of 3rd paragraph, "And then, last, what should've been first, I saw how beautiful they were...) Nor does he condemn them for their living conditions. He also understands , as Prabker so nicely points out, they are successess in their own right. The other choice being death. (p.82) Especially the LAST paragraph. It's so extremely DEPP. I stopped reading there for two days. It knocks me off my feet everytime I'm sitting down to re-read it.

"There's a truth deeper than experience." ... "We're helpless, usually in the face of it; and the cost of knowing it, like the cost of knowing love, is soemtimes greater than any heart would willingly pay."..."And the only way to know that truth is to share it, from heart to heart, just as prabaker told it to me, just as I"m telling you now."

Now for Karen's questions:

YES. If the opportunity presents itself (with no kids, nor responsibilities), and is not illegal, my answer is Yes. (Sky diving is on my list of things to do, and I"m REALLY glad to hear at 65 there is still a chance to join the Peace Corps)

Ahhh... :D The knowing that you TRY.DO.SUCCEED.

This is SO much a DEPP concept to me. GO. BE. DO. DEPP. Unfortunately, many people, (including Mr.Depputante) find that passion unnerving, perhaps irritating, irresponsible....
A person must have passion for life. That passion for life could be considered the truth. If not, what's left? A lie?

(p.92) "And yet you must survive. It is this dilemma that makes us beleive and cling to the lie that we have a soul, ..."

At the very least to 'get' it, as Johnny has shown me though his books, has changed my life. Now there's the question, what am I going to DO about it. :lol:

Hmmm....a paradigm shift. :shistle

I hope you'll give us some reports from your husband when he goes to India, or maybe even if your family joins him!

I like your comments about how Johnny's attitudes, etc. have affected your life. I think in some ways it has affected mine as well. I am more open to new experiences myself, just living in those kind of conditions aren't one of them. I also think as I get older, I do want to make sure I've had varied experiences and there exists for me a list of what I still want to do. (Yes, we were all quite surprised that my aunt was accepted at age 65 into the Peace Corps---she loved it--cold showers, or no showers, at all!)

I also agree that an experience such as Lin had at the village would very much affect your life, make you appreciative of what you have. I know just from some of my travels abroad and visiting the non-touristy places, I've gained this appreciation. Not that these places could be in any way like the slum areas of India, but just some of what we take for granted.

It sounds like a great adventure to do as Lin does in the book but in reality I am set in my ways in regards to water, electricity, internet, phones and other creature comforts. If I chose to spend time in an environment as described in the book I would turn into a horrible grouch I am afraid. I do feel that as an American I have no idea of how people in real poverty live and I probably would have a hard time surviving. I am still amazed by the resilience and courage exhibited by most of the victims of Katrina and only hope I would be able to start over and "move forward" as Johnny is often quoted in the printed material available for the fans. And really were the conditions at the village any worse than the time Lin spent in prison? I say no and he at least he chose to go there and could leave if he wanted. :blink:

You're so right, Depputante ~ Johnny does tend to seek out opportunities to challenge himself, or, as he puts it 'to fail'. He doesn't shy away from the edges, as it were, and I imagine with each project he finds resources he didn't know he had. He also knows he has a stable, reliable home life and support system to back him up in any case. That's where he differs from the character of Lin in the book.

I've always held to the theory that if life presents something to us and even part of us wants to say 'yes' to the experience, we ought to do it. Otherwise we end up regretting it. There are times we want to play it safe and there are time we don't. We have to assume only we are the best judge of that at any given time, yaar?

Besides, having spent time with you in D'land at the premiere, Dyane, I can vouch for the fact that you have a million dollar smile, just like Prabu's. It'll take you far. You'll be fine! :D

WOW Depputante. What a life changing situation for you, Mr Depputante and your kids. Either way, go or don't go...your lives will change. Some for the better, in some ways it will be just a bit different.

Like you and the others, I agree Johnny has affected how I look at the world. My interest in Johnny and his work has opened up my world and allowed so many people to cross my path and for me to cross theirs. I am blessed and my world has been forever changed because of him. All of us affect and change the worlds of the people we come in contact with. Please do let us know how things are going. I can't even begin to imagine a change of such porportions. We are here.

Remote villages with no running water or electricity has it's charms...like, simplicity.

I think I would gladly suffer some inconveniences to have the security of knowig eveyone and avoiding the extreme stresses of an overcrowded city/slum life.

A nice village where the worst enemy is Mother Nature.

I'd rather adapt to that environment, thank you very much.

Boring, I know.