I am starting to pack now, my papers being sorted, will need to take some pictures of the people I have been hanging out with.
Withthe world, or at least all of India at my fingertips, the next step is to figure out just what I need to to for myself an my journey . To go south and then north might be the option, I have at least a month and a half, possibly more, though it costs money to change the dates, and money is a precious resource, especially when I have so much more to go to and see in the way of round the world. (this is not a blatant plea for donations, at least not yet.. haha. . .)
People get stuck here in India, and I can see why they do. The easy pace, the simple understandability of the country, the hospitality and good-naturedness of the people. And for some, there is the "spiritual" aspect of it all. Ashrams and meditation centers abound for those who feel the need to learn the silence of the "child brain" and to calm the "monkey brain." As for myself, I try not to judge good or bad, positive or negative, but sometimes it does take time for one to deal with the emotionality of attachment before one can truly accept what is for what it is.

The road beckons, It is best to leave in the early mornings around here, as the traffic is lighter, most people not getting about their business until around 9 or 10 .
One thought is to go up to Querim for a couple of days, a very quiet beach with not so many people on it. Instead of coconut palms, Querim has a pine forest on the beach, and the fishing is said to be very good for the tasty kingfish and red snapper. A couple of days R and R might be just what the doctor ordered. It has been quite a party here in Arumbol, many nights of parties, and this will wear on one after a while. There is nothing much else to do, as the Rice Bowl has closed for the season, and most of the people left here are the long-termers, who, I believe become a little strange toward the beginning of the monsoon.

NOTE for travellers: Do not bother with malaria pills, no-one takes them here, and no-one I have heard of has ever contracted malaria here in Goa. If in the unlikely event that you do come down with it, the treatment is to give you one of the other antimalarial drugs, one of the ones you are not taking. If you do feel the need, buy them here, there are many state-of-the-art hospitals, especially in the cities, and they cost next to nothing. I could have saved over two thousand dollars had I realized this.
Dental work is also state-of-the-art, and is performed by professionally (and most times american or european educated) trained dentists and doctors, and also is at a tiny fraction of the cost for the same work done in the West.

I, of course will take my anti-malarials in Thailand and beyond, but at the cost of over 500 dollars for the bottle, I could have gotten the same thing here from the chemists made by a western company for under 20 dollars.
So do not waste your money, no matter what scare stories you hear. If you ask around you can find ultra-modern facilities which will not put such a serious dent in your travel funding.

Many people here, in conversation, appear and disappear because of their own things to do; their own thoughts. One can always tell the solo traveller because of the ever-present journal, taken out to write thoughts or who knows what else.
All people appear and disappear, I suppose, all over the world, but here there is no hard feeling, no need to be paranoid. Possibly this is actually the same in Western countries, but also perhaps it is just harder to read. . The language limitations create their own necessary curtailments on emotional assumption as well.
Perhaps this is why, after a time, one does wish to have a discussion with someone who is a master of the same language, and may have a little to do with homesickness, of which I have had a bit here and there.
There is much lost in translation. . .
The English language, used here by everyone, of every conceivable nationality, becomes mixed with sign language and emphasis, as would one of the more romantic tongues, like italian or french.
Also this could possibly explain the way in which such "romantic" languages contain many fewer words than English, and tend to be more verbal/nonverbal/spoken languages than primarily written. Noticing the fact that English usually contains much less non-verbal cues when spoken gives a new perspective on the possibility that there may be a sensible conclusion to draw from that. .
Trade may have something to do with this, perhaps everything. The British isles, even up to the time of the Roman occupation and beyond, were little more than tribal stone-age people, primitive, and mostly ignorant of the flourishing civilizations that had been going for many thousands of years already in the Mediterranean, and beyond.
The ancient mediterranean peoples, from the mysterious Phoenicians, to the Egyptians, and Greeks, and later to the rise of Rome had all been trading profusely with each other.
Communication with people who do not speak your language is done with some simple words, and suffused with non-verbal communication through gestures and signs. It is perhaps by necessity that these languages needed to be simpler and more based on emphasis rather than using a word to describe a degree of emphasis, in a language such as english, the early traders had to use gestures and verbal cues, rather than relying on mere words that the other would not understand.
Since the british isles tended to be more sheltered from the rich commerce of the mediterranean, and many visitors tended to come as invaders and not traders, they adopted many diverse words from all of these cultures. English contains Celtic, Gaellic, Germanic, Latin, Scandinavian and a plethora of other languages of all kind of origin.
The usage was different. Being less trade-oriented, The language became mostly verbal only and much less non-verbal. Hand gestures were much less crucial without as much trade, so words became the preferred mode of communication. Adoption of so many words has made English an easy language to get by in, but with the massive vocabulary, a hard language to master. Of course it could also mean that the Brits are just a little more tight-assed than other cultures in that respect. .

Of course, I am talking out of my ass here, but I just thought I would just posit a theory that seems to make sense. People have not changed in forty thousand years, and neither have situations. To observe such an eclectic mix of international people here in Arumbol has given me the chance to reflect upon such intrinsic subjects as linguistics and possible origins on non-verbal behaviour.

And, finally, a reflection upon the performer's life: (from my personal journal of observation)

"Calm and silence are important--one must know the self, the mind, the spirit. One must also realize that all people have the same emotions, all people want to be loved.
To be loved has nothing much with being a performer, that is a way of getting at it, but the true performer looks OUT in turn, and does not seek approval.
Approval seeking is a character flaw. It is a false idol. It is still emptiness, which can never be sated, to be loved on a local basis is much more fulfilling--to go one-on-one with someone is more pure than to "wow" the crowd.
Most performers, I think, do not get this, that to give freely of one's gifts is sent out to the audience and is done for the wrong reason if the performer wishes to get praise or adulation or some such in return.
They have something to prove--many times they get caught in jealousy, envy, politics. Many despise and disparage another who is opened and possesses that kind of presence. (sometimes this is called "stage presence" or "star quality")
If they would just realize that all it takes for them to gain the recognition that they so desparately crave is to open the self, they would do what is necessary to remove blockages. But, when one is open, one does not care about recognition, only about giving one's gift to another.. . ."

But then there I go, talking crap again. . hahah. . .
So soon it is off to the open road, and to small towns in which they do not see too many westerners. I am off to find the real India, not some place in which people come to escape, and believe me, they try to escape all kinds of things here, family, jobs, their own failures in life, emotional stress, even some come to escape the law.. In the end there is no escape from any of that, and going to some place in which one can live a fantasy is perhaps fine for a time, but that is not what I have come to find (or lose, as the case may be)

Internet contact may be a little sparser in the coming weeks, but bear with me, dear friends and readers, I will update as often as possible. .