Dost To Dost 3

Once Upon A Time In India

Phil, Frankie and I go back a long long way, to another lifetime.

Phil and I met in a Vipassana meditation centre in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, in 1997, when I moved into his canvas dorm tent, and we spent the next little while either sitting as students, or serving, at a bunch of 10-day silent meditation retreats.

Phil had been living at the meditation centre for a couple of years before me, he was already an experienced meditator. I'd already done a few retreats in various places, but was much greener, when it comes to that particular spiritual pathway.

We connected immediately, over many long and deep conversations, and over many amazing jams at some place or other. There was a whole bunch of us there at that time, from all over the world, we were all so blissfully open to connecting with each other, and to experiencing everything India had to offer, being completely intoxicated by the place, in more ways than one.

But actually, at that time, as Vipassana students, we were all living quite the purist lives, without any material intoxicants whatsoever, just getting high on each other, new experiences, and the many inspiring ideas that our teachers and our own minds were delivering to us regularly.

Phil, Hope and I with some of the other crew in the Vipassana centre kitchen in 1997.

When Phil and I parted ways he stayed in India, and I visited him again a few months later in Mussoorie, where he was studying Sanskrit and Hindi.

We kept in touch over the years, and he eventually moved to Oz, and bought land in the same community I was living in. At my urging. We've been friends the whole time.

Phil's spent most of his adult life learning and teaching eastern philiosophies, particularly yoga and Indian spiritual belief systems, but also Chinese medicine and Japanese shiatsu. He also teaches mindfulness, meditation and dance, and spends his days gallivanting around the planet running courses and workshops, and earning good money doing it. He also regularly attends courses himself, as a student.

But way more importantly, Phil is one of the most loyal, generous, intelligent, honest, driven, and resourceful people I know. It's so great to be back here in India with him, the place where our long friendship first blossomed.

By no small coincidence, I also met Frankie at the very same Vipassana centre, about a year later. Frankie was totally in love with one of the meditation students, a Brazilian woman called Elizabeth. I can just imagine what his meditation was like during the 10 day silent course.

Frankie courted her throughout the silent course by illegally passing her secret notes, and eventually snagged his target. Beth and him eventually also ended up migrating to Australia, Frankie was sponsored by a hairdressing company, and they had their daughter Ajuna a short time after Carmen and I had Manu.

Although Frankie Beth and Ajuna lived in Sydney and then in Blackheath in the Blue Mountains, and I lived in Mullumbimby, we saw each other every now and again, and he eventually moved up to the north coast about 10 years ago.

We've been close friends forever, but especially since he moved near me. We'd actually be married by now if it wasn't for the fact that his vaginal passage and ovaries are inside out, and his man-boobs are a little too big for my particular preference.

Frankie is one of the most amazing people I know. He's warm, generous, hilariously funny, he's into absolutely everything, is always ready to party, and is one of the most friendly, un-self conscious and open people I know. It's an absolute pleasure watching him relate to people here in India. He's also pretty deep and spiritual, and into love and peace, man.

So here we are, the Three Dost, three India friends, now beautifully embellished by Frankie's amazing daughter Ajuna, who's 24, and who I've also spent quite a lot of time with, especially over the past few years. She made the potentially fraught decision to come here to India for her very first time with her dad and two of his mates, and while that could theoretically be the recipe for a rapid death-by-boredom, she actually told us the other day that she's had loads of fun.

She could be a really good liar. Or it could be true, because she's actually a lot of fun herself. She's cruisey, easygoing, friendly, really intelligent, and happy to go with the flow. Plus we can constantly laugh together watching Frankie do Frankie.

Marari

We stayed in a beautiful little homestay only a mango's throw from the beach, with a lovely old couple and their extended family.

They made us the most delicious breakfasts, full of traditional South Indian goodies like dark rice flour pancakes with curries and chutneys, and the most amazing thali dinner.

Looking through to the beach from our homestay. We had to walk around the lagoon to get there.

Frankie being artistic for ten minutes

Phil making porn again

Rickying to lunch with a Christian fella

Ajuna being all angelic, which she's not. Well, maybe sometimes.

This didn't work

Drying rice for our dinner

Now this is a beach

The water was nearly hot

Spreadeagled. There were loads of sea eagles about, just like you get in some places in Oz.

It was a beautiful sunset over the Arabian Sea. If you swam out from here and kept going you'd eventually end up on the northeast coast of Africa, in Somalia. Swimming across the Arabian Sea would probably be the safer part of the journey, compared to when you got there. Sadly.

Frankie following his feet up the beach

Having a Break

Well, we weren't the only people on Phil's India itinerary, so after a couple of nights Phil left us, to meet his friend Vijay in Jabalpur.

Next stop for Frankie, Arjuna and I is the Western Ghats, the range of hills separating the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

It'll be cooler, and even greener.

And we might see something incredible in the wild forest, if we're lucky❤️

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