A Narration of Melancholic Elation

Empathy is simply the ability to step into someone else’s shoes and understand circumstances from their point of view. This trait is one of the most important to possess if humans wish to fathom the varied states of nature and emotion. Within life’s daily interactions empathy can be the necessary tool to cope with a situation and quell a negative reaction. And in cases of dire events, it causes pain at the very thought of the tragedy. When someone else makes a sloppy driving mistake on the road, I recall my instances of incompetence, and when death occurs I shudder at the thought of that piercing my heart close to home.

I heard that a friend of a good friend had been charged with a murder he did not commit a couple months ago. Over that span of time, I’ve come to understand the fine details of the case and I believe that Tennesse native Eric Volz is innocent of murdering Doris Jimenez in San Juan, Nicaragua on Nov. 21, 2006. As he awaits his appeal in maximum-security Modelo prison beginning his 30-year sentence, I know that his plight and ordeal could have happened to me.

Eric’s case finally gained some national press attention here in the United States on Monday, when the Wall Street Journal published a front page article titled “Romance, a Murder And an American in Nicaraguan Jail”.

The article does not give Eric the complete benefit of the doubt, but it is somewhat holistic and nuanced in its presentation. Toward the end of the article the points are given that prove Eric’s innocence including:

1) Eric had seven eye-witnesses during the time of the murder, as well as cell phone records showing his location.

2) Eric was charged with rape, though the autopsy later showed that this did not occur.

3) There was no blood, hair, or other physical evidence that the prosecution provided to link Eric to the crime.

I’m just trying to bring some further awareness to this man’s situation. Here’s how you can help:

-Read more on his case at his family’s website and write to your congressman.
-Become his friend on myspace and get your friends to as well.

Just imagine if that were you:

Also check the new youtube of Eric Volz’s case.

When asking Europeans in the past, what they first think of when they think of Americans… they usually reply with “fat.” “Stupid” finds its way in second. But after chillin in Goa for a few days I’m wondering what the hell how they got it backwards. The stereotypical tourist here is an older, near-retirement age, over-weight Brit. So it leaves me wondering what people are calling Americans fat for… Or should we say that Brits definitley do not speak for Europeans as a whole? Or is this just the demographic of Brit that comes to Goa, India on vacation?
What does a guy wearing a speedo do when he is walking in public and gets a little over excited? Is scared stiff a good way to put it?

I was talking to the homie Oso a few months a go about this trip and about the fact that I was doing it solo. This hombre has travelled more extensively than any hombre I know: SE Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe. Just when I thought that was enough I asked him, “Have you been to New Zealand.”
And he shoots back, “Yeah, three times.”
We both agree on the positive of aspects of travelling by one’s self.
I do feel truly lucky to have an incredible, diverse array of friends. But there are really only a handful that I would want to make this trip with in its entirety.
When travelling alone you come and go at your leisure and there are no contraints, as far as people go. This allows someone to really dive into some knowledge of self. The times of lonliness can be overcome by forcing oneself to be more social than normal.
I’m a pretty socialable person, but I usually need some kind of opening or reason to strike up a conversation with a random stranger. I normally won’t unless I’m introduced. I don’t pick up women at bars and most of my dear friends have been through school or work.
So I saw this his Australian chap, Ragith, a friend of Kermeez’s, who I had met once when Kermeez was visiting me in Walnut Creek. Kermeez told me that he was gonna be in town and doing some travelling around as well.
“You guys should travel together,” she said.
So we all went out one night in Bombay to a club called Pollyesthers- A retro-happenin’ spot, where we danced the night away til 4:30 a.m.
I thought he was pretty cool, but it seemed like we had different itineraries, so unfortunately it didn’t seem like anything was going to work out. He was staying in Bombay for a while and then going on to Goa, Kerala (where his family is from), Calcutta, etc. I already had tickets booked for Goa, Delhi, and Rajisthan…and am not going to Kerala and Calcutta until May.

So it’s funny… as we are talking to some of Kermeez’s friends outside the club..one of them asks us, “So what are your plans while in India?”
Ragith answers, “Similar. We are going to Goa this week.”
And I’m thinking, “Really, that’s the first I heard that. That’s cool I guess, but you could have asked before pulling that.” I’m sure everyone has experienced something similar- someone making plans that involve you, without consulting you.

So I took the sleeper train to Goa- 12 hours on Monday night, pulling into Goa at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday… I met an Irish guy who was also heading to Calangute Beach, so I asked him if he wanted to split a cab.
He had just gotten back from trecking around Kashmir…He planned on going to Nepal, but couldn’t because of the recent coup. Can we call it a coup yet?
Anyway, we exchanged a few stories, and I ended up grabbing a room at the place that he had a booking at. It was interesting, because we met, got some lunch, chatted a bit…we both realized (well, I did) “Okay, this guy is aight. He’s cool. But that’s that. We are both doing are own thing and I don’t feel any obligation to have to chill with this dude tonight, tomorrow, whenever.”
I had an early night after enjoying some carnival festivities…met some Russian guys, who spoke next to zero English. Yeah, we had fun trying to communicate after a few beers. It was similar to sharades with broken tongues.
Ragith pulls up next morning with Sole (Can’t remember her full name).
With Sole?? Sole is an Aussie girlfriend of Kermeez’s, who is staying with her in Bombay and helping her take care of Kermeez’s sick mother. I had felt bad because I met Sole my second day in Bombay. She had been in Bombay for a month already, so I asked her, “What have you done in Bombay since you got here? And have you been anywhere out of the city?”
She said, “Not much. Went to Elefanta caves.”
So I kind of gave her a hard time for not venturing anywhere…It was only later that I realized that taking care of Kermeez’s mother is a full-time job. Her left leg is not functionable because of the cancer spreading.
So I told myself that it’s okay that Sole and Ragith are here and it ended up being pretty cool.
North Goa reminds me of Maui…beautiful, but super touristy. South Goa- Palolem Beach (more like Kaui), two hours from Calangute Beach, is what really took my breath away. After staying in the North for four days, Sole headed back to Bombay, and Sumi came down from Poona.
Sumi is a friend of Nate’s, old roommate in San Diego. Nate was probably the greatest thing that happened to me in 2004 and I love him for being such a jackass. Sumi is working for a construction & development NGO and has now been in Poona for a month, after working in Hamburg, Germany for a few. We both studied international relations, so I’ve asked her advice on future prospects quite often. It was great to see her Saturday morning. I found a place in the Lonely Planet and it said “best breakfast in Goa”. So I emailed her and told her to meet me at 8a.m. Saturday, after her bus arrived. It was a gorgeous spot, right off the Baga River, a few kilometers from my place of stay.
At around 10, we got Ragith, and took a cab down south to Palolem Beach. There is one word to describe it: Surreal.
It feels like a deserted island with a few hundred people, incredible scenery, complete relaxation, and delicious food. Most of this is made possible by the restaurants with their cushioned floor sitting, brilliant array of music, and the absolute subtraction of rushing anywhere else- by the consumer or establishment (oh so common back home & almost anywhere else).
I met some fascinating people in Palolem. A Columbian named Francisco, who has lived in France for 15 years selling art…his girlfriend is a dancer and so Paris is where she must live for work…but he hates the congestion of Paris so he lives elsewhere. We talked politics, youth, society, music and drank masala chai after taking a boat to see some dolphins.
Ragith met some incredible Hungarian girls named Orsi & Kata. I was enchanted and delighted by Orsi. She studied in Germany for 7 years, finished her masters, and wrote her thesis on Bollywood and the myth constructed for women. She had just filmed a documentary in Punjab, but was not too thrilled with the results.
We all sat on the beach for an hour at night with candles and I thought the conversations were deep, thoughtful, reflective, and even a little emotional.
I felt so taken back by Orsi… since she had done much with gender studies I asked her for her thoughts on arranged marriages, and she gave me quite an interesting, intropective answer.
Sumi left earlier that day-Sunday…before she left I found her on the balcony of the beach shack with a sentimental twinkle in her eye. She just wrote me an email titled “My Ah-ha moment”, explaining that state she was in. I’d like to share it with hopes of getting some responses from you folks out there.

Back at work and deciding the future of the real
estate and construction market in India… the first
topic of conversation was “Goa as a burgeoning hot
spot to market to foreign investment.” I am trying to
be open-minded and hopeful that there is some sort of
convergence between globalism and sustainable
development that won’t end in an exacerbation of
societies evils – or maybe “wrongs” to make it less
fatalistic…but…

But sitting on that porch, surrounded by hotel huts
that weren’t there 5 years ago, looking at the blue
Arabian Sea, I couldn’t help but think of Sartre and
his condemnation of tourism as modern imperialism.
Already hearing stories of how Palolem used to be a
beautiful and pristine Eden, but how it is slowly
eroding into the rest of third world
tourism-economics.

It’s a catch 22… in terms of discovery and maintenance
of that initial purity. Or would it be more like a
“you can never go home” kind-of situation. Whatever
the adage may be for this particular case, is it
always the case that you destroy something the moment
that you become a part of it… as in, the thing is now
fundamentally changed now that you have “added” to it.
Can anything be experienced and not altered?

I suppose the gist I’m trying to make and what I’ve
realized now that I’m back in Pune… back in Palolem I
think I just became fully aware of how I affect things
in a truly existential,
you’ve-got-to-take-responsibilities-for-you’re-actions
kind of thing. And I know this is a very basic
principle of thought and pedestrian in terms of “we
are all part of the golden chain of life” blah blah
blah… But the point is, being there made me really
think about it and truly feel it. Being in a country
where critical international development issues are at
the forefront and where it is truly ‘happening’ makes
you really face those issues apart from an academia’s
protective discourse bubble – ah that ever present gap
between theory and practice.

I was just sitting on the porch listening to your
music and boom… it was just an amazing moment you
know.

I mean there are so many things that are buzzing
around in my head to try and explain it or see the
implications I should take from it and I have no idea
if any of this makes sense or if it is all blather,
but you and Reggie are connected to it just by being
there with me. I don’t know, it just felt right to
share that with you, like you could understand better
than someone who wasn’t there.

Well, I’ll leave you to your own thoughts…

I could probably say that I have come to Karachi with three curiousities. I want to learn who Anant was, how Islam is, and what Pakistan will be.
For the first few days here I had my questions at the top of my dome for my Nani-Ma. It’s like they have been locked in a vault for a decade awaiting the key master (”Are you the key master?” “Yes, I’m a friend of his.”- Ghostbusters just for pops). We would be sitting in the morning, drinking chai, and I would blurt, “Was Anant a socialist?” And she would answer, “Yes. Until the end. Partition greatly hurt him. He, more than anyone wanted to see a unified India. But I think socialism is dead.”

A former student of my Nani-ma’s, Sadia, took me for lunch my second day in Karachi. We grubbed some Chicken Mahkani, Chicken Tikka Masala, and a lot of nan. As we are devouring the savory goodness and talking about South Asian history, she tells me with ultimate conviction,”There would have been unification, but Gandhi said that Muslims could not practice Islam in India.”
To which I said, “Whaaaat!?”
Then I had dinner with some folks who knew Anant a night later and I told them what this girl had said to me. This guy almost dropped his fork in shock. “That’s not true. No. It was Nehru’s power trip. Nehru had to be Prime Minister and he didn’t want to give any power to Jinnah. It was because of Nehru that there was partition.”
To which I sat and listened…
You’d think that there would be one straightforward answer to some of history’s great questions. Why was India divided into sections with Independence? Why did the U.S. intervene in Vietnam? Why did we invade Iraq? But I guess these are tough questions and various answers gain greater credibility in different areas and time periods.
One of my pet peeves is when someone gives me false information…especially when they tell me with a fist-stomping-the-table-attitude. I was in San Diego with a friend a couple years ago and a foreigner asked him, “How do I get to highway 8?” My friend bluntly answers, “There is no highway 8.” I had just moved to town and was unware of anything but “the 5″, so I went along with it. But I found out later, that there is indeed an important highway numbered 8. My buddy had already lived and driven in the town for a couple years and I was dumbfounded at how he didn’t know of the highway and how he told the guy with such undoubtful truth in his language.
I asked another friend about a year a go: (I feel like she’d kill me if I gave her name away, so I won’t. She is a Shia-Muslim from Iran) “What percentage of Iraq is Shi’a?” She replied “10%.”
So I figured “Huh, I guess the Shi’as have no way of obtaining a majority with a democratic election. I could have sworn they were two-thirds of the country though.”
Later that evening I was doing my nightly SD-WC politic chopping with my pops on the phone and I said, “Well, Iraq is only 10% Shi’a, so they won’t grab power with elections.”
“No, my son. You are mistaken. Iraq’s Shi’a constitute 60% of the population.”
To which I said, “Whaaaat!?”
The next day I stormed in on my friend and blew up at her. I probably overreacted, but I was so furious to have been misinformed. This has caused me to be weary at times over spreading sketchy information that I’m not 100% sure of. I usually hesitate when explaining things because I’m often not 100% sure… so I say things with a bit of apprehension. I hate this…but I think I prefer it to the arrogant “I know I’m right, as I look down upon you” manner that some people use.
I still like to trust what people say…but I guess I gotta do my homework in addition.

A couple days ago it was Groundhog Day… regardless of whether the shadow was there or not, it’s a great movie. I think I caught that flick on cable half a dozen times in 04′, and enjoyed trying to figure out where Phil was in his process of mastering the day .
“Phil? Phil Connors? Is that you?”… “Ned? Ned Rierson?” and then….”Watch that first step, it’s a duhooooozy.” Bill Murray is truly classic. But I think the movie has a deeper meaning- That the day is really what you put into it. He goes from being a jerk and dragging through each hour, to making the most- mastering piano and being a devoted super samaritan.

So that day comes every February 2nd I believe. But only once ever, on February 16th of this one and only 2005, the Kyoto Protocol becomes international law. The highlighted link will take you to an excellent article I just peeped that breaks down its significance and how it affects you and I. Bouncing from Bombay to Karachi, I’m finding it difficult to believe that the U.S. “is the world’s greatest emitter of greenhouse gases.” But it is true, and although some developing nations have not signed the treaty, most European nations have, and it’s pretty shameful that the U.S. has not.
Thomas Friedman wrote an article last week, and its summary was something like:
We will not attack Iran because we don’t have the troops to carry out the operation. The best way to democratize the Middle East is to invest in renewable energy sources. This will force those nations, who depend on oil exportation, to liberalize their economies, thus leading to a domino of democratic, free states.
It sounds so logical and so easy….Is it? Well, since the Bush Administration is so vested in the fossil fuel industry, it’s going to take a lot more than just convincing. Read that article and lemme know what you think…

As back in the states, there’s nothing quite like sitting down early in the morning with a cup of tea and the paper. I was awaiting to hear about the present current affairs here and The Times of India does a pretty good job of giving me the dose I’m looking for. So what grabbed me this week?

-The city of Bombay started giving motorcycle and scooter riders 100 rupee (2 dollar) tickets if they are not wearing a helmet. They tried doing this in Pune a couple years a go, but because of citizen protest, the city didn’t enforce it. On Friday the Bombay cops handed out several hundred tickets on the law’s initial day, which sparked outrage amongst riders who said that they hadn’t even had ample time to purchase helmets yet. A funny note, is that Sikhs (those urban turban wearers) are exempt from this law.

-The Indian paper believes that the European proposal to ban the swastika is ridiculous. The Nazis took and altered this symbol from a Sanskrit symbol which means “well-being.” So for Europeans to abolish this in its entirety for display is preposterous. How can they ban something and infringe on the freedom of expression, while trampling on an ancient Sanskrit symbol? Any thoughts?

-In 2002, it was claimed that some Muslims had set a train on fire in Gujarat, killing several Hindu activists. This created a reaction of state-sponsored terrorism by the BJP (the extreme right-wing Hundu fundamentalist party of India), in which thousands of Muslims were slaughtered. Muslims would call the police department for help, and the officers would be respond, “Are you Hindu or Muslim?” When the head of the party, Modi, was asked why this was happening and why the government was allowing this genocide to occur, he answered “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
A few days ago an interim reort was published that stated that the train’s fire was an accident and not conducted by hateful Muslims. What?!?! After 3 years, this is now being reported. It was defintely a suspicion by many, but now this report is being heavily criticized, as the BJP says this is all being politicized. Although the BJP has suffered politically since the Gujarat massacre, they have been looking at making a comeback in local assembly elections. They are even crying out to the Muslim community to vote for them, while only endorsing one Muslim candiadate, amongst hundreds of others. I did a research paper on the massacre last year for a human rights class, so I guess I’m a little interested in the latest updates.