Legal 'n Illegal Cultivation

Remember as teenagers we'd go out and buy those cheap fifty cent lighters, snap off the metal casing at the top and then adjust the lighter so the flame rose like an exploded oil well.

The other day I was having a long conversation with my friend, Narayan, about my useless ceiling fan. You see, the fan has five settings- 1 to 5, 5 being the fastest. I told Narayan that my damn five setting was just not cutting the cake. It was fast, but not fast enough and that I was thinking 'bout buying a floor fan to increase my coolness while asleep. Narayan gawked at me like a mad scientist.

"Five speed! Five speed! Yaar!" he exclaimed, "We'll boost that thing up for you Ben-Ji. We'll get that thing spinning faster in no time!"

Apparently in India, knowledgable folks can do the same thing we did with crappy lighters when we were thirteen but with ceiling fans. He's proclaiming to being able to adjust the setting so that the fan spins faster. Hopefully by the end of the day, my highest setting will be a "super fast '5'."

I took my friend Nick to attend the inauguration of the primary school in Tati village. On the way we encountered fields of wild ganja and fields of planted opium poppies. Poppies were everywhere. Since there is such a high rate paid for the poppies, the villagers grow it everywhere. It brings in much more income than, say, potatoes. And much of the poppies harvested make their way to Delhi and beyond in the form of opium, brown sugar or heroin. A beautiful flowering plant (currently blooming white and purple) on lusciously gorgeous and fertile slopes of the Indian Himalayas, to the grimy streets and dirty back alleys of concrete jungles around the world.

There is a young Nepalese boy who I have become friends with at a local guesthouse. He is a very nice kid but has warts all over his hands.

And my friend, Suzy from Oxford, England. I think this is a lovely image of her. Be sure to check out the donkey in background getting a new pair of kicks!!!

Love to all.