Positive thinking and whatnot

called bhaiya this morning because yesterday i was feeling the need to re-remember and re-learn the lesson of how to not have to say No. or rather, to find a rather Yessish way of saying it. or at least, not say it so aggressively.
like:
Wear this potte (bindi, dot on forehead)
No.
You should wear it. Here, I’ll put it on for you.
No, Get away from me.
You really should wear it, you know. You have to.
No, I said No!
Why?
I don’t like it. (well i actually do, but i dont like that it’s lost it’s meaning and has become just make-up instead of protection of the spiritual power of that chakra, and i don’t like that it separates hindus from muslims, i just don’t like taking part in that kind of thing)
Wear it.
NO!!!
That, folks, is a possible description of a meeting between folks like Ankurbhaiya or myself and the Largeness we call Mangolandia.

How to say Yes to this Mangolandia?

So I called bhaiya, because he’s getting pretty good at this Living Yes and all.
There was music in the background. Like, human music this time, not buffaloes. He was at a mandir (temple) at the town where Gandhiji took a rest day. When he first got in, no-one had offered him a place to stay along the way (that happens sometimes) so he went to the town hall and it was closed and there were these dudes who work (work?) at the town hall sitting across from it. That’s how it always is, apparently. So he laid it down, and they were like, eh. So he could have shown them the news report that came out a few days after he started. It’s like a credit card, he says, and they would have been like, please sir can we wash your feet, or something a little less obsequious but still hospitable. So he didn’t. He waited till he got to the mandir that they vaguely pointed at and found some cooler guys there, and chatted with them awhile and THEN showed them the credit card, which was now no longer cash money bling bling, but was just love, and sharing, because they were already interested and cool with this whole gandhi shindig. Ya dig?

Today is rest day on the schedule, and it’s a good thing, because bhaiya didn’t sleep much last night what with mosquitos and heat and all. I would say I know how he feels because that’s just because I’m refusing to turn the fan on and i haven’t lit the mosquito smoke thing yet. I actually have no idea how he feels, today on the 13th day of the 76 anniversary of the Namak Satyagraha. Damn.

Love.