"Gay" also means "cheerfulness", "merry", "bright or lively, specially in color".
Until one reads the book, it is not clear what Shand meant by it. And, even if he meant gay in the other sense, what does he know about how much sacrifice (material or emotional) some eastern people can make? - just like the Statesman said. I somehow agree with the analysis that its very doubtful what a British author like Shand will have any insight into the cultural/religious aspects of the region. I am amazed at C'da and Ramgopal's temerity on this gay issue without even reading the book. People that won't understand this "sacrifice" would also talk about the widows that resulted from those "child marriages". Just because some of the (from the west) people can't control their emotions and where sex is so important, how coudl they ever comprehend how "child widows" spent their entire life in celebacy, and also felt living a fulfilled life by taking some other noble (NOT hidden affairs) work, like adopting a child or two (in a joint family of course) of their brother or sister and pouring all their love and care to that child? But some of us do understand this eastern notion of sacrifice and abstinence, unlike people like C'da and Ramgopal, etc. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chan Mahanta" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Ram Sarangapani" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, October 04, 2003 7:31 AM Subject: Re: [Assam] River Dog: A Journey along the Brahmaputra - By Mark Shand > It does sound very interesting. > > > Does anyone know if foreigners like us can go to Arunachal, or do we need > special visas/permits, I mean in addition to the usual visas required of > foreigners like US citizens? > > > > >- including a bizarre group of identical-looking gay monks in Majuli > > *** Tilok Hatimuria ( the doctor that is) told me once that SOME "kewolia > bhokots" of Majuli Xatras (and also of Borpeta I believe) who live > celibate lives as monks, are RUMORED to be, ahem, gay. > > Maybe our resident expert on Xonkori culture could enlighten us about it? > > > > cm > > > > > > > > > At 1:37 AM -0500 10/4/03, Ram Sarangapani wrote: > > > > > >Yes! It does sound promising. But I was taken aback by the reference to: > > > > > > > >"including a bizarre group of identical-looking gay monks in Majuli" in > >the synopsis. > > > > > > > >I am sure that the Shand has somehow mis-interpreted that part. From > >whatever knowledge I have, I have not come across to any reference to gays > >in either Hinduism or Budhism. I would not think either religion gave any > >sanctity to or tolerated that lifestyle. Just a thought. > > > > > > > >Ram > > > > > > > >BTW: Saurav, several of the messages (links) seem to get 'scrubbed' in > >Assam Net by the server. Was wondering if there was a problem. -- Thanks > > > > > > >From: "Rajen Barua" >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: [Assam] River Dog: A Journey along > >the Brahmaputra - By Mark Shand >Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 23:44:01 -0500 > > > > > <http://g.msn.com/8HMBENUS/2752??PS=>Get McAfee virus scanning and > >cleaning of incoming attachments. Get Hotmail Extra Storage! > >Content-Type: text/html > >X-Stn-Info: > > > > > > > >Thanks for the reference. Looks like a must read book for the Luitporias. > > > > > > > >Barua > > > > > > >From: "Ram Sarangapani" >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: > >[Assam] River Dog: A Journey along the Brahmaputra - By Mark Shand >Date: > >Fri, 03 Oct 2003 14:15:54 -0500 > > >>_______________________________________________ >Assam mailing list > >>[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam Came across this today. > >Has any netter had a chance to read this book? Here is synopsis from > >Amazon. A section of the Indian Press was critical though. River Dog: A > >Journey along the Brahmaputra By Mark Shand Synopsis > >The Brahmaputra is one of the world's great rivers. Beginning as a tiny > >glacial stream in Western Tibet it flows through India and Bangladesh > >before gushing out into the Bay of Bengal. Unable to reach the northern > >part of the river due to Chinese intransigence, Mark Shand nonetheless set > >out to attempt what no foreigner had ever done: complete the huge journey > >from the unexplored jungles of the Indo-Tibet border to the largest river > >delta in the world. "River Dog" is a chronicle of that journey, a story > >encompassing sublime landscapes - in Assam where the River begins to > >broaden into its full majesty - and rather odd encounters - including a > >bizarre group of identical-looking gay monks in Majuli (the largest river > >island in the world). But it is also a celebration - of a river that flows > >with mystery and legend, the m! en who have set out to discover it and a > >rather charming canine travelling companion called Bhaiti. > > <http://g.msn.com/8HMBENUS/2737??PS=>Instant message with integrated > >webcam using MSN Messenger 6.0. Try it now FREE > >_______________________________________________ > >Assam mailing list > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam > > > > _______________________________________________ > Assam mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam > _______________________________________________ Assam mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam
