The Adventures of Bindi Girl: (2012)
Read The Adventures of Bindi Girl: (2012) Online
Authors: Erin Reese
The Adventures of Bindi Girl
Diving Deep Into the Heart of India
Erin Reese
Copyright ©Erin Reese, 2012
Published by
TRAVEL AND SOUL MEDIA
www.travelandsoulmedia.com
ISBN: 978-0-615-54766-4
Design by Red Letter Day Graphic Design (New York, NY)
Front cover photo of Bindi Girl at
Burning Man by Mona
Back cover photo of Bindi Girl on
The Andaman Islands by Jan Turnovec
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system without written permission from the author or
her agents, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
“Lovely, lyrical, gentle, and informative. It made my world bigger.”
~ James Fadiman, author of
The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide
and editor of
Essential Sufism
“Erin goes places, physically and metaphorically, few travelers dare to go. Her stories amuse, outrage, inspire and provoke. This isn’t the tale of someone who received a book advance jetting off business class for a few weeks in an ashram. This is third class train, steerage class ship, with a dash of indulgence thrown in. Erin is a gifted, special writer, and she’s the real deal as a traveler.”
~ Lynn Bra
z,
editor and travel writer
featured in
The Dallas Morning News
“It’s like
Eat, Pray, Love
— with teeth.”
~ Jessica Shepherd, author of
A Love Alchemist’s Notebook
“Reese reports on an India few outsiders get to witness — not the Goa parties or tourist sites or political turmoil, no. Instead she dives into the throbbing spiritual centre of India and tries to place her California soul amongst the gurus, mystics and visionaries that remain a constant of Indian religion. Yet Reese is no New Age tourist full of cosmic waffle. Her writing is both beautifully descriptive and very funny. She captures the sweaty heat of India, its madness and charm. Her own spiritual quest mixes with her lusts and frustrations to create a new kind of travel writing. If I ever return to India it will be with Bindi Girl as my guide.”
~ Garth Cartwright,
author of
Princes Amongst Men: Journeys with Gypsy Musicians
and
More Miles than Money: Journeys through American Music
Praise for The Adventures of Bindi Girl
“Erin Reese ‘gets’ the spirit of India. In reading her adventures, I could almost hear the crowds and smell the curry. But more than that, I felt blessed by the soulfulness of half-a-dozen millennia. Erin was born to be in India — and to write this book.”
~ Victoria Moran, author of
Creating a Charmed Life
and
Shelter for the Spirit
“Respectfully, if you want a real tale of travels in India, forget
Eat, Pray, Love
.
The Adventures of Bindi Girl
is the real thing. Reese’s nitty-gritty India travelogue shows an intense, all-or-nothing commitment to a lifelong spiritual path. At times tempting the reader to dive into Ma India for oneself, at times letting us live vicariously through the filth while keeping our own paws clean, this memoir shows vulnerability, respect, and gumption. Erin travels with a sense of humor and a sense of metaphor. And a sense that there is deep mystery ‘neath the maya, the illusion of this material world. A must-read for any would-be traveler. ‘Jai Ma!’”
~
Alicia Dattner
,
comedian,
Eat, Pray, Laugh!
“‘Milk-coming-out-of-your-nose’ hilarious at times, and heartrending naked revelation at others, Reese takes us along on her unsentimental spiritual journey through India as she fearlessly follows her heart through worlds few travelers experience. Bindi Girl is a must-read for anyone who yearns to travel within and without, and who is not afraid to be transformed in the process.”
~
Pamela Lund, author of
Massively Networked
This book is dedicated to
the indomitable spirit in all of us.
For their love and assistance in supporting my work and vision, I would like to acknowledge the following remarkable beings:
Words cannot express enough gratitude to the brilliant Sharon Schanzer of Red Letter Day Graphic Design. Without Sharon’s talent and persistence, it is doubtful Bindi Girl would have been birthed into such a beautiful physical incarnation!
Next, I thank the readers of the original Bindi Girl blog (2002-2010) for their enthusiastic response to the travel tales that made up this book. Additionally, I wish to honor Jan Turnovec, travel partner in time, for showing up right on cue for his costarring role.
And then, teammates, helpers, and cheerleaders who contributed to this project over the years: Wendie Pecharsky, Pamela Lund, Tina Marie, Becca Costello, Emma Nirmala Batchelor, Malin Wallen, Jessica and John Shepherd, Moldover, Jill Merzon, Lynn Braz, Susan Arthur, Bo Lee, Jim Kelly, Gregg Butensky, Garth Cartwright, Chhi’méd Drölma, Gigi Hindin, Jennifer Richards, Amy Taylor Chetcuti, Carolina Brown, Vanessa Spear, Robyn Miller, Steve Henderson, Suzanne Aveihle, Denise Pulver and family, and the Reese family.
A thousand and eight pranams to my teacher, Ramesh Balsekar, for
Everything and Nothing. And to all those I’ve unintentionally omitted and those who have helped me anonymously, thank you.
And finally, I bow my head in gratitude to Mother India, for without Her incomparable mystique there would be no Bindi to shine.
Map of India
Hi. This is Bindi Girl.
I first appeared on the scene ten years ago when I spotted my scribe in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. During the entire week of the Burning Man art festival, the writer Erin Reese had been plastering bindis—those glittery, self-adhesive jewels used to adorn one’s third eye—on anyone who crossed her path. Never before had she enjoyed such spontaneous joy in the surprise of strangers!
Wearing some garish get-up and a big grin, Erin would tromp across the dusty desert and stick a bindi right smack-dab in the center of some unsuspecting reveler’s forehead. “Now your third eye is even
more
open!” she’d proclaim.
“W-o-o-o-o-w!”
they’d swoon, encouraging her to continue opening minds and hearts with her portable, personal mark of mysticism and fun—the simple, sparkly bindi.
When the week of bindi-fying Burning Man participants came to an end, one particular well-wisher crawled out of the dust to find her. She’d only met him for a few minutes while she was making bindi rounds, but apparently, she’d made quite an impression on this chap from Louisiana. He spotted her in the exit gate RV queue, bidding the desert adieu. He leaped out of his Winnebago and bolted after her.
She heard his shouts before she saw him—like a far-off call of the desert wild wind: “Bindi Girl! HEY, BINDI GIRL!”
Oh my God. I think that man... Yes, he means…ME!
She flung open the motor home hatch to speak to him as he shuffled alongside the slow-crawling RV.
“Hi there, Bindi Girl!” he drawled, dangling off the doorstep as the vehicle trawled along. The charming blue-eyed stranger with long blond ponytail had a N’awlins twang as thick as Mississippi mud. “Can I get your email, Bindi Girl?”
This wild-eyed Southern boy had sussed out Bindi’s true identity! With sparkles in her own eyes, she beamed back at him. It was the first time she had been recognized—and, appropriately named.
And that, my friends, is the origin of Bindi Girl, fearless alter ego and spunky
nom de plume
of intrepid traveler Erin Reese, who will now take us by the hand into a far-off land, diving deep into the heart of India!
Maiden Voyage
Erin’s Story
I needed life to STOP, so I could get off the speeding train in hot pursuit of the American Dream before it turned into an American Death.
Hitting the age of thirty, I found myself ensconced in a
grabby-greedy-gotta-have-it-all
cosmopolitan lifestyle in San Francisco—and quickly burning out from trying to keep up with the role I’d been playing, but clearly wasn’t for me. Sure, I’d accomplished more than I’d ever imagined: a successful six-figure career, a vibrant and superbly busy social life, all bills paid off, and a beautiful flat with a cityscape view and a rooftop garden terrace, and, and…