Erstellt am: 29. 7. 2014 - 16:55 Uhr
Off the Beaten Path: Andaman Islands & Bangladesh
I should be more careful what I wish for.
Johnny Bliss, 2014
Owing to some personal loss in my life, I began the year with the sensation that a great deal of ... stuff, that I'd associated and identified with, no longer had anything to do with who I was, presently.
This led me to thinking that perhaps just everything I'd identified with as a person was equally illusory. Perhaps this notion of myself as a radio host, or as a journalist, or as a Canadian, or whatever, perhaps all of this was only real because I said it was. Perhaps the only thing you can really hold on, or attach yourself to, is the fact of yourself as a Person; everything else can be lost, and if you lose it, did you ever really have it?
I developed this mantra, this kind of death wish, to lose myself, and become free of every idea of identification that I'd carried around with me.
As I've said, I should be more careful what I wish for.
But, one thing at a time.
* - Well, you'll meet his voice, at least.
Johnny's Journeys, 2014:
To hear the program, tune in tonight (29/07) to FM4's Homebase Parade (7-10pm). Or listen to the programme after the show on fm4.ORF.at/7days.
Back in November 2013, blissfully unaware of my coming existential crisis, I went to a small party at a friend's house. My friend's name is Roman; you will meet him, if you listen to the program*.
Johnny Bliss, 2014
Travel is a topic we share; previously we went to Borneo together. Below is a picture he took of me during that trip. It was one of the best adventures I've ever had, and I've documented it in great detail.
Johnny Bliss, 2011
Well, anyway, late last year we were discussing whether or not to travel together again this February, this time in Bangladesh.
At first, I was waffling on the decision, maybe even leaning toward not going. He did his best to make the place sound absolutely amazing, describing the character of the people as genuine and warm in a way one scarcely encounters anywhere in the world.
And Bangladesh! Who goes to Bangladesh? What image do we have from this place, other than desolate poverty, sweat shops, and calamity? Other than grim snapshots from the news, I really had no idea what one might encounter in such a place - and, I suppose, for that reason, I was intrigued.
Johnny Bliss, 2014
*- The formal name given to the group of islands is "Andaman & Nicobar Islands", but outsiders are not allowed to visit the Nicobar Islands, so it seems disingenuous to bring them up here.
With the exception of a few northern islands, they are all formally a part of India.
Still, I was unsure. About then is when he started telling me about the Andaman Islands*, located in the middle of the Indian Ocean, over a thousand kilometres from mainland India, and hundreds of kilometres from Myanmar, Thailand, and Indonesia.
Owing to the lack of light pollution from any large neighbouring cities, he'd beheld the clearest, most visible and beautiful starry skies of his entire life, he told me, stretching all the way down to the distant horizon.
It gets more fascinating. The Andaman Islands are also host to a number of indigenous hunter and gatherer tribes, many of whom shun contact with the outside world, even today. Sadly, the modern world has encroached upon the land and livelihoods of all but a few of them; between epidemics, military action, and brazen land grabs, the indigenous populations in many cases have been reduced to near-extinction.
One day, ten years ago, Roman was on a bus driving on the so-called Andaman Trunk Road (which passes through Jarawa territory); looking out the window, he saw some naked men with bows and arrows step out of the jungle, and turn to watch the bus as it went by.
It was only a glimpse, a split-second as the bus sped by, but the image has remained with him, even all these years later.
Roman has a great way of putting images into your head, that haunt you in your day-to-day life and refuse to give you any peace. He'd done the same with Borneo years before, and there I'd eventually found myself tramping through the jungle and swatting away mosquitoes, as well.
Johnny Bliss, 2014
The Andamans are quite remote from any mainland, but all things considered, are not all that far from Bangladesh. By the time my friend had convinced me to join him for the one destination, I also knew I'd be quite disappointed if I didn't also take the time to discover the other one.
Keep in mind, this is before I even began to experience my existential crisis of 2014.
New Year's Eve 2013/2014
Everything's already gone to hell. I'm on a rain-drenched hill, surrounded by forest on one side and suburban Vienna on the other, clutching a nearly empty can of cold beer and gazing up at the city and the sky, the fireworks briefly lighting up a ceiling of gloomy grey clouds, before sharply descending again like so many little comets.
And then, for no particular reason, I glance up at the sky above me, and see amidst all the clouds, one single bright star, shining down at me.
I was overwhelmed with a sudden yearning to see that star again, but in a different context: surrounded by its brethren, and cast off from my own.
--
That was the moment where I decided I would really do it, and to hell with all the consequences. If nothing you identify with is real, then what do you have that you can possibly lose?
Familiarity. Comfort. Security that never was really there to begin with.
Some months later - and now I'm talking in the present, so end of July 2014 - I am struggling to pick up all the pieces of having successfully lost my idea of self (see the beginning of this story).
I've been to Bangladesh, India, and Iceland since then, and achieved the spiritual goal I'd set for myself, having been perhaps too short-sighted to see what it truly means for a person to not believe in all the convenient and happy lies that keep us going on a day-to-day basis.
Which is the long way of saying that I may be back in Vienna, but the journey I started at the end of last year is far from over.
Johnny Bliss, 2014
Johnny's Journals 2014
I've been keeping a journal. Sometimes with a pen and paper, but as often as not with merely my microphone in hand. Sometimes if I've been traveling with a person, their reflections also found the way into my audio diary; sometimes if I've met an interesting character along the way, their voice has also found its way in; and sometimes, the environment surrounding me itself has been the voice, and I just the listener.
I've brought together the best of these audio diaries, and converted them into the format of a special one-hour length program. You are welcome to listen to my reflections. Tune in tonight to FM4's Homebase Parade, from 7pm to 10pm; one of those hours will belong to my Journals program.
Or, if you miss the show, check out fm4.ORF.at/7days.