Fiddling with Endorphin Levels

This place was supposed to be a succor for me. I spent the last year roving the different lands of Asia, absorbing as much as I could. HK was supposed to be my last stop, where I was supposed to kick-start my career. Each of the nine days I spent in HK was a day of agony, dejection and disappointment. The claustrophobic cityscape and its extreme money-minded pace of life appeared to be an antithesis of Taiwan - a tiny island with warm welcoming people who had not yet been gutted emotionless by consumerism. I came here again. And then again.

Throughout my travels I kept going through phases where I had to struggle to keep my endorphin levels from falling down. Something would happen every few weeks - a dull morning, an irrational fear of something unknown after a long siesta or just a phase of unsolicited partial anhedonia. I noticed people, and I noticed it was relatively easier for them to be happy.

I am certain of two things that I affect my endorphins boots - a) I am not meant to be doing nothing when alone. Every second I spend on my own relaxing or doing nothing depresses me.
b) Being in motion calms my nerves. Anything from a random midnight saunter to a quick jaunt in a train calms me down. There's something soothing in the state of dynamism, and in the cradling action that galvanizes certain parts of the brain into action.

The only thing that constantly kept making me happy was intense physical activity. After a hiatus of more than seven months, I began programming again. I had not imaged, but I did get a kick out of it. Writing, watching favorite snippets of movies and other similar actions also temporarily gave a rush.

Then I noticed one more thing about people. They thought about other people a lot, very often actually. Most people had fond memories of others they were attached to via companionship or blood kinship. This emotional intimacy certain did trigger a rush of endorphins.

People thought about other people. People thought about things. I just thought about things in my life. Wherever I went, I talked to people, made acquaintances, had interesting conversations once in a while and left the place. Having spent more than four months here in Taiwan, I ended up knowing a lot of people. Maybe it's my blunted affect that disallowed me to form close relationships with anyone.

I am nowhere close to an unsocial droid scuffing away from the society. I love the outdoors. I love the buzz and the bustle of people, which is why I love this place. I program in cafes, student halls or other public places. The loud chatter and white noise I hear when sitting in a pub soothes me. But at the end of the day, all I am left with to occupy my mind is inanimate things.

I notice when people are down or sad or scared, they think of other people. They ring someone up. They talk.
When I am down or sad or scared, I think of things to do. I go running. I make myself so tired that I lose the ability to think.

The gush of endorphins after a long run or an acute physical exertion takes over all other positive or negative feelings. I feel happy. Relaxed. Tired. I go to sleep.

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An Italian's attempt for Sapara Pokhara in Nepal

It was another of those gilded winter evenings. A bunch of people, mostly Europeans, snuggled onto a pile of cushions in a sheltered nook of a lakeside restaurant in Pokhara. Puffs of smoke and thumps of percussion filled the air. I saw them as I passed by the place walking along the lake.

On my way back I saw one of the them searching for something in the muck that lined the edge of the lake. She was actually picking plastic bags and other toxic stuff out of the mucky bank. Dressed in a hippie outfit, her body adorned with piercings and a prominent tattoo, she carried on unfazed by the stares of people around. She was Belgian. I lent her a helping hand. With a broad smile, she gave me a large empty plastic bag to collect the trash in.

I steered away from the northern end of the lake where she was, and discovered a few more tourists dirtying themselves in a bid to clean the lake. Apparently they all knew each other. A guy approached me, thanked me for the help and said, "You should get some more Nepali friends of yours." He was Italian.
"I am not Nepali, I am from India", I said.
"Can you speak Nepali?"
"No, but everyone here can speak and understand Hindi.", I said pointing at a big crowd of locals watching in curiosity.

All attempts to make the by-standers join us failed miserably. A little kid who knew me asked me,"आपको सफाई का पैसा मिल रहा है क्या ?" ("Are you being paid for cleaning the place?"). Most people took a defensive stance, claiming they never threw trash into the lake. But no one joined.

The Italian guy was the mastermind behind the act. Back in Italy he taught environmental sciences as a profession.
"We will clean the lake, buy some dustbins and put them all along the lakeside. I plan to visit the municipality and talk to them. We can print 'Sapara Pokhara' (clean Pokhara) everywhere. Can you come with us and talk with the people in municipality?", he said in a distinctive Italian accent.
"Sure, but let's do it this week. I am going back to India the next week."

He gathered a big crowd and began talking to them, trying to explain how important it was to keep the lake clean and the environment healthy. As corny as it may sound, most people got defensive and began explaining themselves.

A week later, on my way to Sunauli in India I saw him in the bus again. He had probably given up on the people of Pokhara. I lost him at the border but ran into him again in Gorakhpur after a couple of hours. He was haggling with a ticket agent over a ticket to Varanasi. His notion of Varanasi was a haven of spirituality, religious piety and peace.

He left for Varanasi that night. Phewa Lake in Pokhara is A LOT cleaner than the holy river Ganges in Varanasi. I wonder how he reacted to the ground reality of the holy town and its holier river.

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我眼中的反服貿運動 - Taiwan Sunflower Movement: A Unique Spectacle

這篇文章不討論政府的條約。這就是我眼中的被學生主辦抗議簡述。身為一個外國人我得分享這件事。

This post isn't about the contentious pact between Taiwan and China. It's rather parochial in outlook - it focuses mainly on how the students pulled off a strike that left me impressed. 

If you don't know what I am talking about, read this. 

The strike was primarily organized by students coming from various universities across the country. Marked by elements of ingenuity, technical innovation and efficiency, it was the most evolved form of strike I have ever seen or heard of.

Makeshift tents and the protesters 

OB Vans and makeshift tents lined up 青島東路 (Qingdao East Rd). Bootstrapped stalls holding items of daily use arrayed after the OB vans. The area occupied for the protests ended with a row of portable toilets. All of this was interjected with posters, novelties and knickknacks defending democracy and ridiculing Taiwan's president Ma Jeou.

Inside the gates of Legislative Yuan (LY) was a makeshift tent with medical assistance for the needy. For sake of solidarity, passers-by were requested not to take pics of the place. There was another stall on 濟南路一段 (Jinan Rd) offering counselling and other services to those in need of help with psychological problems. At the end was a stall being set up to provide information and services for getting to Taipei from other cities in the country.

On the left at the entrance of Qingdao East Rd was a stall where students could get help with their school assignments and homework. There was a board listing the subjects one could help with.

Top: Placards advertising the availability of free showers.
Center: 課輔教室 (Supplementary lesson teaching unit)
Bottom: Massage for the needy (not sure if it was free)

There were stages set up for people to give speeches and screens erected for projecting videos. Most of the space on the road was occupied by the protesters who peacefully kept on with their usual chores. The big screens often played a live telecast of the happenings inside Legislative Yuan (LY) using simple P2P mobile apps.

The content played on smaller screens was a miscellany of movies related to historic revolutions, short films expounding terms like democracy and freedom, documentaries on past cover-ups of government or on ancient heroes and so on.

At one of the intersections a stall was set up to charge cell phone batteries. A person who wanted to get his phone charged was given a token number to serve as a unique identity. Huddled in a corner was a bunch of routers. One of the students informed me that they had come from Japan as a token of appreciation after Taiwan offered them help when it was hit by Tsunami.

Top: A FarEastZone Vehicle with outfitted with
routers to make wifi available in the area.
Bottom: The tech team hidden in a nook. 

Free WiFi was available in the whole area. A tech based NGO volunteered to set up a network and take care of the wherewithal needed to establish and maintain proper communication with the people inside LY. The team was hidden from public view and the visitors were not allowed to visit the place. I kind of felt sorry for the programmers there for not getting the much needed social participation.

The protest was not getting the much needed exposure and in some cases was shown in a bad light. A group of protesters then came up with a website of their own - 4am.tw where they put forth their point of view replete with photos, videos and links to other articles.

Pylons and ribbons demarcated the area to be used by pedestrians. At the periphery of the protest area volunteers made sure that the traffic was diverted smoothly. The people liaised with a few hotels who offered free showers to the people staying there. The location was kept undisclosed to the public.

Top: Students protesting
Middle: Students hanging out
Bottom: Free coffee for everyone

Taiwanese people got a few things damn right - even in the wake of an extreme situation like this they were sensible enough not to suspend the basic attributes of safety and cleanliness. And they were smart enough to implement things in an efficient manner. Every small piece of litter was disposed of. The whole area remained packed with people all the time. In spite of the overwhelming crowd there was absolute lack of dirtiness and bedlam. 

Trash cans for each type of garbage.
Cleanliness was one thing NOT ignored during the whole protest

The whole area was abuzz with various kinds of activities and had buoyancy similar to that of a fest. People unleashed their creativity on posters, tee-shirts, banners, little crafts and simple contraptions. 

Jinan Rd primarily served stage-shows, live performances and other art related events in the backdrop of the protest. There were coffee stalls serving free coffee. This road had a lesser footfall than Qingdao East Rd.


I can go on describing the multitude of activities that went on there and how well the whole thing was organized. As much as I was supporting their cause, I also had my own set of reasons to spend most of my time there. The place had a lot of things that kept me ticking - constant buzz, a warm presence of people around, all the basic means to get by and a concourse indulging in expression of their selves in various forms. I loved talking to the people there, and they loved talking to me. My newfound room was dull and depressing. I haven't anyway ever spent a lot of time indoors.

Some of the posters
covering the walls

On my second last visit to the place I saw a woman sitting on a bootstrapped bedding with her son. While talking to me she told me she was a teacher in Taichung, and that she used to come every weekend to Taipei to support the students. Everyone in her school had been discouraged from supporting the protest but she had openly stepped forward and made her stance clear. I asked whether her little son knew about what was going on. She replied, "He knows. He is witnessing history."

That night I was happily given a plastic mattress and a thin blanket after I told them I wanted to sleep there. I found a spot near the entrance to Qingdao East Rd under a tree. There was a bunch of girls just down the footpath who had come from Kaosiung. The protesters tried to continue the activities throughout the night but in a much quieter way. There was a big screen playing some movie a few meters away from me. A few hours into the night the volume was turned down.

Top: People drying their clothes in the open.
Bottom: One of the makeshift shops having the wherewithal for overnight stays

I woke up at five in the morning. I wrapped my bedding and as I began to proceed to a counter to return it, a homeless woman came to me and asked me for the bedding.

A week later, the protest was called off. The event got floppy media coverage from international community but it was an unprecedented event in recent history of Taiwan. What puzzles and amazes me is that the people driving the protest had never seen any form of unrest in the country before. They haven't had any encounter with violence or chaos. Probably that's what gave this whole protest the much refreshing elements of technocratic supremacy and pacific execution.

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