La Habana, Cuba.. The Moveable Feast

WHAT 3 EUROS WOULD BUY YOU AT THE FRUIT AND VEGETABLE MARKET IN CUBA 09 NOVEMBER 2010

Three large avacados, two Kg of Bananas, two kilograms of Guava, half a Papaya, a bag of Okra, a large slice of Pumpkin, a bar of Cuban peanut turron…

Lunch was this:

Le Roux chocolates in between for a visiting friend celebrating the birthday. Dinner was prepared by a friend with whom I recently had a Lebanese lunch at Samaya near Tour Eiffel in Paris.

La Havana where once food was somewhat difficult to procure, is becoming like other cities with dinner parties with abundance and that adds to the already available warmth of friendships.

Still, it was too much food for one day!

There was a time when It was absolutely difficult to buy wine in La Habana. Yesterday I went to the Wine and Liquor store at Hotel Habana LIbre (the old Havana Hilton) and spent a little time looking through their selection. Obviously the wines were not selected for their quality but for their availability through the distributors. Most of the wines were in the $10 range but you had to spend a little bit more to get a good drop. Was happy to see a bottle or two from Australia as well.

As always good conversation, touching on a variety of subjects. I was glad Baracoa was featured in them, a newly found love for our hostess.

We have a very loyal friend here, who at a moment’s notice will come and give you a lift. As the night was brisk and getting on its age, we called him and he was there within minutes to give us lift home.

All in all, a very affectionate day. Still unable to get hold of or talk to all the people I wish to talk to. I expect to devote the remaining few days here to do the work I came to do. Not making any plans for any dinners but just time for reading and writing.

Welcome to Havana, the moveable feast of the Americas!

Yoga in Cuba

Meeting with a Remakable Yogi in Havana, Cuba

A line from Pablo Neruda’s poem always sticks in my mind when I am in La Habana, Cuba. In it the poet points out to the tenacity of the growth of a vine in the midst of destruction of the wall from which it sprung. To see the beauty of such perseverance in front of such difficulties of growth, and I always feel good reading that line.

In Cuba, I am given the chance to enjoy such beauty in many of the unexpected encounters. When I arrive in Havana, my agenda is open since I know that many unexpected pleasures await me, usually in the form of persons who are connected to the same universe that I am connected to, even though my Passport has a different colour.

That line from the poet reminds me that in Havana, there exists a humanity which like a vapour is present but evades vision and inspection but requires much deeper involvement.

Yoga was introduced to Cuba, soon after the independence of Cuba at Santiago de Cuba where there is a suburb named after the Yoga centre which used to exist there. There is branch of the Theosophical Society and Self Realization Society as well as a branch of the Yogananda Society.

Unlike the recent increase worldwide in Yoga, Cuba had maintained an interest in Yoga and once again that interest existed almost in a subterranean sense, you really had to search for it. Currently there are at least three places to learn Yoga in Cuba and the most popular (currently with 108 students) and the longstanding one is the one run by Maestro Eduardo Pimental.

A practitioner for more than 40 years, MEP, has had the chance to visit India twice and take a teachers training course at the oldest Yoga Institute in India at Santa Cruz, Bombay, he had chances to visit various Ashrams and Sivananda Swamis disciples and the places of Yoga therapy throughout India. He had received intense training in various forms of Yoga: Iyeangar for example but it is Hatha Yoga that he prefers and practises.

How I met MEP is itself is rather curious. I am reminded what my Meskwaki teacher once told me: Stop looking for people, those who you need to meet will come your way. Without doubt, Maestro Eduardo Pimental is among them.

My colleague at the University of Havana, with whom I have long standing collaborative efforts in the field of Medical Anthropology was waiting for me at the front of the building that houses the dept of Philosophy the other day. The first thing I noticed about her was that her face had a rejuvenated look as if one had gone to a Spa or to a Cosmetic Surgeon in Rio de Janeiro (both of which is beyond conception in Cuba). I kept on asking her, tell me what has happened in your life, your face tells me a story. After a little hesitation, she said, I have been attending Yoga classes for the last two months. She mentioned the name of Maestro, and I immediately recognized the name as his name is prominently displayed in the website of Embassy of India in Cuba. I wanted to meet him and sent my card with my colleague to present to him on her next visit. He was very interested after seeing that I was an Anthropologist since he had longed for a long time to learn the tools of anthropology which would help him understand the society a little bit more and of course help him put Yoga in context of the society. As Merleau-Ponty had put it: without context things have no meaning.

I called him and accorded him the respect of a person well travelled and who had dedicated his life to the service of Yoga and humanity. Our conversation over the telephone went off on a good note and we had a good conversation and made plans to visit the next day.

I had already a copy of his book Prana, Mantra and Kundalini Yoga published in 2009. Before I left to see him at his home, I was looking through his Yoga experiences and was quite impressed with the range of them: From Rodney Yee in California to Sivananda Ashram in Pune and Ramakrishna Mission. Thus prepared well to meet this person already a remarkable Cuban in my esteem, we knocked at the door of his house and a man with wavy white hair with a joyous face opened and smiled with a perfect welcome.

For the next hour and half we talked about a variety of subjects which spanned the globe and themes were all universal in nature. His genuine nature let alone his expertise in Yoga was evident and in fact was radiant in his joyous face. He is a walking testament to the goodness of Yoga.

He has finished the manuscript of his book on the Matrix of Yoga brining in Baghvad Gita as well as writing an extensive history of Yoga in Cuba. I hope to read it when it is published.

His erudition shows in the book of his I have with me. This book is not a cook book on Asanas or glossy interpretation, usually superficial, of the new age gurus that are are sprouting like Experts in Diabetes all over the world.. (mm ..nice to call the charlatans of the world of Diabetes as the glossy superficial new age interpretors of an ancient disease! That thought just occurred to me as I was writing this). The book is not an easy read and needs your concentration as he was correlating the science of the likes of Einstein with pronouncements in Rig Veda about the unity of creation and energy that exists in the universe as the result of the Big Bang of creation.

I was genuinely happy to have this friendship. He attests to the fact that there are remarkable people all over the world. I was reminded of what Rabindranath Tagore once said: What a Blessing to have been born in this land!

What a blessing is Cuba for me, how much good wishes go with me, to fuel my desires for the people I am able to assist, whether in Malaysia or Vietnam or among the Indigenous peoples of the world. Thank you Maestro EP, for transmitting such a fire to me. I am grateful that there are people like you in this world..

Contact information for Hatha Yoga in Havana

Telephone: 53 7 8709237

Email: epvyoga@infomed.sld.cu

www.geocities.com/cubayoga

Bienvenidos a Cuba Welcome to Cuba...La Calor Humana

Bienvenidos a Cuba

Cuban Hospitality and Cuban sense of Social Responsibility

Exactly one month ago, the curator of the National Museum was in Paris and I was proud to show her around the Quai Branley Museum of Anthropology in Paris. She spoke fluent French and was more at home in Paris than I was, remembering every street and metro station from the days when she studied Museology at Louvre. We had a lovely lunch at Samiya Lebanese resto when her daughter joined us.

She had sent a very large bottle of rum and a Litre Cola, so that my days in Cuba can be slowly begin in the mellow mood. Soon she herself appeared in person and I began to realize that friendships have a depth which is not found in many countries.

Social Responsibility is not a Gift..

I had no more than about 24 hours in Miami on my way from Paris to Havana. I received an email:

A mutual friend, a professor of medicine, had taken ill with cancer and needs nutritional supplements, which are not easily available in Cuba. Could you see what is good and try to bring it with you?

At the same time a little incense also please..

The Cuban incense is the fragrance of percolating Coffee .. but it is good to have a variety..

My sister and I set out to buy these things. At Serrano’s a Cuban American supermarket, I did not hide the fact that I was looking for things for Cuba, and a passerby overheard me and remarked, They have nothing there.. I briskly turned around and said, I don't believe what you say, and I have been back to the island much more recently than you. The remark attracted the attention of some shoppers. Miami and the Cuban economic refugees there thrive on the hatred they have created for their land of birth and to maintain that hatred they create scenarios which suits them and there is a symphonic following to their pronouncements, either on radio or in common discourse.

Questions asked frequently in Miami.

Are you not scared to go to Havana?

I have stock answers: I rather go to Havana than Overtown, a neighbourhood avoided by these very same virtous people. When was the last time you went to Overtown?

They have nothing to eat there?

I would say: there are no homeless people either, by the way no drive by shooting either.

People who look at the world from the limited perspective of their own hatred will see hatred everywhere. Cubans harbour no animosity towards Americans and in fact most of the island Cubans are smart enough to understand that it is the Cuban economic refugees in Miami who are brain washed.

My own feeling is that when the situation normalizes, whenever that may be, between these two neighbours, the boiling anger in the minds of so many of the Cuban migrants to Miami would require an army of psychologists to heal.

In the end we manage to locate at Costco:

6 lb bag of Protein which the doctor could make into drinks twice a day for nearly two months.

Multivitamins, Calcium with Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Chondroitin Sulfare, Vitamin D

Because of the added weight of these, I had to take out some of the gifts I was bringing for my friends.

But I felt genuinely good about being able to do that, I never realized how much it would be appreciated in Cuba. Bringing something special like this nutritional supplement or the best chocolate from Le Roux in Quiberon, symbolically has an effect of healing as well as cementing further these good friendships.

In her email my friend wrote to me, please try to bring the nutritional supplement, I will pay you back when you get here.

Here is one point I wish to make. I am sick and tired of hearing, Cubans make so little money every month, and they convert it into Dollars … and of course it looks pitiable.

But what you do with that money?

Are you willing to do, donate that money, hard earned for the welfare of another?

This is comparable to someone who makes $1000 a month wanting to help a colleague with a medication that is worth $1000 or an office worker in Europe giving the entire months salary so that one of their colleagues can get nourishment.

As Dalai Lama has said, it is what you do for others that brings happiness to you. I am never impressed with the rags to riches stories of the western world but I am very impressed when they donate that money hard earned to good causes.

Cubans in the Island do that all the time, believe you me. Ask the 10 medical students from Solomon Islands studying Medicine free of charge in Cuba, they are among the 18 000 students studying Medicine free of charge in Cuba..

Let me see if any of the Economic Migrants to Miami can top that? Whenever you hear the name of Alvarez or Fernandez or Dominguez in Miami it is always in relation to the money embezzled from the Government. It is well known that nearly 50 % of the Medicare Fraud with regard to Type 2 Diabetes in Miami is carried out by these Economic Migrants from Cuba

There are Seven Direct Flights a Day Miami to Havana

The Ambassdor from Egypt and an Upgrade to First Class

Journeys to Cuba almost border on the surrealistic. The flight was supposed to leave Miami for Havana at 0300 pm and it said on the ticket, one has to present at the counter at 1100 am.. crazy.. but inexperienced travelers might do that. I arrived there at 1 pm, to find that the line at check in was still very long that I can expect 90 minute wait. Psychologically I had prepared for all delays for this short flight that separates two countries and most importantly two psychologies as different Pluto is to Mars…

First check in is to check your documents. Obviously there is a relaxation of the restrictions. The man behind the counter looked my passport and casually asked, you have the licence, right? I was a little surprised and responded, no I am an Academic . the answer was, that is enough. No further check. And back to the last of the line.

Fortunately the gentleman who actually weights the luggage, since the charter company makes a lot of money on the weight of the luggage. No Cuban will go home with just 44 pounds of free luggage and shell out hundreds of dollars to take extra goods for friends and relatives and wait patiently at both ends to reach the arms of their waiting friends. He saw me and motioned to me, putting up just a finger , meaning do you have only one piece of luggage. It is so very important to know the tricks of this direct flight to Cuba which is forbidden to all Americans who are not Cuban amercans…

My friend motioned me to come forward to the front of the line a full 90 minutes away. There were protests from those who were standing in line.

So he announces in a loud voice, This gentleman is the Ambassador from Egypt to Cuba, and quickly checked me in and passed me over to the lady sitting next to him who was assigning seats.

I had replied to this compliment by saying, yes ambassador plenipotentiary.. The lady next door might have heard it and not understood the joke of it, in any case, when I was handed the boarding pass, she had put me in seat 1B, which happens to be one of the eight first class seats in this aircraft, with the greatest advantage of no one sitting next to you and also no one with their heavy handbags nudging against your stomach. I noticed that three other seats were occupied by a diplomatic type (the real ones) from Brasil.

Welcome to Cairo

I said as I was leaving the ABC charters check in area..

I was thinking not of Mubarak but of the greatest jewish philosopher doctor, Maimonides who made El Kahira his home in the 13^th century.

La Habana, Cuba... Coincidences are not Casual

Casualidad es no tan Casual

It is just you are not intelligent enough to understand it, said my Meskwaki teacher..

We tend to believe that things happen in a random fashion and when it does happen, we exclaim

Oh My What a chance in a million! It is such a coincidence.

I don't believe in coincidences and these million to one things happens too often in my life to be a coincidence.

On my first morning of returning to Cuba, my colleague from the Department of Philosophy called me to say, she will be free after her classes at 10 30 am and we could have our reunion there in front of the faculty where trees offer a fine shade and a nice ambience of academia.

By the way, there is a student in my class who wish to meet you. When the course began I was explaining about Anthropology and Medicine, actually the course was one of Philosophy. After the class the student came over to say, Profesora, how did it happen, this knowledge about anthropological influences in Medicine in Cuba? The professor being a very good friend of mine, told her the story how she and I began the first ever course in Medical Anthropology more than ten years ago and has had various classes and students interested in the subject. In fact we can think of few of the alumni, doing anthropological work in Bolivia, Spain and Argentina.

After listening to her carefully, the student asked, is there a chance for me to meet this doctor anthropologist?

He would be here any day now, and I am sure he would love to talk to you.

Today was that day. Just as they were waiting, the student asked: Has this professor been to Cuba before. My friend let out a little laugh, Oh, he used to live in Baracoa for many years.

This surprised the student who gasped, My family is also from Baracoa.

So we already had a common ground when we met under the trees in front of the Museo Montane at the central part of University of Havana.

I said to her, tell me what is worrying you and how can we be of help. This after, giving a little bit of discussion on what I have learned more about the Symbolism of Healing with my professor friend.

I have a friend, who is very depressed with the thoughts of her illness. She was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease less than two years ago. Now she feels that she is doomed and thinking about death.

A shiver ran through me.

What is the chance of a visiting Professor at the University in the Department of Philosophy, knowing some thing about the illness of a close friend of yours who lives in an altogether different province at the end of Cuba.

Is her name G? I asked her. Her father is W. I know them when the student now her eyes filled with tears nodded.

I thanked the Spirits for brining this young student on to my path. I would get to see my friend W and his daughter and once again offer counsel and help them not only from the point of view of medicine but more importantly to get the girl out of the dark thoughts she is having. I even thought I will bring my sister who has survived from three different cancers into the picture.

All the three of us sat there overcoming emotions, then I said, I no longer believe that this is a coincidence, but I do believe that I am in places I need to be in.

Reminded me of my Meskwaki teacher, she once said to me: Stop looking for friends, those who you need to meet would come along your way.

We may call this by whatever name, but I know that it is the harmony of ones living that brings the stars in alignment to such encounters which brighten up the lives. Try to live in harmony, the American Indians have told me, don't immerse yourself into work but work efficiently and be a contributing citizen, 25 % of your life and the other 75% of your time should be divided between, not in particular order but more or less in similar proportions: Family and the people you belong to; the Social Responsibility and Spiritual life.

This has nothing to do with religion but a harmony with nature. Social Responsibility which I learned as a concept from Native Indians, I have seen it in action only among themselves in their Reservations and with the Cubans who live in the island of Cuba.

I feel it is fulfillment of this social responsibility that brings encounters like this onto your way. Also Native Indians reminded me once, you are enjoying the fruits of the social consciouness of your father, who fought all his life for the betternment of the poor people.

As the poet Neruda had written

So much happens in the course of the day..

Welcome Abstinence from Internet ....CUBA mi isla Rica

I am going into Exile, to use the abused word in MIami among Cuban Immigrants, most of whom since about 1962 have been economic migrants, from Internet. An extremely welcome relief when you dont have to check your email or just browse or read newspapers from around the globe.
A good friend of mine from USA once said to me: Cuba is the only country I feel totally free. He meant to say that he is free of things that he feels chains him down physically, emotionally and intellectually, one such thing was the inbred dislike of African Americans from his Southern Childhood.
My Life in Cuba has always been a wonderful respite from the outside world which I interact on more than usual frequency. Even before the end of the year, just seven weeks away, I have one trans atlantic and one trans pacific flight left, making it about 15 long haul flights for the year. So being in Cuba, where there is no urge to log on to Internet (for more than one reason, one of which is the cost, about 10 centimes a minute) but instead of sitting down in front of the computer (my laptop would be with me) I would be exploring once again my neighbourhood of Vedado, observing every day life which is etched in my mind: the bakery, neighbours playing Domino, the little fruit market, the imposing american embassy with a chain of guards, the malecon with amorous couples, take photographs of architectural gems, talk to anyone and every one, say hello to old and new friends and most important talk late into the nights: no computer, no internet, no television, no cellular phone (my France based phone works in Cuba, that will be switched off). It is the kind of vacation that i like: intellectually very active but not tethered to the chains of modern slavery. As there is no McDo in Cuba, there is no twitter or facebook either...
I am always richer by this contact, with my precious island of Cuba, where unexpected pleasures always await you, which gives you back in multiples of what you give to it...
Bienvenidos a mi isla Rica....

Where is Quiberon? Kiberen?

Yet another Journey is about to begin: this one a very pleasant one to look forward to, to two places that I love, one day in Miami which would include a dinner (with champagne of course) at Lan Pan Asian Resto in Kendall with my sister and her husband and then the direct short flight to La Habana where one can expect unexpected pleasures!
when does work stop and holidays begin? I have no idea .. but there is one place, I do feel that I am on a vacation, because there is no connection Anthropologically or Medically to this place.. It is the seaside village of Kiberen, frenchified to Quiberon in Brittany, an island in prehistoric times now joined by a sliver of a land bridge to the mainland Morbihan.
I spent this past week there. The weather is always warmer and on the 1st of November it was 26 C, something unheard of in similar latitudes of France!
There is a relaxed atmosphere, the wild sea doing its best to calm you. The outline of Belle Isle is on the horizon to remind you day and with it lights at night... fresh seafood that melts in your mouth, no commercialization of food, not yet anyway. Good Quality Air, Good Quality Food..
There is a Thalasso which done for a few days in a row (a bit expensive even by French Standards) has therapeutic effects on your body.
It was wonderful to sit in the heated sea water jacuzzi and watching the waves just meters away.
Today, in Paris, I am packing with La Habana in mind. I have received such affectionate letters of welcome from my colleagues .(others would easily mistake these letters for love letters because Cubans are extremely affectionate, more than any one I know).
I am happy because I am going home..
Long Chats with my colleagues from the University, both Anthropology of Every Day Life and Psychology of Diabetes.. Cafe Cafe Cafe..
and I am looking forward to a home cooked Fish Dinner..
I am taking a box of Le Roux Chocolates from Quiberon..to say thanks to my friends who would fill my heart for the next few days and make me forget about everything else in the world.. not quite everything but almost everything except a couple of people in Paris and KL...