what is the matrix?

we, ankurbhaiya and me, leave on a bus to bangalore in a few hours. we're not supposed to go to kannavu, a beautiful adivasi school/home/community/experiment in wayanad (in the north of godsowncountry kerala, which is in the south west of mangolandia, which in the matrix translates as india) on the way to bangalore because people (many many members of my very loving but socially very different-from-me) are uncomfortable about us travelling, what with one of us being a girl and the other being a boy, and not being blood related to each other. at some point i shall have to find a way to explain how there is no spoon (you think that's blood that's running through your veins?) and if there were a spoon, my brother (for those of you in the last version of the matrix without gmail formatting, brother is bold and italicized) ankur and i would share it and the world would still Be just as pure.

some brief notes on dealing with a) entering the matrix b) travelling and dealing with the mangolandians, specifically those located in godsowncountry.

a)
* upon entering the stall in the internet "cafe" (so named, though pernod and revolution may not be found) establish your space. take the keyboard down from the totally unergonomic drawer and place it on your lap, with the chair facing the monitor that you have turned towards you. sit on your bottom, not on the bottom of your spine. hold your neck straight, shoulders relaxed, arms loose and out, remember to breath, get up and stretch every 15 minutes, and get the hell out of there after an hour, preferably half.
* leave at least a few days between every time you plug in. don't give in to the illusion that just today checking email is just totally necessary. tomorrow will always be today. the matrix will wait. your freedom will not.

b)
* be aware of the balance between dressing as yourself, and dressing to avoid envy/threat/provocativeness/disrespect. learn to wear your body and clothes with no fear and no shame.
* don't take a dish with your right hand after you've started eating.
* eat with, only with, your right hand.
* these people talk a hell of a lot. don't get trapped. learn that you need not reply to everything everyone says. they say a lot. don't
* learn to never hear "i don't know".
* learn to always be told that you don't know, don't know anything about anything.
* travel at sunrise or sunset every now and then. sit on the appropriate side. remember that the sun that dips or rises is the same sun that dips or rises on everyone and everything you love around the world.

they've cut the hard line. time to go.

go and live out what you have learned on the other side of silence.