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Poetry Corner
Drifting from the pearl-gray sky,
It casts a calm over the earth’s soul.
All is serene; even the wind sighs quietly
through the trees.
Intense silence captures my senses and
sends them floating numbly on the air.
Dark limbs spread their crystal-coated
fingers to grasp the stillness;
While the snow glows with the coming
twilight and golden lights sparkle from afar.
Nothing stirs around me. As the gentle snow
touches my face, my heart feels at peace.
Ninette Humber
/ \ ‘ !
i
/
^avel
Even the Camera Fails
To Grasp India’s Essence
By MARC MULLINAX
Idle
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N t left you in the midst of luxury in the
®e of Kashmir, a state that is totally
^niike the rest of India. Kashmir is rich,
®untainous, Moslem, and a backpacker’s
l^tadise-. India is very poor, flat, Hindu,
safer to see in a bus.
jjo understand India, one has to under-
3bd Hinduism, the religion of 90 or
)l°te percent of the people. Many gods,
ji“bg with nature, are worshipped. Shiva,
t®9od of destruction, is the most impor-
god. Vishnu (perfection) and Brah-
(creation) are equally powerful but
popular. Reincarnation, the threat
) 3 bad future-life, affects the people
]®atly. Over80%of the people (600,000,
live in the 564,000 villages, making
(/■■Ural, superstitious life hard to change
modernize for the corrupt Indira
.^ndi. There are 15 national languages
50,000,000 don’t even speak one of
official languages, worsening
ij^berthe problem of emerging national-
that Ms. Ghandi wants. The villages
5I® at every intersection, mud huts
^biped together with the doorless door-
as the only source of light. Walls are
of interwoven bamboo, the com-
^bai toilet outside of "town” a few
away. Sacred cows wander every-
making traffic hazardous. The
occupation is farming, and the rice
r'ts are not far away. The average vil-
I® Population is from 50 to 100.
JbcJia is still officially under an emer-
bey status that is over a year old now.
j,^by threats to Indira’s oovernment are
' In jail awaiting trial or charging. A
j^bpaganda campaign bombards every-
by highway signs that stress obed-
j| b®’ very hard work, and piety to the
|u*®- My opinion is that most of the
l^l^®ants have not heard of Dehli, the capi-
Of Ghandi, or know where India is
L'be map. Nor do they desire to know.
°h’t blame them.
New and Old Dehli are as different as
two cities can be, yet they are side by
side. The new part was built in the 1920’s
and 30’s during British occupation and
the old still remains from the 1650’s.
New Dehli’s government buildings line
a street not unlike the Champs Elysees
in Paris. Homes for the government of
ficials are large, walled, and have pools
and tennis courts. But old Dehli is as
poverty-stricken as anywhere, even
more than the countryside. People still
live on the streets by the thousands;
sometimes the trees are used by those
with a better balance. Utterly unbeliev
able and depressing. Other large cities
possess the same story only with differ
ent surroundings.
The difference between the rich and
poor is so wide that if India were a west
ern country, rebellion by the poor would
have occurred years ago. Luckily for
Ms. Ghandi, the Hindu religion teaches
all to accept their “kharma” — their fate
in life — without question.
Like I have already said, the living stand
ard in the village is a bit higher because of
easily available food production. But
kids under the age of three and four are
naked from the waist down. But this is
not from a lack of clothing but from an
abundance of common sense. What
mother wants to spend all her time wash
ing a kid’s clothing who is not potty-
trained? The kids don’t mind their lack
of modesty and after a while, neither do
I. Like all fun-loving kids they get dirty,
but they are well fed.
Without a doubt the world’s best and
most prolific builder was Shah Jahan,
who ruled northwestern India in the mid
1600’s. In this area, his accomplishments
include all of Old Dehli, the largest mos
que in India, and several Red Forts with
square miles of palaces and temples in
side the 60 foot walls. But the work that
he is most known for is in Agra — the Taj
Mahal. Beyond space, time, and my
attempts of description, I can only de
scribe it as a supreme paradox — “The
immortal and exquisite fashioned by the
mere mortal and worthless.” Pictures
can’t adequately expose what is in Agra
town. I spent four mesmerizing hours in
its shadow, yet now I find it hard to
remember what I did or where the time
went that I spent there.
What Rome is to Catholicism and Mecca
to the Islamic world, Benaves is all this
and many times more to the Hindu world.
Many pilgrims spend their whole lives
in route to here, home of the Immortal
Mother Ganges river that flows out of
Shiva’s head in the Himalayan mountains.
Their aim is to find death here for to die
here and have your ashes spread into the
Ganges is to end the reincarnation cycle
and to enter the Void — to die the last
death of this hell on earth. This morning
found me at the river’s banks, or steps,
watching the meditating Brahmins, the
bathing Hindus, and last, but certainly
not least, the cremation and spreading of
ashes of those who have died their last
death. Benaves is a very reassuring
place to die if one is a Hindu. Right now
I am as clean as I shall ever get in the
Hindu’s eyes for I bathed in the Ganges
myself this morning, involuntarily dipping
myself the prescribed three times.
India is a varied place — full of so many
surprises that I find it impossible to men
tion a fraction of what I have seen and
done. The varying paces of life, thought,
and customs would overwhelm me. I’m
sure, were I to realize fully what I am ex
periencing in relation to my forgotten
life in the United States. My advice to
future traverlers to India is to travel to
less “sense-arresting” countries first to
get one used to what they will find in In
dia. Living expenses can be kept easily
to under three dollars a day.
I only wish I could write twenty
more reports on India so that I could
satisfy myself with a job half-way done.
However, my next report will describe
the forbidden land of Taipei.
Patterson,
Graves Lead
Rebounding,
Scoring
By SCOTTY MILL€R
Though the 1976-77 Lion cage season
has had its ups and downs with consis
tency often lacking, one fact can be safe
ly agreed upon; that the team has worked
well as a unit. Several individuals have
helped make this possible. Jimmy Graves
continues to pace Mars Hill in most
categories. He is averaging about 20
points and 7 rebounds a contest, leading
the Lions in both areas. Jimmy was re
cently named runner-up in District 6
balloting for player of the month in De
cember. Kim Deweese has clearly
asserted himself as floor leader and has
raised his average to over 12 points a
game. He also averages about 5 assists
every game and leads the team in that
category. Three freshman reserves —
James Hannah, Greg Simpson, and James
Allen — have gained tremendous experi
ence and provide about 17 points be
tween them. Wayne Miles shows improve
ment week by week as his playing time
has increased over the season. These
players, along with Bridges Hollings
worth, provide the kind of depth that
Lytton can go to at any stage of the ball
game.
John Patterson contributes about 12
points a game, along with 6 rebounds.
Reggie Gaskin pumps in 9 points a game,
and being a 6'4" guard has been a big
asset on the boards. Carlos Showers
scores 6 points a game as well as contri
buting 5 rebounds.
With eight regular season games re
maining, Mars Hill looks to put it all to
gether for the playoffs. Six of the eight
are with district opponents and these
games hold the keys to the season.
With basketball season half over,
head coach Jack Lytton looks with inter
est to the remaining action. The most
critical part of the campaign is yet to come.
With the District 6 playoffs looming only
a month away, being one of the eight
teams to participate has to be a goal for
the Lions. However, there are a few more
goals to be considered as well. One of
these is to finish within the top four of the
district to insure the home court advant
age forthe playoffs. At present. Mars Hill
is third, so that goal is presently being
met. Another important attainment is to
peak into the squad that the Lions are
capable of being.
Surely opposing coaches must have
anxieties about playing Mars Hill. They
know the talent and the depth that the
Lions have; their only hope must be
that Lytton’s squad not mature and ex
plode at their expense. It has already
happened at the expense of a few coaches.
For instance Mars Hill outscored Allen
62-36 the second half to claim a 20 point
victory. The key to Mars Hill being a
great team and not just a good team will
be their ability to put together two good
halves of basketball. When the Lions be
gin to do this, Kansas City may be a lot
closer than many think.
In the December 10,1976 Issue, one of
the All-district football players from Mars’
Hill was Incorrectly named. Joe Jordan,
rather than Alan Hunter, was awarded
this honor.