a bridge to and from india (RSVP requested)

july 21, 2006

ft. cochin, india

they say india is where the heart opens.

love is all you need, right? in the face of such overwhelming population, poverty, heat, starvation, and fatalism, india has.... love.

acceptance. of life. of struggle. of pain. of death. generosity. towards others. towards strangers. compassion. for its weakest. for its starving. tolerance. warmth. wisdom. india, the docile cow. india, love……….

so, yeah......... i have this radical idea. a bad-ass, anti-american, love is all you need idea to - open up my e-mail list. you know, i get so many fantastic mails from you all, and here i am hoarding them to myself, having to occasionally quote wise mano from malaysia or crazy benny from germany.................

and i know, it's NOT COOL to cc your mailing list and only to bcc it, which i do fastidiously - to protect your oh so sacred and secret and holy and important privacy. but what the fuck for? what am i protecting you from? each other? or am i just hoarding your friendship and wisdom just for my self-serving and narcissistic self?

so... i have this far-fetched and unscrupulous idea to interconnect us all. all my e-friends. all my shrink and lawyer and former dean friends. catherine and cata in pareee. my multiple jazz singing chanteuses. my rwandan dancer poet princess. my israeli diplomatic friends in jerusalem. my berlin femme fatales. my hollywood actor-director hyphenates. my wannabees, shouldabeens, my oscar winners, casting directors, and sound recordists. my ex-postmen and new dads and ran-for-sheriff poets. my gentle cameraman in sevilla, wise mano and kala from malaysia. my brooklyn born mystic poet from safed. my sister-loving chilean brother-in law. my lovely indonesian child wife. my new mexican retired artistes. my old mexican lover of durrell. all of you who knew me back when i was 10 and 20 and 30 and 40 and 50 and soon to be 60, and know i ran for mayor of new york as clown gino cumeezi, and saw me survive cancer, and you who suffer through these intolerably, long-winded but hopefully entertaining e-travels........ let's all be one inter-connected galaxy of generosity and dare i say, love.

shit, trules has gone off the deep end. too much sitar, curry, and kathakali!

but here's the deal. i won't do it unless you say it's ok. you have to rsvp to be on this new list. the cc list, not the bcc list. and then, you can read the words and wisdom and nonsense of - each other. just a few non-contractual rules: "e-rules", you might say, from e. trules: no money, no causes, and no self-promotion. just friendship, generosity, intercourse, and why not, world peace. the "friends of eric" list. any friend of his must be a friend of mine, right? it's taken me a long time to collect you all. almost 59 years. you've been to my parties; trust me, you're all da bombs. i love you all, man!!!

whatasay? better than my space and all the other "what's in it for me" sites.

then one day, we'll all meet in goa - or in the egyptian sinai -- or at my place in LA (before it isn't mine anymore, which i already know, it isn't), and we'll have an e-pahty!

in the meantime, maybe we can communicate, e-travel, and real travel together. tell me who you want to meet. where you want to go. it's not a lonely planet..............

let me know, motherfuckers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

e