on placefulness
Are certain locations on this planet are more unique, even more valuable, than others? One can construct a value differential between particular spots, cities, and countries from their power to express the soul of an exact location, the culture that informs it, and the people who dwell there. In architectural phenomenology, we call this concept “genius loci,” which in ancient Rome referred to the actual spirits that govern and protect a given place. Because I dropped out of architecture school, I now allow myself to call this “placefulness.”
India is placeful. Every dusty nook has witnessed millennia pass by, accumulating impressions from the people and animals that have momentarily inhabited it. Of course, the Shala is the most placeful place I’ve found. Though, to be fair, it’s such an energetic anomaly that I have to set it well outside my (ever evolving) conception of “India.”
Rather, India’s placefulness resides in a perfectly crisped dosa, filled with spiced potatoes by gentlemen running their operation from the back of a gutted minivan. Or, the vacant lots with trash fire scorch marks, and a desolate plastic flip-flop. Or, the fruit stand lady shooing a cow away from her papayas. Or, a deep rose sunset through stately palms observed from a clean white rooftop. Or, a coconut.
India is so overwhelmingly distinct that I also think about that to which I am comparing it. Reader, I hail from Northern Virginia (NoVa): the wealthy, sterile suburbs of DC, and I’m not proud of it. Growing up, I judged it utterly lacking in placefulness: the progenitor of American monoculture. I had a relatively privileged upbringing, and had nothing to write about in those college entrance essays where you discuss the many character-building challenges you have faced in your short life. Maybe I wrote about how hard it is to get into college having had parents that want nothing more than to give you everything.
Well, surprise! It took me this long to realize that NoVa is a place, just as much as Gokulam is a place. It’s not a worse place, or a better place, just different. But different means distinct, and a resident of Gokulam would surely find as many surprises there as I do, here. Why does this matter? If I ever want to understand and learn to disassociate myself from my samskaras, then recognizing the unique, if seemingly default, genius loci of my home is a good place to start.
