Shortcut to Nirvana

Greg and I went on a spontaneous trip to Tucson. Greg read on the Arizona Burners (Burning Man) list that the director of the documentary Shortcut to Nirvana was going to be at the opening of the film in Tucson. Tucson is about a 3.5 hour drive from Yuma, but we thought it would be fun to have a Valentine's date and do something fun. We drove over on Friday and stayed in a motel, had dinner at a great little Greek restaurant and watched the movie. Maurizzio went out for drinks with the local burners (ie two people and Greg and I) afterwards.

The documentary was wonderful. I wouldn't nominate it for an academy awards, but it was a really interesting, feel good movie. The documentary is about a huge pilgamage in India. The festival, the Kumba Mela, celebrates a myth in Hinduism--the pilramage takes place every 12 years and rotates between 4 cities. Up to 70 million people were in attendance--can you imagine Burning Man with 70 million--or any celebration were 70 million people congregate in a 9 week period? Gurus from all sorts of sects are present and most of the documentary was interviews with various "babas" or gurus. The Babas ranged from seeming scam artists to what appeared to be "true" holy men--by the time I was halfway through the film, I had a constant smile on my face just because some of the people seemed so incredibly free and happy. One scene has a man walk up and say, "I want to dance!" and just start dancing in the street, joined by others around him.

The film is well worth seeing. I'll try and find a list of where its playing. Coming soon to the Crest theatre in Sacramento!