Ali

      As I age, I think about people who have changed my life in some way. One of those folks? Ali Zeitoun. I had transferred from the University of Hawaii to Texas A&M University at Galveston (and that’s a story for another day). My very first night there, I was introduced to two girls who were deep frying pork chops in their dorm room. They cheerfully said, “We’re eating healthy! We’re having salad with dinner tonight.” So to frame this narrative some, I was in the hippy phase of my life. I grew sprouts, swam, surfed, did yoga, put yeast on popcorn and drank lemon water with cayenne. Hey, we were all young once, right? 

     But back to Ali. I was minding my own business dealing with the culture shock from moving from Hawaii to Texas one day, drinking a bottle of said lemon water with cayenne and he accosts me and says, “Is that lemon water with cayenne?” Okay. Here I am on the campus of Texas A&M University at Galveston where some people think a healthy dinner is deep fried pork chops with a salad and this guy spots a bottle of lemon water with cayenne. “Uh, yes it is.” He takes the bottle out of my hand and starts guzzling, because I guess if you’re drinking that stuff in Galveston, Texas and someone else sees it and knows what it is, it’s fair game. 

     And just like that, we were friends. There was a small tight group of us in Texas that had lived in or were from Hawaii. Jack and Amy, Bill, Stu, Ali and myself. 

                                                    Stu, Ali and Bill, Galveston TX, 1982?

     Ali had traveled in India and spent some time in an Ashram studying yoga there. I asked him how he found the place, what it involved, how he got there, gimme some more information! He told me that it was a well worn path and there were lots of people doing it, all you had to do was go there, I’d meet plenty of people along the way and there were lots of different Ashrams. Just go. I graduated, worked for about 8 months and then I went. No one I knew before Ali had just…gone. And then I did. Before the internet, before cell phones we had the yellow book (Southeast Asia on a Shoestring), a camera and travelers checks. Know what? He was right. After a few stumbles, once you get on that backpacker’s trail, you meet people. My trip started out in Bangkok, which led me to living for few months (off and on) in a Buddhist monastery in South Thailand, then gong to India and spending time in an Ashram there studying yoga. 

     No matter what offbeat place I am in the world, I always think I’ll run into Ali - he’s that kind of citizen of the world. My serious travel experiences, my adventures (and many, many, many misadventures) started with Ali. He told me it was possible. Easy. He, with his stories of his travels, set up that pile of dry kindling. Maybe I lit the match, but without his tales and subtle prodding, I wouldn’t have spent a 1.5 years traveling around SE Asia and the Indian subcontinent in my youth. Those years really formed my world view and I’m grateful for the gentle push. Thanks Ali.