Rebecca Brown's Interview with
Robin Sathoff
Author of Xenophilia
Rebecca: The word xenophilia means the love of things foreign or strange. What wondrous things did you most want to see when you set out?
Robin: I had a strong interest in the ancient temples scattered through out India and Nepal & had the opportunity to explore many of them, attend services, & to get a feel for Hinduism that I did not have before. I also took a course in Vipassina, traditional Buddhist meditation, met with a Tibetan shaman, & had the privilege of sitting with a few Sahdus. All of these experiences have significantly enriched my spiritual life & I am grateful.
Rebecca: In your introduction, you mention that you met the Dalai Lama. Would you tell us a little about that experience.
Robin: I attended a festival at the Tibetan children's school in Dharm Sala (in N. India where the Tibetan government in exile is) & saw the Dalai Lama give a speech. I could have waited in line a few hours to shake his hand, but it was hot so I didn't -- wish I had now.
Rebecca: All your drawings are in black & white, leaving us, as we did with early television & films, to fill in our own colors. Did you ever wish you'd brought paints along?
Robin: I did quite a bit of painting in England, did one mural on the wall of the houseboat I was staying on in Kashmir, another in a favorite restaurant in Pushkar in Rajistan, & burned a lot of film too. My focus, however, was the sketchpad that would become “Xenophilia”. That's where my passion was.
Rebecca: When you were drawing these intricate, reflective & compelling visions, did people want to see what you were doing? Did anyone ever ask you to draw their portrait, or their home?
Robin: Everyone seemed to be interested in what I was doing & the originals were always being passed around. I spent some time with the Baba on page 20 & when I completed the drawing I could tell that he was about to ask me for it. Not wanting to tear it out of my sketchbook I said “Just think, Baba, now the whole world will see you...” & he smiled & didn't ask me for it.
Rebecca: Coming from the American Plains, which are rolling & flat, what were your first impressions of the Himalaya Mountains?
Robin: I was awestruck by the Himalayas, from their dramatic peaks on the horizon, to the people & creatures that populate the foothills. I could have spent lifetimes wandering the trails & draws. I am also afraid of heights & had plenty of chances to face this fear. Many of the roads & trails are narrow & unmarked & I often felt challenged.
Rebecca: Did you travel a lot on trains? What & where were the least & the most comfortable/beautiful rides?
Robin: Trains & local buses was how I got from place to place. Once I was in an area, I'd get a room & use it as a base to hike to different sites. I am 6'5" with a large frame, so travel was never a comfortable thing. I decided that if everything in India was 1/3 larger I would have had a better time of it.
Rebecca: As you were backpacking, you weren't hanging out in hotels, where did you sleep most often? How long was your Walkabout, & did you do a lot of walking?
Robin: I was traveling for ten months & stayed in a variety of places, including a houseboat, tents, with families, in guest houses, & beach huts. Most days I would end up walking several miles & was in pretty good shape by the time I returned home.
Rebecca: Give us your impressions of the countries through which you travelled, the colors, sights, sounds, smells.
Robin: In England I was staying with an old friend I had met on a Kibbutz seven years before. Nick had a small flat outside of Birmingham & gave me the grand tour of pubs & took me to a couple of football(soccer) games as well. Nick was also good enough to take me to the Tower of London, Stonehenge (a place I had dreamed of seeing since childhood), & Salisbury Cathedral (where the Magna Carta is housed). Nick's place was truly a sanctuary to me, a safe place between the hard time at home & the rigors of traveling in India.
India:I then landed in New Delhi -- 35 million people living in what seemed to be chaos. There was open sewers, beggars, patchwork streets, smog, & I was clueless & alone. After the first waves of shock left me, I left the city. Then I started to notice how innocence permeated the air, how even the big Tata trucks were painted orange & yellow & red, & began to immerse myself in the human landscape. India truly has it all, from the Himalayas in the north, to the deserts in the west, beautiful beaches, & jungle in the interior. I remember music & drumming, & the ever-present monkeys waiting to steal fruit.
Kashmir: I only spent 11 days in Kashmir. The mountains were incredible there, as well as the old Mogul architecture with its wooden crossbeams & carving...but being a disputed territory between Pakistan & India, the country suffers from violence & poverty. There was a strong military presence in Kashmir & I saw large fights break out on the streets. The most impacting scenes for me were from this apocalyptic waterfront village I went through on a skiff. People were living in old Mogul ruins tending their floating gardens -- which would have been beautiful if not for the pollution & poor conditions there.
Nepal: I spent the last three months of my trip in Nepal, mostly around Pokhara. The landscape there was just pristine & I formed lasting friendships with both locals & other backpackers. These were probably the most serene & laid back months of the trip. I then traveled to Kathmandu & arrive the day before 15 members of the royal family was assassinated. I remember sitting in a guest house just off of Durber square listening to the big artillery pieces give a 21-gun salute for the slain king, wondering if the airport was going to stay open, if the rioting in the streets was going to spread, & if I was going to make it home. I got stuck there for a month, living under martial law with strict curfews. I remember seeing this ancient temple to Kali with a machine mounted on the top, with tires burning on the street.
Rebecca: What did you do for food, & what was the most tasty dish you found?
Robin: Food was served in most guest houses & there was a variety of food to be purchased at the markets. I especially enjoyed the fresh fruit & curd in Rajistan & the Thalis in southern India, served up right on a banana leaf & eaten with the fingers. I often found the food to be too spicy for my taste so usually tried to eat the hottest things first so the blander chipatis could help extinguish the fire in my mouth.
Rebecca: Wanting to travel & see the world is a tradition of young men. In England, they were sent to finish their education on Grand Tours of Europe. When I arrived in America in the 1960s, they were wandering all over the Indian sub-continent & returning with their stories & philosophies. In this post 9/11 world, what would you advise people who might be thinking of taking a similar Grand Tour?
Robin: Don't be afraid. With all of the war in the world, it is still filled with good people who are waiting to meet you. Anything can happen, but it helps to have a general understanding of the place you are going to visit before you go, & to talk a lot with locals & other travelers once you're there.Trust your instincts, challenge your comfort zone, & exercise your common sense when traveling abroad. Even with some very tense moments the journey is worth it.
Rebecca: How have your travels changed the way you see home?
Robin: This was my fourth trip abroad & I generally feel more at home with other travelers than I do at home. Given this, my travels have allowed me to see my own culture & people more objectively than before & I appreciate my small town in Iowa much more than I did when I was a kid growing up here. I have a deep affinity for the rural Midwest & if I settle down I would like to have a place in the country, near a creek & some timber.
Rebecca: What do you hope people will gain from your visions?
Robin: I hope Xenophilia will stir peoples' imaginations & maybe help them trust in their own visions. I like the thought that these drawings can take people someplace they haven't been before.
Rebecca: Thank you, Robin, for sharing your profound & exciting journey, I hope many would-be artists & travelers gain courage from your book.
Do catch my review of Robin Sathoff's marvelous Xenophilia - I hope it makes you go out & buy yourself a copy!
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