a borrowed quote from Paul Coelho and Rosanna Marshall

My friend Rosanna has been volunteering in Nepal for the last 3 months and has had some amazing experiences. She has been reading The Pilgrimage by Paul Coehlo and shared this quote which I can totally relate to:

“When you travel you experience, in a very practical way, the act of rebirth…. since all things are new, you see only the beauty in them, and you feel happy to be alive. That’s why a religious pilgrimage has always been one of the most objective ways of achieving insight. The word peccadillo, which means a “small sin,” comes from pecus, which means “defective foot,” a foot that is incapable of walking a road. The way to correct the peccadillo is always to walk forward, adapting oneself to new situations and receiving in return all of the thousands of blessings that life generously offers to those who seek them.”

The New Light India Newsletter

http://www.newlightindia.org/newsletter/Newsletter2009.pdf

I am so impressed with New Light India and all that they are doing in the Calcutta community to help the children of sex workers, and to help the women themselves. They are helping to retrain them and give them other options. And they are helping the children to get an education and make sure they don't go into the same line of work. So amazing.

Observations

One of the biggest things that strikes me after returning home is how unhappy many people seem to be. There is an underlying worry and unhappiness in a lot of people. I totally understand that there is a lot going on in our country and a lot to be concerned about, but, man we have it so good here. If everyone could take a trip to Haiti or to India or Nepal and see how other people live it may make them realize that we are living very high on the hog, as they say. We have SO much to be grateful for.

a few photos New Light India in Calcutta

The women at New Light working on the blanket project




The Soma Home for Girls


This is little Godee. She is the newest addition to the New Light India family


Little Coco. Her mother passed on a few weeks ago and now she is being taken care of by the great staff at New Light

Re entry

I've been back a week now and it's been good. I have been getting a lot of rest, eating a lot of good food and even made it to the gym once. It's been raining every day since I returned.

I'm back at my friend Sabrina's house, keeping Diamond the kitty company while she's out of town. It's so nice to be back here, the place where I was before I left. It's still just as peaceful and beautiful as ever.

I have loved being able to reconnect with my friends and talk about my travels. It helps me to process it all. I will get together with my wonderful bookclub girlfriends on Thursday. Can't wait! Going to see The Pink Floyd Experience at the Fillmore on Wednesday. That should be another transformative experience.

I'll be posting more about my travels as it all settles into me and around me. So please stay tuned!

I heart San Francisco

The flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco was good. Sometimes I just end up feeling so restless, tired and claustrophobic on long flights but this one was ok and the time passed with relative ease.

I sat next to a young man from San Jose who had been traveling in India with his college class and also an Indian man who works in the software industry in California. 2 meals, a few naps, some chapters of my book and 3 partial movies later, I was here.

Susie picked me up and we went straight to my favorite restaurant for pizza and wine and then to her house for a delicious nap. She was so sweet and took such good care of me. I borrowed a thick flannel nightgown from her and didn't get out of it for 2 days. It was great and was exactly what I needed. Susie made me mashed potatoes and salad for dinner and bacon for breakfast. I was in absolute heaven. It has been raining non stop since I got home so it was easy to stay inside and do nothing.

It's been a bit strange and has taken some days to readjust. I felt like I have been straddling two very different worlds. There is such a huge difference in the way people live in America and especially in the Bay area. So much privilege here. I'm not judging. It's just the way it is. But being in India has opened my eyes. I will never again take forgranted all the things I am lucky to have here at home. Clean water, hot showers, very clean air, orderly traffic on the well maintained roads, and most of all not having to worry every time I put anything in my mouth. It was very stressful to have to think about food so much and wonder if it was going to make me sick or not.

It's been good to reconnect with friends and be able to have long conversations. Most of my communication in India had to be very basic so that I could be understood. I had to become sort of a different person there and use different techniques and different parts of my personality. It's nice to see the old American me again.

I got on a scale today and was surprised to see that I've lost 15 pounds. But it doesn't feel that way on my body. I think I've lost a lot of muscle because I was not really getting good exercise or eating any protein. I look forward to going on long hikes in the hills, getting back to my yoga practice and firming things up.

And I can't wait to get to Utah to get my hands on my darling little Julian. God, I have missed him so much. It will be so sweet to see him and play with him and see all his new tricks. And his grandma will have some pretty good stories to tell him :)

Delhi and coming home

I had a really nice day in Delhi. My driver, Manoj picked me up early in the morning and we set off. First stop was the Raj Ghat, where Gandi was assassinated. It is a beautiful, peaceful place. They have created acres and acres of serene park with many birds, ponds, walking paths and a wonderful, peaceful feeling. It was a good first stop to get my head in the right place and begin to think about leaving India.

We then went to Jantar Mantar. From Wikipedia: The Jantar Mantar is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments, built by Maharaja (Ruler) Jai Singh II at his then new capital of Jaipur between 1727 and 1734. It was absolutely fascinating. How someone could be thinking about this stuff so long ago and in such great detail is beyond me.

Next Manoj took me to a fancy restaurant so I could have lunch. I'm sure he gets a kickback for any tourist he brings there. It was good but way too expensive. I decided to just relax and enjoy it, read more of my guidebook and take a nice break. After all the total bill was only 800 rupies. (about $16 which is top end for a restaurant bill).

Next stop was Birla Mundir a very important Hindu temple but built expressly for people of all religions, and all castes. It is so beautiful and a very spiritual place. I loved my time there. I got many blessings from Ganesh, Laxshmi, Buddha and even Jesus Christ was there. It was a God party.

Then off to Humayan's Tomb. which is an incredible set of several tombs built in the 1500s by the Emperor Humayan's wife. They were built before the Taj Mahal but have the same style, so maybe the Taj copied some of the architecture. I really loved walking around the grounds but was starting to feel a little pressed for time. I still had to get back to my hotel, freshen up, do some last minute packing and get to the airport.

We made another stop at the Bazaar where I picked up some last souvenier items and got some henna designs installed on my hands to bring home with me.

I enjoyed Delhi very much and hope to spend more time there on my next trip. They are getting ready to host the Commonwealth Games and the city is very clean and modern and easy to get around. People are very nicely dressed and there are giant stores everywhere. Very different than the other cities I visited in India.

I got to the airport around 9 pm for my midnight flight. Everything went very smoothly and soon I was on the very full flight to Hong Kong. After an ok nap and some food, we were in Hong Kong 6 hours later. I had a 6.5 hour layover in Hong Kong and I found a nice little corner in the sunshine and took a good little nap with my bags under my head. Hong Kong is a great place to spend time. It's very open and spacious and clean with many stores, restaurants and laptop work counters. And free wifi.

Bye bye india

My last night in india.
I flew to Delhi and arrived around 5:30 pm. Arnab bad arranged for someone to pick me up and take me to the wild orchid guesthouse which is just fine. It's at the higher end of what I usually pay. It's 2500 rupies which is a whopping 42 dollars.

I walked around a little i'm surrounded by very high end stores with a nice mix of tea stalls, junky soivenir items and good food.
Tomorrow I will do a marathon tour of Delhi before heading to the airport for my midnight flight. It will be a long ass couple od days getting home. Probably about 30 hours door to door.

I have so many feelings about leaving india. I will miss it and the people who live here but I do need a break from the fast pace and the constant battering of all of my senses at once. I will do some serious chillin' when I get home. Right after I have biggest green salad of my life and a gallon of red wine. That should cure any jetlag :)

Back in Calcutta

When I left Bodh Gaya, I had to make the choice of where to go. I could either go up north to Dharamsal where is freezing cold, or down to Calcutta to see my friends once more. It was very cold in Varanasi and in Bodh Gaya and I just wasn't feeling up to facing below freezing temperatures and snow in Dharamsala. I'm sad that I will miss it this time, but there will be a next time, for sure.

I flew to Calcutta on Saturday, just a 30 minute flight from Bohd Gaya. It is very nice to see my friends here again. It feels like home here. The girls at Soma Home are so special and I missed them very much. It's great to see Urmi and Arnab of New Light India, and I met up with a friend who I met in the Andaman Islands who is now in Calcutta. I will see him and his adopted Indian family again on Wednesday. Today I will see my friend Sutapa, a reporter for a local newspaper who I met during my time with Domenique LaPierre. She's a darling woman and it feels like we have been friends before.

The weather is pretty good here, warmer than up north anyway.

I have booked my flight back San Francisco for Jan 22nd. I think I'll go to Delhi early and try and see some of Rajistan before I leave. It's supposed to be spectacular with great history, sand dunes, camels and interesting food and people. I'm torn between just being so tired and ready to come home,and squeezing every bit out of this experience. I'll find the right balance, I'm sure.

I'm definitely missing home and family and friends and can't wait to be back!

Bodh Gaya

Just when I thought i had just about seen it all in India, I came to Bodh Gaya. This is where the Buddha found enlightenment under the bodhi tree. The tree is still here, although it's a third generation. The temple that surrounds it is stupendous.

I came here for 5 days of teachings by the Dalai Lama. It is now day three and I am enjoying it so much.

This little village usually holds around 2,000 people, I would guess and it has now swollen to about 30,000. Along with that there are more beggars here then I have ever seen in India. Whole armies of them. Old women sitting on the ground, small children with metal bowls hanging on my arm, the most horribly disfigured people crawling along begging for money. It's a bit overwhelming and so strange because the rest of the atmosphere is so spiritual and special. It's an interesting mix.

Overnight so many stalls have sprung up everywhere, selling everything you would ever want: pots and pans, shoes, prayer beads, shawls, travel packages, monks robes, birds, fruit, shampoo, tobacco. There are many more richshaws then this town needs and it's so small that not many people use them. I feel bad for the drivers.

I go into gate 6 each morning at the field where His Holiness speaks. This is for foreigners and press. I have to show my passport and not take a cell phone or camera. I bought a cheap little indian radio so that I can hear the English translation of the teachings. I sit in the same place with my Tibetan friend Pema who I met in Varanasi. Everyone is very kind and there is a great feeling during the teachings. I have made pages and pages of notes.

I can feel myself winding down now and am ready to come home after such an amazing journey. I think this is a great way to end it. I'll go to Calcutta from here and see my friends one more time and then fly out of Delhi somewhere around the 20th of January. I can't wait to see my friends and family again and have some yummy food, a hot shower and a toilet that flushes. :)

Thelma and Louise go to the Taj

Daisy and I had a great trip to Agra. We decided that she would be Thelma and I would be Louise (of course). She has never seen the movie but loved the idea.

Daisy is a very intelligent, very funny 13 year old. She is concerned about the environment and the future of India. She has started a recycling program in her school and gathers groups of people to clean up the Ganges river. And she is a little bit naughty and likes to do the unexpected. A girl after my own heart.

The 12 hour train ride to Agra was fun. It was a fast train and we shared our compartment with 2 nice women from Australia. The time went by quickly. We arrived in Agra at 6 am and were able to check into our hotel around 9:30. We took a quick bath-in-a-bucket and headed out to see the Taj.

We were both so excited to see it for the first time. We closed our eyes before we got to the entrance and opened them at the same time. It was so magnificent. It is so beautiful, it looks like a dream. White flowing lines. So graceful and feminine. We spent all day there walking around it, looking at it from every angle, walking inside and just sitting in front and staring. Neither of us wanted to leave but at closing time, we had too. Plus we were starving. They would not let us bring any food or drink onto the grounds. But we snuck some chocolate in and it saved us.

The incredible building was created in 20 years and dedicated to Akbar's wife who he loved dearly and who died in childbirth. I wonder if she had any idea how much he loved her. And i wonder if he had any idea that almost 400 years later people would be lining up to see this place. Some workers had their hands cut off after the work was finished so they could never duplicate the work they did on the Taj.

The next day we visited Fatehpur Sukri, a huge city that Akbar built and was thriving in the 1600's. The palaces and carvings were exquisite and very well preserved. We really liked being there and learning the history of the place.

That night was new year's eve and we decided to splurge and go to a fancy hotel for dinner. We ended up at the ITC International, the nicest hotel in Agra. It's gorgeous and dripping with opulence. We walked around to the different restaurants which all looked a little quiet and boring and then we walked by a room that was all set up for a party with movies, food, comfy seats. No one was there so they almost begged us to come in and enjoy. It was so great. We feasted on french fries, pasta, chinese noodles, strawberry milkshakes and pastries for dessert. We watched Monster House and had the best new year's eve ever. And best of all it was free!

The next day we visited Agra Fort, another incredible city inside Agra. The palaces and halls were amazing with many inlaid precious stones in the marble walls. I wish I could time travel and go back to see what it was like to live there. We also went to the Baby Taj, a mausoleum where the grandson of Akbar is entombed.

The next morning we left at 6 am to get to Delhi to catch our train, only to find out that there had been a terrible train crash and that our train was delayed by 8 hours. It was a very long day, and the Delhi train station is no place to spend that much time. It's filthy, chaotic, busy, dangerous and fascinating. People were very curious about why a foreigner like me would be traveling with a young Indian girl. We told everyone that we were Thelma and Louise from Canada and that Thelma was a famous child actor there. Daisy would not speak Hindi unless she had to in order to get information for us. We laughed a lot and had great conversations about spirituality, boys, family, and India and America. She is so funny and I was happy to go on this part of the journey with her.