Friday, April 27, 2007

India, land of possibility

Here I am!

Dharamsala is my new residence. My shop has now been set up for about a week. I arrived in
Delhi late at night and was a bit hoodwinked into a more than cheap cab and a bit of a dive hotel. Luckily this was all very much expected although i was exhausted by the end of the day. Up early an adventure in a rickshaw ensued. These tiny little three wheeled coffins are the only way to get around town. Zooming through the city I coughed on exhaust, witnessed cows in center divides and throngs of Indian’s wandering seemingly aimlessly. Fortunately my driver was cool and advised me to stay away from the scalpers in front of the train station. I took his advice to heart and ended up in a special visitor ticket center. Surprisingly clean plus the all important highly coveted AC! Only problem was that my train was not until about 9 PM and I was there at about 8AM. After hours of hanging around the cool room I was kicked out by the head lady for loitering. hehehe. As the heat of the day advanced i moved with the quickness to Old Delhi train station and waited....Many people were waiting for a train that seemed never to come. Entire families with masses of miscellaneous stuff sprawled the entire length of the main platform. Men with special turbans filled their roles as porters for those who had the extra money. Action surrounded me completely: Babies crying, trains rumbling and horn blowing, people staring, dogs scrapping, beggars asking, and children wondering what (me) the white boy is doing at the station. Finally after a day of waiting the train was announced and I found my place on a double tiered top AC bunk. Apparently this was riding in style although i have my doubts. After a very hot uncomfortable 12 hours I treated myself to a 3 hour bus ride. This tough journey laded me in the beautiful and bustling city of McLeod Ganj (Dharamsala). No luck in a guest house so I caught a rickshaw with a girl from the bus to Bhagsu the next town over.

On a hunch we lugged our belongings up a steep hill to a guesthouse perched high above the little town. My room is awesome. The entire room is wooden and little pieces of art spruce up the place. There is even a curved rainbow above my elevated sleeping platform (BOYGBIV). As the low fading day light filtered into my room through two Star of David windows I took in the lovely scene of lush green mountain ranges and a beautiful snow capped peak in the distance. I took a deep breath; I was now officially in India.

My friends and personal guru's consist of 2 girls from England, 1 dude from the Ilse of Mann, and guy from Israel. Everyone gets on great and we are all after the same goal...to learn the yogic and meditative ways of India and seek a new state of awareness. So far i have been recovering from a little sickness, but tomorrow i will attend my first yoga class. Everything here is so simple and slow. Everyone on the staff at the guest house has a warm heart and inviting smiles.

India has greeted me with open arms...even kind enough to give me a case of the Delhi Belly yesterday :(. Up here the air is clean and crisp along with cold temps at night. burrr. Every morsel of food i have tasted offers a new experience for my taste buds. With such a diverse crowd of tourists every type of food is available and many restaurants cater to the large Israeli crowd.

People are quite open with their interesting lives and new people enter my life everyday. Never have I been in a place of such high consciousness. As of today I absolutely love this place!

Love and Peace to all!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I officially love reading your blog! haha Miss ya buddy!