back on home turf

I am so filled with joy to be back in Rishikesh. I arrived today. I still can't manage to walk through the streets without tears welling up in my eyes. I can't help it. Rishikesh just moves me like this for some reason.
I'm back reunited with my Bengali family that owns the guest house too. I thought i would spend one night with them and have dinner before i move into the ashram. Their guest house is just next door to the ashram where i start my teacher training in 4 days, so its very convenient. They seemed as happy to see me as i feel to see them. I feel like I have so many families in India now. WEll, at least 3. All three places give me as warm a welcome when i come back as my own family does when i come back. It is heart warming.
So I banged into my french friend, Gayatri in the street, just a couple hours after i landed in rishikesh. Its not just me that's a bleeding heart.... listen to this:
I had just finished feeding a cow my leftover spaghetti from lunch (i know, i know, Spaghetti? in India and you're eating spaghetti? you just gotta, once in awhile, ok?) .....and Gayatri spots this puppy. Tiny, black, and all alone, she decides she's got to save it. True, the puppy is way too small to be on its own and it looks sick, it looks less than lively. Either she's really really tired, or something is wrong with her. She didn't look too emaciated, but who knows. So we went on a crusade. Personally, I had had about enough of playing mother theresa in nepal, with people, not dogs, so i was willing to turn a blind eye to one more sad stray puppy, but she couldn't. Cradling it in her arms she stood there with me, weighing the options of what to do, where to take it, WHO would take it.
She, too, just got back into Rishikesh. She had been to Bali over Christmas and is now having to make the same trip i just made to Kathmandu for a new visa. I don't know why she didn't just do it in Bali, but anyways, i didn't think to ask her. Funny we are both back here now, together, standing in the street with this puppy on our hands.
We talk to a few strangers, foreigners.... more conversations ensue about what to do and analyses made of the puppy's health and current state. Finally it is suggested by one british guy who seemed to be in the know, to take her down to this guy who does the knitting by the river, incidently, the man who knitted my toque and my socks for me. I volunteer to show her where he is because the Brit doesn't have time and its on my way to where i am going anyhow. The knitter has 2 dogs already, one mom and one puppy, so i guess this is why he figures he would be open to adopting a 3rd.
When we get there Gayatri pleads with him but he won't take her, of course. So she turns to me and says "what are we going to do?" "WE?" i say, "sorry honey, but.... " and how do i break this to her lightly? there is a reason I didn't pick up the dog. I send her back to Pyramid cafe, which is the first place she thought of that might take the dog.
I am just beyond thinking about these things now, there are so many sick dogs, cats, cows, kids, people..... it is impossible to help them all. I still give alms everyday in the street as has become my usual habit, but after Kathmandu, I am ready to take a hiatus from trying to save the world.
I think once i go into the ashram tomorrow i will stay there as much as possible. i feel like i have had no space for spiritual practice because each day has been so full of LIFE for the past couple weeks.
The trip home was uneventful.
The flight, the taxi, the night train. I was starting to get the feeling when I got dropped off at Kathmandu airport yesterday, lugging all my luggage (aaah, so THAT's why they call it luggage!), that this travelling thing is starting to wear thin. I get moments when i have this singular thought: "i am getting too old for this". Its not as exciting as it used to be. Alot of the time its just a big hassle, especially these days with air travel. and expensive.
Of course these moments are still punctuated by the other moments of sheer wonder and amazement, but it is irrefuteable that travel is getting more expensive and more of a hassle all the time.
The night train was a little livelier than the night train i took on my way out (understatement). It was saturday night, and a long weekend to boot. Plus i purchased one class cheaper than the one i took last time (it was half the price!), so the sleepers are 6 to a compartment instead of 4, so its denser with bodies. It was quite the party in there till quite late, midnight, and then seemed to start back up at around 4am when some yahoos boarded, giggling their heads off. Plus we had a snorer in our compartment. I never ever say these words but I'm telling you: you haven't lived until you've ridden an Indian night train in sleeper class, it is just such an experience. You have to be flexible (both physically and mentally), small physically and big mentally to somewhat enjoy it, and definately in possession of your adventurous attitude. The Indians are mostly great and go out of their way to help you navigate the whole situation. I think alot of them realize what a shock Indian trains can be to the western sensibilities and do their utmost to cushion the blow. This small effort and consideration on their part scores big points with me, so I enjoy the train trip sufficiently well as a necessary mode of travel.
Bad things about the trains:
1. the stench of the loo.... very hard to get out of your nostrils
2. the crush of human bodies on the platform as everyone vies to find their car. it is best to just flow with the flow.
3. the stench of the loo (so bad you have to mention it twice)

you should see the THIRD class cars. I watched a train depart before I caught my train. I don't think there is assigned seating in third class cars. There is just bodies jammed helter skelter like Tokyo's Yamanote subway line at rushhour. There are so many bodies that people are spilling out of the door and men are hanging on to handles on the side of the train as the train begins to move out of the station, trying not to get left behind! Men are running after the train, getting LEFT behind, shouting, people yelling, pushing, its a grand game. its mayhem. I watched two old timers, Indians of course, sitting calmly on the platform watching all this last night and chuckling to eachother as they watched. I watched it, wide-eyed with amazement and disbelief. I was thinking to myself "I hope I bought a ticket for a higher up class than that or I'll be left behind for sure!"

Good things about the trains:
1. incredibly absolutely safe
2. astoundingly cheap ($3.75cad for a 7 hour trip from delhi to haridwar near rishikesh (and this is for second class, not the cheapest class)
3. Good fodder for sociological field study

I got some sleep, but it wasn't super long or anything.
then from haridwar to rishikesh by bus, except its sunday and there were no buses for an hour so me and this japanese yogi who was also waiting decided to ditch the bus station and take a rickshaw which, although very crowded, worked out well.
and presto, back in rishikesh. I felt like i could finally breath again here. I know many people, the mountains seem to smile and greet me, the energy is good, i feel at home here, like its my place .... its all good again in my world now that i am back.
oh, i was looking back over the pictures i posted of nepal and i must apologize. .... i am the world's WORST tourist!! I take these shadowy pictures of far off mountains... I don't even go INTO the mountains themselves and get proper pictures, just pictures out my back door. I didn't even go hiking up to the Buddhist Peace Pagoda across the lake like i said i was going to (different place than the buddhist centre which I DID stay at , mind you)..... i didn't even go out on the lake in a boat! not a very good tourist at all. I don't sightsee. I guess i might do if i was with a group or with a friend or something who wanted to do it, but i never want to spend the money on my own. I'm just as content to sit in a cafe beside the lake, drink tea, read a book and take in the view from there.
It costs money to do these things, trek, take boats, etc, go paragliding, and i am just sort of saving my money so that i can use it to LIVE here longer. I tell myself that if i were just travelling for a month or two, I would spend more and do these things, but i need the money for daily living expenses over a 10 month period. So that is why. I am justified. see?
OH!! i saw, for the first time, a real, honest to goodness supermarket! The first one I've seen in India. The kind with fruits and vegetables piled on shelves and everything together in one brightly lit superstore: dry goods, dairy, meats, etc. all under one roof instead of vegetables on a cart on wheels outside and dry goods in giant sacks on the floor of some little corner store than only sells rice, dahl and spices. The supermarket was in Old Delhi last night as I rode in a taxi from the airport to the train station. Man that train station was a zoo! i bet that was as worse as it gets being saturday night and on a long weekend. There were so many people, you couldn't move.
well, that just about brings us up to speed on the happenings.
peace and love!