update

hello everyone,

t'az been a looong time, hasn't it. I am getting somewhat enthused about our impending departure. A big part of this is that mama is coming. yay! Still a few things to get ready, some innoculations, visas, pictures taken, .... insurance and hotel bookings for delhi and such. but i am so excited. i can feel India beginning to flow in my blood once again. it feels like a wonderful dream that i get to go back to and i get to take my mother with me. "Thank you mom for agreeing to this. You will not regret it." She and I are having fun planning and anticipating where we will go, when and how. I am excited to have someone to share expenses with. All accommodations suddenly become half as expensive as when I travel alone. And I am glad that I have already been and can now navigate her confidently through the labrynth of experiences, challenges and delights that mother India offers. We are routed through Beijing (last time I came through Hong Kong) so it will be fun to see a new airport. My love for airports is still alive and kicking. Airports in China are particularily funky, what with all their meat. Meat, meat, everywhere the sight and smell of meat in the restaurant area.

When we arrive in Delhi we are going to stay a couple of nights in a comfy hotel, just to get our legs under us again. A place with air conditioning and room service and internet. A place from which we can make short excursions out into the street to get acclimatized to the hustle and bustle that eternally is the streets of India. Mom will have to learn the very useful skill of learning how to CROSS the street, safely, in India. Something that took me many days to learn, and many close calls. I have heard stories of quick minded strangers grabbing onto foreigners clothes just as the foreigner is about to step out oblivioulsy and perilously into the path of an oncoming bus, bike, lorry or cow coming from an unforseen direction. I love these stories and it is an attest to the sharp awareness many Indians have of their immediate surroundings. So we will stay someplace comfortable where we can retreat to when our senses become overloaded in those first couple of days. Get some sleep too. Maybe go out and see a couple things in Delhi. I don't feel guilty about staying in a nice hotel in India. The price is reasonable and you need it those first few days especially, just to help you ease into the experience in a calm and dignified fashion. Then we will get my friends from the ashram in Rishikesh to come get us by car. I figured this instead of putting mom on the train, straight away. It, too, can be a shock to the senses and we want to, as i said, ease into this slowly.

I am excited to see my teacher and my "family" in India, of which i have almost three. Three families that have adopted me that I will need to visit again while I am there. Indian hospitality has no match.