Flight

 Sunday, November 14th

I purchased my ticket to Pune. I fly from Delhi on Thursday morning.  I had hoped travel to Delhi on the overnight sleeper train, but it was fully booked. It is customary to book train tickets a week to ten days in advance if you have any hope of securing an AC car.  I book a taxi instead. The car will pick me up on Wednesday night and deposit me at the airport in plenty of time for my 9:00am flight the following day.  Over the next couple of days I washed all of my dirty clothes and cleaned the room that had been my home for the past six weeks.  It was time to move on, and I was more than ready to embark on the next adventure. I say this facetiously off course, as meditating can hardly be construed as high octane sport. But there is always a story contained within every experience.

The next couple of days pass in a blur of activity.  I spend Tuesday morning with my very special friend Amodini, whom I have not spoken about before now. I met her right at the start of my stay here, when Angelo told me he had met the most remarkable astrologist and impressed upon me that I should go. I did and we immediately struck up a friendship. The astrological reading itself took approximately eight hours.Yes, it was a veritable marathon. In that time Amodii, who is herself, a vast tome of knowledge, pretty much read my life inside out and beyond. Of this experience all I can say is that I will tell you this story and share her predictions at some later date.  I visit her apartment for her special tea; a wonderfully alchemical blend of fresh basil, cardamon, clove, and an infusion of mint. Not surprisingly, the visit extends into lunch and I leave armed with the names of places I can visit both in Pune and when I travel further South.

In the evening I meet up with my friends for a farewell dinner at Muksha cafe which serves great   Korean food.  There are seven of us at the gathering, and several of us will be moving on with in the next couple of days.  I exchange email addresses with Maya and Hari. Aya, I will meet again in Tiruvannamali, where we will both be attending a ten day silent retreat with Mooji in December.   Hari, and Yog have been so more than magnanimous with their time these past there weeks and have asked for nothing in return.  So, as a parting gesture I pick up the tab for every ones meal.

Wednesday, November 17th, this is my final day in Rishikesh, and though I am sad to be leaving friends I glad to finally be in motion.  My suitcase is packed and I have nothing to do the the next four hours till the car arrives. I head over to Maya's and we go out for a final meal. Maya has given me her contact details and told me that if should need anything, a wire transfer (should I lose my purse again), information, advise, support, anything at all, to give a shout out...

Its 9:00pm and I am on the road to Delhi!


P.S

At this point I am sure that at least half of my audience has fallen into the abyss of boredom, or have simply tired of logging on and finding no new entries. Those who may yet read these pages, please accept my abject apologies. This project really began as a way to compel me to write. Those who know me well know that for years I have claimed to be a writer, however, till now there has been no evidentiary material to corroborate this fact. 

So write I must!!