It’s hot. We’re back up into the 90 – 100 degree F range again. Humid. Sticky. My fan control is broken, so it’s either wide open or off. It’s too fast on wide open, I start coughing, so I have to turn it off. I’m probably too hot to sleep, come to think of it. Definitely don’t need the coat here! It’s wild to think I was cold two nights ago.
Yesterday (wow, was that only Yesterday??) I tried to make my travel arrangements to get here. There was a train booking station just outside the back gate of the ashram I was turned away from. I was not successful and got really discouraged. I decided I’d have to rickshaw back into Haridwar and go to the railway station or find an Internet cafe. I still needed a plane ticket, too. Walked into the station and realized it was the same situation and headed out to find a travel agent.
Haridwar doesn’t have Internet cafes that I’m used to seeing on every block. I ended up spending about 4 hours there, covering a large portion of the city, and only saw two. I’d been thinking the two per block I was used to seeing was because local people don’t have computers in their homes, but now I realize they’re for the tourists, not the locals. It’s an uncomfortable feeling being immersed in a language you don’t know and having no way for connection to the wider world.
I found a travel agent across the street from the railway station that told me he could get me on a Volvo bus to Delhi and found a plane ticket to Chennai. He purchased the plane ticket and then found out the Volvo bus was full. He originally told me he didn’t do trains, but he managed to get me a takthal ticket for a ridiculous amount of money. His fee was triple what I was used to paying, as well. Hell, I took it, I wanted the arrangements finished.
After that was settled, I hung out for about 2 or 3 hours on the ghat. That was amazing. It’s the only part of Haridwar I like. The energy is awesome, but it’s way too commercial to spend any more time than that and the scammers are rampant. It’s nice for a one time experience, though.
I rickshawed back to my ashram, picked up my bags, rickshawed back to Haridwar. I had an hour before my train, so I risked not getting a porter. Haridwar only has two platforms, so I had a 50% chance of getting it right. Thankfully, it was the first of the two. My bags have a combined weight of around 60 pounds and I can tell you I’m getting sore from lugging them, but I felt very accomplished.
I have awesome train karma, the train was on time, yet again! This is three in a row for me! I met a woman waiting for the train that had been in the same ashram as me, but we hadn’t connected there. I remember hearing her voice one morning, she has a Venezuelan accent and she reminded me of my dear friend Yolanda. I miss Yolanda!
So, the rest of the night and this morning went like this:
- 6 hour train ride to New Delhi in chair AC, arriving at 11pm.
- Attempted scam by a taxi driver who put my bag in his trunk and closed it, impersonating a prepaid taxi. I didn’t fall for it.
- Argument with the porter who jacked his rate up after we agreed. I split the difference just to get rid of him.
- Got to the prepaid taxi booth, decided a taxi cost too much and negotiated a good price for an auto rickshaw. The same auto rickshaw driver who tried to talk me into going to a guest house or hotel instead of the airport. Who pulled over twice in the parking lot and disappeared for over five minutes. I got weirded out, grabbed my bags and got out. He followed me, apologizing and talked me into getting back in the rickshaw. He had been looking for another driver to drive me and wasn’t getting any takers.
- Froze my ass off for an hour in the auto rickshaw getting across town to the airport. He drove like a madman, worse than normal, but we arrived safely.
- Killed 4 hours catnapping and talking politics (ugh) in the airport.
- Discovered the domestic terminal in Delhi has extremely clean public washrooms with a shower across the street! Washroom cost 2 Rupees, didn’t pay attention to the price for a shower, but wow!
- Talked to my mom at 2:30am.
- Ate crappy airport food at 3am.
- Had a lovely 2 hour on time flight on Indigo Air where I had the entire row to myself and got a nice nap in.
- Got a shock when I found out how much the taxi to Thiruvanamalai cost. Paid it anyway.
- Rode 4 hours and got a couple more hours of sleep. It was hot!
- Got here, got turned away from Sri Ramanasramam, which I expected. They are very clear you need to email them in advance, and I could never decide the exact day I was coming, or if I was even coming. The loving energy was so overwhelming, I was weeping. I think they felt sorry for me and booked me a room next door. They were very kind, the office was supposed to be closed for two hours and I had settled in to wait. I wasn’t stressed or upset, just calmly weeping. Told them it just felt so good to be here. They understood. Later, I passed that Swamiji on the road a few blocks away and he asked me if I had gotten settled in. I had showered and changed clothes, so I was impressed that he recognized me and asked.
- Got my heart blown open bigger than I thought possible. Sweet!
It’s quite astonishing to realize how much can happen and how drastically things can change in a 24 hour period. The joy and bliss I’m finding here truly makes everything leading up to this point well worth it. It’s funny, I can look back and see why things weren’t working out for me to stay longer where I was. I wasn’t supposed to. I’d been dragging my feet about moving on, and I’ve been shown that it wasn’t necessary.
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