It is with a heart filled with Joy, Lightness, Divine Glory and Sadness that I left India three days ago. I have not been able to write much about my experience there because it affected me so profoundly through my core being, it is challenging to describe the magnificence of it all…
India was EVERYTHING I had dreamed it would be and more. As soon as you engage on the road to your destination, in this case it was Bangalore; all your senses get bombarded with stimulus. The airport has recently been built so there isn’t much of anything around, though you can see a city starting to take form. Buildings and roads that will one day hold apartment buildings, villas, restaurants, banks, temples, and everything else that make up a city are under construction.
Over there, rules are quasi inexistent. Don’t get fooled by lines on the road, no one respects driving principles as we are accustomed to in most countries. Drivers have an impressive way of zigzagging between buses, motorcycles, rikshaws, bicycles and pedestrians without serious damages beside few casualties from time to time. I would not even try to drive, most certainly not in a city such as Bangalore, too many things going on and too many vehicles for its road infrastructure. The entire city is under construction to allow a better flow of circulation. They are developing wider roads and building a train line to alleviate the number of vehicles on the road. Honking is the way to go when driving in India, I actually miss the sounds now that I am in Dubai…
I met wonderful and kind people everywhere I went. On my first day in Bangalore I visited the city’s wonders. I was surrounded by beautiful temples, mosques and life in all its forms! The experience was already overwhelming and quite magnificent when I entered the Krsna temple. I sat in the middle of the main room, in front of Krsna and his eternal love Radha and began to cry. A man sitting in front of me looked back at me and asked in wonder why I was crying. I tried to explain the overwhelming feeling of being in a place of such divine beauty. He asked me to follow him to the book store, there he bought a book and CD, came back to his girlfriend and asked here to offer me this present. I was so very touched by their kindness. They changed my sadness and sorrow into tremendous joy and gratitude for the experience. How does it get better than this? Later on, my friend Sachin explained that it is uncommon to see someone crying in a temple, usually people chant and dance, it is a happy place. He said that if someone is crying, it usually means they are alone, discouraged, depressed and have tremendous sorrows. Though I may not have been in such distress I was crying over the loss of deep love, over the long and challenging road that had lead me to this place, and by a tremendous gratefulness towards god for the experience of this life. Kindness is everywhere! These two very special people have had a truly profound impact on me.
My encounter with genuinely caring people carried on through the visit in India. Whether at work with my colleagues who treated me to a scrumptious lunch at a resort on the last day as a sign of gratitude for the training session, to strangers I met in the streets and in temples, to kids who had beautiful smiles and were ever so curious to find out where I was from. I remember in a temple on the way to Mysore, there was a never ending line-up of people to see the deities, children were all around me and they started to ask my name and where I was from. We played with bells hanging from the tall doors at the entrance of the temple. We were all laughing quite heartedly, it was amusing and I felt like I was part of them. This was lots of fun pushing my way through to see Shiva (and no one gets offended, it’s part of the ritual)! My friend Sachin, his wife, daughter and I all went to have dinner at this place called 13th floor. It was on my last night in India. A very nice way of ending such a life changing adventure. These are all experiences I will keep in my heart.
One of the highlight of my trip was a visit to Sharmila’s Shala for a yoga session. Shammi is the granddaughter of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, a yoga teacher who passed away about two years back. I learned yoga listening and watching his DVD so meeting Shammi was a big deal for me to me. Imagine this, I had been waiting for this moment ever since I knew about my trip to India, and the morning of the session I woke up with a sharp pain in my left arm and shoulder. I could not cancel, it was my last chance before leaving. I told Shammi about my pain and we were careful with the postures so I ended up skipping the jump backs between them to avoid straining my arm. At first I felt like I could not enjoy the full experience of her teaching, in the end it was better than any class I had ever attended before. The next day my arm was back to normal. Perhaps what I had to learn through this is that often time things don’t turn out the way I had imagined, but it can be even better than that if I open my heart to the experience. Practicing this positive thinking in Dubai…
My departure from India was challenging, I did not want to leave the place. After a good breakfast with fresh fruits, yogurt, and dosa with coconut chutney, the waiter asked me to wait five minutes before leaving (he knew it was my last day). By the way, did I tell you about the contest they have at Oberoi (the hotel)? They have regular staff meetings where they exchange about guests, they have a contest where they need to answer personal questions about the guests like what does Mr.Varma like for breakfast? Which news paper does he read? Which guest wakes up at 5:00am every morning to practice yoga in front of her patio doors? That would be me! So Pradeep came back with a cake and on the plate it was written “Bon Voyage”. Pradeep and one of the waitresses who served me most of the time, said that this was a present to wish me a safe trip and to say that they would miss me at the hotel. They made me cry…again! I cried once more at the airport after going through security at the gate before boarding the plane. It was the last step towards leaving the country. India is on the top of my countries to visit, I will definitely go back, though I would not recommend it to those who may not like to be taken outside of their comfort zone. The cultural differences may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it was definitely mine!
I would summarize my trip to India as a life changing experience in every sense of the word. It has brought me closer to my true self, to the higher purpose of my life, to my spiritual being…
Love,
Sophie
P.S. I am crying as I am proof reading the last sentence above...
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