Hey Folks- feeling fine again now (although if the sneezy person next to me has her way I might not be feeling good in a while!)
Am in a town called Tirivannamali just north of Pondicherry - arrived two nights ago and am staying in a local ashram situated at the bottom of an inactive volcano which dominates the skyline here! The town has such a holy feel to it - tell tell signs are ornately decorated cows, guys in orange robes, chalk drawings at doorways and temples around every corner.
Hired a bicycle for 20r (about 30p!) and have been exploring the town on those with Tim. Check out pictures of the bikes - pimp by ride or what!! They are such heavy duty bikes but defintely the best way to get around - nipping between rickshaws, ox drawn carts and avoiding big buses (ahhhhh!) Went to a satsung (meditation thingy me bob) last night which was held on the rooftop of local hangout. There were about 20 people in the room and 4 of them were trained in Dheeksha - missed the explanation of exactly what this is but think it is to do with the transfer or movement of universal energy from your chakra and becoming closer to God or the divine consciousness - yeah completely lost me too!!! But it did feel good to have someone rest their hands on my head - blonde guy was my fav closely followed by everso strange/over-excited sunburnt girl who also added a little extra bonus a 'stroke of the face'! Nice one . . . Also meditated for a about half an hour which i am just about coming to grips with - finally have found some thing constructive to think about whilst everyone is ommming and umming - I am sending good thoughts and presents to everyone I love - or even remotely like - if the thing drags on! So Nan watch our for a bright sunny day and Katy i sent you a butterfly. Think that presents will get more random and silly as time goes on! So glad I have found a way to occupy my mind through meditation classes as I am really looking forward to a 10 day stay at a Buddhist monsatary in April but see that meditation is a large part of the day. If anyone has any other entertaining ideas for how I can occupy my mind during meditation just let me know! Think the idea is to clear your mind of all thoughts but I spend most of the rest of my day doing that!!
Night before last we checked out the dance festival at Sunshine cafe but it was pretty dead - one lone drummer (where's half the population of Goa when u need it!) and just a lot of mossys feasting on us silly fools on the rooftop. Luckily the Oscars was showing in the room downstairs - yeah tele!!! So we hang out and watched those for awhile before heading back to the ashram where we were late for curfew (whoops!!)
So leave Tiru today at 4pm to head back down to Varkala to meet up with Annie - YIPPEE!! Have missed her loads and can't wait to catch up on all her ashram goss!
And just have to say that I really loved Pondi and Auroville - had heard all bad things about these places but luckily still went as Tim was going. And so glad I did - Pondi is just the cleanest, neatest town i've come across and the food is to die for! Auroville is similar but has a more hippy, community feel to it and loads more health shops (pigged out on quiche, brown bread, cheese and cookies!)! There is also a beatiful beach between Pondi and Auroville which was totally unexpected but just divine! It would be a great place to really spend some quality time maybe next time . . Trying to make the most of all beaches before we head North as we won't being seeing a beach for a long time. Maybe not even until my return to BLighty : ( Cornwall beaches here i come . . .
Got a 24 hr stomach bug here yesterday after eating a guava from a stand at the bus stop. I was a damn fool and ate one bite of the skin - that'll learn me! Fully recovered now but am sticking to omelette and toast - don't want any toilet accidents on the bus tonight!! A girls worst nightmare : (
Miss folks back home tons - so lots of love to you all xxxx
