Dear friends,
I am in India!
The last 10 days have been filled with wonder, excitement and bewilderment. In fact, a sense of reality has just started to make its way into my mind.
I and Misha have settled down in MacLeod Ganj, Uttar Pradesh, Northern India. The area called Dharamsala is in the skirts of the Himalayas and is a shelter to the Tibetan government in exile and to many Tibetans who keep on arriving as refugees from Chinese Tibet every single day.
It is a beautiful place, secluded in the green of the mountains and the mist of the monsoon (yes, we are in the middle of it!) To keep you far from imagining an ideal cave of a sage-maditator, I'll mention the motorbikes and the everhonking mini and extra mini vehicles, circumdriving the cows that freely roam the already narrow streets of this mecca for young Western seekers of truth, spiritual guidance, adventure and God know what else. Still you could not even closely compare this with the cacophony of sounds that accompanied our taxi ride from the Delhi airport (but about it later).
We managed to escape the hum of the town by renting a room from a Tibetan family in a house up the hill, between the settlement and the Tushita meditation centre. Weekday mornings we climb the steep road to enlightenment to meditate in a group and we even took our first two day course in meditation and Buddhist philosophy.
About the place we live in, those who have questioned our capacity for peaceful co-living in the bachelor apartment in Toronto, would be truly impressed by the extend of this same capacity here. The room is half of the mentioned bachelor apartment with a tiny kitchen, which we learnt, we share with the local monkeys....(that it is when we store our vegetables too close to the bars of the window :-) We have hot water all the time, providing there is no electricity problem, and our landlords are real gems!
The town which population is largely Tibetan has its charm and I am starting to loosen up, meaning I don't jump at the first honk behind me and wait until it gets really close (the cows taught me there is no need of hurry :-) I and Misha have discovered some temptatios places to eat and may be even to learn how to cook this spice magic. Other plans include yoga courses and two meditation retreats: the notoriously ascetic Vipassana (10 days of silence, 12 hr of meditation daily, and very little food and sleep....), and the Tushita "introduction to Buddhism" which probably will feel like a Hawaiian vacation after the first one. Will write again after the silence. Stay tuned!
I hope you are all well and happy. I'd be glad if you shared what inspires you these days.
With much love,
Teodora
P.S.: I am also working on my travel blog and will let you know when it will be ready, so that I can share with you our European adventure. Please let me know if you do not wish to be on my distribution list. Namaste!
