It's amazing how I've gone so quickly from one extreme to the other today....
My day started at 3am in Delhi. I was feeling just awful...frustrated, alone, doubtful, scared. I wondered if coming here was a bhorrible mistake. I was exhausted but I couldn't sleep and had a train to catch at 6am. I went downstairs to see the time (3am) and I ended up talking to the hotel receptionist about how horrible I was feeling. I had a long and much needed cry. Thank God he had an attentive ear and loving heart for me!
I told him how totally drained and alone I was feeling. It seemed that 90% of people I talked to were trying to scam me or take advantage of me. And people spit all the time in Delhi, no matter if you are walking right there, so I got spit on my foot 2 times (I think by accident)...and mind you I was wearing sandals with no socks. Then a rickshaw driver walked right into me and stepped on my foot on purpose! I yelled at him, but it didn't help the stab I felt from his assault. The pollution stung my eyes and stuck in my throat. The markets weren't as great as I had expected....and I had major PMS as well!!
But this story is about change.
So I caught the train at 6am to Jaipur. The train ride was wonderful...complete with complimentary food, drink, local newspaper and great music to listen to. I sat next to a very kind hearted man--a soldier stationed in Kashmir coming home for a visit with is wife and 3 children. We chatted pleasantly during the ride. I laughed as he casually read eveything that I was writing in my journal as we rode! (Here there is no sense of privacy--its no big deal to read what someone has written down!) He kindly showed me to the tourist office in the train station when we arrived, which would have been difficult to locate on my own. He said, "You must call me when you get back to the US so I know that you have arrived safely with your family and you are ok, just call and say you are ok, ok?"
I got a free ride from the hotel transport from the station, avoiding the shifty drivers hanging around the station. This hotel is about 1000 times better than the hotel in Delhi. As I explored the hotel, I began to feel ecstatic...I mean like I-can't-wipe-the-huge-goofy-smile-off-of-my-face-ecstatic!! The place is gorgeous and clean and the staff are super super super helpful. I feel like a queen. This is the setting I need to be in that helps me feel like an actual jewelry importer...not just some dirty backpacking hippy.
And not only that: Some of you reading may know this and others do not, but for that month or so, I've been having many many coincidences that have to do with peacock feathers. To avoid a longer story here, basically peacock feathers have been showing up in my life almost daily for a month in various ways, and it feels meaningful to me. So the thing about this hotel is that it is decorated with images of peacocks everywhere!! Peacocks painted on the wall and carved into the ornate door! And when you walk up to the lookout point at the very top of the hotel, you see a huge image of fully splayed peacok feathers painted on the roof!! It all feels very good to me. Feels like I am in the right place now.
All of this in less than 12 hours.
