Himalaya- a spiritual home.

Hey everyone!
Just wanted to let you all know that I'm fine and arrived in Mcloud Ganj yesterday after a 12-hour bus journey (very comfy bus, nice travelling companions, the hours flew by). If anyone has been concerned that I haven't replied to texts- I got my phone nicked. Not ideal but it was old, had no talktime on it and had my INdian sim card in it so no tragedy. It was pilfered while I was queueing to get into the Bahai temple in Delhi- oh the irony (No, my friend that is definitely not the way to get to heaven- it says right here- NO NICKING- YOU JOLLY GREAT TEALEAF!!!)
Mcloud (as all the cool kids are calling it) is small- two main streets, packed with tourists (mostly with dreadocks and a fixed smile on) and it's rained all day today. But yesterday was gorgeous- big blue sky, snow capped peaks in the distance. The Himalaya have definitely been calling me for a long time (if anyone feels like it and has the time- read The Snow Leopard by Peter Mathieson- it'll explain a lot).
I took a rainy walk to the village along the valley where I plan to stay after Wednesday and do my yoga course. It's much quieter over there- lots of trees and slopes. On my way back I stopped for a chai and was invited by Ravi, the chai chappie, to share his fire. People here seem pretty genuine- of course they are making money out of us but they are friendly. This place has a nice feeling- maybe the Dalai Lama living down the street has something to do with it. As I was just about to leave, two Indian ladies and a little boy came in out of the rain looking for coffees. They drew me into a conversation and before I knew it they had shared their plan and mission for the future of the world. They are here in Dharmshala to help the Dalai Lama because 'he doesn't seem to be getting very far negotiating the CHinese out of Tibet'. One of the ladies is the second coming (although she is actually the 68th) and the other is not from this galaxy but is an astral being from a planet 70 times larger than earth and populated by 67 giant men. Among the other tasks they have on this earth are taking the energy away from all places of religion so that religions die their natural death. They say religions are tired and in pain and need to have a rest so they can come back refreshed and actually do some good. Wicked idea.
In addition to this mighty task, the second coming lady is going to bring on the next phase of the earth (at present we are in the age of Kalyag- darkness). She is going to bring on the Age of Truth which will last for 16.5 billion years (I may have some of my figures confused here- she rattled them off at a great rate of knots). During the Age of Truth, women will run the earth and the other 6 planets that will all join together like interlocking rings. At some point we will all start moving from one to the other for various purposes- sounds alright until you realise that eventually we will start fighting wars of supremacy again (oh silly humans). It's ok though 'cos she's going to stop that before it turns into an Afghanistan-type thing. Speaking of which they are also in the process of sending out energy to stop wars and get George Bush (among others) punished for their sins. When all the religions die, we will have to pay immediately for our sins 'cos Jesus, Allah, etc will no longer be taking the flack for us. Think on...
On a personal note- the astral being lady tapped into her cosmic energy and informed me that I was a yak herder in a former life which makes a whole lot of sense to me- I love horse riding in the mountains, I like yaks too and wearing big felt hats. I also occasionally catch a faint whiff of yak butter coming off me when I exert myself. And all this completely free. It's all coming together for me here in Mcloud...
Photos next time. Yoga course starts Thursday.
Love and positive vibrations to you one and all.

Igatpuri- Vipassana Meditation Centre

This is the meditation hall where I spent a good 9 hours a day practising anapana meditation to still and focus the mind (this involves focusing on the area around the nose, noticing the sensations on the surface of the skin. We did this for 4 days until our mind had become very aware, focused and atuned) and vipassana meditation in which we focused on the sensations on the entire body, starting from the top of the head and moving down the body. After 2 days of this I felt waves of vibrations all over the body. At this point we were taught to move our awareness in a sweeping motion from top to bottom and bottom to top of the body. At times my whole body shook (some people are said to actually jump on the spot and shake violently), I had strong fevers while meditating and sometimes strong emotional reactions. I likened it to a mind detoxification.
Some amusing side effects were songs that stuck in my head, to which I knew all the lyrics including Spandau Ballet, who I've never actively listened to in my life. I also had a day when I got ideas and images for a novel which I really do plan to write (a historical sci-fi, a cross between Margaret Atwood's 'A Handmaid's Tale' and Harry Potter?!).
Not talking for 9 days was a pleasure, I didn't find it hard at all. In fact, having to talk on day 10 was one of the most traumatic events of my life. Also I didn't have any cravings for any missing foods, drinks, fags etc. By day 6 I had halved my appetite and was only needing about 3 hours sleep a night (quite common in regular meditators apparently).
My compassion rates soared: on day one I was close to killing all the women in the room who 'disturbed' my meditation by coughing. On day 7 or 8, when one of the loudest started spluttering I thought, 'That poor woman sounds really sick'.
I would recommend one of these 10 day courses to anyone interested in the way their mind works, the relationship between mind and body (mind and matter), anyone who has difficulty living with their thoughts or who suffers from stress, depression... I haven't changed in some dramatic way into the calm, happy, tolerant and non-irritable person I would like to be, but I do feel somewhat more at ease with the thoughts and feelings that sometimes bother me. I think I'm beginning to allow those thoughts to go on in the background and to realise that they are not really 'me'.
This is the gong that summoned us to the hall at 4am and at intermitent periods throughout the day until 9pm.









This is my cushion- I sat on it for many hours and experienced quite a lot of pain on it. One day my mind convinced intself that my thigh would actually break if I didn't move (we had to sit entirely still for 1 hour, 3 times a day which was a challenge. I managed it 4 only times).

This is R block, where my little bedroom was. Very comfortable it was too- with hot buckets baths available every morning.

The view from the path that I spent my free time looking at:

Mumbai February 2009

I had an interesting time in Mumbai walking around and taking taxis, being accosted by eunuchs and chatted up by Bollywood wannabes. One particular day stands out: I hired a driver who took me round some of the sights of the city which I probably wouldn't have known about or found on foot. Paul (my guide and excellent driver) was very professional and knowledgeable and I'd highly recommend him for an air conditioned tour of this fascinating city (You can find him and his mate GA Kundar hanging out in the morning near the Gateway to India- Gateway Travels mobile 9821005838/ 9867472989).
Some Mumbai signs:

Don't forget your stetson if they do a bad job!

The Gateway of India.

The Taj Hotel where I snuck in for a beer (which was all I could afford on the weak pound).

Some Mumbai residences in an old Goan quarter. It looks pretty peaceful down this back alley but up the road is one of the busiest and noisiest streets I've ever had the misfortune of being lost on.

A lovely example of Catholicism with Indian characteristics at Saint Theresa's church.

Lots of art deco buildings along the Marine Drive where I had a really nice walk in spite of the smog.

One of my favourite places in Mumbai- Mahalaxhmi Dhobi Ghat, a small village next to the railway tracks where the laundry from much of Mumbai is washed, dried and ironed in huge quantities every day.

Loser!!

No blog about travelling in India would be complete without a little section on Delhi Belly. It is with great regret that I must admit to losing the bet I made before leaving UK last year that I wouldn't fall victim to a bout of Montezuma's Revenge. 6 months of eating ice-creams in dodgy restaurants, brushing my teeth in the tap water and asking for ice in my drinks had no effect on my iron constitution. However 2 samosas on a train station platform somewhere between Mumbai and Bangalore was all it took to make it all go hideously and explosively awry! I have now been ill for nearly 2 weeks and things only seem to be getting worse. I have lost weight, can't eat anything but plain rice and feel sick quite a lot. I'm waiting for the results of tests at the mo- will it be salmonella or an amoeba or...???! Gladly my doc has ruled out Hep A and Typhoid! Yippee.

Homeward Bound

As many people know, I have had to come back to dear old Blighty for a while as my poor Pops had a minor heart attack on the 23rd of Feb. I was in a small, one horse town on the border of three states in southern India (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala) when I heard the news. Luckily I was with a family friend at the time who was ace and helped me buy plane tickets, get cars and even accompanied me the 6 hours to Bangalore airport. It wasn't all hell on a stick either- I got upgraded to business class for my BA flight back to London and took full advantage of the free Pouilly-Fume (don't you know) to calm my nerves and wipe out all the good I did on the meditation course. Anyway, Pater is back home, up to his usual tricks involving red wine and being a grumpy old man and we're not too worried about him anymore. After 18 years of wasting my driver's licence and claiming to be the most rubbish driver on the planet, I've been chauffering dad around (he can't drive for a month) and haven't knocked down any buildings yet.
I'm sure everyone is dying to see my photos of my last couple of weeks in India (!!?) but I'm afraid you'll just have to find something else to occupy yourselves with for the time being. My dad's computer is virtually a fossil and if I even attempt to upload photos onto it, it will no doubt freeze for eternity and put me in a very bad mood. Watch this space though 'cos a new computer in on the horizon...

Mumbai Mania!!??!

I've been in Mumbai nearly 4 days now and I'm starting to get to grips with the areas I've stayed in- Kemps Corner (centre-north) and Churchgate (centre). Sadly I can't upload any images as, despite the much lauded cyber boom that's meant to be hitting India, it's nigh on impossible to find a decent computer for public use. But then I am crap at finding things so give me another couple of days.
Because of my fear of crowds, noise, filth and general agarophobia (sorry for spelling error), I decided to 'Bill Bryson it' and do as many things as possible each day in a 5 hour period at which point I would crawl back to my room and watch horrendous rubbish on CNN, order room service, do yoga and recover. It worked for the first three days- I saw the hanging gardens (not sure if it's a popular suicide destination but I didn't see much hanging. Good view of CHowpatty Beach and cityscape though), the Ghandi museum (very inspirational), the Mahalaxmi temple (where I prayed more more wealth for everyone), the ALi Haji mosque (where I had my first major encounter with lots of beggars- it is shocking how many poor and disabled people there are here and it's a big issue for me that I have thought about for years and haven't reached any decisions about yet. I just know that if I was in their situation I would probably want someone to have pity on me and give me some money. And it makes me feel so grateful that I'm not in their situation. I also got asked for money twice through a taxi window by some transvestites- they are famous in Mumbai for causing havoc at weddings etc where they threaten to put a curse on you if you don't pay them for their entertainment. They were really cute and much more convincing than any I've seen back home!). I also went to an amazing place which is a hamlet of people who wash clothes- they all live there and there are huge washing tanks and loads of clothes hanging up to dry. I got some good photos of that.
Yesterday I changed hotels from a bit of a dump in Kents Corner to a nicer place in Churchgate and hibernated/ hid for a day. The pollution, noise and general bonkersness became too much and I felt I needed to regroup, watch Oprah and American Idol (thank god for TV) and eat Western crap food.
Today I'm back at 'em- I walked past the Oval Maidan where the cricket was on, saw the court house, university, modern art museum and Chatapatri Shivaji Museum which was all very nice and interesting. Bill would be proud of me- I even carefully examined the military section of the museum, comparing swords and daggers (YAWN!!).
Now I'm off to Mocha for an...Iced coffee and to finish my really bad poem- the only thing I like about it is the title which is all I'll be sharing:
'Don't Mocha Me!' (sorry- I'm lonely and don't have anyone to talk to and I've only got bad AmericanTV to watch etc!!). It's about how whenever I've run into a coffee place in India to escape from the lunacy and heat, I've ended up being bombarded by either heavy metal or banging house music!

Changi International

Ok I'm not going to pretend that I've actually been to Singapore but I have just spent a very pleasant 8 hours of the night here waiting for my onward flight to Mumbai. Top tip from me if you ever have to do the same thing: pay 25 quid and get 6 hours sleep plus shower and refreshments (including a semi decent little brekkie) at the rainforest lounge. I actually got some sleep and may be able to arrive in Mumbai with my wits about me.
So off to my next adventure- I don't mind sharing the fact that, not really being a city or large crowd gal, I am bricking it about staying in Mumbai so long but I have found a yoga place with an authorised ashtanga teacher where I can sweat out my fear and I am rather looking forward to getting on the Shantaram (google it/him) trail.