Hyderabad...

Many things in life cannot be explained...We typically want to know and are at times impatient...I know I can be in that mind space at times.
It was nice to take pause with friends for a few days and I had the opportunity to visit some amazing sites there as well...
The days were met in coolness which was a divine experience...So welcomed after the heat of the south.
It was interesting to see how much I needed to rest upon arrival to Hyderabad and I tried my best to honor that request from the body.
I did visit the temple there but was informed that foreigners Nadi Leaves are kept in Tamil Nadu state. That is where Chennai is located and so I will have to wait until I head back there for that invetigation ala 'Sherlock Holmes'...
Spending time with Manyam and his family, whom took me to the temple for Nadi Leaves, gifted me with the opportunity to meet their guru fondly known as 'Baba'. This was a unique experience to say the least and I was asked back again prior to my departure. We went back again and Baba and I shared in private conversation. The long and the short of it is that he has invited me back to stay with him for awhile so as he can share his teachings with me. An unordinary invitation from an, apparantly, extraordinary healer...I hope for a translator because he speaks Telugu! I have decided to return and head back in April after short visits to Varanasi and Agra...
I left Hyderabad on an early, early train at 625am heading back to Delhi. It was on this train that I noticed my continuing train to Hardiwar was not for the following day when I was to arrive in Delhi but the next day. I really did not wish to spend a day in Delhi to be honest. It would be a great deal of energy and cost to move away from the train station, to a hotel/guesthouse and then back again. I was able to cancel my ticket with a small loss and then rebook another ticket onward that same day.
After checking my baggage into the cloakroom there at the train station, amongst the scurrying mice, I headed out to find an auto to take me to Connaught Place for lunch. I was hungry after not having ate since the previous afternoon.
Down a dark alley among a dozen or so fading signs I found a cyber cafe to respond and send some emails then it was off to catch the next train to Hardiwar leaving at 325pm!
This time all I took was a chair coach as the trip was only 4 hours and I shared my area with Hiro, a photographer from Japan also heading to Rishikesh. He is taking photographs of Mother Ganga from Rishikesh to Kolkatta (Calcutta) where she returns to the Bay of Bengal in full flow of sacred reverance.
After arriving in Hardiwar Hiro and I hired an auto to complete the 45 minute journey further north to beloved Rishikesh. The temperature reminds me of a cold winter night in Vancouver but feels even colder when I remember where I have just traveled from. The auto is thrusting forward in full speed and I wrap my shawl around me even tighter including my head. Having never experienced the 'Outback Journey' I get a sense that it is probably like this! We travel so fast I am trying to acclimitize to the new place I am in, the place I have dreamt of, the place I have sought, the place I have yearned to see, to smell, to feel, to witness and a smile creeps across my face as though I am 'in the know' of a fabulous secret...
It is a beautiful, humbling feeling that is a challenge to articulate. I only wish I could show you my heart as it is flowering, blooming and beating to the song that has carried me here for an experience, an unfolding of collective understanding, love and surrender...
Om Namaha Shivaya
Jennifer