Good-bye Mumbai.....

Mumbai is very tiring.  It is hard to get anything done here.  It is so crowded, with 13.2 million people.  I met an Indian woman the other day who grew up in NYC and she told, "Mumbai is the slums of India, you should get out".   Tomorrow we go to Kerala, in the south of India.

 

Much thanks to the wonderful man Norbert at the hotel we have come to, for all his help in organizing our trip to Kerala.  Between the mania of Mumbai and my efforts, we would have taken forever to get outta here!

Right now I sit in the hotel and can here the Gayatri Mantra playing in the background.  There is a little electric plastic shrine with lights all over  and a picture of "God" that constantly plays the Gayatri or a number of other Hindi Mantras.

The hotel is nice.  Very helpful, with breakfast included. 

Namaste

Monsoon Season

We have come to India during the Monsoon season.  The rains have been coming in downpours lasting a couple hours at most and then on and off all day.  Ruby and I enjoy using umbrellas since we come from a place where umbrellas are not only unheard of but people are laughed at if you use one, besides, if you use one in Kodiak it will not last for very long, due to the high winds that eventually will blow your umbrella inside out!  At least here, the rains are warm!  Nevertheless, it is still rain and grey and the skies become somewhat dreary.

Besides the rain, we are faced with other challenges.  But thanks to God's Grace and Kripa we are continually blessed with so many, many things.  We do not have a permanent place to stay here nor do we have a place/school for Ruby to go to. 
After so many months of not working, (with the exception of being "Mom") I am ready for something for myself, and I know Ruby would love school or other children to play with.

As it is in India, things take time and one must have patience to get things done.  Even the simple things.  Being the solo parent of a four year old, that patience must be doubled, or okay, tripled, since we are in India.  We are blessed to have a place to stay that has a refrigerator, but no oven or stove.  As we have been on the road for so many months (going on 8), I tire of public bathrooms and of eating out. To some it may sound 'luxurious' and so 'fun' or how 'lucky' to have to eat out all the time. And like I said, we are blessed and lucky, but aren't we all - if we each count our own blessings?  God is wonderful, if we allow Him/Her to bless us with His/Her love, blessings.  I don't know exactly why I am here, but does everyone else know why they are doing what they are doing? Or why they are where they are? Do you? 

I have had some amazing experiences and coincidences happen over the past 8 months.  I have allowed Divine intervention and I have opened my eyes to be led by Divine Guidance.  I have chosen to not stay in a small town, limiting my experiences to a few square miles.  Perhaps I 'lack' what this world calls 'success'.   I do not have an ivy league education nor do I have a million dollars in the bank. What I do have is faith. I have experience. My faith and my experience.   

"Limited knowledge gives limited experience" B.K.S. Iyengar


Maybe I sound confused.  Well, yes, I admit it. I have been very  confused.   Good thing I do yoga:

"Yoga is a subject that clears confusion and develops clarity in the practitioner" B.K.S. Iyengar

I pity those who live in such small spaces with limiting experiences, those that go around believing they know all because they are so busy with their very important jobs with their large paychecks. And their very important lives, not allowing a small spark of Divine intervention into their own lives because they do not need it. Their life is too important or too busy for such nonsense!

And so we must go, out into the monsoon again.

Now, we have been in India for about 10 days.  I think just about every day I ask myself , "what am I doing here?! What are WE doing here!?".  Every day, I receive an answer to this question.  India has been calling me back and back and back again.  After 7 long months of travelling through Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand,  and now India where we have been welcomed by Father Joe, I feel quite relieved, quite at home even if for just a short while.

We are staying at a busy intersection where 4 streets meet.  The sounds of the streets never end.  They are starting to blend in with the surroundings.  The honking of horns, the rumbling of a large bus or truck, the different sounds of all the cars, rikshaws, the grumble of a motorbike, screech of another rikshaw .  All through the night, all through the day.

Yesterday we took a rikshaw drive to go check out some shops.  Things don't open up here until around 10 or 11.  We got caught in the rain, the pouring down, monsoon rain.  People waded in the water up to their calves, rode their bicycles getting drenched.  We decided we didn't want to get out. The "mall" didn't open for another 15 minutes and we did not want to wait in the rain. Okay, so call us wimps. We are from Kodiak where it rains sideways and upside down and its freezing rain and blowing 70 miles per hour. And we did not want to get out in the tropical monsoon!  The rikshaw driver got mad because I could not make up my mind on what to do. Yet, I couldn't communicate to him how I just wanted to drive around in the rain, looking and watching.  He insisted I pay him 300 rupees, which was about 100 rupees too much from what I figured.  By the time he did drop us off, we'd been driving around for an hour.  I paid him 110 rupees, he looked at me with disappointment and I gave him another 10 and argued the point with him.  He seemed fine with 120 rupees.

The monsoon rain continues.  We have one umbrella. Ruby holds me close as we walk down the street and we huddle under to stay dry.   Or we hop into a rikshaw since it will keep us dry.

The frustration of being here almost drives me to buy a one way ticket -- anywhere. But the lure of it here keeps me.  I know we are here for a reason. I know everything happens for a reason. 

The frustration of not being able to find a roll of toilet paper because I have my daughter with me and she would rather take a rikshaw than walk and search for the things we need.  And it is easier to take a rikshaw to the foreign owned bagel shop that has free wi fi, than it is to walk down to the stores in search of what we need (ie: toilet paper;hair rubberbands; shampoo; bread; yogurt; juice; snacks). Each store carries different things, so it's not like shopping at a super market where I can get everything in one stop. I don't even know yet where each of these stores are exactly located.  There is only one of me and Ruby has been with me just about every single moment - except when she goes to play with the upstairs neighbor boy.

What am I doing here!? What are we doing here?

"The Lord shall lead us..." Father Joe said this to me a few days ago, and yes He shall and He is.

May the Lord lead you to , whoever is reading this!

Arrival in India

We have been in Mumbai since June 29.  It has been really great to see Father Joe Periera, Ruby's Godfather and a very wonderful man on this planet.  Also, to see some of the Kripa staff that I met some years back when I came through India.  For those of you reading my blog, I just want people to know we are doing fine and are well taken care of, thanks to Father Joe.  To find out more about him you can check out his Kripa website at: http://www.kripafoundation.org/

Ruby and I are both a little hot during the day, but we are managing fine.

At this time please consider us in your prayers as to the best place we belong here in India, thank you.
I will keep you posted. By the way, who is reading this?

Namaste~