India Still Has My Heart

It is 3:00 in the morning here as I write this. I got back home from India yesterday and collapsed in bed at about 6:00 pm! I have so very much to tell you about my wonderful trip. It was life changing in a subtle kind of way. There’s so much to tell that I’ll be spreading out my stories and thoughts over several posts. I think I have enough written in my journal for the next three months of posts!

Being able to be present for the Shishya Swekaram in Sringeri was staggering. I thank the Gods and whatever karma allowed me to witness this once in a lifetime event. But I’ll tell you all about that in due course. Let me start at the beginning of my adventures…

It all started Wednesday January 14th when my husband dropped me off at the airport and I flew to Boston to meet up with my parents. I took my one little suitcase packed tight with saris. I spent Thursday with my parents running errands and getting prepared and then my dad and I got picked up to go to the airport. I was able to make this trip because my mother wasn’t feeling well and so I took her spot. It’s a sad reason but I’m also grateful for the opportunity I got.

At the airport we met up with the rest of our travel companions, seven of my parents friends from the Advaita Meditation Center. Six of these people I have known since I was born. They all have children around my age or my younger brother’s age. Some I haven’t seen in many years. The seventh friend is someone know to the AMC but he was also our guide in India. It was a delight to meet Sundar and I don’t know what we would have done without him. He knew all kinds of spiritual sites for us to visit that we probably would not have found on our own and also coordinated our stay and our driver, etc.

So after we all met up we got checked in and onto our flight which was twelve hours long. I had started out with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement but a flight that long was draining it out of me. Then we had a middle of the night layover of seven hours in Dubai before flying another four hours to Chennai. By the time we were on that second flight I was starting to get nervous.

I wondered if this time in India would live up to the great experience I had there in 2011. Maybe that had been a fluke! Maybe I was going to be unhappy and missing home! What would I do if I didn’t feel the same way about it this time? What if I was going to ruin my memories of my last trip by having a bad experience this time? (Can you tell I worry needlessly a lot? It’s a habit I’m trying to curb but it’s difficult!)

But then we touched down in Chennai and stepped off the plane and my spirits lifted instantly. Joy flooded into me. The feel of India under my feet was immediately just as wonderful as it had been last time. Again I felt a sense of homecoming.

I was ready for the adventures I was about to embark on.