Solo in Delhi

Happy International Women's Day to all the strong, beautiful, intelligent women in my life! I love you all. 

Once again, I find myself alone... but this time in New Delhi, India. There have been some unfortunate events (a plane crash at Kathmandu airport) that have led to my friends leaving early this morning to take a 30-40 hour bus ride to Nepal to start their trek. Luckily I am in a very safe area of Delhi at the Moustache Hostel. It is about 8:30am... woke up to see my friends off and just had breakfast while mingling with other travelers. It is so inspiring to hear about their adventures-- some people traveling for a year or even more, seeing the world. Met another American from Washington D.C. this morning who is only in India for 2 weeks. The holy city of Varanasi brings him here. I was telling him about my experiences on the farm, the Ashram and my current/future plans to give back to communities in India. He told me that my journey "put his to shame"... while is just here to have fun, I am changing the world. 

I wish more people that traveled here as tourists found a desire to help rather than looking at the poverty dead in the face and continuing to do nothing about. But I guess that everyone has a different calling. This just happens to be mine. Direct action and direct change. I wouldn't see it any other way. 

Anyway, I thought that I would be so nervous being in this city alone but I feel okay with it. It is a good day to reflect in solitude (but not really in solitude because there are so many people here at this hostel) about the last month and the next seven weeks ahead. Early tomorrow morning, I catch a flight to Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India to reunite with the one I love and the beautiful Shanti Ashram. This has been a rough month for all of us... being sick multiple times. I anticipate the next month being much better, simply by being in the same place for 3.5 weeks in a city (just outside a city) I am somewhat familiar with. 

Time for some job/soul searching...

Moustache Hostel

Now in Greater Kailash in south Delhi. Before I left, one of my favorite people and co-workers Gary Urick gave me some great words of wisdom... that my fears and concerns of traveling alone in India (or even not alone) were rooted from other people's fears. Months of lost sleep over my lack of planning and safety concerns but here I am, one month into this journey and I feel perfectly safe in what is considered the rape capital of India... His words run through my head today as I relax in the coolest backpacker hostel I've ever seen. Don't get me wrong, Delhi can be very unsafe if you don't know what you're doing... and by no means do I recommend women to travel here alone (there are so many other places you can travel alone here) but as long as you're smart about it, you will be fine.

Anyway, I am beyond excited to travel back to Coimbatore on Monday morning!! To see some familiar faces, to meet new ones, and most importantly, be in the same city with the one I love for almost a month. I will be volunteering once again at Shanti Ashram, a place very close to my heart in so many ways to work with youth and the environment and see how some of our other fundraising initiatives are put into action.

Before Delhi, we made it to Agra to see the magnificent Taj Mahal. I have never seen something so flawlessly beautiful in my life... the entire time I was there, I felt like I was admiring something out of a painting. Its magnificence is so overwhelming, it feels like a dream world. The greatest sentiment to true love, the Taj is completely semetrical on all sides. Naturally I took a million photos as it's a photographer's absolute paradise.

Today we will see the Lotus Temple here in Delhi-- a temple of the Baha'i faith, built in the 1980s. Hoping to see some wildlife too at some animal sanctuaries.

This trip has taught me so much about myself and my inner strength. To keep going and stay positive even during a lingering illness. It hasn't been easy but it has made me a stronger person. I will never, ever, ever take my health for granted, ever again. Or the pure Michigan air... or the clean water I can drink from the tap... or the sweet embrace of my friends and family (which I am seriously deprived of today). This month has also taught me a lot about detachment... not only from those I love but especially from material things. It is a Buddhist principle that is always easier said than done but living out of a backpack with the bare essentials, you stop caring about things and more about survival. Now, if I fear I have lost something, I think, oh well... it's only a ______..... it is replaceable... it is not permanent...

Anyway, I am finally taking antibiotics to treat my illness. I can already feel them helping... I have an appetite again and the stomach cramps are subsiding when I eat. On the road to recovery just in time for month 2 in south India. Monday (Saturday here now), I will depart from my friends and have a solo journey in Coimbatore.

Sorry if these posts are rather boring... too sick to be philosophical at the moment but maybe my time alone will bring back my poetic self.

Also, if you're reading this and are in Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti, I will be home the end of April and am desperate for a job. Please keep an eye out for me... hoping for something full time in conservation, non profits, communication, farming, etc. Thanks!!

Peace and love.

Goodbye Banares

Last night in Varanasi... Tomorrow we travel to Agra. I haven't seen as much as I would have liked to here in Banares due to food poisoning and then yesterday, I caught some kind of stomach flu :/ therefore, it hasn't been the spiritual journey I would have hoped for, being in the holiest city. But I have realized that my spiritual quest can be reached anywhere...

We've been spending a lot of time at the Brown Bread Bakery (where we've been volunteering) because we get 50% off food :D and because they have live tabla and sarod/sitar concerts every evening. Other than that, it hasn't been the most eventful week. Went to explore the Ganges again last night and watch the puja and it started to rain. It felt so nice outside! Finally a bit if relief from the heat.

Tomorrow evening, we travel to Agra to the fort and the famous Taj Mahal! It is a place I've always dreamed of seeing. Then, onwards to Delhi where we meet our friend Kristina. Celebrating holi at a private (and hopefully very safe!) festival. We are escaping Delhi on the weekend and headed to Ramnagar to see Jim Corbett National Park and see eleohant/tiger safaris!!!

March 9, I board a plane to Coimbatore and return to a beautiful place with beautiful people :) just one more week until I return to Shanti Ashram!