Where am? At my friend’s home, 20 minutes walk from the
hospital
How am I? Great. Enjoying every minute.
So
I decided to travel with my friend, Eileen, that she is going back to CA on
January 31st. We went to Amritapuri for one night, she owns a flat
there and I stayed with her. Then we went on to the beach resort community,
Varkala, and I only stayed one night. Eileen is still there. She is friends
with the owner of the Guest House which was voted #1 with Trip Advisor. See for
yourself: http://www.tripadvisor.in/TravelersChoice-Hotels-cBargain
Now
I have to tell you, a while back I was asked to go to Trip Advisor and rate the
place as a favor to Eileen and the owner and I chose not to do it. If you can’t say something nice about someone
or something, don’t say it at all, right?
But I actually like my own room at the Guest House at the hospital better
than I like the hotel. I’m more comfortable. The hotel is nice, and the owner
does bend over backwards to treat you well, but it does not have hot water
showers! So if I want a cold shower I can get that at home at the hospital. So that is why I am hanging out at my friend’s
home right now. While Eileen is away, her roommate doesn’t like to be alone so
I stay in their guest room WITH hot water showers. Sweet deal.
When
I come back to the US I will never take anything for granted again. I
consider myself so blessed to have been born in the USA with freedoms,
opportunities, enough food to eat, clean water to drink, public transit you can
take without feeling your life can end any minute! (I just reread this sentence
and I remember riding the NY Subway sometimes thinking my life could end in a
minute! But that was not because of the equipment but the passengers that rode
it!)
But
I can also say I am so grateful to have lived here for this time, especially as
the time is running out I am appreciating every last minute.
I had to travel
from Varkala by myself since Eileen stayed behind. The first train (Eileen
recommended I take two trains and to change after an hour) was just as Eileen
predicted… only more than I can express! I grew up in NY and I know packed
trains during rush hour, but with the crowd trying to get on this train was WAY
beyond anything I ever saw. And the train was about to leave and I had paid for
it so if I didn’t get on, I wasn’t going anywhere! I had thought I would get on the Ladies Only
car but it was the very last car on the train and there were so many people
there that I couldn’t see a door. I hurried back up the train platform looking
for a car that was not a sleeper so there would be seats. As the train
started moving I jumped on the train and settled in for the one hour ride
standing in the entryway by the door. I found a little space behind the door where my backpack fit and I put it there for protection and also so it wouldn’t
trip people as they got on and off the train. I leaned against the wall and
held on to whatever I could find to hold. The hour passed quickly and when I
got on the next train, it was a local passenger train and was relatively empty.
There were two other women sleeping lying down on the seats in my compartment
so I took the single seat next to the window. It was pleasant just watching the
countryside as we passed.
Some H.S. school girls came on and took the next
compartment. It was fun watching them as all children act the same. Two shared
the earplugs of a headset so they could listen to the same music. School
children all wear uniforms here in India so that’s how I know they were
students. The students and the one of the sleeping women got off and a woman
with a little girl got on with her Mom (the grandmother) and there was an older
man who I wasn’t sure if he was with them or not. When the second sleeping
woman got off I found out he was with them and the four of them took over the
compartment. The little girl was so sweet that by the end of the trip, she was blowing
me kisses and I returned them to her.
The
sun was setting and I got to see a beautiful sunset. And as we passed the
villages I also got to see their life process. Indians are extremely
spiritual/religious. All the auto-rickshaws and taxis have small alters inside
with their particular belief system. Muslims would have Arabic writing but
sometimes it is in English and they have written By the Grace of Allah. Christians have pictures of Jesus and Mary,
sometimes a rosary hanging from the rear view mirror. (My Mom had one herself
so I’m used to that!) But the Hindi have a cornucopia of deities: Krishna, Shiva, Lakshmi, etc. And they have
lights around them that flash colors, and sometimes incense sticks burning.
What is really amusing are the “hybrids”, with a combination of two religions! There's the statue of Krishna and the Rosary.
And
there is a centuries old custom of lighting an oil lamp outside the doorway at
sunset. I asked about it and I got several answers: to chase away bad spirits,
to welcome Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, and to ,,, I finally just Googled it
and here’s the answer: Light symbolizes the absence of darkness, grief & unhappiness.
Almighty's divine grace is spread all over the house by lighting the lamps. That makes sense but it was very interesting to see all the
houses that had lamps lit. The ones that didn’t could have been Muslim or
Christian, and as we got closer to the big cities, there were not as many. Away
from the Ancestral Homes I guess customs aren’t followed as strictly.
So
I’m at the house today all by myself. Both Eileen and her roommate are away. I
have a hot shower waiting for me, and a fridge full of food and cold drinks.
The electricity keeps going on and off but they have a backup system that trips
over when the power goes. It makes a
sound that I know it has changed over. Oh
the luxury of it all!
Wishing
you a wonderful life wherever you are.
Enjoy.
Love,
Marie
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