Jaipur (Again) and Agra

Jaipur -- again, March 31st

Next morning, finally feeling a little better but the only thing I wanted was... oddly enough.. white bread and bologna -- or something like that. No curry, no grease, nothing fried, no rice, no toast. Then I remembered -- SUBWAY. It was ten in the morning but I walked down the street and was elated to find that I was very close. I ordered my sandwich and couldn't wait to eat it. Brought it back to the hotel and chowed down in my room. It was perfect. A semi-cold coke to go with it and I felt great! However it was later when I noticed the "No non-veg allowed in hotel" sign at the desk. Oops.

Next, I contacted Amit again -- our guy in Jaipur who I worked with doing invoices at MTV. I had a tshirt to give him and wanted to meet the guy who really put up with a lot we threw at him. He said he'd meet me in 45 minutes at the hotel so I decided it was a good time to run to the post office.

However, I didn't' realize the headache involved with sending a package. My rickshaw driver offered to go in with me and help me navigate the process. On the way there, he told me the first thing I had to do was ask "how much" when they're preparing my package. When we got there, I had to first go and get my package sewn up in muslin and waxed shut. As the man pondered my package, the rickshaw driver pressed his foot down on my foot. Oh yes! "how much?" I asked -- I didn't realize this was when I was supposed to ask. 80 rupees. I looked at the driver and he shrugged, so I had no idea if this was right. The man who had looked at my package was seated at the desk. He put the package down and nodded at the man standing by the desk who then started measuring my box and started sewing up a pillow-case like covering while the man at the desk read and picked his nose deeply. There's really a rush to get things done in this country. ::sigh::

Finally, that part was done and now I had to go stand in line and get the package out. Suddenly, a young man appeared next to me and said my name. I was startled but he introduced himself as Amit! I guess my hotel had told him where I'd gone. He offered to help me the rest of the way (I released the rickshaw driver) which involved basically butting in front of a huge line of men (which is okay for a woman to do). Next we attempted to go to the train station (with my stomach, I'm afraid of night buses for long distances and trains have bathrooms) but the trains were full and then we went to lunch.

Amit is about to be a father and is very excited. We chatted a bit. He's also going to Miami soon and I hope he's not away when his child is born. He took me to the bus stop and we only had a moment to take his picture with the tshirt before I had to jump on a bus.

Agra - April 1st

Bus ride wasn't too bad. There was some sort of festival going on so the roads were crazy with young people walking down the side of the road -- hundreds of them. Carrying red glittering flags and backpacks, etc. My hotel in Agra was quite the backpacker scene. I was grateful for a very comfortable bed, a hot shower and a TV! I had a small bite to eat and tuned out. As in Udaipur, there were really only 2 stations in english. Well, three including a business channel -- but watching the market plummet is depressing so I stuck to the movie channels. On one channel, "Black Hawk Down" was playing. About a year ago, I got to know a very talented musician and all around good guy, Keni Thomas when I was on the Lynyrd Skynyrd cruise (he was also there performing with his band). We've stayed in touch since then and this was the second time I've seen BHD but the 1st time I've seen it since meeting someone who was actually there -- and is even portrayed by an actor in the movie. I found it difficult to watch after awhile and changed the channel. The other movie channel was showing "Urban Legend: Final Cut" and suddenly I found myself watching another friend, Anson Mount, on the screen! Very strange to be in India and the only two English channels are showing films that I have connections to.

The next morning, I prepared for the Taj. On the way there, we passed through an intersection that was incredibly busy and everyone was swerving around a very large cow/bull that was idly sitting in the middle, chewing its cud. This, I realized, was the Gramercy (my huge fat cat) of cows. Finds the highest trafficked area and sits there. Yes, you WILL go around me.

The Taj was incredible -- obviously. Tons of people were there and I could have spent hours wandering around. And I did.


At the back of the Taj, there is a river -- I'm sure it was once beautiful, but like much of India, was strewn with garbage. Very sad. As I stood there and watched, a man next to me finished his water bottle and heaved it, quarterback style, out into the river. I just glared at him and shook my head. He noticed. "What's your problem," he asked in English. "Show some respect for your country," I growled and walked away. Disgusting.

When I rounded the front of the Taj, a young father approached me with his infant daughter, like many infant daughters, dressed in a terrible, flouncy, tulle dress. He wanted to take a picture. I was confused and thought he meant he wanted me to take his picture. No, he wanted his picture taken with me. Okay.

Next thing I knew, I was inundated by people, mostly young men, who all wanted their picture with me. I was like a celebrity. I'd finally get away, only for it to happen again. They'd line up. Then they'd start to get cheeky -- maybe putting an arm on my shoulder.. then one around my waist. One tried to give me a kiss and I firmly pushed him away and the photo session was over.

I was told later the young men like to take their picture with white girls and then show their friends as "their girlfriend."

After the Taj, I headed back to the hotel. There wasn't much I wanted to see in Agra. Mostly I wanted to catch a train out to Varanasi. Then I realized I had forgotten to book the train. By that time it was too late, the train was full. I could take a 14 hour bus, but I really didn't want to. I was stuck for another day in Agra. I decided to catch up on uploading photos and watching movies and relaxing. It was actually not too bad. My train was at 8 p.m. At 7, I caught a rickshaw and asked to be taken to the train station. At 8:05, I stood waiting for the train to come. I did notice that I didn't see any other white people around, which I thought was strange considering how full the train was supposed to be and what a touristy destination Varanasi is. An Indian gentleman took notice of me and came over to ask what train I was waiting for. I showed him my ticket and he grimaced. "You're at the wrong train station," he said. Oh NO! I thanked him and rushed out of the station. A fleet of young men surrounded me, "where do you want to go?" I told them and they all jostled to get my business. I didn't even try to haggle the price. "I don't care who takes me, they just have to be FAST!" I went with the guy whose rickshaw was closest and he was fantastic! He was very young but he drove like a madman -- like a getaway driver! I knew I was going to be stuck in Agra again because the Indian Railways are pretty darn efficient but I had a faint glimmer of hope since the other station was only 2 miles away. We bumped and careened there and I threw him a tip and raced onto the platform. THE TRAIN WAS LATE! Hurray!!!! I gasped for breath and dropped my stuff near a bunch of Israeli guys I recognized from my hotel. The train showed up 2 minutes later. I found my bunk and went to sleep pretty quickly.

Jodhpur and Jaisalmer

From Udaipur, I reached Jodhpur and jostled with the touts, finding one to take me to my hotel. You really have to argue and tell them you have a reservation otherwise they'll try to take you somewhere else to get a commission, or take you to your own hotel and tell the manager they brought you there. My hotel was really lovely, although the narrow street outside stank, giving my queasy stomach a test. I had a late dinner and collapsed, but not before glancing upwards as I headed through the courtyard to my room and being startled by the massive fort rising up over the hotel like a craz gothic Frankenstein-style castle.

Andy had been trying to reach me while I was sick and apparently his texts weren't getting through. He emailed me and before I left Udaipur, I crawled to the internet place to check in. He immediately was ready to come rescue me, and I was very grateful for that, but due to his own series of ridiculousness, he wasn't able to get there. We agreed to meet in Jodhpur -- he tried to catch a plane (which got cancelled) and then make a train (halfway to the station, the rickshaw driver pulled over and announced, "ten minute lunch break" -- seriously). He didn't arrive until 6 a.m.

The next day was sort of a loss for both of us. I was still exhausted from being sick and he was exhausted from hustling across Rajasthan on a night train. Eventually we roused ourselves for some lunch, some internet, and when the heat subsided - a trek to the fort. Andy was also coming down with a cold so I gave him an Advil Cold and Sinus. I neglected to tell him though that he'd probably dry out a little from the pill. Anti-histimine plus desert? Not a good idea. By the time we got up to the fort (which was closing), Andy was so thirsty he was out of his mind. He raced around trying to find somewhere with bottled water and by the time he did and came back, most of the bottle was gone. We relaxed outside of the fort (where a group of young men all wanted to have their picture taken with me) before heading back down again.



Meandered around the marketplace before ending up really haggling with a shop owner (in an MTV shirt) over some scarves. I think I did pretty well. At one point I even staged a mini-tantrum -- walking out of the shop, "Ugh. I don't even care. I don't even want them anymore," I said dramatically... and at last got them for the price I wanted.

The owner then took Andy and I took us to his father's spice shop (which was AMAZING) for some tea (and also to persuade Andy that he needed to buy some other tea that was apparently good for one's...um.. sexual prowess -- because he was under the impression that we were married. Yeah. Andy declined the tea.)
(apparently didn't want Andy to take a picture of the shop?)



Dinner and early bedtime as we decided to head farther west the next morning to Jaisalmer.

Jaisalmer - March 28, 29th

Early morning bus, tummy still unhappy - more immodium. It was a very hot trip.
(boys trying to sell us goods through the window)

We reached the hotel which was running the camel trips and waited for them to get everything together before loading us into an a/c'd car (ahhhh) to head out into the desert. There were two other girls with us -- one from Amsterdam and the other from Norway. The Norwegian girl seemed to be dating one of the young guides with us and understood some hindi. The young men were in the back, laughing over a story when the Norwegian girl turned around and said something to them. They said, "You understand us?" She said yes, "You should probably not tell that story." "Why not." "It's just not a good story to tell right now." Of course now Andy and I were dying to know what story. So they told us. Apparently on the last trip out into the desert, the Norwegian girl had wandered about the campsite without shoes... and stepped on a scorpion. Only one cure for that, the guides had told her -- they held her down and stuck a burning stick on her foot and poured a bottle of whiskey down her throat. It worked. Only, the first time the stuck the glowing stick on her, they jammed it in the wrong area.

Great.

We arrived finally where camels were waiting for us. I was under the impression that we were going to be taking the camels to whatever camping site we were staying at, however we were just going to be lead around by two new guides for about an hour and a half while the others set up camp. Not bad, but I was a little disappointed. But then, the camel ride was so uncomfortable, more than 90 minutes is unnecessary.





My camel kept crying and my guide said it was because "he misses his friend" -- who had gone off with the Dutch girl. Sure enough, when we got back to the camp, my camel stopped the crying and went to hang out with his buddy.

Andy and I set up our blankets on a dune (after watching yet another half-sunset) and food was brought to us. I still felt terrible but Andy made me eat some rice. The sky was amazing and I saw one of the brightest meteors I've ever seen - almost looked like lightning.

Up at dawn and I was furious. I had maybe slept an hour, been awoken by my tummy and hadn't slept since. I was seriously grouchy. By this time, Andy has learned to keep his distance. We packed up and headed for the waiting car which took us first to a village home for chai and then we drove to another village so one of the guides could give a wedding present to a local couple. There were hundreds of people milling about. "Notice anything missing?" Andy said. Yes, women. Several goats were hanging upside down having their skin and innards removed. Ugh. Apparently they would be going through about 40 goats for this 3 day event. Yum.

We got back to the hotel and I was a wreck. Andy persuaded the hotel guys to let me sleep for awhile -- our bus wasn't until 2. I really needed it -- Andy is such a good husband. I tried calling Jess for her birthday -- I was getting lots of texts from everyone about what a great party it was and I was sad to miss it.

Bus back to Jodphur -- Andy watched Layer Cake on my iPod and I listened to Bill Hicks on his MP3 player. Back to the same hotel. A train the next day to Jaipur. Met another American on the train whom Andy had actually originally met up in Dehli a week earlier. He sat with us. I tried eating. Still terrible. We reached Jaipur and checked into the hotel. Well... I did, as Andy had a flight out to Mumbai that night. It was raining so we went to have a last drink together. I said goodbye to Andy as he sped off to the airport and flopped into bed (at about 9 p.m.). It was a sad divorce.

Udaipur

Udaipur - March 24th
Arrived at about 6 a.m. Bus trip was way too bumpy and swervy to sleep. I had constant thoughts of the bus tipping over. When I relayed these thoughts to Andrew (he escorted me to his friend's hotel), he told me that he actually knew someone who died on a night bus that tipped over about ten years ago. And in fact, the other girl traveling with us had received some sort of grant from the foundation the girl's parents set up in her name -- part of the provision was that she was to stay away from night buses. Well, she had tried to take the train and she had to get back to work -- what else to do? Take a camel?



The hotel Andrew led me to was very nice. It even had a pool! We went up to the roofttop deck, waiting for A's friend to arrive (who would give me a steep discount) and I had more luscious nutella/banana pancakes and gazed out over Udaipur. There's a lake in the center with a hotel that you aren't allowed to visit unless you pay for a very expensive lunch or dinner.

Also it seemed that every restaurant in town shows Octopussy at 7 or 7:30 p.m. due to it being set in Udaipur (or maybe just a big chase sequence? I don't know, I haven't seen it).

At last Yogi appeared and showed me to my room and then drove Andrew to work. I got an amazing HUGE room, soft bed and TRA LA LA cable tv! It was gorgeous.



I unpacked and headed out. I really liked Udaipur immediately. The narrow streets, the hills, the lake (despite being low on water).




I headed for the palace first. I wasn't terribly interested in it. Mostly it just showed lots of paintings of their former royalty going to battle, hacking enemies in half with their swords. Pretty graphic. I put on my iPod and hit shuffle to see if anything interesting would pop up. The opening to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade started. Seemed like good prowling around dimly lit narrow stairways and pretending I had to get past guards without them seeing me. Oh! And see that German couple over there? totally spies. I will stay away from them!

I was a bit bored.

From the palace I wandered a little around the city, always attracting the attention of shop keepers and little boys. The boys LOVE trying out their English on me. Standard phrases:
Hello!
How are you?
What is your good name?
From what country are you?
America, very nice country.

[side note: I'm in Kathmandu at the moment and while I write this there is some serious jamming going on at the restaurant roof across the street - Bob Seger right now I think. I'm heading over there after this. Okay, I gave up on this post, went to the bar but it was too loud and smokey so I didn't stay. I went to the Yak Restaurant instead, and considering where this particular post is headed, that seemed appropriate.]

Eventually I realized I was pretty exhausted so I headed back for a nap. Had dinner in my room, watched a movie, tried to watch a second movie which got an hour in and then the cable went out. Ah well.

Next day, got up and checked out. Breakfast on the rooftop again. Today I decided on a photo trip to the local market, a boat trip around the lake, some interneting and then a sunset trip to the Monsoon Palace before my 9 p.m. night bus to Jodhpur. The marketplace was amazing. The food looked marvelous despite the copious amounts of flies.

Some kids let me hold a kid (goat). Pretty cute, except it tried to eat my hat.

The boat trip was all right... I started to feel a little weird, like I had no energy. The boat dumped us at an island cafe type place for about half an hour until the next boat came. I sat listless at a table, feeling a little lonely, missing Andy, and also concerned with the nauseousness I was feeling. Or maybe that was the thought of missing Andy (I kid. I know he's reading this. heh). Back on land, I dragged myself to an internet cafe and after about a half hour I started really sweating. And feeling dizzy. I was luckily only steps from my hotel so I held my breath and hurried back as fast as I could. Once there, I collapsed in a chair in the lobby. I felt green. An American guy sitting across from me said, "You don't look so good."

"I feel like crud," I moaned.

"Overdo it today?"

I didn't respond, I was racing to the restroom. And we'll leave the rest of the next three days to that. Let's just say I didn't make it to my Monsoon Palace trip, or the nightbus or anything really for a couple of days. It was horrible. I'm a baby when I'm sick by myself in New York. By myself, thousands of miles away? Ugh. But the hotel staff was great. They offered a doctor if I got much sicker. I mostly just hydrated and ate toast.

Finally I felt well enough to catch a bus. I decided on a day bus -- and hated the driver every mile of the way. He was going entirely too fast on swervy mountain roads with a top heavy bus and at one point we were airborne when he hit a bump. The entire bus screamed and he slowed down after that. I looked out the window at a rock wall along the road and we'd pass groups of monkeys sitting and watching the traffic going by. Just relaxing and watching. You could practically see their expressions, "Crazy humans."

Jaipur

The plane made two stops on the way to Jaipur, turning what should have been an hour flight into four. I arrived in Jaipur at 11 and had not booked a hotel ahead of time. This was a mistake. I went to the pre-paid rickshaw booth and told my driver I needed a place for about 4-500 rupees (10-12.50 a night). He told me, "Not possible," and drove me to a hotel that was 2700 for the night. Um...no. I argued with him, he told me there were NO other hotel rooms in the city due to it being the Elephant Festival and also "Holi" -- which I was worried about. Oh sure and it has nothing to do with the fact that you get a commission for bringing me here and that commission is passed on to me, right? I demanded another hotel so off we went about 500 yards (no other hotels, huh?) and this hotel wanted 2000 (fifty bucks). No, I stood firm. I tried to reason with them as well. It was now 1 a.m. If they had a room at 1 a.m. for 2000, surely they could let it go for 800 or not make any money at all on it, right? No. I demanded another hotel. Off we went. Maybe a half mile. This hotel was 1500. Still much more than I was willing to pay but at this point I was exhausted and at least this hotel manager showed me a card with the room rate. I guess after 2 weeks of rooms costing anywhere from 4 dollars to 10 dollars, I could splurge and pay 37 dollars for one night. It even had cable tv. With Jimmy Neutron!



I slept in and decided the first thing to do was find a train ticket to Udaipur for that evening. I was going to meet Andy in Jaipur on Thursday, so it didn't make much sense to stick around only to come back again. At the train station, there was a girl ahead of me who I asked where I could get the form she was holding. I was surprised to hear an american accent when she answered. She too was heading to Udaipur. A few minutes later, she came back to me and told me that the train was full and that she and her friend were heading to find bus tickets. I decided to tag along. She was from North Carolina and her friend Andrew (can't get away from them!) was from Massachussetts and they are working in Udaipur on different projects. He'd been there for 9 months and she for three and they and a bunch of other Americans and a couple of Brits had come up to Jaipur for the Elephant Festival and Holi. We got sleeper bus tickets and they invited me to continue tagging along up to the fort to meet their friends.

It was quite a hike to the top. At one point, I stopped to put sunscreen on and a young boy appeared beside me with his hand out, "Please madam?" I squeezed some into his hands and he swiped his cheeks, not rubbing the lotion in. Andrew explained that he probably thought it was whitening lotion.

The view was spectacular and afterwards we loaded 11 people into two rickshaws and made our way back down to the city. We were all starving and since there were so many of us, we ordered a huge spread and shared the dishes. Next was a little gem shopping (I just looked) followed by the Monkey Temple. I didn't see much of the temple because I was too entranced by the monkeys. Also called my family to wish them a happy Easter (although was sad to miss the mommy because I forgot about the time change and her singing at church).

Then it was dinner time and we headed to the restaurant everyone had been talking about nonstop all day. We were so excited!! Jaipur has...a Subway!


Okay, when you've pretty much been eating curry for 3 weeks straight morning noon and night, Subway sounds freaking AMAZING. And it was... despite the fact that my Italian BMT was made with lamb pepperoni and lamb salami. Interesting. Otherwise it tasted right.

I went back to the hotel and grabbed my stuff and we headed for the bus. Didn't get much sleep that night though -- that was one crazy, swervy bus ride.

Alleppy

Woke up Good Friday to pouring rain. In fact it had rained all night. I think at some point, Andy had tried to wake me (he will never learn) to tell me that there were elephants going down the street. I grumbled, probably threatened his life, and rolled over. Finally arose around 8:30 so we could figure out the boat situation. Unfortunately, we were in a part of India that has a VERY high percentage of Christians -- which meant boats were suddenly very hard to come by. Our own guest house promised their boat was still available but it was more than we had planned on paying so we told them we'd think about it and do a little research and get back to them.



We headed to the boat jetty to see what was what. All the boats looked pretty similar so we decided we might as well just go with our guest houses boat. Meanwhile, our rickshaw driver was trying to convince us to take his brother's boat. We thanked him but said we'd rather just go with our guesthouse's. He got on his cell phone, spoke for a moment, then informed us they'd already booked the boat. We didn't fall for this. Andy demanded to speak with our hosts. The driver called them "back." No, they hadn't booked it yet -- if we wanted it, it was ours. We said we did and would be back shortly. The rickshaw driver begged us to at least look at his brother's boat so we sighed and said we would but after picking our way through the mud along the jetty, he pointed to a boat not even docked yet and so we turned right around to go back. However, by the time we got back to the guest house, the hosts had booked the boat! Andy had some choice words for them. They complained we took too long to come back.

Infuriated, we packed our stuff and headed to the tourism people we'd spoken to the day before (the guy with the Penn State shirt). Again, the rickshaw driver reminded us that his brother had a boat, although there was another person on it -- a North Indian guy. We said we'd talk to the tourism guys first about our own boat before sharing. When we arrived at the tourism depot, our driver raced in ahead of us. We sat down with Mr. Penn State, who said yes, they still had a boat for us, and began the requisite paperwork. But a moment later, another young fellow came in, told Mr. Penn State something, who now turned to us sadly and informed us that because it was Good Friday, the crew had decided they could not work. Andy and I were besides ourselves. It was evident the driver had raced in ahead of us and offered some sort of incentive to the boys to suddenly not have any boats available. But at this point, there was not much for us to do. We were running out of time (the boats departed at 11) and I didn't want to waste another day waiting for the holiday to be over. And it was still raining.

Back to the jetty, at least buoyed by the thought that it was going to be a relaxing trip, rain or no (the boats were covered and very nice) and we were promised beer- Andy had ordered four. We arrived at the boat to meet our co-passenger... and his wife and 18 month old baby. Great. Just. Great. Also? Only two beers. Andy retired to the back of the boat and I sat and fumed and tried to ignore the baby who must have recently discovered that if she really, really, really, really, really had to have something she could just scream AS LOUD AND AS HIGH-PITCHED AS POSSIBLE. My ovaries shriveled just a little bit more every time that brat's mouth opened. Usually, I'm pretty good with babies. But when she came over to me and started smacking my camera with all her baby might (which was pretty sufficient for camera injury), much to the indulging amusement of her adoring parents, I just about lost it. Don't make me punt a baby in the lake.

Andy eventually emerged and we played cards for a bit. Andy put some music on and it felt a little more relaxing. The baby disappeared for a bit and I had hoped a long nap was taking place -- but no, just a change of clothes. Later in the afternoon, we decided to break into one of the beers and save the other for after dinner.

The food was provided and less than stellar. The scenery was lovely but it was quite a traffic jam out there - many, many boats all on the same course. As night fell, we docked near a resort. Andy and I thought we could walk over to the resort and maybe get some more beer at the hotel bar. Unfortunately we were informed that it was a "dry" day due to the holiday. We went back to the boat for dinner. Afterwards, Andy and the N. Indian guy decided to break out the satellite television. I read while they fiddled and pushed random buttons and maneuvered the dish. Eventually it came to life. The other fellow disappeared into the back... and came out with the second beer, pouring himself a glass.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

We paid for that beer! Or rather Andy did, so I left it to him to let the guy know. I guess he told Andy he'd pay him for it because he said he'd ordered a beer himself.

Eventually he retired (after making us watch some Indian soap opera despite the fact that he spoke English and we didn't speak Hindi) and Andy and I watched "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and passed out around 11.

Still raining the next morning when we woke up. I was also startled to realize we were already back at the jetty! I went out and helped myself to "breakfast" -- which consisted of soggy toast and pineapple that the other family had already helped itself to 95% of. I slurped down some instant coffee and went back to pack my stuff. When we emerged with our stuff to depart, the North Indian family had already decamped -- so much for the 4 dollars the guy owed Andy for the beer.

We slogged into town and spent a couple of hours in an internet cafe trying to decide what to do next. Andy wanted to catch up with some folks he met in Mumbai who were in Verkala and I was done with Southern India and wanted to head north. Andy had no luck finding his friends and decided he too was going to head North but we thought we'd separate for a bit. He booked a ticket to Dehli and I to Jaipur. We headed to the bus stop to go back to Kochin to the airport but first stopped for a bit of lunch. We walked into what was clearly a rickshaw driver cafe and not touristy whatsoever and it was the first time I realized I was totally comfortable. A thali meal was slopped in front of us (no menu, I guess) -- rice and 3 different types of sauces. No utensils. You scoop your sauce into your rice... or your rice into the sauce and eat it. A man came around and slopped more sauce onto your rice. It was pretty delicious and less than a dollar.

We boarded a bus (one that I has scouted out after asking several different people) only to find out ten minutes in that it was the wrong bus. We got off at the next depot and boarded a different bus. We reached Kochin and hopped a taxi out to the airport. I picked up a ticket and while I waited for Andy to get his, I suddenly developed a fan club. Approximately half a dozen boys surrounded me to find out who I was and where I was from -- all giggles and squirming and one boy doing all the translation.


They finally departed with many backward glances, whispering and more giggles and Andy and I went to check in. My plane arrived first -- a very nice new "IndiGo" jet. It was strange to say good bye to Andy after running around together for so long.

Today I sat cross-legged in front of a 108 year-old woman. She was gaunt and withered, limbs all disjointed angles, a sari that has seen better days pulled over her thin hair. If she wasn't a hundred and eight, she certainly made my ninety-year old grandmother look middle-aged. She placed gnarled fingers of both hands upon my bowed head. The man who had ushered me in front of her urged me to speak the names of my family as she rasped an ancient language over my head. "It is a blessing, speak your father's name, your mother's, your brothers and sisters." I spoke the names I cherish, "James, Jeanne, David, Owen..." She continued the blessing, finally releasing my head and touching her own forehead with fingers together. But I didn't need the blessing. I am blessed already. I have those names and many others and they bring me joy, comfort, safety and love. And I am in India.

New blog name...

Was trying to think of one for weeks. Then I realized the name was in my pocket.

Thanks Erick...