Solo to the Timeshare

So in efforts to ditch all the wonderful enema experience Celeste was having, I hightailed it North. As things turned out, Muniraji's driver gave Rydas, myself and a couple of others a lift to Haldwani and dropped me at the train station where I boarded what I hoped was the right train, a second class sleeper that I shared with a wonderful family (that spoke English) who were traveling North for a years job in the Life Insurance business. It's a good thing that I told them my plans. Because being the blond that I am, I thought my stop was at 3pm the next day. So after a delightful dinner that the family shared with me I pulled out my sleeping bag and settled in on the top bunk only to be awoke at 3AM for my stop in Ambola. (Now there's a blond moment of the week award if I ever had one). The family preceded to push me out the door with my sleeping bag and began throwing me my luggage and various other articles of clothing I had left on the train in my sleepy state.

Where the Hell was I and how was I gong to get out of there?

The train station also served as the dumping station for the rail's bathrooms so needless to say, the place reeked!. There were bodies sleeping everywhere and it was a humid 85+ degrees. I preceded to the A/C waiting room that was locked so I settled for the woman's waiting area by the bathrooms. At least they didn't stink nearly as bad. I waited with the geckos and mice for dawn to break before I set out to look for a taxi. I asked a security guard and he said to wait. Shortly thereafter, a young gentleman pulled up..."Taxi?" He gave me a lift to the timeshare for 1k rupees saying it was 3 hours away. It sounded about right, but was actually only1.5 hours, so he was paid well. That is, if he was really even a taxi driver. I think the security guard simply called a friend to make a couple of bucks.

In any event, he drove like a bat out of Hell with the tunes cranked and got me to where I need to be. Unfortunately, I had to wait two hours for the gondola to open before I could get up the hill to my room, so I read, half dozing, in the lobby. When I finally got there, I showered and climbed into my KING SIZE BED WITH PILLOWS and slept for 4 hours...pure Heaven after 2 weeks of sleeping on Ashram floors!

There I spent the next ten days integrating, meditating, reading and doing yoga. It was nice to be away from all the traffic and honking horns. I was the only white chick there so every time I made a move it did not go unnoticed, right down to what I ate. They even threw me a party for my Birthday, Birthday cake and all.

Well, I'm off on the next adventure, that is to get to Dheli, again by train, to meet Celeste to continue on to Kalcuta. I'm traveling by day this time, so no chance sleeping through my stop ;)

Until next time...Namastee, Prema

Life in an Ashram

So, we get there and these 8 year old little boys through our bags on there heads as if they were feathers. We journey down the road into the unknown and are deposited into a large room-18 women and one toilet - that doesn't flush without tossing in a big bucket of water. Our schedule for the next ten days are as follows: wake at four AM and hike ten minutes to the freezing Ganga River to bathe and wash away the sins of our past lives. ( I cried the first two mornings). 5AM Chunden- a sandelwood paste applied to the forehead to open the third eye. This take approximately 1 1/2 hours of chanting to get throught roughly 300+people. 6:30Am Group meeting to share our experiences. 7AM Arti- 11/2 hours of chanting and meditating. 9am Puja- religious ceremony in Hindi. 10am-Havan-Fire ceremony in which cocaonuts are offers to the fire to rid whatever you want to rid- ie: pain, fear, health aillments, etc... 1:30p, Banderas- lunch of blessed prasad (food) for 300+, we sit on the floor and eat with our fingers off leaf plates and bowls,,,amaising vegi meals that take a couple of hours to get through. 3pm - afternoon bathe in the Ganga River-easier when its nice out, but still cold. 4pm- usually guest yogi speakers for a little Q&A. 7pm-Arti-two more hours of meditation and chanting that sometimes turns into a dance party. 9pm-sleep FINALLY! This goes on for TEN DAYS...and we go to another ashram afterword...WHY?? You ask. This time for some Ayvedic cleansing. However. I am now on my way to a time share further up into the Hymalaya that has a real bed and hot running water. Celeste will stay for more cleancing, but I'm outta here on the overnight train to Chandigahr.

Oh, and Hairy Cow has been blessed by the Guru and is now Holy Cow. Addorned with Mala (Prayer) beads he is finding he sacred self in India and doing quite well. He will however, be having some plastic surgery in Thailand to remove the tag from his ass.

Hope this blog finds you all healthy and well. Namastee,
Prema (my new Hindi/Spiritual name- It means Love and was giving to me by the Guru, Muniraji.

Bole Babaji Ki Jai

Hairy Cow

Well, we made it! After 18 hours of flight and an overnight in Taipei, we have made it to Dheli and are on our way to the ashram. As most of you can tell, Celeste truely is a writer, however, I do have a story.

For those of you who know Hairy Cow, I'm sorry to report that he has had a terrible accident. (Don't worry Lynnie, he is fine and anticipating his transformation from Hair Cow to Holy Cow at the ashram.) Turns out, he'd been tucked away safely in my backpack for his journey only to be discovered by Tasha, my German Shorthair Pointer and was left with a deep head laseration and duel severed horns. After an hour and a half surgery including a double horn transplant and 37 stitches to the head, he spent the night in recovery and has now joined his place in our traveling alter. The surgery was a success with the exception of some slight, but perminate hair loss that has left him looking a bit like Donald Trump. His new intentions are to lose his vanity by a cerimonial head shaving in surendering to the Divine Mother and asking for forgiveness for his horn envey as the holy cows here wonder the streets with extremely long horns...we wish him well in his spiritual journey.

Hope this blog finds you all well as we head to the ashram. (Next blog in two weeks or so)

Namastee, Patti