Dwadashajyotirlinga yatra : Day 17 - Back in Delhi

We were in the bus by 5:30 a.m. Everyone would go their own way from Delhi, we had now started the last leg of our journey. Unlike the chatter that usually filled the bus, the group was mostly silent on this last bus trip. Either people were dozing off, or they were in a contemplative mood. I settled uncomfortably into my seat.

Leaving Haridwar

As we left Haridwar before daybreak, I had a fleeting glance of the lights over the Ganga. My buddies - the panchakanyā - the five maidens, had gone the previous evening to the Ganga, and dipped in the river 108 times, no less. It was only last year, after dipping in Manas Sarovar, that I had thought back on all the opportunities I had missed to take a dip in the Ganga. And when I had seen Haridwar on the itinerary for this trip, I had thought this was a signal from above. Apparently, I had misread the signal. No dip, no regret. Another trip, another time, Shiva's will...

Ashverya dozed off almost immediately. We had been among the last ones to board the bus, and the luggage space above was filled with the gigantic lunch boxes that the hotel had packed for us. I had to keep my bags at my feet, and my legs had no place to stretch. With hurting knees, aching legs and swollen feet, and the persistent cough from Varanasi, one could say my body was in a bad state. Initially, I took comfort in not having a fever, but three hours into the journey, I had reached my threshold of pain and physical discomfort. I found space at the back of the bus where there were a couple of seats with foot space. Glad nobody made expert comments on where I should sit in the bus, because I was barely holding my pain in, and I was very likely to verbalize my feedback to well-intentioned busybodies. The bouncing at each road bump was preferable to painful crouching next to a sleeping child, who could now stretch out and lie on the seat. 

Swami Sarveshanandaji started a massage session with some people who allowed him to massage their aching feet, and then stretched their legs, and gave a neck massage, and finally asked people to put their hands behind them, and lifted them in a way that stretched their shoulders. Apparently, this was doing people a lot of good. He asked me, perhaps for the last time on the trip, if I would take the benefit of his expertise and get my swollen feet massaged. I stuck to my guns - there is just no way that would happen in this lifetime.  

Except for a stop for restrooms, the bus kept going on. Finally, when we were two hours from Delhi, we stopped for much-needed chai. 

The Swamijis maintained their consistent great mood that had set the mood of the trip.

The children were sweet and sporting as always, a touch of divinity that lit up our mundane lives.

The Swamijis decided that it was better for those going to the NOIDA ashram to leave the bus at Ghaziabad, an hour before Delhi. Ashverya and I followed them, our final destination is ahead - NOIDA ashram, to visit Swami Chidrupanandaji with whose blessings we had started this trip.

Once we got off the bus at Ghaziabad, the car to take us to NOIDA was nowhere to be seen. It was stuck in the Dehi traffic at peak traffic hour. We sat by the side of the road, and took in the scene - people going on their way to work, cycle rickshaws plying groceries, people stuffed into chhakdas - mass rickshaws, people rushing to work in taxis and rickshaws, and an interesting scene - a truck driver doing his laundry on the road by the side of his parked truck.

Fifteen minutes in the Delhi heat was enough to knock me senseless. One of the things that Amma had told me earlier in the year was that she trusted her sons, and did not re-think what they would have thought out already. Now, I was with people whose recommendations I could trust implicitly. I settled into mental silence while the Swamijis figured out how to reach the NOIDA ashram.

Finally, the car arrived, and we reached the NOIDA ashram, and Amma started preparing upma for all the hungry people. There was no power, and therefore no air-conditioning at the ashram - I needed to not think as I cut vegetables to help Amma with her cooking. We had the hot and spicy upma, that made my body radiate even more than earlier, but now I had something in my stomach, and the energy to start planning for the journey ahead, back to the US of A. Despite bad health, Swami Sarveshananda-ji packed my suitcases, and took pictures of us with Swami Chidrupananda-ji.

After phone calls to friends and family in Delhi to plan the remaining hours in India, we left the ashram. The Swamijis had organized and managed a logistically challenging trip, all the time maintaining a smile on the face while being physically exhausted and even ill at times.

For this opportunity to visit the dwādaśajyotirlinga - the twelve temples of Shiva and some of the śaktipītha - sites of power with ancient temples to the mother goddess, for visiting the spots where the avatāra Rama walked the earth during exile - Panchavati, where the avatāra Krishna established the new capital of his grandfather's kingdom - Dwarka, for the opportunity to visit the spot where Buddha first preached on earth - Sarnath, for the chance to visit the modern Swaminarayana Akshardham complex in Delhi, for visiting the NOIDA āśram and Swami Chidrupananda-ji thrice during the trip, for the company of my little god whom I had emotionally blackmailed on Mothers' Day to make this trip with me, I am supremely grateful for Shiva's grace, grateful for the leadership and the personal warmth of the Swamijis, grateful for friends I made on this trip, and grateful for the learning from the experiences on this trip.   

Aum Namaha Shivaaya!!

Dwadashajyotirlinga yatra 2011 : Before the trip

Some things never change.

Packing for an early morning flight from Dallas to Newark to Delhi, the duffel bag from Kohl's broke at 4 in the morning. Anish had to rush out to the only store open at that time - Sam's Club. I transferred my things, and put my $30 duffel bag and my daughter's $300 duffel bag into two gigantic suitcases that have proven their reliability by traveling to India seven times so far. On the way back, we would have these two suitcases to fill with our shopping and books for the Mission's camp in Chicago.

Karan picked us up from the airport, and we had an hour to chat as we drove to NOIDA, and we soon discovered what a small world it truly is. He had just been bungy jumping at Hrishikesh, the first such site in India. He had jumped 200 feet, the same as my first jump. And when we got talking about work, we had plenty in common there as well. I had been a bit sceptical about wasting his time on a Friday evening but in retrospect, it is a good thing that we got the opportunity for a one-on-one.

Seema had cooked an awesome dinner, pulav-raita that I had asked for, the little god's favortie sabzi - palak paneer, and many other things that filled up the table.

She took me up on my challenge on staying awake the whole night. We chatted, ate, chatted, drank chai, chatted, and went for a walk at 3 in the morning still chatting away, startling some street dogs from sleep, a couple of whom followed us around for quite a while. She massaged my aching, swollen feet from the 14-hour flight from Newark. We have known one another for just over a year but it has always felt like we are old friends. And at 6 in the morning, she made aloo parantha with chai - one of our mutually favorite foods, and we could not have more than one each. We had a breakfast to eat at the NOIDA ashram.

At the NOIDA ashram, I finally got to see the statue of Hanuman that I had only seen in pictures so far. Of course, I had to take my own picture.

Hanumanji at NOIDA Chinmaya Mission

We had very delicious plate idlis at the NOIDA ashram - something I had seen for the first time. Swamiji prepared the idlis with chatni, fed us lovingly and packed us some for the trip.

I had thought that being with Swami Chidarupananda-ji would be a great opportunity for seeking answers and clarifications on doubts. But when I met him, it felt like a homecoming. I did not need to ask anything, he did not talk about spirituality. His love and warmth were overwhelming. Though I was meeting him personally for the first time, it felt like I had known him forever. We did not have to make conversation, I could sit in a comfortable silence with him, something that usually comes in some relationships after years and years of familiarity. We did talk about the yummy food, the unbearable heat in Delhi and Ashverya's reluctance to come to the yatra - pilgrimage. He told Ashverya that the deities in the temple were carved in stone, and if nobody came to say hello to them, they are quite bored sitting in the temple by themselves for centuries, nor can they move and go elsewhere, so we must go and say hello to them. Then he whispered a secret message in Ashverya's ear, that was not to be shared with me, that tickled my little god quite a bit. 

There is a beautiful shivalingam under a tree in the NOIDA ashram. The perfect way to start the day would be to meditate here. The only reason we do not have a similiar place of worship in our backyard in Dallas is that I am not sure I would be able to perform the daily ritualistic worship. 

And inside the ashram, is a statue of the young Krishna, and framed pictures on the wall depicting the guru parampara - guru tradition, at the Chinmaya Mission.

We left our large suitcases at the ashram. Swamiji had called a cab to take us to the airport for our afternoon flight to Chennai. We left the ashram by 11 in the morning, to catch our first domestic flight in India. 

International travel does not scare me as much as the travel within India, I am never quite sure if I have enough paperwork or signatures or tags or whatever the trend is with security on that day. While I was bouncing around with the stress, life was good. I knew once I was in the plane, the disappointment and sadness would hit me. So be it. Shiva's will...  

On the flight to Chennai, we got our first taste of domestic travel in India on this trip - the business of having the tags on each bag, and getting a security stamp - a lot of process to burden passengers with, hopefully it has some impact on security. Standing at the gate to board the bus to the plane, we suddenly met Paramji who was also on the flight to Chennai, along with her sister and a sister-in-law. 

It is easy to get a cab at the Chennai airport because there is a pre-paid cab stall within the terminal. I was chewing on the risk of being in a cab with a driver who did not speak Hindi and only broken English, in a city that I knew nothing about and could not read the road signs, when the driver stopped the car. Another man got in, next to the driver. What the ... ??????!??????? I am old enough where the Billa-Ranga crime case from Delhi is fresh in my memory as if it happened yesterday. I rolled down my window, and thank god, it did roll down. I asked the cabbie - who is this? He looked at me and said something in Tamil, I had had enough. I opened the door of the car while the cab was moving in traffic, and told the driver to stop the car. He looked back, and said something in Tamil, probably to close the door, in Tamil. I asked Ashverya to also open her door, but she hesitated. Her facial expression was - let us not create a scene, mom. Being cool is the most important thing to a teenager. I told the driver again - stop the car. He realized I was going to keep the door open, and stopped the car. I told him, I want to leave and take another cab. And he asked his friend to leave, and told me "friend, village". Whatever. I think it was his friend from the village who was probably trying to get a ride home in the evening, but traveling alone in an unknown city with an unknown language with a young daughter requires super-awareness of risk. The man could walk home. Ashverya had the facial expression that she could not believe how weird I was.

We did eventually reach the Courtyard Mariott. All all along the way, I tried to memorize the landmarks since I could neither read signs nor understand the spoken language. My little god was also looking around, and told me she was quite happy that short skirts were prevalent in Chennai, unlike in Ahmedabad that we visit every year. I looked out to see what I had missed and saw the men in their folded lungi - wrap-around garment. I don't know if it is the heat, but men in the south have a hilarious habit of folding their ankle-length lungi up to become knee-length. I assured my happy child this was not applicable to young girls,only men wore the "short skirts". Once in the hotel room, I told Ashverya about the crime of the millenium by Billa and Ranga, and told her to be aware at all times about where she was and who she was with.

The hotel room beat all our expectations. Unlike the functional look and feel of a Marriott Courtyard in the US, the Mariott Courtyard in Chennai was a luxury hotel. The restaurant had served a lavish dinner buffet. We realized just how lavish it was when we saw how much it cost. Lesson learned - check for exhorbitant rates, don't just sit down to eat because you are hungry. The fancier Marriott Courtyard in India also has fancier rates than in the US.

I asked the hotel for the phone number of a cab service for the next morning. The person at the desk actively discouraged me - apparently you could never be quite sure if the cab came on time, and suggested we should use the hotel transport to the airport. Despite being a group transport vehicle, the hotel shuttle was three times as expensive. I decided to risk it with the cab. I called the cab service, and asked them to send a cab to the hotel by 6.

Aum Namaha Shivaaya!!

Kailash 2010 Day 16 : Back in Delhi, Saturday Jul 10, 2010

BACK IN DELHI - MATRABHOOMI JANMABHOOMI BHARAT, SARZAMEEN-E-HIND, MY BIRTHPLACE INDIA, AGAIN!!!

We were asked to put our bags outside the room before 6, and leave at 6:30 am to the airport.

The bag pick-up person could only take one of my bags, story of my life. Anyway, I wheeled the other one to the reception counter. As usual, there were three persons from the travel agency who stood and stared but nobody bothered to offer support or service. When I asked the hotel reception guy what I was supposed to do with a bag I have dragged from my room, he rushed out to talk to them and finally I found out that my second bag needed to just sit there outside the hotel and wait to be loaded. Why??? And where was the bag they picked up from my room???

When I came back after breakfast, the second bag was still sitting outside, the first bag still nowhere to be seen. People did not know where their bags were, and Swarn announced that they would check the rooms to make sure everything is picked up. This incomplete logic was infuriating, especially in light of yesterday's chaos. I had to put in my tuppence again - I was not going to budge till I saw the first bag that had apparently been loaded since it is nowhere to be seen but nobody could confirm that - there is no clear handshake, and I did want to see my second bag get loaded before I boarded a bus for the airport. Why is service not given till the customer asks for it??? A couple of others like Sriniji said too that they needed to see their bags before boarding the bus. Shrestha people pulled the bags they had loaded for the passengers to make a visual check. Luckily my first bag was there, and the second one was now loaded into a car, and we were off to the airport.

Another round of chaos at the airport as people unloaded any bag from any car/bus and put in any cart and started pushing. My gigantic military green bags stand apart and I was able to put them in a cart and start pushing. Within fifteen minutes, there were people going crazy because they didn't know whose bag they had and they didn't know where their bags were, and someone had put their Manas Sarovar jal - water, in their carry-on luggage, etc etc. The security at the door checked my passport and said, Neeraja-ji, aap Kailash gaye the? - Did you go to Kailash? The "apnewale" pyaar - love for "my own people", had started again, this time from the Nepali officers and staff. The security guard at the escalator was warm and affectionate and all this stopped when I reached the Jet Airways ticket counter and the lady wanted 5000 Nepali rupees for the extra weight in my bags. This was when I realized the people at Delhi had let me travel with the additional weight. So 5000 Nepali rupees it was to get to the next step.

Off to the pretty invasive manual physical check and then the manual hand luggage check where the security woman pulled out all my camera equipment and started counting all my currency from Nepal, India, China and the US. I had to admit it looks pretty fishy to be carrying so much photography equipment and cash in so many currencies but her supervisor who came running over to inspect the proceedings was very friendly. He suggested I should have said I was Nepali to avoid all this pareshani - problems, and told the security lady to put everything back. He said I looked Nepali, nobody would question me if I said I was one. The final check before heading off to the plane, and the very final check on the plane just before entering - again warm and friendly people wondering if I am Nepali and finally, I got to sit in the plane.

The hospitality of Indian carriers is legendary in this day and age. Already, we had water and juice while the plane was on the ground, and now free beer!!! This is Shiva's brand of humor - free alcohol was being served when there were six Swamijis on the plane, and everyone down the aisle modestly refusing to drink. Luckily I can look at beer without temptation. Besides, I had stopped taking any alcohol in April because of my gratitude at getting the chance of going to Kailash,

Finally, I was back in Delhi - matrabhoomi janmabhoomi Bharat, sarzameen-e-Hind - motherland India again!!! The immigration officer squinted at me a few times but then smiled and let me go - I was entering the country for the third time within six months, - I am glad the immigration officers stay on top of these things.

My bags came fairly quickly. A successful two-week trip and four days of sheer joy sealed with a hug and a kiss - don't know if we will ever meet again, and many Namaskars and Pranams and Hari Oms later, I was out of the airport into the hot and humid Delhi air, going to Jyoti's to unpack and pack some more for my 36-hour visit to Haldwani by train. And then unpack and pack again for Ahmedabad.

Soon, it will be time to return to my karmabhoomi - land of action, America where the immigration officer will squint at me quite a bit and ask me where I have been and why, and take my picture and fingerprints for the third time this year, before welcoming me home.

Aum Namah Shivaaya!!

Kailash 2010 Day 1 : From Delhi to Kathmandu, Jun 25, 2010

Unexpected luxury at the Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi - free massage chairs at the gates!!!

The massage chairs make the Indira Gandhi airport the best there is (Pallavi's collection)

Free massage chairs, that the trekkers-to-be take advantage of, at Indira Gandhi International Airport (Pallavi's collection)

The immigration counters in Nepal are mind-boggling - "visa" "no visa" "Nepali citizens" and anyone can stand in any line and yet have papers processed. The informal atmosphere allowed Swamiji to walk up and down the lines and to make sure that we got the correct stamp on the passport else we would be sent back from the Chinese border. 

Off to the hotel through the streets of Kathmandu that appeared to be more of a temple town than a capital city.

Mallik and Srihari outside the Kathmandu airport, Suhasini/Shailaja/Swamiji/Jayanthi at the back

Kalpakkamji at the back, Pallavi and Alka outside Kathmandu airport

Alka, Moti Aggarwal, Srini and Usha Amble - all excited to be in Kathmandu!!

The rooms were comfortable, and the hotel campus was pretty with little gardens, fountains and sculptures.

Beautiful Buddha garden at the hotel in Kathmandu

Sculpture in the hotel garden

Br Uddhav Chaitanya in the hotel at Kathmandu

If this was a B/W picture, it would look like a strategy session for WW II - Gaurav, Alka, Pallavi, Param-ji

Regardless of the concerned expressions above, food was plentiful, though I was not quite sure I wanted to eat the rich Indian food. The yogurt was pre-sweetened, and the restaurant insisted there was no plain yogurt to be bought, they apparently bought tins of this sweet stuff and we would find the same thing in the market. The sweet yogurt killed the taste of my steamed rice and yogurt meal, but there was chai, I was counting my blessings.

Bhavna to whom I am ever obliged for motivating me to prep for this trek, with her daughter Kaveeta

The Appajis came later during the day. They have had challenges from the beginning with their flight from Chicago getting cancelled, the British Airways people losing their bags in the new flight, the lost bags not arriving in time, things missing from the lost bags once they finally arrived, etc etc. Considering this, not only the parents but even the children - the youngest in our group, are bearing this stoically with a very positive attitude.

Swamiji gave instructions that nobody was to leave the hotel. Only the people from Dallas were in the hotel yet, more people from different parts of India were to arrive at different times during the day. And once all the groups had freshened up, we were to have a pre-trip meeting for the entire group.

Logistics meeting organized and planned by Swamijis without whose leadership this trip would have fallen apart

If it were not for Swamiji's appointed :) volunteers - Yogananda, Rajeev, Srihari, Motiji, not sure how we would take the next step at any point. The scene would have been quite chaotic at the logistics and planning meeting. The moral of the story is: go with Chinmaya Mission or some such organized group to Tibet with an authoritative leader, and do your own research. The travel operator takes care of food, transport and hotel booking, and Diamox - the medication for Acute Mountain Sickness.

One of the things that emerged in this meeting was that there were people who did not have travel insurance for the journey. The medical facilities and the terrain in Tibet do not allow instant medical care. There are blogs on the Internet of people who have gone through bad experiences. My travel insurance purchased in Dallas cost less than $30 to insure me for the 15-day trek - and this included being airlifted. My recommendation is to consider this mandatory. The cost is negligible, considering the expense of this trip.

I had already started on Diamox once I landed in New Delhi, thanks to the advice from Alka - half a tablet in the morning, and another half in the evening. From Kathmandu on, the travel agency started providing it to each person in the group. There were a couple of people who knew they were allergic to it. Diamox should not be taken on an empty stomach, it caused nausea to a couple of people that I know of. I had already checked with my doctor in Dallas, he had written a prescription for me. I had ultimately purchased it in Delhi, and it had suited me for two days already. My recommendation is : talk to your doctor and be sure you can take this medication, way before coming to Tibet.


Aum Namah Shivaaya!!

Kailash 2010 Day 0 - In Delhi the Day Before, Jun 24, 2010

Thanks to Jyoti, I now have a new mobile with free incoming calls and a pre-paid charge for 10 hrs of outgoing calls, all in $50!!!

And we have had the pre-trip meeting with a few people from Dallas - a very small group had gathered at the Airport Radisson. There is an alternate meeting place where the others may be meeting. I now have the bright red backpack and the bright red duffel bag that the travel agent wants the group to use. Also, we have been given a bright red cap and a bright red raincoat to be visible from afar, I guess. Hopefully someone will come running if they see the red spreading in the snow.

Highly value Swamiji's leadership for this trip - we have a single point of contact and authority who thinks in an organized manner. Besides Brahmachari Uddhav Chaitanya from Dallas and Br.Vinayak Chaitanya from Amritsar who led this meeting, we would be joined on the trek by Br.Anshuman Chaitanya, Br. Jaganmitra, Br.Suveda Chaitanya and Swami Shivayogananda. They have given up worldly life, and are addressed as Swamiji - Master, since they are on the path of mastering the mind to stay free of worldly attachments and desires. The Swamijis devote their life to meditation, contemplation and study of the scriptures. They are also acharyas - teachers, and give discourses at the Chinmaya Mission centers all around the world. They eat what they are served and would go hungry if not offered food, and they wear the colors of renunciation - shades of yellow, saffron and ochre. Any spiritual guidance I can get on this visit is very welcome to my steeped-in-worldly-life self.

Just read the newspaper at Jyoti's place - Col. Neeraj Sood became a martyr at the age of 40, defending India against Islamic terrorists. He is survived by his wife and 11-year-old daughter who were visiting him during the summer break, and flew back yesterday with his body to Delhi. I cannot imagine that they were probably landing in Delhi around the same time as I did. Col.Sood is the fourth Indian Army Officer to be killed by terrorists in 2010.

Met Delhi businesswoman Gauri, whose original Muslim name was Gul before she married her Hindu boyfriend thirty-five years ago. They settled in Delhi because of the risk to life and limb in Kashmir. Their families who initially vehemently opposed the union, eventually reconciled with it. Gul discussed her initial hesitation to go to a Hindu temple because of the deity installed there and the Islamic concept of the formless Almighty, but she said that over the years, her horizons have broadened and she understands that the visual icons help people connect. She said that if she had given in to her family and had not married her boyfriend, her thinking would have been limited to a communal perspective. She now understands the views and concerns on both sides and does regret hurting her parents. She said that she had married at twenty when she did not fully understand the social impact of her decision, and if she had been older, her decision would have been different.

The sensationalizing of news items has desensitized us to the import of some news. Just read that a girl's parents in Delhi invited her boyfriend to her uncle's home and electrocuted the young couple. Apparently "honor killing" is a concept that has taken on a new life in India, or the media may be sensationalizing it and I do not realize that as a visitor. Jyoti's neighbor Revathi told me about her marriage forty-five years ago. She is Malayali and her husband is Bengali. Both families were so opposed to the marriage that none of them attended their wedding, and it took years for everyone to come around and accept one another's culture, though they are all Hindu. And yet, at no time, did anyone ever think of fighting it out or taking it out on the young couple. Another young man has been arrested today, accused of killing his sister and her husband, who had married against the family's will four years ago - whatever happened to Raksha Bandhan vows?

Shailu was to visit Delhi the next day but he pre-poned his flight and caught the red eye from Mumbai to see me before I left for Kathmandu. I got to meet him after sixteen years, he is an officer in the Indian army and has always been in remote areas any time I have visited India. He reached at 2 am, and we had barely an hour with each other and yet the years fall away, he is my kid brother who like most of my family is doing far greater things than I am, risking life and limb for the country so people like me can live a life of material comfort.

Jyoti packed me off to the airport at 4 am, her husband is on tour of duty in Sudan as a part of the UN peace-keeping force, and has called several times already to make sure I have everything for my trip and I am doing well. My uncle from Almora called to make sure everything was OK - he has made the 40-day trek to Kailash and Manas Sarovar on foot in 2008 at a 70-plus age, and has plenty of advice for an urbanite like me. My parents are a bit worried, Anish and Ash are quite worried. At this point, I am done preparing and have left everything to Shiva.


Aum Namah Shivaaya!!

Landed in Delhi, Jun 23, 2010

My bags and I are now at the Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi, on sarzameen-e-Hind, - the land of India.

I called the travel agent who was to pick up my passport at the airport for the group visa for Indian passport holders, from the Chinese embassy in Delhi. A week ago, they had realized that they needed to get my passport processed in Delhi - from the paperwork I had sent 3 months ago. I was in Delhi a day earlier in case I had to come up with alternative flights to reach Kathmandu. Fortunately I had planned for an extra day because it was now used to get me included in the group visa. Otherwise how was I going to make this trip??? All these aggravating slips between the cup and the lip add to the worries knowing that something can happen till the last moment to nix this trip. The travel agency guy showed up at the airport after three aap-aa-rahe-hain? - are-you-coming? phone calls - I was too relieved he had shown up to care for the delay. Once there, he was very polite and re-assuring, and I was slightly more comfortable that my trip was still happening.

Jyoti picked me up from the airport. Life was good though my feet were swollen to twice the size. Tomorrow, I need to get a few things I forgot in Dallas - toothbrush, towel, :).

In the flight, the AA counter person had not obliged with a window seat or an aisle seat, and I had ended up sitting next to two children. This could have been a nightmare but they turned out to be very well-behaved, shyly answering questions about their school. The service in AA Economy on this flight was the best I had ever received in AA, and the food from Chicago was good. All positive signs, and then there was the 3-yr old in the seat in front of me whose main activity was to jump up and down on his seat which made my mealtime full of surprises. While his father slept or watched movies, the neglected child watched me closely. A spherical head with the chin resting on the seat stared at me as I watched movies. If I nodded off, he would put his chubby hands on my TV screen to check if I was really sleeping. And when I looked up, I had to ask him to take his hands off so he knew I was awake now. A couple of times, he balanced himself half-way over the seat and twisted around to watch my TV screen with me. I was apparently his on-flight entertainment of choice. It is difficult to be irritated by someone who looks like Pooh Bear. When we landed, he slid off the seat, having never tied his seat belt the whole flight. His father who noticed him for the first time, yelled quite a bit. There was no crying or sniveling, so my Pooh bear must have been OK.

The additional payment made at the AA counter in Dallas is far behind me now. One bag was beyond the 50 lb limit. An additional bag and the additional weight - $100, to get into the flight on a ticket that is already expensive because it was purchased quite late.

Tomorrow, I need to get in touch with Swamiji to find out the agenda for our pre-trip meeting in Delhi.


Aum Namah Shivaaya!!