New Year in Kerala

Well who thought New Year's Eve was going to be like the set of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's nest with German subtitles. We are staying at the Oceana Cliff....stunning views of the ocean etc, ( Im sure the cliff bit, is because you want to jump off after two days) I hate it! It is full of Germans...and 4 Jews....it is a place for Ayurvedic treatmeants...after last night I have called it Oy-veydic... We decided not to trapse around and find the hippest party..but to stay and have dinner, watch the cabaret and fireworks and then maybe go into town. The four Jews (who were so loud and hysterical) sat at the table dying for some alchohol....we had been promised a cocktail...but the gestapo probably decided that four drunk Jews were worse, than sober ones so we never got them!!!. The food was delicious...but everyone was so sombre and quiet..I suppose they are wiped out from their treatments. Dinner was finished by 9.....so what to do next?. This hysterical magician started to perform.....we could not handle more than 5 minutes and decided to split to North Beach to welcome in the New Year.....I don't know who you have to f..ck to get a drink..but I have never been so sober in my life. We walked to the one 'so called happening place' Rock and Roll Cafe...with foreigners and a bad sound system.. I was mean't to meet Sonny ( my Indian man) there..Fran and Miriam decided to stay for a dance and Naomi and I thought we would walk back it was appalling.. at the hotel the Germans were now dancing, the inmates looked madder than ever...suddenly these Indian drummers arrived....it was almost like spiritual drumming to get you into a frenzy...they move towards you...the Indians go beserk...the Germans get looser, all moving out of time...and Jews look on....may the New Year bring sanity and success....I hope this is not indicitave of what is to come!!!

THe 3 OCeans

As if one is not enough.....Jennifer, a Swedish actress called Sheshtin and myself get on the 8.30 train and head for the 3 Oceans...at the tip of India. It is where the Bay of Bengal, the Indian and the Arabian all meet...Kanyukamari, a pilgrimage place for Indians. The train journey there is ridiculous, how many people can you squash into one compartment? but not one smelt of BO...which was very impressive. Jennifer and I find ourselves a fancy hotel overlooking the ocean and head off to do all the tourist stuff...catching ferry's to islands, where they have built a massive statue (like Liberty) of a famous Tamil Nadu poet and then to another island where a famous Guru meditated...then on to the beach to watch the sunset. This was wild my snake park days in Muizenburg were never so packed...there were very few Westerners...and we were taking photos of them and they were taking photos of us!!! We had a wonderful dinner with a variety of delicious dishes and cold King Fisher Beer. You have to hide the alchohol..so sometimes you get a beer in a teapot....and the head of the beer in your cup is reminicent of a cup of CHINO! We set out alarm for 6am..because on a good day you can watch the moon set and the sun rise....every balcony was full...I thought our neighbour had a huge toothache and must have been up for hours...but Jennifer told me it is what the Seiks wrap around their head to keep their beard's in place..looked most painful to me! There were clouds in the sky so no moon...and suddenly the sun!....we slept for another hour. Then Indian breakfast, egg dosa (like an eggy pancacke) and masala tea. We decided to buy a cheap ticket for out return journey because with the expensive ticket we couldn't sit anyway! Well when you start at the end of the world the train is empty...till your horny college boys pile in and decide to take a hundred photos of you. Some of these 22 year old boys where sitting on each other's laps (none of them wanting to miss out on a white foreign lady!).....now come on boys! That doesn't turn a women on!! Actually they were fun and kept us entertained most of the way. We bought bottley vater! Chai! Koppie! and Vadda all on our journey so we didn't arrive home starving...as if....photos to follow...Happy New Year hope 2009 is filled with positive energy and lots of good changes.

Have to deal with my frustration

I am at the internet and the phone rings, it is Fran. "Come back immediately we have to get out the room we are not booked in for today!" F----k...so I rush back stuff everything in sight into bags, back-pack and suitcase...I seem to have a lot more stuff than when I arrived. We don't know where to go, only booked into the Oceana from the 30th. Then we see the Ayurvedic doctor and he tells us he has a room in his house for R500...no time to check it out "we will take it!" Fran now has sinus problems, a runny tummy and just wants to chill...(understandable) but we never seem to do anything, everytime we plan something it changes...is this India? We have met a lovely Australian man called Jim...and we arrange to meet him for yoga and dinner in North Cliff. Yoga is on the roof of this restaurant called Namaste....we start off at sunset and by the time the stars are shining brightly the class is finished....perfect. We indulge in prawns, octupus..and a whole butter fish....what happened to Fran's stomach...it miraculously got better...was it Jim? She announces that she doesn't want to go to Kanyakumari tomorrow...we planned this 3 days ago...I get irritated and decide to go anyway. Fortunately I meet Jennifer the Swiss girl that I rode the scooter with...and she wants to come with me tomorrow to the border of Tamil Nadu...so I am still going to go. The Indian boyfriend is driving me mad...and I am starting to feel trapped...Anand has contacted me and wants me to come to Puttaparthi for New Year, but it is too far...so what to do????? We move to the Oceana tomorrow, and it is full of Germans, and although beautiful I don't want to be there. So I need to do a big meditation and find out why I am so bloody frustrated and irritated.....or just disappear for a few days and go native I am obviously more at home with the Indians than the tourists...a COWBOY AT HEART

Puja on the beach

So we sit on the beach doing Puja....a ceremony with priests and prayers and fire....this is for our dead ancestors to send them on their way, please god after this many years I hope they have found it! The prayers are all in Hindi and have to be repeated, but they are hard to say and the noise that comes out of our mouths are like the sounds of farts in a bath...I can hardly control my laughter...I hope my poor father and mother forgive my lack of respect...my intention was good

Xmas Eve

Okay so Dennis picks Me and Doris and Mateus(the Swedes) by auto to go to his house near Golden Temple 20 minutes away. He tells me his brothers names are Lenin and Stalin, unusual names for Indian Christians. When we arrive his wife and daughter are there to greet us, and so is the feast of chicken, meat and fish. We bring the drinks, of course non alchohol. We finish the meal at 9pm. the church service is at 11.20pm...so we sit in the lounge with the TV on, the sound down..but the stereo on, with 5 speakers and a dodgy wire. The music is 60's English sing-a -longs.....we sing with Dennis and then I get bored and start making up the dialogue for the Indian soap...the Swedes are in hysterics....just like an Ingmar Bergman movie NOT! Time to go...we walk to the church and pass lit up mangers I feel like I am in LA! Suddenly the church with a hundred fairy lights. Women and saris, on the left and men and Dhoti's on the right...I knew I should have brought my scarf!!!! The bishop is behind a table with blue fairy lights, and two Indian girls with hairy wings stand next to him, I thing they are the angels..Jesus watches on the cross and Mary is in a glass case on the wall. The music is melodic and the sort of thing you would hear in a hotel lounge in Hong Kong not the Taj. Christmas starts with a bang...you think you are in a terrorist war zone....ear blocking time!..crackers going off everywhere, poor dogs and cats!...Then everyone makes for your hand "Happy Christmas, where are you from?" A thousand Indians and 3 Europeans , I felt like the Queen. Dennis is anxious he can't find a car to take us home...so we are surrounded by horny teenagers, touching your hair and shaking your hands over and over again. Suddenly a happy auto rocks up.....we pile in....petrified because of the speed it is going!...we want to make it till New Year. We get home 2.30am...it has been surreal, we are desperate for a beer but Varkala is dead. We kiss goodbye and I walk through the paddy fields, to my bed a la mosquito net. I now have to go and face Sunny who is pestering me I have to tell him my real age and hope it sends him running! He has invited me to his home for Xmas dinner and a bit of rumpy papadam!

Happy Christmas

Last night I walked passed the little manger outside the Eden Hotel...everyone had been there for days except the baby Jesus....Where was he I asked? Oh yes he will arrive on the 24th!! So I decided he was on the sleeper from Bangalore. Guess what he arrived today!! So what to do for Xmas...I am not really bothered but have been invited by Dennis (who's name is really Vishnu) to his village and home for the festive holiday. Fran has a stomach bug and doesn't feel like going but I have arranged to meet some Swedes at 8.30 and we will share an auto to Dennis. I will let you know how the evening pans out. Yesterday was very cool Jennifer and I another (Swiss/Canadian) hit the road with our scooters and went up the North coast and down the South....my right brake wasn't that brilliant, and I was fortunate not to have a few collisions...but the left foot came into use as I appeared to do a Barny Rubble and use my foot as a stopping mechanism....great for the ankles!! We found an amazing beach, landed in an ashram for lunch and took a boat ride to a temple. If you have seen Ewan Mcgregor on his motorbike....we weren't like that, but we weren't like Two Fat Ladies either, or the Hairy Bike-rider Cooks more like Thelma and Louise lost in Curry... The rest of the day was trying to find the elephant village which was ONLY TWO KILOMETRES AWAY...... hello????? no no no sorry you must go another 2 kilometres...and when we missed it......no no no sorry madam I'm afraid you have to go back 2 kilometres....2 kilometres turned out to be about 34 kilometres and the poor elephants were so pathetic, chained up so they looked like they were doing a tango on the spot...it was really awful. They all have this skin disease, where their trunks are almost pink...it must be depression....I have never seen this discolouration in Africa when they are roaming wild. An Indian 'chap' has fallen in love with me...the one I got the lift to town with. His 'English' name is Sonny....yesterday night he paid for my dinner, my internet and gave me an amazing shawl...he deals with antique Indian fabrics....I really don't need this! What would Sai Baba say? Be Honest and Be Truthful...I can't tell him how old I am, he thinks I am 37....they can't tell bloody age these Asians....he is only 31..but I think if I tell him I am old enough to be his grandmother he may run!! I did try giving him back the shawl but he refused.....and it is so gorgeous.....OK I WILL TELL HIM I'M 38

Varkala

Varkala is gorgeous, I am finding that adjusting from the Ashram R200 a day to up market R1000 a day very difficult...I keep on walking into town to hang out with the locals. In fact I have just got a ride in to town, on the back of the scooter,with this Indian guy I met last night. I am not mad about just hanging out with Westerners. Fran wants to move to the Oceana, which is more up market, but I am reluctant, it is too quiet for me and out of the main drag. Anyway she has booked it, and I might take off for a few days. Tomorrow am going off with a Swiss girl, we have hired scooters and are going down the coast to check out the beach and the elephants. I am massaged out...I have had one a day....I am so oiled.... I feel like a teenager....no dry skin on me!!!!

I'm not a One Guru GIrl

Ego Ego look how Ego I travelled far to let EGO

But he came with now wouldn't you know

The masters say we have no mind we must not think only FEEL

But Ego hangs about all day so say goobye and start to Heal

So I had 3 amazing days at Amma, she is a remarkable woman with so much love and energy how can you not feel good. I didn't want to leave the ashram and go in to the big bad world, I felt so safe so cared for...how would I ever be able to hold on to what I have learned in 5 weeks. I cannot say that I have found my master...Mother Meera, went deep into my soul, brought up my past, my feelings of rejection. Sai Baba brought up my sensual and pleasurable side and how I deal with men and relationships. Amma was mother, her love so unconditional so pure. I know I will be back to deal with more it's the most pleasurable therapy session I've ever had....So I walked over the bridge with the mist rising and the sweet sounds of Indian music coming from the Back Waters....caught a taxi to the bus station...decided the bus was too full and too much of a jolt back into the real world, so I headed for the train station. I can't say that was much better, but I got on, sat on my case by the open door, and watched paradise go by. Palm Trees, beautiful sea, canoes in the back waters and arrived at Varkala. South Cliff Eden Hotel...clean, gorgeous and my friend Fran. Exhausted from her flight from London she went straight to sleep and I left in search of the perfect massage.....with the help of Dennis...not sure of his Indian name he took me to a place with teak carved massage tables...2 women covered me with oil and totally took over...I flew to another dimension of goddess....and Dennis has invited Fran and I to his village for Christmas. So far Varkala is hip and chilled and clean compared to where I have been.

God's own country

IT really is so beautiful here....I am at my favourite woman on the beach having lime and soda and using her internet, looking at the Palm Trees. She is just cutting me some lemon skin for my mosquito bites. What can I tell you I have meditated on the beach..blissful, saw dolphins....met some lovely people. Ok so I didn't see stars when I got my hug from Amma but she is an amazing loving woman, and she can't be human, she sat from 11am in the morning till 11pm at night never going to the toilet, never eating and giving darshan by hugging people all the time. You watch grown men reduced to tears as they are hugged by their mother. The music was amazing, tabla players and singers. It is one big happy family here...I met my room mate a German woman who got married in Munich before Amma...I met a divine Jewish girl from San Diego....who I said I would contact when next I visit that part of the world. I had a birthday lunch with the Columbians, a French guy and Israeli and and American boy....I guess you could live in this little world and be very happy, not a care in the world. Hernan and Jean have just rung me...I miss them and Puttaparthi but this is calmer and easier and very beautiful. This morning I walked to the nearby village over the bridge and the backwaters, and a family invited me for tea and then lunch and then dinner....I stopped at tea..but they were genuine and kind....can you imagine us inviting a passerby to take tea...hello lad you fancy a cuppa..come in!

SOME LIKE IT ......VINDALOO

Left Puttaparthi...Hernan carried my bags...he asked me to come back before I leave for Oz...but it is best to leave them, in fact all of us wanting more. Jean and an Australian guy Sash got on to the bus for Bangalore. I stayed with the rich Indian folks again....you couldn't get me out of the hot power shower, great to be in luxury again. I was there for 2 nights and 2 days (not the shower, Bangalore) and Jean, Sash and her Rumanian friend met up for dinner both nights. The Rumanian friend is doing her doctrate at the Indian University, I think I would like to live in India for a year.
I left for Kerala at 5pm on the sleeper bus....well picture the Indian version of Some Like It Hot....Some like it Vindaloo...I am the Monroe....token blonde....the band are the Curry Munchers...the double bunks, the bollywood music and the twiching curtains. A man from Kerala befriends me, I am the only western..and the only one that seems to have a weeny bladder...unless they were p'ssing out the window. It just felt so surreal...the dust, the windy roads, and the speed at which the bus was travelling ..the speed of light me thinks, so fast and with so much cargo on top, it is a wonder we didn't fall over. I decided to get off at Hugging Mother's Ashram, since I was now ashram hopping....actually I have no idea where I am , but I am sitting in a shop drinking lime and soda....with a bunch of bannanas swinging in front of me ...the sea to my left....I don't really feel like staying here, but I am still sick and tired and I thought I would chill for 2 days before I leave to meet Fran in Varkala, 5 hours away. I am in a room with 3 others, although I haven't seen them. I have bumped into the Columbian girls and the Zim guy....there are lots of Westerners all in white....I have already had a hug from the mother...and I am sort of keeping to myself, don't really feel like talking to foreigners....This area was damaged by the tsunami...so there seems to be a big dip from the sand to the sea, and no one is swimming, in fact I am dressed so conservatively I am "shvitzing" (sweatng) like mad....it really is easy travelling in India, especially when you don't think about it !

some images around Puttaprthi

You can have it all as long as you surrender to the Divine

Vihbuti...for Beauty

Just popped into the corner beautician....Vihbuti is the ash that is put in the position of the 3rd eye...to remind us ashes to ashes....so I have called this Vihbuti Vihbuti For Beauty For Beauty

It's a women's right and duty!!!!

I book my ticket

I go I go look how I go.......I book my ticket on Volvo bus tomorrow 1.30 for Bangalore...I think Jean is coming with me....I will sleep in the Mansion in Bangalore tomorrow night and try and leave for Kerala on the 12th or 13th....Bye Bye Baba..Bye Bye..Hernan.....time to go ....lots to take in I know I know....let the wind blow...I go I go look how I go (Puck Midsummer Night's Dream)

CRAZY

I cannot leave what is happening.....is this how they get you...I leave Darshan...walk straight into Hernan...there is major snot and trauma....tears...him speaking Spanish me speaking English....oh my GAWD!!!!....out for dinner with Jean, Walter and new friend from Cape Town (so divine) Ian McFarlane...and it is my farewell....and I still don't leave....it is really ridiculous...we go back to the Apartment...Ian is doing Reike and massaging Jean's feet....Hernan and I are outside talking....monkeys jumping on the next balcony, the moon is mind blowwing....and I still don't leave....I wake up in the morning I half pack my bags...we go to the German bakery for breakfast...except I have turned Ian on to Gobi Manchurian...so he has to have that as well for Breakfast...I then leave before them, to do my final packing, I pass the Blue Lagoon, Hernan is having tea so I join him...he walks me back to the apartment...we do major bye byes...his final words are "don't leave"....and I am still BLOODY HERE....

One more day and then I have to go!!!

Ok I have to leave very soon....they say Sai Babba gives you what you need...and I got it....things went from Amazing to weird with Hernan....it all got too intense too quickly so he left town...where he went I really don't know...I think when you are on a spiritual path one should avoid relationships...that is all I will say....so I never slept the night before, and my mind worked overtime, and I was too hard on myself...but yesterday Jean and I went to the German Bakery and met a wonderful South African guy, called Ian...I was so excited to meet someone from my side of town...instead of a German or Italian or Spaniard!!!!So he hung out with us...he moved into our apartment...you see how quick things happen and I am leaving with him tomorrow morning at 7.30. I met a Scottish lady who said when she met me I had a halo around my head and now my energy is blocked in the heart chakra, and the left eye and my lower spine.....great-MEN I SAY!!!! Shiva Shiva Shanti Shanti...had a halo round my head now it falls like panty!! Shiva Shiva Shanti Shanti....watch out for mantra Viva Diva Sperm-Anti! ....Just over coffee I have met another woman who is an artist and was paralysed....and since she has been a devotee....she got out of that wheel chair and walked....the stories the stories

ok more of a parthi today

I was feeling pretty freaked out about my problem with my house in London...but I went back to the appartment, handed over the problem to Baba...this was the advice from the devotees...all done by meditation of course...and then Sebastian and Hernan passed by and asked me for dinner...I wasn't sure about anything so Hernan and I went for a walk, and stopped at a few chai shops...then stopped at a great Southern Indian Restaurant....then went up to the roof to look at the stars and the moon and be voyeuristic ...you couldn't help it so many people. so close and at so many windows...We sat there for ages...getting quite romantic....say no more....it is not a Blog Buster!!!! In the morning we hired a scooter and took ourselves out of Puttaparthi...through some little villages, with beautifully decorated houses, shame I forgot my camera...and on to a lake. It was so great to get out but we had a puncture as we entered a little village ( hope it wasn't because I sat at the back) and where did it happen? Right outside a tyre shop....I couldn't possibly say deevine intervention. Got back just in time for Darshan...I have decided that the ashram is in between a physchiatric hospital and Heaven and I seem to be fluctuating in between both places. It really doesn't look like I am leaving...I am having a lovely time...today!!!! Today met some Durban Indian's at darshan and sat next to what looked like a Tranny Indian from Canada...with big drawn lipstick lips...who talked and talked. Darshan goes from Shul to a Ravi Shankar concert...and the women still push like they are at a Harrods Sale...

Puttaparthi...doesn't feel like such a party

So Everything has turned on it's arse, and I have to have FAITH all will be fine....Yesterday Hernan and I sat on the roof in the sunshine for about 4 hrs, flirting talking about life, whether it was ok to spend 'time' together....ok so we had a snog...but then I went through all the stuff that I want to move away from...and so I started to withdraw. Then my voice completely disappeared...I went to meet Walter at the German Bakery where Dana Gillespe was singing, remember her from Jesus Christ Superstar? Anyway she does a blues routine, but uses the word Baba, in a lot of the lyrics. Today went to listen to an amazing lecture by a guy from South America...talking about how to find truth and to let go of the mind...that all is an illusion.....so if suddenly I don't have anyone to rent my flat is that an illusion too...I find some of the concepts, so difficult to get. It is weird all is Happy Happy and suddenly you are forced to think and think...and that is what you are mean't not to do......so I will do a mediation ask Sai Baba to sort out my London problem and hope my voice comes back.....this is weird!!!!

Will I ever leave here

Well It is quite crazy...I am still in Puttaparthi...with major laryngitis....everyone is laughing at me..."you see you doubt Baba and look what happens, you get ill, lose your voice so you have to go inside of yourself and stay here, you are mean't to be here"....and I have to tell you that is what is happening! I have moved into Jean's flat...her flat mate just happened to find somewhere to move, so there was a room and a bed and I am here...had an amazing Darshan and went in to the Bajan Hall where Baba comes into so he was really close up....all I know is everything is going upside down...Just heard from my the guy who has rented my flat in London that he has been made redundant, and is going to SA in a week....what to do what to do

I am at the internet office....bigger than a box....and there is the most beautiful soothing music being played. I am returning from an "almost' free ayurvedic clinic...I thought I would stay for a few days at the clinic, cure my cold, and get rid of some smoking toxins....but it is full...so I will stay at Jean and leave tomorrow. Had a lovely night with Hernan...we laughed about our sexual attraction to each other, Baba says unless this is a pure form of love, you must abstain from sex.

I dreamed of a mattress and no back pain

I dreamed of a toilet seat never squat again

Na peru Michelle, that's telgu for my name..but what's in a name when we are all the same

Is Dharma part of Karma..Is the ceiling of desire to kneel and then aspire

Faith in God faith in me..devotion and service DIVINITY

See no evil think only good, purify the body, clean thoughts are food

Who am I - swami says 3 , the one we think we are, the one others think we are, and the one that is

ME

Open your heart, the truth is love..do something bad, and they'll know from above!

I think I am ready to move

Tomorrow Kiara leaves for Sri Lanka, I said I would stay with the Canadian Jean for one night, but today I feel unsure. I have a sore throat and feel a bit down, not sure why. Everyone is so lovely here, kind and generous...but I don't feel the connection to this place. I have just bumped into a French guy that was at M Meera's...I was sipping my fresh coconut milk..." bonjour comment ca va?" I told him that I was finding it all a bit much..."a oui...ziz man is verry powerfool...he takes zee energie from you so be carefool!" he was off to Kerala and to Ammachie (hugging amma)....well I will allow the Gods to plan my trip...I am tempted to go to Bangalore, and then Tiruvanemalai (think that's how you spell it...anyway those that know say Tiru)..it is mean't to be small, spiritual with a huge mountain. Walter is toying with the idea of coming with me, but to be honest I have more fun on my own..with more possibilities presenting themselves. Sai Ram.....I have just been given a beautiful book abut Sai Baba's life by Lucy the French girl....you see how nice people are....or am I being hooked in? I can definitely say this....his message is amazing and if you live by what he says I have no doubt you will reach salvation quicker and have a better chance to be happy...Sai Bob Marley

So much to Understand

Sai Baba's darshan is like being at a BIG BAND concert...after spending two weeks at a solo recital. You queue up for 3 hours, women and men separate. They sit you in horizontal lines, and the person in front gets to choose a number, a lottery....this decides your fate...how close you sit to G-d. Both darshans I was number 9....apparently Sai's number, but not in front...more like a side view. Inside it is the size of a football pitch...the colours are pastels and gold with jewels...hundreds not thousands, sit cross legged for 2 hours before he arrives and then almost 2 hrs while he is inside the 'bajan' hall...by the time you get up, you look like you have rickets...I was so uncomfortable, even the meditation couldn't relieve me from my lower back pain. I don't know what I thought...it is something you can't explain....men all in white and the women in opulent saris....and there are as many westerners as Indians....and so many Russians, I felt like I was on a bus in London returning from Moscow!! I could hardly concentrate, I was so busy looking at everything...everyone seemed to know all the words of the songs...I joined in when I heard OM..everyone fan's themselves with plastic ping pong bats....well that's what they look like. When Sai enters it is like the stampede of the crazed women...all pushing and shoving to get God light ...I wasn't sure about this..Kiara and I went to eat in Western kitchen with some Italians...I commented that there seemed to be loads of lapsed Catholics here...where were the Jews? A gorgeous vivacious Argentinian lady...said "My dear no need to look far, there are lots of us Cohens inside." She had been living in California, and came to the Ashram and now lives here permanently. She has a son and daughter but added "They are not mine, I just gave birth to them...we let go of attatchment" I am still struggling with that concept...I know when I get it my worries and anxieties are over! Kiara and I went back home and talked about her revelation re Sai...it was facinating, she is quite amazing for her 34 years and has written a book called the Divine Family....she calls me sister, I really like her. I have had the best massage for $10 this morning....every knot has been untied....then dare I say it, I had a gobi manchurian for lunch...and my stomach is still keeping it together. I have had a coffee with Walter and Jean...and Walter and I may go to Kerala and Ammachie's ashram together....we will meet after Darshan and talk more about it. Have to quickly go home now and change, because my trousers are 3/4 length and you can't show a bit of leg.....Sai a ram....keep you posted x

Ashram hopping

So we had our final meal at 'Mother's' said our goodbyes...and 5 adults...3 with big arses...did I say mine was big....all piled into one little tuk tuk to pick up our luggage from the hotel and leave for Puttaparthi. Didn't realise 2 Spaniards were also sharing the taxi....less money for all of us. This particular tuk tuk had bhangra rap blarring from a speaker, and we all were shouting yo guru mother meera....which was the release after having had a completely silent meal. I was being told off constantly, as I sat next to Nicholas the Zimbabwe guy...and we were comparing idly ( a rice thing!) to Sudza...(an African thing!)...We were finally on our way 10. 30 pm....was this road for real...I have never been through so many potholes...the trees were amazing, sometimes we were travelling through avenues of trees like you do in France....but the roads were the worst I have ever experienced. So I had a bumpy silent trip...Italian being spoken in the front and Spanish being spoken in the back, and a driver that kept on touching the Italian girl's leg when he changed gear! We arrived in Puttaparthi....I can't tell you what I thought, it was dark, there was still garbage around, but there were huge posters of Sai Baba everywhere. We dropped off the 3 others and Kiara had invited me to stay at her place for the night. She lived just outside the city in the Indian area...what does that mean we ARE IN INDIA...anyway where no westerners stayed. Climbed up the stairs and it was magic, a palm tree in the middle of the building with thousands of birds in it and chirping away"welcome my dears to Puttaparthi"......her flat was pretty basic, she gave me a thin mattress, a thin blanket and a thin sheet......lit a joss stick and said goodnight. I woke up early and squatted a la Indian style...when she woke up she gave me a towel for my cold shower and made me coffee. "If you want to stay here till I go to Sri Lanka on the 3rd you are more than welcome, the flat is free"..."free?'' "yes of course everything is virtually free when you are with Baba". "Ok thanks" I was going with the flow......we got ready and walked to town...after having dropped our washing at the nearbly laundrette ( 5 Indians and 5 Buckets)....It was like going to Disneyworld....Huge coloured buildings, the music school had giant instrument sculptures outside....lots of spiritual signposts DESIRE PLUS LIFE IS MAN..LIFE MINUS DESIRE IS GOD....I was walking around completely spaced out, slightly gobsmacked..Mandanaplli....had mosquitos and chai shops......The walled city within the city is the Ashram.....she stopped to buy a flower, no 2, one for me and one for her to give to Ganesh...as you enter the gates. The ashram is huge, the chances of meeting someone you know as you walk through the gates is rare.....but there was the Canadian woman who came with me to Rishi Valley and she was off to meet Hernan my Argentinian friend.....WHHHHHHAAAAAAT.....this is crazy...I was told nothing is crazy when you are with the divine. I told her I would come and find them in Blue Lagoon after Kiara had showed me around. It is a bit like arriving in heaven....lots of people in white all going somewhere...lots of silence....lots of people sitting on the grass reading...the Southern Indian canteen , the Northern Indian canteen and the Western canteen...where we would eat tonight. I then went to find 'my buddies'...oh to see their smiles...we laughed, we drank lemon juice and we went back to Jean's 'western apartment'...quite fancy compared to Kiara's....the sexual tension between me and Hernan was as before....but it was really lovely to see him. They both asked me how long I would stay, and when I replied 3 days, they laughed and said "ok you will see...here in this place you cannot make plans"....Divine Intervention. Now I am off to darshan with Baba......thousands of people will be queing for 3 hours...woman are separated from men........this all feels like a movie...I will let you know which part I play!

I will leave you with a few photos of Mandanapalli

Moving on moving up

Ok it is official they want me back in June....I said thankyou and that the seed has been planted...Adilakshmi (the President) added "May it grow"....we have just had our final party lunch before last darshan....first time I have really had delicious food, sweet potatoe and rice with grapes....the rest was spicy with nuts and seeds. I will pack my bag have darshan and leave for Puttaparthi with the Italians. I leave having taught the kids some vital English...it went like this me "ring ring.....hello is that 222222?" the kids "No Aunty this is double two double two double two !" and old Zimbabwian joke...they love it!!! No one has talked about the bombings...I have managed to watch TV in my luxury coakroach pit...with two wash buckets not one...actually the coakroaches went walk about after the first day. I am ready to move on, yet sad, it has been and intense but very positive experience.