Jill Will Go...

India has certainly enriched my memory box. The colors, the religions, the people, the food. The food! A good reason to not go back - I'd be as big as a house. One new friend suggested I take an Indian cooking class. Nothing like bringing the temptation right to my doorstep. But I will go back. I fell in love with India. I'm thinking of a volunteer stint next time. It is time to do more. See you in Puerto Rico in May! Jill

My last day in India. A whirl of museums to start the day. The National Museum, where many of the interesting exhibits were closed. The Crafts Museum, which had some nice things, but we only stayed for an hour. Then another rickshaw ride into Chandni Chowk. Although a lot of the market was closed because due to it being Sunday and the Holi holiday starting soon, it still felt like complete pandemonium. As we drove on the freeway, there were two elephants just below us on the city street, getting washed by handlers. One of our group said, "I can't imagine getting used to something so odd." Then she paused and said, "Actually, there is no 'odd' in India, is there?" We finally made it to a spice market. Many spices and teas were purchased. The colored powder for Holi was on vivid display. The neon colors made the bags of spices look bland by comparison. I would love to travel with someone who feels comfortable in this setting. I wanted to walk

We are stuck in Delhi, but I'm determined to have a good time. Others are not. I'm not letting the loss of Nepal ruin things for me, and I'm not going to let others do it, either. I will get to Nepal - I'll just have to do it a different way. Madan is trying to appease everyone and people are throwing ideas at him. Everyone is reading their guide books suddenly and going online (I'm sure Madan is damning that free wifi at this hotel), then retuning with ideas about what we should be doing. Meanwhile, his office has other plans. We all protested a "Bollywood Showcase" that they wanted us to see. I expressed that educational things or sights that are different to what we have back home would be much better. We are in Delhi, for Krishna's sake! There have to be some temples, mosques, markets, or something. The other problem is that our "emergency" hotel is out in the suburbs, there is nothing but gated apartment buildings around us, and

"O Lord of the curved tusk, immense being, blazing with brilliance of a million suns, please help remove all obstacles to this undertaking." Prayer offered to Ganapati, Hinduism's elephant-headed lord of obstacles. My delicious dinner last night has played havoc with my stomach. Is there such a thing as Varanasi Belly? Yes, yes there is. And I'm quick to medicate to relieve myself from it. The flight today was delayed due to rain and storms in Nepal. The turbulence as we attempted to land in Kathmandu was some of the most jarring and scary I've ever experienced. At one point, the pilot was turning the plane hard to the right, and we started bouncing and jerking as we turned, and I thought, "We are going to flip." Someone started crying in the row in front of me. We returned to Varanasi. People who had window seats reported that they had never seen clouds like the ones hovering over Kathmandu. At Varanasi, we sat for about an hour on the gro

"Older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together." Mark Twain on Varanasi. Today I saw the river another way. The sunrise instead of the sunset. We walked towards the river with pilgrims who were chanting. It was a completely different feel than the night before. The shops were closed, just the newspaper hawkers were out, and people were quietly making their way towards the Ganges. We took a boat out to watch the sun come up and to see the devoted bathing in the river. It is remarkable to see these people submerging in and drinking this water. While I acknowledge that the river is sacred and central to religious beliefs...it is also a scummy, dirty, chemical-infested river of nastiness. I'm talking condoms, garbage, plastic bags, and unidentified debris. Still. It somehow doesn't lose its allure. As we drifted by the crematorium ghat, we saw families bringing two dead bodies down to the wat

From the Bhagavad Gita The last half of this day was one my top travel experiences ever. I am grateful to be fully present in this world, to be in this particular place, and to have seen and felt what I did today. I started in a rickshaw, with Papou as my driver. For twenty five minutes, he guided me closer and closer to the river. The crush of people was what I thought all of India would feel like, and what I longed for - the horns, the bodies pressed together, the men on motorcycles with entire families perched behind him, the cows, the shops, the faithful making their way slowly towards the river. The River Ganges. Varanasi (also known as Banaras or Benares, and to the faithful as Kashi) is one of the oldest living cities in the world. It has sustained religious life here continuously since the sixth century BC. The Ganges stretches alongside, with long flights of stairs, or ghats, leading directly into the water. This is the center of the Hindu universe, and you can feel