Wednesday– 2^nd March 2011

Wow how much can one fit into a day is awesome sometimes!….I started the day getting up at 6am to be ready for my last massage treatment which had to be scheduled at 6.30am. It was special spending that early beginning to my day of completion here with Santhe, my primary massage lady. I don’t think I have mentioned that one of the beautiful and affirming parts of each massage for me is that at the beginning a prayer is said and we are blessed.  Being in the energy of a culture where blessings and prayers accompany most actions has been a pleasure and a delight….it feels quite affirming….

I was surprised when I said my final goodbyes to Santhe how emotional I felt. It made sense when I thought about how every day she had pampered, nurtured, nourished and cared for me and looked after my body and spirit in so many ways and I did feel revived, restored, repaired, rejuvenated, replenished, relaxed and reinvigorated …and so grateful….

As the beginning of my massage was delayed as Santhe was late I was running about a hour behind schedule of what I had planned for myself to be able to leave the Resort at 11.45am…. I had in my mind that I so wanted to go for a last swim in my “I am strong and pain-free pool” and was thinking of talking myself out of it because of the time delay and the problem with getting wet and having wet bathers to carry and so on and so on……Yet I decided to listen to a young voice in me and am glad to report that I stuck to my plan and I went in the pool but adapted to go for about 20 minutes instead of my usual hour and it felt good to have honoured myself in that way as well as being on time to leave.

Shelton was also delighted to be able to get a last yoga class in. He is so happy with having done yoga everyday and feels committed to continuing this practice as were a number of the group. I wanted to mention that and to make clear that I was really the only one feeling that it was like ‘torture’. I’ve even decided I can do some of the yoga poses in my pool workout and are quite excited about exploring that. Many of the others also attended the meditation and Pranayama (yogic breathing) classes and have intentions to make it part of their routines back home. 

I also haven’t mentioned much about the shopping as I actually didn’t go out of the Resort until the Sunday when we went to the orphanage. The others had lots of fun shopping and Shelton (who is a great shopper) got some shirts made and bought some new outfits. Everyone wore their new finery to dinner last night and Shelton was resplendent and dazzling amongst the ladies!

Shelton resplendent and dazzling amongst the ladies.....!

So the big departure!!  Lots of goodbyes to all the various staff and off we go on our drive to the airport. It was somewhat speedy and a bit more ‘breakneck’ than usual but we got there with plenty of time to spare. We had 2 flights before us which were both about 2 hours long. One flight from Trivandrum (which is in the south-west corner) to Mumbai (which is still on the west coast about half way up and then from Mumbai to Delhi (which is central and quite far up in the north of India.

One of the treats of the flights was that I was sitting with Zoe and could now give her my full attention about her engagement/marriage and the journey ahead of us to meet her new in-laws. So she talked at length about her marriage to Gaurav and what that means in Indian terms and what it means for her. One of the things that stood out for me is her respect of him and his culture. A lot of things that are normal and expected of/for him and his bride (even though he has Australian citizenship and has lived in Australia for about 6 years) are in essence ‘alien’ to the way Zoe was brought up regarding weddings. What I experience her doing is truly “crossing the bridge” into his world and honouring what is important to him. That is the same intention I adopt as I listen and talk and plan with her. I remind myself that my intention is to fully and truly see it through her eyes whilst at the same time holding my own reality. Around some areas that is a challenge as my opinion is different to hers.

Question for you: Where in your life do you need to truly cross the bridge into the world of someone you care about♥

Question for you: Who do you need to invite to cross the bridge and visit your world♥

Gaurav told her before we left Trivandrum that he had been able to arrange with the local priest for the Promise Ceremony (see tomorrow’s writings for a full description) to take place tomorrow around the middle of the day. It seemed like we were to be thrust fully into the Indian rituals almost as soon as we got there.

We arrived into Delhi’s huge airport and were miraculously found in the crowd by Gaurav with a car and a driver……Before us we had a journey to Ambala which is about 200km north of Delhi where Shelton and I would meet Gaurav’s family for the first time. Our drive from Delhi airport to Ambala took from about 7.30pm to 1am in the morning….And what a drive!

So imagine driving along a freeway where you have to swerve constantly to miss cars, trucks, people on bicycles or even walking along or running across the 6 lane freeway….where beeping horns and dipping headlights is as much a part of the driving as pressing the accelerator….. Where every time we came up to another vehicle the driver blew the horn as notice that he was about to pass which meant the vehicle, which was often a truck, had to get out of the way and we then narrowly passed it either to the left or right…..where lanes could disappear and then reappear without any logic…..where it seemed that roadwork’s were “in progress” for what seemed like 100’s of kilometres without there being anything actually happening….. where at times bumps, holes and whole ridges like our speed bumps turned the road into what felt like an endurance trial….and the driver not really slowing down to manoeuvre any of these….feeling a bit like the “drive from hell” ….and we thought the drive from the Resort to the airport this morning was a challenge….that was like a stroll in the park after this…

And horror of all horrors we have to do the return drive from Ambala to Delhi on Friday!! And even more amazing (or probably foolish and ill-advised is more descriptive) Gaurav and the driver had already driven all the way from Ambala and it had already taken them about 8 hours to get there!! I won’t say anymore about that……

Anways friends, be well and happy and may you be feeling pleasured and rejuvenated in important areas of your life. Love Susie.