April 19th continued..... THE CHOICE IS OURS...CHOOSE HAPPINESS!

OK, OK, I know a lot of you don't like when I write about food, but there is no way to get away from it in McLEod. And with all my good intentions, I will be gaining weight here for sure. What to do!? I will do my best to still keep to my diet however. Have found a place that has a GOOD fruit salad and even fresh carrot juice. And another place with BEET juice, so that's another good thing. Jimmy's Italian on Jogibara, new , quiet, upstairs, beautifully decorated and not expensive.

But first, at Moonpeak cafe, where I sat out the rain. I had a poached chicken open sandwich with Mango Lime sauce and lovely lettuce and grated carrot salad dressed in olive oil. For only 50 rupees. Managed not to succumb to the cappucino, only to get caught in the rain again
(at least I have something to blame it on!!) and find myself at Jummy's. Having ordered an Irish Cream Coffee for only 30 ruppes and apple crumble cake....what to do!!

Their cappucino is only 25 rupees as compared to 40-50 in other places. They have a full meal of chicken in a variety of forms and sauces for only 120 rupees, green slalad, steamed veggies and all kinds of pastas, baked dishes, pizza, etc. for 60-85 rupees and even tuna melt, grilled chicken sandwiches etc. Really nice.

So, if I have already decided this is a vacation, I will allow myself to indulge on occassion, and there are TONS of new places here to do that in.

I've spoken to 2 more local friends here who also agree that the place has changed tremendously and predict that in 2 years time, tourists will stop coming and slowly it will become the new INDIAN vacation place. And they are pleased with this as they can charge much higher prices to Indians than they can to tourists. Already the stone/jewelry place I usually shop in has made changes. He is now selling only precious gems, and lots of them to rich tourists. His brother now travels the world looking for unusual gem stones and crystals which they polish and work themselves and they have opened a branch in Canada!

SO, VACATION, HERE WE COME!!

Same day, evening....
Funny, but as soon as I decided that this i smy vacation spot, I began to enjoy myself. And just as I got back to my room, a woman I met a few days ago just sitting at Nick's called and asked if I'd like to meet her for dinner. So I am now at Nick's waiting for her. Nice Slovanian lady, my age, named Yana (same name as mine she says). I did some needlepoint, did my toenails, read and now am here enjoying the view and the "relax". It is true. We are the only ones who can decide how we feel in any situation and the choice is ours at every point of the way!

In today's newspaper (which I never read but just picked up now while waiting)...front page article:

"Rajdani, Shatabdi Food is Stale:. Seems the stomach upset I had after travelling on the train has been explained. Seems they prepare the food 7-8 hours before serving it and it is not always kept at ideal conditions before reheating it on the train. hmmmmm!

"Getting a berth in the first class AC bogie of Shatabdi Express may just prove your ticket to the hospital!".

Just a work about Yana....really sweet lady...has been in India for 2 years straight follwoing her two gurus...a swami down South and the Karmapa (Buddhist) here. Although we have taken very different paths, we have both reached the same peacefull acceptance of our current place of personal growth and spiritual developemnt and she was so at ease and full of life. And unpretentious (opposite of most people I meet here...we agreed on that point...people take things SO seriously, including themselves, but never seem to get th point of the whole thing that they are doing...a happy, more content life for themselves and everyone they come in contact with. We have made a date to meet again and do "cards" for each other for fun!

Namaste
Jane