India Journal 2006 - #66 - May 28-29...Feelings of Peace and Wellbeing and some pics of my room

Monday

Even more snow fell during the storm yesterday which raged until well into the nite. But this morning dawned crisp and sunny. You can feel the soft, lovely, cool breeze of mountain air and so far the sky is a brilliant blue with just a few wisps of clouds. Let's see what the day brings! The hawks are circling seemingly aimlessly and lazily in the currents, but every once in a while one will dive and swoop down on what apparently is breakfast. (The day brought dark, threatening clouds, again, by 1 in the afternoon, and it is now close to 3 and FREEEZING again...no one, but no one can believe the weather....I am back in my winter clothes including my warm shawel and it is the end of May...normally the hottest time of the year here.

And now, 7 PM, the sky is clear again. The sunset reflecting off the snow peaks, the lower foothills luch and green, all holding the promise of a lovely day tomorrow.

Personally, I am feeling very much at peace for the first time since I left Rishikesh. I have also begun to imagine my homecoming and I see it as also very calm and tranquil with quiet time for my loved ones and friends. Although I truly wish I was staying here longer, and perhaps going back to Rishikesh for while, I know that will also be happening before the end of the year, and the months at home will bring only further harmony and balance into my life. and this is the source of my wellbeing right now.

Just bought flowers for my room. beautiful day lilies . Still closed. Then I realized that I've never taken pictures of this room...so, here are a few with some explanations

note the night table and lamp, which means I don't have to get out of bed to turn off the light at night when I finish reading...this is a first for me in India!!





see "read more" for the rest....






This is my closet, above


Above some flowers I bought...will shoot again when they open


This has become my sofa, my treatment table, and even my table for eating if I cover it with a tablecloth!!


and below my bathroom....not the large hot water heater!!



Below some pics of the room...






Table and chairs...mostly my corner for makeup and hair as there is a mirror on the opposite wall, but when I have company, the chairs can be moved over into the other side of the room and it is quite nice.


Tuesday

New view from Nick's...Hawks are so sloce on the current I could reach out and touch them as they soar past. Below, the amazing view of a building site with the women laborers as usual. Four women dressed in lovely sairs (one red, one daffodil yellow, one bright orange and one turquoise) walking as elegantly as if they were taking an evening stroll. Working as human bulldozers. A house is being build and the foundation of 4 rooms laid out in concret squares, which have to be filled in first with dirt and then overlaid with rocks and gravel. Normally, I would picture a bulldozer with large shuffle scooping up a load of dirt from the hillside and then dumping it in the center of each square and men spreading it evenly to cover the foundation.

Here, the women worked in pairs. One digging dirt out of the side of the hillside with a hoe and filling msall baskets with it, and then helping the second one to lift it on her head and then carry it herself over to the foundation and dump it. Each "dump" barely makes a dent in the area to be filled and I watched for 1/2 hour. I imagine it took them the whole day to fill in this the area in this manner....and they were not walking with the baskets on their heads over a regular path, but up a hillside and over all the rubble of the building site, never missing a step or seeming to falter...graceful is the only way I can describe it.

Now that I am feeling better, and have the CHOICE of doing nothing, I REALLY feel like I am finally on vacation, and 2 weeks is all too short!

Namaste
Jane