India Jouranl 2006 #42-Adventures in Delhi April 10-13 #1

Well, here I am in Delhi, a few days after my last post from Rishikesh. Today is thursday but I want to go back to tuesday and start from the beginning ot this new part of my journey. HOpefully I will get it all done today, but if not, tomorrow is another day.

April 10th 16:13
Just got onto the Shabtabdi Express from Dehra Dun to Delhi. We boarded at Hardiwar exactly on time, our luggage was placed on the upper luggage racks by a porter and we found our seats. The train is a little too chilly for me but it is the first time in over 3 weeks that I can complain of being chilly and it is a lovely feeling. Simply put on my shawel which is always with me.

I am using my IPod with earphones for the fist time and have decided to begin the journey with some musicals. I've chosen "Oklahoma" as my first choice,
have put my chair back in reclining position, and have already been brought a bottle of water and a snack on my food tray. "Tea Kit", ladoo (sweet), samosa, apple drink and some crispy masaly snack. I have so much leg room it is unbelievable and am extremely comfortable. The carriage is only 1/2 full (it filled up at the next stop). The sun is setting in the West and this going to be a lovely 5 1/2 hours...quite luxurious!!

Just a "Oklahome" ended we were served soup and roll and butter. Now I'm reclinigna dn resting again and "Camelot" is playing. Even after all these years (I was a teenager when I saw it on Broadway with my friends Jessica Dunsay and Rina Hellman), it still moves me when I hear Julie Andrews, Richard Burton and Robert Goulet as I saw them live on Broadway.

Then I decided to "dance" until dinner is served. it is now about 9 PM. Dinner is over, enormous meal. Aloo gobi (potatoes and cauliflower), paneer (cheese in sauce), rajma dahl (kidney beans and chickpeas), rice, 2 chapaties, fresh salad veggies and small earthen jug of absolutely heavenly curd for dessert. (At the time I noted that everything in the dinner were things I am not supposed to eat and have been avoiding for the past 6 weeks...little did I know how it would effect me later on....)

Now just "dancing the night away", lovely couples dances, and will probably fall asleep. Have been dozing on and off since the trip started. Anoter 1:45 to go. Really lovely...and then Delhi!!

WOW! Again being served, this time ice cream (and that was my final downfall I think)...it was really delicious! They just don't give you a minute to relax on this train!

Sitting next to me was this sweet young girl. She is 25 years old, lives in Dehra Dun and was just home for Easter Vacation from her job as air hostess out of Delhi for Air India. She is a Christian, quite beautiful and well spoken. Has an MA in economics and is basically just enjoying a few years of freedom before her parents arrange a marriage for her...she says it will be a problem as all the nice guys she meets are Hindu, and that is impossible. She is completely at peace with an arranged marriage, as she will be allowed to pick and choose until she finds one she likes. i mentioned the movie "Namaste London" to her and she said "Yes, just like that" and then we laughted awhile about the movie.

She was dressed in jeans with a plain long sleeve top and shawel and seemed quite conservative, until we neared Delhi and she was talking on the phone to her friend who was coming to pick her up. (She also arranged for him to board the train and take down our luggage for us off the rack). She removed her shawel, and long sleeve top to reveal a very revealing, low-cut, spaghetti strap shirt just short of her belly button line...And then proceeded to put on makeup and do her hair. She looked like an entirely different person!!

Our luggage was taken down off the rack by someone on the train just as we pulled into Delhi exactly on time. The first rickshaw driver who approached us gave us a perfectly fair price, 20 rupees, to our hotel and so we didn't even have to haggle. And I didn't get to use the lovely Hindi phrases I had practiced for the past few days.

In the end, he got both of us and all our luggage into one rickshaw, instead of 2, and took 30 rupees apiece but it was still perfectly OK. I he a lot of lifting of heavy stuff to fit it all into the small space and still have room for us. He left me off first, and Ilse agreed to meet me the following morning at my hotel...and that is the last I've seen of her. I really hope all is well with her, but have no way of finding out as I do not know where she is staying and she doesn't use e-mail at all.

This new Hotel, Anoop, is quite lovely. Simple, but friendly and clean. First room I was given was small but adequate but the AC did not work so they gave me another room which turns out to be a deluxe room, very large, with 3 beds in it, lovely marbel floors, 2 ceiling fans, dressing table and lovely bathroom, for the same price they were charging me for the smaller standard room. The ceiling fan sounds like a truck and the AC like a tank but now I don't need my earplugs as every possible sound is drowned out!!

Had a lovely shower and off to bed. Slept well and now the fresh morning air is coming in the windows i just opened. Will have to close them soon but now, at 7 AM, it is quite fresh and col as it was yesterday at 11 PM when we arrived. And even though it was 11 PM, it was as alive as during the day and no problem with arriving here so late at night.

The staff is really wonderfully accomodating and I am really pleased and thankful I was guided to this place.

Will get dressed and meet Ilse soon for breakfast and at 10 will see to my train ticket to Pathankot.

OK...I will end here and continue tomorrow or later with part 2 of the Delhi Adventure.

Namaste
Jane

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India Journal 2006 #6 Feb 9-12, 2007

Well, back to catching up where we left off yesterday...hope this will bring me up to date and then it will be easier to continue. Today is Monday to the best of my knowledge...hope not to loose any more days along the way. So we go back to Shabbat, the day I got caught in the rain on the way home. But walking down the road to Ram Jula, the water of the Ganges was an amazing aquamarine, brilliant, clear color. I had to stop and just look at it for awhile on my way down. It rained all day AND all night and the locals say it should have rained like this in December and beginning of January, certainly not now...and they are all surprised by the weather. It did not rain all winter and just started raining now. Sounds like home...but it is really cold and windy and rainy and hopefully it will clear up soon. (Today, Monday, was actually quite nice all day...even saw the sun and sat out for awhile...hope each day gets better and better).

At any rate, I used the shared rickshaw which runs up and down the road between
Ram Jula and Laxman Jula and you just get on any one that has a free seat for 5 rupees. It takes me up the road and then I have another few minute climb up to the "High Banks" area I am living it. Not bad. I actually prefer walking the whole way but the rain was terrible and I've also been advised to do as little walking while doing the treatments, and rest as much as possible. I have taken to wearing my Crocs which I threw in the last minute and they are super comfrotable and since the roads here are good and even cleaner than any place else I've seen so far in India (except for Chennai), I am enjoying wearing them instead of my usual closed sneakers. Also easier when I have to keep taking them on and off in different places. Rishikes as a whole is really clean, and except for the stuff the cows leave (and there are an enormous amount of cows here...more than I've seen anywhere else), there is no dirt on the road whatsoever. so much cleaner than Dharamsala!

On the way home after my 4th treatment, which I will describe in a "treatment post", I stopped to buy shampoo and it took lots of hot water and plenty of shampoo to get my hair back to normal...it was the first treatment with the oil dripping on the forhead business...you can just imagine!

I had asked earlier in the week if it was possible to take walks in the forest and I was laughed out by the people at the guesthouse. They told me it is dangerous to go into the JUNGLE and I thought they meant for reasons of being robbed or attacked by men or something. They said no..."wild animals"!! Well, I didn't know what animals they were talking about but this morning, while looking out at the view across the river from my terrace, I saw on the path below, two enormous wild boar coming down the "jungle" path. so, I know for sure that they are in there and that is enough reason for me to not venture out there alone. But then I was told there are panthers and black bears as well! I spoke to the people at the clinic and they said yes, of course, the panthers even come down into town and the people who cautioned me about roaming the streets late at night are right. The area I am staying is pretty much IN the "jungle" and the animals still roam there. So, for now, I will have to find other places to walk around...but that will all wait until I finish all my treatments.

Sunday was also raining and chilly and almost didn't go down to my treatment, but in the end I went and coming back was already a little warmer and even had tea in an outdoor cafe which I tried for the first time. I had left my room in the morning wearing just about every piece of clothing I took with me. tites under my jeans, 2 pair of sox and my woolen booties on top of them. Thermal undershirt and 2 shirts, and light sweater, by sweatshirt and then my fleece jacket on top. and on the way down I bought a woolen hat to wear. And on top of it all, my shawel. Walking across the bridge was so windy, and quite scarey as it kind of swayed in the wind!

Just to comment about the treatments in general...my frozen shoulder is completely gone after only 2 treatments where it normally takes a few MONTHS to go away...even using acupuncture, osteopathy and complete rest. I've never taken the cortisone shots or pills the doc recommends and basically it seems that it doesn't go away until the inflammation dies down. And here, it was gone in 2 days!. My hip also seems to be fine even though it is so chilly and damp and all the walking I am doing, much of it up hills and steps.

Had a really fun time with Deepak today, one of the therapists as well as my yoga instructor, after his fabulous massage. While eating lunch, which consisted solely of chapati and squash like vegetable, we began talking about culture, language, etc. and I added a few more words in Hindi to my list. Trouble is, when I try to use them, people talk to me in English...like in Israel...if you sound like you don't really know Hebrew, everyone will answer you in English. They thought it was quite funny when I mentioned I learnt a little Hindi by watching Zee TV and when I told the young girl, 16 years old, who cooks and helps out there that I watch Jaab Love Hua and Kasamse, she burst out laughing!!! So now I can say things like "see you tomorrow", "see you later", "little bit", happy, cold, rain and "what is your name", "how are you", "have a nice day", thank you, in addition to the words I had already learned from the TV.

Also received my Indian phone number after providing them with a copy of my passport, visa, proof of address and picture.

Today I woke up with a cold again and my lower back is paining me terribly...something I never suffer from. So I complained to Vivek who said this is good...all part of the detoxification....and to rest as much as possible....he worked alot on my back and tomorrow I see the doctor to find out what the rest of the sessions will be.
So will end here...more tomorrow now that I am caught up.
Namaste

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