My hope of finding Serenity fades as I enter the house. I have an acute sense of smell which is cute in tandem with taste while trying to figure out the ingredients of a delicious dish, but woe unto my senses when the scent is of a funk-laced base. Such was the case as I was slapped with Ode du Stinky Dog, layered with Je T’aime de Damp Eau Mildew Scented House, plus it’s cold & I hear, VOICES! No, not the ones that had been yelling in my head but I thought with the exception of the cook, I’d be alone but there’s a small child here & the TV sounds are jolting. I had planned on enjoying a quiet, soulful, introspective weekend. A woman greeting me ‘Namaste’ oh oh oh! 'now Bird be polite & stop all the head bitchin’ you’re damn near snarlin’ & it’s about to show!' ‘BUT IT’S MORE STIMULUS THAN I PLANNED ON’ I shout back. Ahh, the beauty of telling yourself off cause you gotta stand there & take it, ain’t like you can walk away heh heh!
Back to real time, I grumble a disheartening ‘Namaste’ which is such a joke because a rough translation of that word is ‘the light within me salutes the light within you’ so to say it as I did was just plain ol’ sucky. It's said at the end of a yoga class & is the greeting of that region so normally I'd have loved it. ‘Oh Bird, you’re cranky yet AGAIN what happened to seeing things from a Positive Perspective?’ ‘Oh shush! I retort back to myself, I wanna go back to Delhi WWWWAAAAAAAHHHH!!!’ Quickly I made plans to shorten my stay by one day & in the meantime I tell myself to make the best of it & to SUCK IT UP GIRLIE!
I put my stuff down in the room where I’ll sleep & begin to unpack. Trying to block out the cold trying to make a home in my bones, I go into the bathroom & see there is no separation between the toilet, sink & shower. What I mean is there is one floor & no partition or tub for the shower. That means you walk across the floor that is always wet. E-uuuguh! Then I find out the internet access I was assured I’d have was a no go. There wasn’t a way to connect my laptop to the modem & it seemed their desktop wasn’t’ working properly so you KNOW it took EVERYTHING for me to stay calm. ‘Temperance Bird, temperance’ is the rebuke in my head so I decide to play along by rejoining with that Change of Perspective Thang. I sit in the living room to watch my first TV in 5 weeks & though cold, I refuse when Nandoo the housekeeper offers to put on the scary looking gas heater, choosing instead to wear one of the jackets in the closet. Then he serves me dinner. It’s the ABSOLUTE BEST meal I’ve had in India OH MAN OH MAN IT’S GOOD! I love the way potatoes are prepared in Indian Cuisine & there was some slammin’ chicken as well as a bread called Chapati. For moments I am actually, genuinely happy without remanding myself into the CPT [Change of Perspective Thang] & after pigging out awhile, I decide to call it a night. I am very, very thankful there are ample blankets as I crawl into the high & awesome king sized bed. Waking up a couple times to the soothing lullaby of the pouring rain, I experience the soundest sleep I have had the entire India trip & as a matter of fact, it’s probably the best sleep in months. The bed & pillows oh so comfortable, I stay in that warm cocoon until 11 AM the next day.
Some of the Sights Along the Way...
