Integration

I am ready to just be with my discoveries and let them integrate within my soul...

Goodbye India, you have been good to me and I am full of gratitude...

Namaste

Tracy

Indian Rose Tours

My trip is coming to an end in a few hours and I am leaving the country I love. It is hard to describe and put into words why I love it is here so much so I will go back to what I wrote on the blog in November 2008:

"India for me is sooo good for decompressing. It is also far away and very different from my day to day life. There is something magical about India's spirituality, almost like an open air church! The culture fascinates me and it is a land of great diversity; poverty and richness, love and hate, tolerance for most but yet a caste system which is alive and thriving. I feel like I learn so much about humanity when I am there and it gives me time to continue to learn about myself and life in general. How good is that?"

This trip has all of that and more, I feel very fortunate and want others to experience at least some of what I have. I always encourage people to visit India and a work colleague took my advice. We bumped into each other on this trip and he told me he was not disappointed - I knew he wouldn’t be! I get that it can be a daunting country to visit so I am recommending a tour company - Indian Rose Tours - for those of you who want to come here but would like to be gently guided through the craziness! I do not particularly enjoy tours because I either want to shoot the tour guide or one of the tour members within a few hours of their company. I have good news about Indian Rose Tours - the tour guide is excellent and he will shoot the tour members for you who are driving you bat shit crazy as he is what I call a sensible person and just ‘gets it’. Check out the site: www.indianrosetours.com and I challenge you to venture to this magnificent country. There are some of you who I know can take on this challenge - you know who you are ;)

Everyday life

The coke man getting his 'refrigeration' replenished.



This was taken outside a chicken shop - that is what I call live advertising - for the moment at least!

The dust is killing my eyes...

It was a record high in Delhi today - 41 degrees. I can handle the heat, it is the dust I am struggling with. My eyes can hardly open and it feels like I have rocks sitting on my eyeballs! It does not help that I have had an eye infection for the past week which will not go away - grrrrr.

Today I went to Akshardham Temple and it was absolutely beautiful. Cameras are not allowed which is such a shame so I have no pictures to post. The carvings were breathtaking and the gardens lush. I love plants and it is dry season here right now so everything is dusty and not so green but at the temple the garden was bright green!

After the temple I twacked about and did a little shopping before leaving tomorrow. What would a trip to India be without buying a few scarves and some incense?

Rehab

Delhi

Delhi is a huge city with different worlds existing within it. Old Delhi is frenzied and fabulous and it was once the capital of Islamic India. New Delhi was built by the British and it is spacious and more grand shall I say. The 2010 Common Wealth Games are being held here and there is construction like mad happening - gawd, I just left Vancouver 2010 Olympic construction and now I am fully immersed into the Common Wealth Games Construction. The difference being - there is a whole lot of dust - so much that when I went to comb my hair I could not get the comb through it as it was so matted with dust!

I spent the day in Old Delhi checking out the bazaars and strolling through the Red Fort. This fort is made of sandstone and it dates from 1638. The walls extend for 2km and vary between 18m-33m high. It was nice to be in an area without horns honking and so much humanity that I felt like I could be carried with the crowd.

Hard at work