Arrival in Delhi

So, back tracking a bit, there are so many things to write about. I'm worried that I'm going to miss certain things.

Probably the most important thing I would like to document is this uncanny familiarity that I've been experiencing. I've felt this before a few times but this certainly had its own quality, particularly as it came through my sense of smell. We arrived in Delhi very early in the morning, about 3AM, and as we walked off the plane it hit me. It was subtle at first, as we traveled through the walkway between the airplane and airport. As we entered the airport it came on full. I don't know if I can describe the scent, it was sweet and for some reason jasmine comes to mind, but it wasn't jasmine. Matthew mentioned something about the smell to me and qualified it by saying it wasn't bad, and he was right. It was wondrous and so unlike anything that I had smelled prior, yet so damn familiar. I'm not going to go into theories about numerous incarnations or even the collective unconscious, I'm just documenting it and enjoying it. One other interesting tidbit is that my sense of smell was about all I had in Delhi. We had to travel from the international airport to the domestic airport and during this incredibly screwball taxi ride I couldn't see hardly anything. The street lighting was quite dim compared to what I am used to and there was this incredibly thick fog or smog that covered everything. I was also overcome by this nearly hysterical joy during the cab ride. The Indian taxi ride is infamous and I was so thrilled. I tell you, its better than any roller coaster ride in the world. Poor Liz had to deal with my hysterical outbusts of laughter through the whole ride. Delhi came and went in this short taxi ride. We sat in the airport for about 3 hours and then boarded out plane to Bangalore. There the sense of familiarity continued in my other senses. The familiarity was in the small details, like the color of the earth and the way the landscapes rolled out. It was in the stepped farms and the palm trees.

I'll write more about our arrival in Bangalore and journey to Mysore. For now it is far too late to continue this as I'll be at the shala at 5AM for my first practice here. I'm very excited and the coffee from Coffee Day Cafe right before dinner isn't helping. Tomorrow we move into our apartment and I think that I'll find more time to write as after we settle in. I think we'll have an internet connection in the new apartment as well.

About an hour before New Years here. The best to all! ~G

Jeannine, if you read this check your gmail account. :)