Writings from Delhi…

Hi virtual world,

I am back… 6 weeks ago I met someone… Flowers came whirling down from the sky, a smile became so much more important, a kiss so much more intense… I forgot my worries, forgot my incomplete plans and forgot why I actually left one month earlier from Belgium. I left Janadesh 2007 after 3 days and went on a journey allover the west of India… It’s strange how love can partly put aside your principles… Against my believes and earlier aspirations I went for a visit to the Gwalior fort (on the second day of the march) and a tribal village in the surroundings of Gwalior (which was very interesting after all). Hereby I left an amazing event wherein 25000 landless farmers where involved. Hundreds of internationals came supporting the event and press coverage reached as far as BBC and De Standaard (Belgian newspaper). Although short, it were 3 intense days in which I could practice my Hindi with the farmers, in which I could feel and live a mass movement in India, in which I could feel the desperateness of the landless and in which I could also feel the hope, strength and resoluteness of the farmers. The march was a walk to freedom or to prison or death. But more on the march later in a separate issue on my blog…

We (Shincy, Cathy and me) left for Agra where we did the classical tourist visits of the Red Fort and the famous Taj Mahal (thank you Cathy!). An unprepared visit (for me) in which I left aside the historical and magical importance of the Taj and kept myself busy instead with observing and photographing the Indians taking photographs of themselves (quiet funny ), talking to the workers in the Taj about there labour wages (hardly nothing) and spending time with my travel companions. From Agra it went straight to the Himalayas, to the Kumaon region in the state of Uttarakhand. We visited Steven and Steffi working in the self-sustainable community-, ecological- and rural development-project Avani. We thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful mountains, the peaceful atmosphere and the very relaxing attitude of the tribal inhabitants of the mountains. A good choice after all as I decided to return later to Avani to learn Hindi and do useful voluntary work. From Avani it went back to the plains where we visited Pushkar (the previous hippie resort) including my gypsie-friends over there.

From there I went off to Bombay and Dahanu for Rashna’s wedding. My first Parsi wedding and also the first wedding of a very good friend of mine. It was great to be back in Dahanu, to swim in the sea, to spend time with Rashna’s family and friends and above all to see a very happy couple together.

From Dahanu I met up again with Shincy and Cathy in Gujarat where we visited Shincy’s ancestral village, a convent school and a leprosy rehabilitating institute. Cathy returned to Delhi after that and Shincy and I decided to search for a beach in Gujarat. We ended up in Bhavnagar and in the old port of Ghogha. An old and underdeveloped little town, a forgotten port, a beach cut off by mangroves instead of an exotic bay… It made me feel the atmosphere in Amitabh Ghosh’s book, The Hungry Tide, set at the mouth of the Ganges River close to Calcutta. We spend the night on the ‘beach’ and were lucky enough to wake up at 3 am to realize that the tide was indeed hungry and was already reaching our feet.

Gujarat was followed by some busy days in Delhi in which we kept ourselves busy with joining the march in there last days reaching Delhi and as well doubting, thinking and deciding about the near future. Shincy decided to extend her ticket for another 20 days and of we went on another journey throughout the subcontinent. It went to Varanasi where we both fell sick, from there to Bombay and finally to Goa where we could relax, be ourselves without being watched or checked upon, without being harassed by hawkers, blowing horns and beggars (it’s unfortunately the truth). Agonda beach (still undiscovered a few years ago) is rapidly developing but still livable in the off-season months of November.

Finally our journey went on to Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya. My beloved music school where I left behind a big part of my heart. I could only recapture this part a little bit as we only stayed for a horribly short 3 days. However, it didn’t stop me from showing the place to Shincy, from talking to my dearest friends working in the project, from getting updated about the schools progress, their problems, their happiness or angriness. Unless the problems the school has to face, it is still progressing. The kids are more disciplined, small concrete paths are laid, the yogshalla has been finished, etc…

Right now I am shortly staying in the Tibetan Colony in Delhi. Overlooking a bit the last weeks I believe that things went as they should have. I followed my heart in South-Asia, the Paris of the East, the country of love… Yesterday I said goodbye to her (with all the emotions that involves) and I am now preparing myself to leave for the mountains. I will spend my time there in the winter so it will be cold. And halfway December it will be snowy… Hereby I invite everyone who is around to visit me. I can assure you it’s a lovely place, with a view on the snowy peaks of the Himalayas, nice people and a beautiful and interesting project (more information in the Avani section on my blog).

My return journey is not clear yet. I might take another route, I might come home as soon as possible, I might go and visit the lovely friends I met in Iran. I know for now that I gave my word to the founders of Avani that I would stay for at least two months. At the latest I will be home on the first of March in order to celebrate my parents 25th wedding anniversary. I owe this to them.

With love from Delhi.