*sigh
Our interesting stay at the hotel in Surat: When we were leaving Mumbai, we picked up Binytha on our way out of the city. There was a great deal of pleasant waiting when we couldn't find her, which allowed much people-watching, which is always great, especially there. I remember fondly the mobs of little school girls in matching outfits. Anyway, when we got to Surat and they took us to our hotel room there was only one bed and three of us.... They were going to bring a cot anyways but it would have been a little tight. So we asked to be moved and it wasn't a problem. As they were taking us to our new room there was a commotion from the room across from the one that was about to become ours. There was a lot of loud talking and random noise. The door was surrounded by security and police. And the smell of cigarette smoke filled the hall as the door opened. We exchanged glances that said, "what have we got ourselves into?" Security escorted a well-dressed man and woman from the door to the elevator very closely and off they went. We were then shown to our room and as they were settling us Kate asked, "Sooo, is there a party going on there? Should we be concerned? Maybe we should just go back to our original room." The two men then exchanged glances and laughed, "No no! No party! Bollywood star!" Well it wasn't Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, or unfortunately for my friend Kristen, not even Arjun Rampal. And those are the only ones I'd recognize... He was tall with long graying hair...the woman trailed behind.
IST: Indian Stretchable Time. This is the standard in India. Everything flows conveniently approximately 10 minutes late. ...And sometimes not-so-conveniently much longer than that. Case in point... The day we were leaving the Ashram, we were all to be ready for the bus early... like 8am. The bus was late. We all sat patiently near the gates waiting, chatting, waiting...wondering off - but not too far, since we didn't know when the bus would arrive - and back again, waiting more. ...............Now, I'm a very patient person, normally. But as the hours passed on and it began to get hot and we were still waiting there, my patience turned slowly turned into irritability. When the bus finally arrived it turned out that he encountered a toll booth when he was on his way and had to go back for money... I think it was about 1pm when the bus arrived. Then there was trying to organize 50 people and their tons of luggage onto the bus and then realizing that not everyone would fit and someone would need to take other means. So we ended up calling a cab to meet us at Swamiji's home in Navsari (where we would be stopping to visit and meditate). We toured and did a meditation and then waited some more for our cab to arrive. The bus refused to leave before our cab arrived, and so everyone waited while we waited. We attracted some local attention as a family wandered over to see what was up with the busload of mostly white people in Indian clothing.
One Canadian guy of Indian origin who speaks Gujarati tried to talk to them, but the dialect was too different and they couldn't understand each other. Eventually our cab arrived. I felt a little guilty about the air conditioning and comfort that we were getting when the others of us had to ride back to Mumbai in the bumpy hot bus.... :)
Most buses have some inspirational word on them, our bus from the Ashram to Babadham (Swamiji's house) was aptly named Destiny.
They strapped our belongings to the top of the van that came for us! Every bump frightened me...
Having
everything I owned strapped to the top of the vehicle always made me
nervous...especially when we'd bottom out in those six metre deep
potholes.
What time is it?: Is it ten thirty? Nope. It's "Half ten". I love it! I swore I'd steal it and start using it, but never remember to. :) I'm not sure the origin it however, as I was staying with people from not only India, but also the UK, Singapore and a couple from Germany.
"The Test Tube Baby Centre": A building we drove past a few times and laughed at.
"My Friend Ganesh": An adorable cartoon about Ganesh.
My free gift!: We stopped for a snack and washroom break at this little gathering of buildings along the highway. There was a man with a stand selling various things. He had a little plastic Indian flag. I approached and asked if he sold them, I'm pretty sure he didn't understand so I pointed at it and asked again, and he shook his head no, but then as I was about to walk away he called me back, took it down and handed it to me, smiling broadly. I said, "Shukriya!" but later realized I was in a remote village in Gujarat and he may only speak Gujarati... I don't know if they are similar enough or if he would have understood that any better than my rambling at him in English. :)
Here is his stand, off to the left:
*****
That's all I got for now.
12 April 2010
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