“Listen, India is a place of uncertainties, ok”

Today was an adventure. Woke up early for a great good morning skype session with my parents. Put down some breakfast and hopped on the bus with my friend Miykaelah. She invited me to participate in a service of Siddha Yoga Meditation. This is her path of spirituality. It’s not the active American yoga you might be thinking of, but a time of reflection based on Guru teachings. Her Guru (spiritual teacher) is followed at this “center” so she wanted to find a community and wanted a friend for support. I was more than willing to see her faith articulated, I had so many questions and have a God to support me. We got there after an hour of travel and funny directions. Lucky for us we chose a great day, being Krishna’s BDAY! So they sang a mantra to Krishna and then another regular mantra from their Guru. Then we broke up into groups to encourage each other about how these teachings have affected our lives. I was able to hear such sincere and passionate Indians express themselves freely. Finishing with a time of mediation; my legs fell asleep, I tossed around. I lacked focus so I peeked around to see the old “wise” ladies swaying and clapping and smiling. They found their place of peace and once again were excited about their faith. I was humbly encouraged and took my time to thank God for peace, for silence, for each one of the people in the room. I wish I had the words to really describe the scene, but the smells, sounds, tastes, and touch where unforgettable.

Back to the house had lunch and then joined my friend Julia and Dr.Das (our RA-kinda/good friend) to the old city. This is the main place in Hyderabad where Muslims and Hindu practice their religions at the same time, in the same space. There is an amazing presences and history to this area of town. It’s like the India you think of…majestic, crowded, old, incense and dust mixed with fruit market smells all competing for your senses.

We stopped for chai and biscuits and fell quickly into life discussions: from marriage, heartbreak, loneness, growing up, to food and kids. We took the city train back and I had three people ask for my photo, with one man setting his child on my lap and asking for a photo with his camera phone. I laughed and smiled. We were asked for our autographs, what country we were from and why we were in India. The entire trip was an hour of laughter between the three of us. With16 year old boys deciding we were all best friends including secret handshakes. With an older gypsy lady poking me to leave the train with her. With us deciding we were from Canada with fake names and numbers in all. We had a great time!

You just never know what your day holds…

P.s. Just wanted to thank every person reading this for your prayers and thoughts. They sustain me. Be encouraged!