i am back!!!

---

well hello all 😊 it has been quite some time since i last wrote. i know i said i was going to take the month of february off as an internet fast- but it ended up being more like a month and a half almost! a lot has happened. i am not sure what to include in this entry- because there are little things that happened that were fun and interesting but now so much time has passed i feel that they aren't really relevant. i guess let's start with the biggest 'little thing'...i have left india and made my way back to northern california!!! yes you read right- i am back in my homeland. so much happened over the last month and a half- all of which led me to come back home early. nothing bad- nothing bad at all! i just knew that my reason for being in india had been fulfilled. my quest of sorts had come to an end. what was i in search of? myself. and what did i find? i found that 'who i am' was, is and will always be right here with me. this may sound weird or stupid (duh- why did i have to go to india to find myself???) but it is not that easy to explain. so you will just have to take my word for it.

all the things i did in india- the meditation retreat, the independent study of yoga, ayurveda and mysticism, staying with ajay's indian family, visiting my friend kellie in hyderabad, etc... all helped me to 'find myself'. a better way of saying that would be that it all helped me to get to know myself. i learned a lot in india and i am very grateful that i did. india was an amazing experience and i am so glad i went there- but i realize in retrospect that i was in the right place in my life to have these self realizations and that it didn't matter if i was in india or the midwest- as long as i stopped what i was doing and took the time to go within i would have had the same inner experience. which reminds me of one of my favorite astrologer's predictions for 2004 for me...'you don't have to run away to india to find yourself- but you probably will anyhow.' hahaha 😉

one of the things that i did in india in the last month and a half that i was there was the landmark forum. i am not sure how many of you have heard of landmark education- but it's all over the u.s. as well as the world. the forum is a 3 day weekend and one evening session of intense inner work. it helps you to hold a mirror up to your self and truly look at what is there. the good, the bad and the ugly. it helps you to know who you are and to love yourself for it. it was a really powerful workshop and i highly suggest that anyone who is interested in self growth and evolvement attend it. it was yet another stepping stone on the path that i have found myself on- and it was very synchronistically timed and appropriate in terms of what was going on in my life.

so after all of this time in india- i finally found what i was looking for. not a guru, not a religion to join- but an inner peace and knowingness. i know who i am now. i know why i was put on this planet. i have a clear vision of what i am supposed to do here. this does not mean that starting tomorrow i will have a big business or title or loads of money in the bank- but it means that i know where i am going and how to get there. so i am taking this path step by step- with a clear vision of the end goal. life is not about the goal- but about the journey that gets you there. so i am enjoying the journey 😊

my journey in india came to an end. i will be back though- for sure! there are so many places that i have yet to see and experience. i could say the same about the rest of the world 😉 but for the time being i knew in my heart that it was time to come back home and be with the people that i love and that mean the world to me. my mom, my dad, my sister, my friends, my family. i wanted to come home and fully express my love for them- as i had learned to do in india. being so far away from all the people i love made me realize just how much i love them. not that i thought i didn't love them mind you- but i didn't know to what depth that love ran. now i know that the depth is infinite 😊

so i have been home for a week now and i am beginning to settle back in. the trip home was great! that is another thing i have learned while i was in india- to have patience and just enjoy the moment. it used to be that a car ride from l.a. to san francisco which takes 5-6 hours would be something i would consider long and boring. well after 24 hour train rides and 10 hour bumpy buses i no longer have that negative concept of time in relationship to traveling. it took about 24 hours to get back to san francisco from bangalore, india- and i enjoyed every moment! i am very happy doing nothing- or doing something. either/or is fine with me! it's great- now i don't have the pressing need to be doing something all the time. i wasn't like that really bad prior to this trip- but now i am not like that at all. and i love it 😊 sitting and staring out the window can be fun. so can going out to dinner. so can sitting and eating plain oatmeal for breakfast- for the millionth time in a row. so can a night out on the town living it up. all these moments are perfect when you are fully experiencing them in the moment! so that is my intention- to life my life fully- in the moment, in the present, in the now.

so at this moment i am ending my india blog adventure. thank you for reading it- and being there with me in spirit 😊 thank you for the emails, letters sent, and prayers spoken on my behalf. they were much appreciated!!!

until then... (when is then? one never knows...)

---

Comments

[Teej]

vegan traveller?
Hi Wandering Gypsy, It was very interesting to read your travel blog of India. From a few things you wrote, it seems you may be vegan - is this right? If so, how did you find vegan food shopping in India? Take care, Tom

[quintessential]

Hello again !
Hi, I am really pleased to go thru your India travel blog. I myself ( though an indian ) travelled across india like a backpacker.. and did enjoy most of it for the sheer sake of journey experience. especially I used to enjoy the way western travellers like you go thru different experiences in india.. and the awe and surprise on their faces ( tho not always.. ) yet times. I was lucky to have travelled across india in the company of western travellers, for gave me chance to explore my native country through the western point of view, and thus many times an opportunity to watch it from outside. Yes, If you haven't heard of Vipassana Meditation during your travels in India, I would like to mention it here once again. http://www.dhamma.org/ ! the web-site has all the information about it's centers across the world. there are , I guess, at least 6 centers in north america.. and i dont think California will be exempted from the list. I do believe that California is the spirutual center of america in that very indian ways. where many Indian Gurus settled and doing their bit of spiritual discourses. Like Deepak Chopra ( the Hollywood Spiritual Guru )! if you want to know about the experiences of Vipassana Mediatation you can always mail me at [e-mail] ! Tho, now i'm living in Germany.. I, always, am aware of the love and interest some Americans show in Indian Tradition and its rich Vedic Era knowledge. I wish you will visit the web-site I quoted above. Thanking you for narrating your Indian travel experiences in such nice way and with such honesty :) -- Ramesh Kompella ( [e-mail] )