inner peace and way to cosmic happiness

no time to write long post, just to confirm that I am in Sivananda Ashram in Kerala and all is well.
love to all,
Caroline

a wedding in Nagpur

I left Gujarat on Tuesday night and after a 17hour train ride arrived in Nagpur, Maharastra.I'm here until Monday, as Mayur, a friend of Adrien, who is a friend of Michael, who is, etc, invited me to his brother's wedding. Thanks to the long train ride, I was able to recap with Mayur who is who in the family and don't feel like I'm making to many blunders...
I was warmly welcomed by the family!

I got a blue and pink Sari and am getting initiated to the art of what a sari encompasses and all the relevant accessories. Everybody here thinks I have very simple taste... yet it will be the most bling I've ever worn! :-)

yes, I will make sure pictures of me in a sari are taken, and I will take plenty of pictures of the wedding. Not sure when I'll be able to post them, though, as I'm flying out to Kerala on Monday afternoon.
There, I will join the Sivananda Ashram. I believe I will stay there 2 weeks and I have no clue if/when phone or internet connexion will be available to me...

Love to all!

Pictures

random notes on daily life...

1. Getting used to bucket showers (lucky to have had hot water almost everywhere so far).
2. Learning how not  to use toilet paper.
3. Difficulty to sit crosslegged for a long time. for lunch, for Prathna, for meditation, anywhere I'm invited for chai... my legs get numb after 5 min! still, after 1 month, I seem to have made progress.
4. Eating papaya for breakfast and 4pm snack. Found some melons the other day - exactly the taste of French summer for me. Adding lentils to my porridge to make sure I have enough protein and iron
5. Days getting warmer - first in Amhedabad, then as I travel south.
6. I am writting regularly in my diary, I am really happy about that; usually, I drop it after 1 to 3 days of vacation...
7. Yoga almost every morning. the beauty of saluting the sun as it rises across the Sabarmati river
8. Keeping the meditation routine also going. after yoga and when some voice in me tells me it is time...

om shanti!

The little prince - on why saying goodbye can also be hopeful...

"My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat . . ."

The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time.

"Please--tame me!" he said.

"I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand."

"One only understands the things that one tames," said the fox. "Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me . . ."

"What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince.

"You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sit down at a little distance from me--like that--in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day . . ."

The next day the little prince came back.

"It would have been better to come back at the same hour," said the fox. "If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you . . . One must observe the proper rites . . ."

"What is a rite?" asked the little prince.

"Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be like every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all."


So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near--

"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."

"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you . . ."

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.

"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.

"Then it has done you no good at all!"

"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields."

Leaving Manav Sadhna...

Today is my last day in Manav Sadhna - I take a night + day train to Nagpur in Maharasthra at midnight.

This time here has been a wonderful experience for me. I feel that I'm leaving much richer than I arrived: I've met so many different, loving, caring people, I've learned so much through observation and through doing. I take away with me all those warm smiles and some small seeds of selfless love and compassion. I hope I'll find it in me to nurture them and share them...

Thank you Manav Sadhna.

travels in Gujarat

On Monday 25th, I joined a small group of friends (Madhu, Tim, Kunal, Father Henri) on a trip to explore the remote region of Kutch, famed with incredible artisans and the Great Rann of Kutch (aka white desert).

As you can see through the link below, we got quite a bit of both as well as an amazing music festival - discovering new instruments and new sounds - and countless variations of the local thali! We have now many "homes" there where we are welcome as family; I've all invited them to Paris as well :) (so friends and family who have spare beds in Paris, be prepared ;) )

I returned on Saturday Morning 5 am to find Mariette had arrived just 2h before me. We celebrated the weekend in many ways - also by going on a road trip with an historian (Adrien) and with Mayur to a 5000 years old harbor of the Happaran civilization.

India 2010 - part 2