I’m back in Hyderabad. Yesterday (saturday) I left McLeodganj by night bus to Delhi to take the plain there to Hyderabad.
PS: backdated this a bit to make it more in line with the other timings.
I didn’t spoil saturday though.
After breakfast I had to say goodbye to Jagatram Newas guest house. It was a very good stay there. Clean, quiet and very courteous. The main bad point was the sometimes spotty internet connection.
At 09:30 I first went to an open mediation session in Tushita. They first did a meditation on clarify of thought. Then there was a small treatise on how we should be happy to meditate and share that happiness with others.
It was good to start the day like that. In the Q&A session, it came up it’s better to meditate for 5 minutes each day so it becomes a simple routine. Don’t start with making it a tasks or chore.
After that, I walked to McLeodganj. It’s a very nice walk through the Tushita park and then the road.
Once there, I dropped my big backpack off at a hotel for safe keeping. That worked out very well 🙂
Free of that heavy pack, I walked to the Dalai Lama temple. It was great seeing it. As in a lot of places in India, you do have to go through security first !
Then I met up with Heather and we hang out together the rest of the day. Well, we hid from the rain and hail most of the time. It started around 3:30 and didn’t stop till after I had left !
I also met Marleen who’s somebody from Antwerp that owns a shop in McLeodganj. She sells Thankas (religious paintings). It was very nice talking to her 🙂
At 19:00, boarded the bus. It was a semi-sleeper with reclining seats. There were a lot of buses leaving at the same time. It seems this is a very popular mean to go to Delhi. I was not the only white person to take that bus. There was some commotion because one person had a bad run-in with his taxi-rickshaw driver. He ended up bumping the back of his head against a lantern post. It was bleeding so they kind of bandaged it and he took the bus. Luckily I had my tea-tree essential oil with me so I could help him disinfect the wound. The skin was scratched but it was not torn. Luckily for him.
I had nice talks with my neighbor on the bus: Nayan who works for Lufthansa as cabin attendant. He visited his family in McLeodganj and was heading back to his apartment in Delhi. He was very friendly and extremely helpful. Thanks for the great times Nayan.
After a long night (3 stops !) we reached Delhi around 07:00. It looked like we stopped in the middle of the road, but all the taxi-rickshaw present told a different story. With Nayan, I went to the metro to go to the airport. They had told me this is the best way to go there.
Boy, never take the metro this early in the morning. There was only one counter open and a lot of people. We waited 30 minutes before we could get the token to take the metro ! The metro itself is very nice and very frequent. Once I went from Kashemer Gate station to New Delhi station, I had to exit and then go to a different counter to purchase a ticket to the airport. But of course I didn’t know at first this was a counter so I waited again 10 minutes at the wrong counter (there were 21 counters open here, luckily).
Finally, I reached the airport. People from Indigo were very friendly and helpful. For some odd reason, I was able to check-in before some other people and then waited for my plane to depart. Think of Indigo as Ryanair in India and you get the picture: correct and prompt service but low weight limits and everything has to be purchased, up to the water in the plane.
Since I check-in long in advance before the plane left, I was not surprised to find out my luggage was one of the last to leave the plane. But there it was and all in order.
Kashi brought me back the apartment (Casa Colruyt as we call it). On the way there, we picked up my extra luggage at Siva’s place. It was already 4 o’clock when we got there. I was starving and tired from the trip. Casa Colruyt is located next (!) to a big road, so you might already imagine what noise that gives. Honking the whole time. On top of that, it’s located at the 9th (top) floor of the apartment complex which makes it very hot. Thankfully, the air-conditioning is working fine. 28 degrees is a nice and cool temperature 😉
I ate a good bowl of muesli with yogurth and milk to cool me off. Plus I had a very good mango. Ah, that felt a lot better. After listening a bit to the Dalai Lama, I was a lot calmer to deal with all the noise outside.
Goodnight.
