Are we there yet?

It seems like a virtual eternity since last I sat at a keyboard. When I last penned an entry for this log, it was early morning on Tuesday in Jaipur, and now I find myself in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday morning, and I'm back in Canada ... but I must back up in order to truly reflect even a bit of the experience of these past days.

Namaskar.

With this one-word greeting which can equally be pronounced Namaste or Namasta depending on which region of India you are in, one welcomes or bids farewell to friends and strangers alike. So it was that we bid farewell to the staff of yet another temporary abode, the last in a string of places where we laid our heads, sometimes for only one night, and sometimes for more than a week. Taking time to greet even the cooks in the dining rooms, the staff at the reception desks and even the regally dressed individual who first greeted us at the door of the hotel (such finesse is de rigueur in the hotel industry I think) one of our number made sure not to forget even the least of those who helped to make our stay so unforgettable.

To this individual's biological clock, the next hours were to be part of one very long day, even though the time span covered the equivalent of probably more than two days.

First the return trip to Delhi (a six-hour ride through the relative verdure of the pasturelands and farmlands of rural Northern India and eventually back into the constant cacaphony of life in that nation's capital as we made our way to the airport. Arriving at Indira Ghandi International (or ICI as was written on all the highway directional signs), we then struck camp in the designated waiting lounge, located outside of the airport complex proper, since we were not permitted to enter until three hours in advance of our flight. Considering that some of us were there a full 11 hours ahead of time, this was going to be quite the wait, but wait we must.

It's amazing what one encounters when thrust into a situation where there is nothing but time. Some manage to get some work done, others dream and reflect on the experience that has been lived, and still others choose to just watch as the ebb and flow of life that is people in the same boat come and go for minutes or hours. Conversations continue and time passes until finally the little group that arrived in that place after a four-day sojourn in the Golden Triangle must finally part company.

Others too graced our company during the hours of waiting, including a young gentleman (he said his name was David), who has obviously travelled much more than we in these parts. According to him, there are some 45-50 births in India every minute, and 40-45 traffic accidents as well. Thankfully, we did not experience any of these (at least not involving us) during our stay. David also told us that there are major problems because of the disparity between the rich and the poor, tha that there are major challenges because vast amounts of India's population die from dysentery and cholora. This has truly been an eye-opening experience.

We breathed a sigh of relief as we finally entered the airport proper, and began the long journey home. There was still lots of adventure to unfold: two international flights, each of 8 hours in length as well as a domestic flight which would bring us to our final destination, and the corresponding waiting periods in Delhi, Frankfurt and Toronto, but we were on our way.

Now that the travel is complete, we are finally back home. Our bodies will take a few days to catch up, and our minds will take even more time to process all that we have experienced. Our souls too will eventually process all that has been, and give thanks for all that is. While the pace of life will press in on us before very long (if indeed it hasn't already) this odessy has definitely left its impressions. Making time to identify them, to appreciate them, and to allow them to take root in us is the task that now lies ahead.