November 15, 2017 · Favona, New Zealand
Surprising India
My travels in India finished with series of surprises from getting on the train from Jaipur to Delhi, only to find a mysterious woman in my bed, to a surprise birthday party no one attending had expected. With the woman in my bed, in India the train cars come with seats that can be converted into beds, which a lady had done, but with the seat that was to be mine. With the train full and no where else to go, I had to disrupt her sleep and we had to return the bed to seats. This all created an awkward time, but we adapted to the territorial issue and ended up sharing a tuck-tuck, when we got to New Delhi, and a Smoothie to smooth things over a few days later. I found Joya Sharma to be inspirational in some ways and a mystery woman in others, with one being why when I take many pictures in a day, I never took hers.
Arriving on Tuck-tuck at Tree Tops B&B where husband and wife Murad and Tannie Baig, had hosted me for a month in the prior year. The highlight of my visit with them this year was dinner and dancing at the Gymkhana club in New Delhi.
In this last week I also met with people, I hope who can help me tie together internet, media and cultural components to help me help people I have met on the way in South America, Africa and Asia. I met with Internet Technician and Guru Sam Singh who I met last year and who also escaped my camera so is represented by an emoji, who was helpful in letting me know the options, cost, benefits and risks on the various issues pertaining to my friends.
And, finally I met with a very talented, and creative lady with great experience in encouraging the cultural arts, and gave me many ideas on how I could help others with similar issues. While Saswati Chaudhuri was a great surprise as and artist, curator and person; just before meeting her I found out our meeting day was also her birthday. If you to my posting of 12 November you will see how I arranged to have her surprise herself with a gift for this birthday.
With no more surprises, it was now time for me to finish my travels in India, to pursue other adventures.
