What does INDIA stand for?

Auto drivers with the exception of a welcome few like Ashok and Shakeer can come over as plain sleazy or try your patience trying to get inflated rates or commissions out of you, however, today my driver really made me smile when he said,

“So you’re at the end of your trip to our Incredible India, then you must know what India stands for?”

“No, I don’t know, what does India stand for?” I replied

“I’ll Never Do It Again!!!”

Oh how I laughed as I dragged my bags back up the steep alley way through the monkey poo to Hotel Kumbha Palace where I immediately opened all of the windows in my old room, switched on the fan and poured out that trippy Vipassana mnemonic poem, inspired by the punch line of the first joke I have heard in months.

(Incidentally, I thought I would have more to say about that course, I wanted to share: how wonderful it was to be living in the forest with Langur, chipmonks, peacocks and a mongoose who were barely afraid of the meditators’ presence, how in our silent breaks we observed these animals and what a unique thrill it was to be so directly entwined with them whilst in such a perceptive mental state.  The thing is, it was all so deep that I just came out with that very serious piece for which I feel almost apologetic, but as that is what came out and as some things are probably best kept within, I am going to leave it at that.)

…but that joke has got me thinking …would I do it again?

There is so much more to see, I am a mountain lover who has not set foot in the Himalaya, there are those fascinating but time-draining North East states, and due to an unconfirmed train ticket I never even made the Punjab, in fact India for me India stands for I’ll Never Discover It All.

Cheshire Girl sporting £4000 shawl and obligatory sweat

I have learned so much about myself, about humanity and I have at the same time become a lover of this country and of my own.  I think I have always faced a strange barrier in terms of accepting who I am and where I am from but that barrier has been breached and I entirely appreciate the fact that I am a Cheshire girl with the good fortune of having spent the last 6 years living in beautiful Shropshire/Powys. 

I dislike using “never” but I doubt that I would do it again, the itch I always had to do this big trip has been scratched and I am excited about returning to the UK on Wednesday, about discovering where life will take me next and about focussing on what matters now that this Thinking Space has helped me make Living Room.