Last day in India...

So I decided that I would spend my last night in India in Varkala…(where we had our R&R) I arrived just in time to throw on my suit and make it down the cliff in time for sunset swim. I then had dinner at our favourite restaurant, Italiano.



It was weird being there without the team…I had my usually greek salad and broke my ashram detox with some “special tea”. I then headed down to chat and have some chai with Ozsi, our 21 year old jeweler. (only in India could I possibly say I have a jeweler)


I’m not sure why, but I decided to stay at the familiar Bamboo House… (please read earlier blog entry on extra guests in the room) But it felt good to be welcomed back...

Our usual night watchmen came to see me to let me know that he’d be listening to see if I needed anything. So I tucked into bed and within 10 minutes, found that there was a whole family of something living in my ceiling. I was really missing my roommate Michelle about then. (although I’m not sure what she would have done to save me except join in the screaming?) I somehow made it through the night…(with a light on just to make sure they didn’t come in the room.)
I made it to yoga on the beach first light and then went for my last swim before heading back to Canadian snow….At that point Ozsi sent me a note that he had something for me so I went to see him for breakfast.

He then told me a story about the God Shiva’s son. The son was fighting against evil in Sri Lanka so Shiva made all the stones float so that her son could walk across the ocean. He then gave me one of the stones, called Shiva's eye as a gift. Ozsi’s wise beyond his years and was always giving us profound thoughts that he learned from his grandfather. (either that or he’s a really, really good salesperson)

Next, I flew from Trivandrum to Mumbai. I had a set plan of what I wanted to do in Mumbai…Throughout the trip, I have been reading Shantaram, a 932 page book that takes place in Mumbai. So I’ve been taking on a bit of Lin’s persona and I’m so excited to see things in the book. I wanted to go to the Gateway of India...Check out the Taj Mahal Hotel...Eat at Leopolds..

And then finally, go see Slumdog Millionaire at the Regal Cinema at 8pm. (I checked the time on the internet)

I come out of the airport to grab a taxi and after a month of haggling prices, I just don’t have it in me so I agree on their asking price of 2200 rupees for 8 hours. That’s about $55 Cdn so I think that’s pretty reasonable until Michael sent me an email saying he did the same thing last week for 1200 rupees.

So we head out to the Gateway of India…

And across the street is the Taj Mahal Hotel...

Then I head over to have dinner at Leopolds. They were filming in there to get people’s reaction to the terrorist shooting there in November. They say the restaurant opened up in less than a month after the shooting. I sat in the back of the place feeling pretty safe until the waiter pointed out the bullet hole in the mirror about a foot from where I was sitting. (I asked for my bill at that point...)

So we head to the Regal Cinema to catch Slumdog Millionaire. I say "we" because somehow along the way, my driver, Silverstin, decides that he’s coming with me to the movie. He was so excited about seeing a movie, I didn’t have the heart to say anything. So we get to the theatre and it turns out that Slumdog is only playing at the Regal in the afternoons now. So Silvestin says he knows where there’s another theatre, so we race around Colaba in the taxi. After going to four theatres and finding no shows before 10pm, I’m ready to give up. But Silverstin is determined to find one for me. This would sometimes happen to me when I was in Africa. If I said I wanted to do something or buy something, everyone would go crazy trying to do it or find it. Once I said I liked a lady’s purple kanga and for the next week, all the girls were searching the markets to find me one. They kept saying, “what about this one?” I eventually bought an ugly kanga they suggested, just so they’d stop looking.

So Silverstin goes by another theatre and there is a movie about to start so I jump out to buy us tickets and he goes to park. It turns out that Slumdog is sold out. So, the next thing I know, I’m sitting in a Bollywood movie, buying Silverstin a burger and a soda like we're on a date…and wondering how did I get here? Ah...life in India....

Things I’ve learned in India….

-This trip has brought about an abundance of patience in me that I never thought I had. I’ve stood in so many queues, had people bud in and push me out of the way and nothing seems to faze me anymore. (we’ll see if that lasts once I’m back in Canada)

-I’ve also found a new sense of personal space. At the ashram, you think the floor space is all taken because Michelle C and I are only about 6 inches apart. The next thing you know, there’s 5 people who've squeezed inbetween us… You might not always get what you want, but you'll always get what you need.

-And lastly, I’ve learned that if you give your credit card and your passport to a guy named Babu and all you get back is a ripped paper with a flight itinerary on it, you sometimes just have to trust that the universe is going to look after you….

See you back in Canada…