Change of Change of Plans

Vanakum good friends!
Much has occured since my last post. I did indeed arrive in Darjeeling and i did indeed have a nice cup of tea, but Darjeeling is where I stayed. There, many things happened. First, the mountains of Darjeeling are breathtaking, and often the town is wrapped in the mists of passing clouds. These clouds would literally hit the side of the mountain and rip into pieces and just make the place all shangri-la-ish. When this phenomenon was coupled with tibetan monks walking around everywhere chanting continuously and prayer poles waving in the wind, my internal dialogue would be saying, 'whole other world'. There was such a mix of cultures: south and north indian, muslim, nepali, tibetan, chinese, sikkimese, and a large backpacker crowd. so many kinds of good food!

Second, i have a knee injury. I sustained in at BodhiZendo, where i was sitting for long periods. I realized in Darjeeling that, while my knee was re-gaining strength, it is deeply injured, and i feel the need to respond more drastically now. I also got some sort of alien strep throat that laid me low for about a week.

Third, our good friend Doug Olds is getting married in late June.
While in Darjeeling, i decided to cut my stay by 20 days and return to Auroville for the last 15 days or so to 'prepare for re-entry'. If you don't angle yourself just right, you hit the atmosphere and burn up; so i'm told.

Yet really in reflection, something just changed in me; i felt the time was ripe. 4 1/2 months in India and I now feel saturated. I am ready.

So i will be home by june 10th, resting with friends and family before returning to the Pioneer Valley for my Sirius Apprenticeship. I look forward to good food and good people, punctuated by good stories.

Ok, that's all. Unfortunately, i lost my usb cable and cannot upload any pictures of Darjeeling, but they will be up soon enough.

Be well-seen you soon,
justin