A Quick Update

(Note, a new entry on Hampi is below this, and the slideshow is now working). So the trip to the south has taken longer than I expected to write about, mainly because initially I was not planning on including so many pictures, but decided it was worth the extra time (I hope ya'll are enjoying them). If your internet or computer is a little slow, here are a few tips to get the slideshows to work a little better: you can stop the other slideshows that you arent currently watching (if you put your mouse over the picture, at the bottom two arrows and a stop sign will appear). Also, you may want to stop the show you are watching and flip through the pictures yourself with these arrows. You can also click on the entry you want to look at and it should open a page with only that entry.

Anyway, before I finished up the trip in the south, I thought I would give a little update with what has been going on since I got back, since it has been almost two weeks. The past few weeks I have been planning the rest of my stay here and staying with Rajiv Uncle and Mona Auntie. Mom left the 9th and is now in London. I got a wisdom tooth pulled (Mona auntie's sister, Rina Auntie, is a dentist, and a very good one at that :) ). So that took up the last few days. Most the swelling and pain is gone now (thanks Mona Auntie, for lookin out for me). I also met up with Sarang and Kina (Siddharth Masa's brother's kids) that some of you know. Sarang has been here in India since November, and his sister, Kina, has recently arrived to stay for a month or so. They are both enjoying their time here, living at the Viditatmananda Ashram and taking classical Indian music lessons (Sarang the Tabla and Kina the classical Indian Flute), its great to watch them practice together.

So it worked out that I have come to stay at the Ashram as well (I just moved in today!), which I will talk more about when I have stayed here bit longer, but it is simple and peaceful. I will be joining them in their classes on Vedanta with a Bhramacharya who is very good in English. I will also be going to the Indicorps office a few times a week to help them out, and hopefully will find some hands-on activities in the field that I can aid in as well. I will be staying in the Ashram until mid-March, and then Sarang and I plan to travel...a lot, haha.

Tentatively, we plan on going to Sikkim from March 16th to the 27th, the east Indian state sandwiched between Nepal, Bhutan, and Chinese Tibet (I absolutely cannot wait for this trip!) Then we are going to the "Golden Triangle" (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur) from the 27th till April 5th or so. From April 6th-12th we will be in Goa for one of Sarang's cousins weddings. After that, I will be on my own, and hope to make a trip to Mumbai on my way back to Gujarat. This, again, is a tentative plan, but if anyone has some time off (cough...spring break...cough) and wants to make the journey over, let me know and we can work something out (look on the internet for aireline costs to get an idea of how much it maybe). Anyway, I will finish up the trip in the south, soon! Miss you all!