Mountain Girl

Link to the slideshow of Driek's "South India 2008" set on Flickr:

India is a free country! The Indian take proud of that and never hesitate to remind you of this basic fact.
The last place we stayed in was Varkala. The bungalows we were at, a wonderful place faraway on the north coast was run by two Hindus, two Muslims and one Christian in total mutual agreement and respect for their own religion.

My “enough” never last long, because the following moment I am totally and utterly in love again with the colors of this country, with the way they speak and smile and sing Bollywood or Malayalam songs to you, making you the center of the universe.
One day we found ourselves on the Toy steam blue train in the Nilgiri Hills. We tried to reserve a first class place but we had to settle for second class. When at 6.30 am we reached our seat I got pushed into a place cramped with a school class day off. Only boys!
When they realized I was the only woman in the train they started to sing to me their bollywood songs. To top it off we declared we were in our honeymoon! Three hours till Coonoor of songs, pictures and a lot of noise as the train was climbing up the breathtaking landscape. I spent most of my journey with my head outside the windows and stayed alone in the train when everyone was out taking a break. A much needed and frequent break to refresh the steam machine and shot some pictures with monkey. In those moments I had the whole train for myself.





Driek has been trying to capture the essence of his experience through his camera, and I am really grateful for his work, I let my eyes capture the experience and sent it straight to my heart, where they will be forever.

My life with Osho
I remember the first time I arrived in Bombay in October 1986 finally meeting my master Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. I was 25 years old and my heart was full of wonder and enthusiasm I looked out of my eyes with the curiosity and skepticism of a survivor.
Life after my accident was a wonder and a quest, a constant searching for meaning, in any possible way. That invisible thread pulled me to India. I had the chance to go to the last Rajneesh Annual Celebration at the ranch 1n 1985, and fly to Crete where Bhagwan had to escape. I waited for him to return to India despite the fact he once said in his US years that he would never go back to India.
I was pleased he did. He didn’t have anywhere else to go. Nobody wanted the dangerous Bhagwan. All countries refused him the entry visa. He knew he was going to die. At last as a good Indian he decided to embrace his roots.
I found myself outside Bombay airport after the long flight from Amsterdam and being surrounded by a crowd that was pushing on me and pulling: porters, beggars, taxi drivers. I thought I am in a mad land. Never I was so close to the truth. India is a land of spiritual madness, freedom of thought and worshipping a river as god.
India, Gandhi's peaceful country, now has the atom bomb!
At that time in '86 I stayed in Juhu beach in a small hotel with other sannyasin and everyday I was venturing out a bit more to explore the craziness of Bombay and listen every evening the teaching of spirituality and meditation from Bhagwan - the duality of life hand in hand.
That is why so many people turns to spirituality in India. What goes on outside is just so chaotic that you need to tune in to find some peace.

India is India
Now, 22 years later I found no difference. Still the breeze outside an airport is warm and the crowd outside just as annoying. Maybe what you notice the most are the billboards with cell phone advertisements and the constant ring tones in the street. This country is a master of cacophony.
India is hitting a wave of a new middle class spending money and making money. Everything now costs much more then I remember when I left Poona 12 years ago.
The pre-arranged taxi took us to Kovalam. As we walked to the hotel two porter took our luggage. After couple of minutes we arrived and I gave them 10 rupees thinking is a lot. They wanted more and got angry. I was puzzled. What happened to the value of rupees? I realized in a short time that everything got so much more expensive that finally I give up thinking how it was.

I used to pay a rickshaw for 2 km on my way home from the Ashram, 4 rupees. Now, the rate for 2 km is at least 30 or 40 rupees.
However expensive it got you get the same crazy rickshaw drivers though, with his temple or church or holy figure right in front of the windshield, horning and honking, speeding up before a bus and curving sharply to avoid a truck. It takes your breath away. And it is still my favourite way to go around, despite the adrenaline running through your body.



Yes India takes your breath away.
I loved to walk in between tea plantation in Coonoor in the Nilgiri hills. I looked up and felt like the trees were reaching the sky. Everything in India is a call towards the divine. Once you forget this, you are lost.