Mumbai - Neyyar dam

It’s Friday the 9th of September. So much has happened since arriving. On the morning of the 2nd I landed in Mumbai. I knew how to make my way from the airport to Mumbai Central Station. So I really hadn’t planned too much beforehand. The parts of the journey I’d anticipated most (certain connections), turned out to be so easy… The only struggle I had was carrying the backpack along with my 2 other bags (in total weighing around 28 kg’s). It was so cool though, to find that I fitted right back into the commotion of travelling through India, without any hesitation or doubt.

Within a few hours, I realized just how more capable I am of dealing with certain situations by applying the right approach and using the proper attitude towards the Indians on the street, compared to last year. I was instantly haggling with the drivers before hopping into the dinky rickshaws, I was asking the right people for directions and following the locals who were travelling in the same direction. I was ordering the tea I like best and I knew how to find safe drinking water at the station. I knew where to dispose of my luggage for a few hours (when I was waiting for my train connections) and I was even feeling so relaxed about the whole journey that I managed to get some sleep in the waiting hall - that was for ladies only – just before getting the 40 hour train to the southern state of Kerala.

The train left Mumbai on Friday afternoon. It was the longest train journey I’ve been on. But I didn’t mind. I was able to catch up on all that sleep I’d lost throughout the week gone by. There were more than 50 stops along that particular route… and every stop there seemed to be hundreds of passengers waiting to board this snake of train that was probably a few km’s long (that’s maybe an exaggeration…not too sure).

Anyhow, it wasn’t until I nearly reached Kerala, that I realized I was reversing the journey through India that I’d done last year. I was taking the exact same route, but backwards… as I headed to the yoga school (or the ashram, as most would call it). I found it quite strange to be starting my new Indian chapter in the exact way as I left off, last year. So I may not be back in India to start something new, but instead to continue something that I’d already started…

So I got to Neyyardam by Sunday afternoon (which is the village where the ashram is). I didn’t know for how long I’d stay. That question could only be answered, once I arrived and sussed out what I was in need of or… what I was ‘searching for’.