Catching Up

I’m sorry!! I have fallen way behind on this blog. For the next two days, we are doing a service ashram experiment at my friend Nirali’s home and it will finally give me a little chance to catch up.

While I was enjoying the final stages of jaundice, I had to do something totally ridiculous – hop on a train for seven consecutive, fun-filled days and nights.

Though there is so much to say, between all the travel, technical problems, and constant flow of activities, I just haven’t been able to carve out the breathing space to write.

The train took me from Ahmedabad to Delhi, where I had a quick visit with Mark P., then to Amritsar, where I chilled for a bit at the Sikh Golden Temple. Then I hopped over the border into Pakistan, where I was able to renew my Indian visa for another 6 months. I only visited Pakistan for a day, but made a few friends and caught a glimpse of a slightly different culture. Back to Amritsar, I caught an evening train to Delhi and visited Mark again, and then headed back to Ahmedabad, where I helped at Seva Café and pulled an all-nighter, working on Manav Sadhna’s annual report. From there, I caught an early morning train heading down south to Chennai, where I met Mark and Yoo-Mi and hopped on a final train to Madurai to spend time with friends at Viral and Pavi’s wedding. Hopping from train to train, there were many photo finishes.

For those of you who don’t know Viral and Pavi, they are two of the greatest human beings. Period. Both treasured friends – to me and to many others – they decided to get married. Viral is just a rock solid, humble and vital person without baggage – a stone’s throw from Enlightenment. Pavi has her eyes wide open, in touch with the very essence of life, and is overflowing with effortless talent. When my friend Aaron heard about the marriage, he accurately described it as “a match made in Heaven.” And that’s pretty much where, in fact, it was made as the epiphany to marry Pavi hit Viral during a 20-day Vipassana meditation retreat.

Both Viral and Pavi come from families unusually steeped in service. Add to that a guest list comprised of some seriously giving folks, and you get a concoction for a not-so-typical wedding. As a wedding gift, a group of us hit the streets – a small but kind army – sweeping around the famous Meenakshi Temple, combing hair, clipping nails, offering cheerful gifts and helping hands to those who looked like they could use a little something. Afterwards, we took about 80 of these new friends out for a South Indian feast at a nearby restaurant.

After the wedding, I commuted back up to Ahmedabad and have been immersed in Seva Café, the annual report, as well as more wedding reception activities – the wedding party also having migrated to Ahmedabad.

We found out that our tickets back to the US expire about a month before we were planning to leave. With so much left to do, the pressure is now on high to use time super effectively. Fortunately, my health has returned, and I’m ready to shake some serious service booty.