Namaskar and Happy 2002!

If I could only add the fragrance as well...

Hope you are all well and looking forward to what this year will bring.

04 Jan 2002: I am writing (or at least making a start) from Patna, India. We spend some inspiring hours with Dada Chandranath yesterday, he is one of the first Acrayas (teachers) Baba (affectionate name for our Guru) trained to give initiation to others. Those days all the Acaryas were family people but later, as the work was getting too much, Baba introduced the Monks and Nuns who could dedicate all their time and without bondage to spouse or children. Still family people can become Acarya and work in their local vicinity.

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10 Feb 2002: Lets start where I left off in the last mail, more than a month ago... I'll have to take a look myself as I am not sure where I left off:-)

Ok, it was Turkey. After Turkey I tried to get to India with stops in London, Hong Kong and beyond... It probably looks extravagant to go to so many places but I got one of this really cheap round the world tickets where you can only use limited airlines. So sometimes to get from A to B you have to fly via C... Also this option was much cheaper than any other ticket and allowed me to do things which I would otherwise not be able to afford, (Like the conference in Turkey) One disadvantage on this ticket is that, because it's so cheap, there is only a limited number of seats assigned on each flight. In my case I had all these flights but no confirmed seats... So even though I would have preferred to fly straight I had to hop and hope to get a flight reaching Delhi on time for the India tour. Organizing a tour and not getting there on time as the guide is not so good!

To make things worse I managed to forget my computer bag (with passport and tickets) in the taxi on one of the hops to get to India and unfortunately the driver never returned it... So I had to go get a new Passport, get the tickets reissued and also get a new Indian visa. Everyone cooperated, even the Indian embassy (finally) helped. The flight I needed to get got confirmed and... I got in Delhi the day before the tour would start!

I think there were many lessons in this 'adventure'. Beside the mundane things as not forgetting ones bag in a taxi... and maybe also not having too many bags in the first place! There was also an other lesson and that was that I should really listen to the "inner voice''. When I got down from the taxi there came a clear message in my mind that I should give a tip. As I was carrying 2 or 3 more bags and was already some meters away from the taxi I reasoned that there was no need for it, beside the driver hadn't been exceptionally friendly. Alas... things like this can't and shouldn't be rationalized... If I had listened, gone back to the taxi with the tip, I would have handed it through the front window and seen my bag sitting on the front seat! This tip could have saved me days of trouble and a lot of expenses.

Enough talk? Photo's? Oh, I see, it's time to throw in some some pictures...

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17 March 2002: This travel log is not really getting anywhere quick:-) I have been in many places but time to write it all down and add these promised photo's has still not happened...
Let's see if I can change this now!

Waiting for the train in Bokaro	Mainjuri in the flower garden of SDM in AN

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5 April 2002 Well as you see above I did put some photo's but that was it... An other two weeks gone! To sort the photo's is actually quite a bit of work and after they have to be reduced to a size more appropriate for this message. Back to Delhi... Not so much to say about it, all the margiis for the India tour met up and we jumped on the train to Ananda Nagar the next day. It's an overnight journey which was quite a new experience for many. In Bokaro we had to wait for the train which would bring us the last 30Km, in the west we are used to have trains quite regularly and long waits are rare... Here it's quite normal to have to wait hours. After a while you get used to it though:-)

Didi Ananda Gunamrita who took care of the group while I was a bit sick in Ananda Nagar	Class on the roof during the Sadhana Shiviir

Once we arrived in Ananda Nagar I found that the Sadhana Shiviir program we came for had been cancelled because few had registered. I expressed to the Dada in charge that our group had come early especially for this program and they had been looking forward to it. I suggested we could do it just a bit smaller size and surely some of the other margiis who came early would like to join. Actually Dada was very happy to make it possible, the program had been going for years and always very inspiring. So few hours later we decided we could go ahead. We were about 20 margiis, few Workers and indeed we had a very inspiring time!

Baba's memorial where the three day Sadhana Shiviircamp was held	Cultural program at Uma Nivas

Immediately after the Sadhana Shiviir the Didi's invited all the overseas margiis to visit their Masterunit. They have a place about 5Km away from Central Ananda Nagar called Uma Niivas. There are schools, childrens homes, college, and many other projects. As it's a bit out of the busy area, they don't get so much exposure for all the hard (and good!) work done there. Every year they organise an open day and organise transport to get there. On arrival there is a guided tour of many of the projects a delicious meal. The day ends with a cultural program of song and dance by the girls from the children's home.

Unfortunately no photo's this year as one Dada borrowed the camera... One older photo above. The next day DMS started, a three day program attended by 10,000s of margiis from all over India and the world.

Preparing the site for DMS, all the straw is to put under the floor/blankets to keep warm	One of the places where there was Akandha Kiirtan during the DMS program

Well this brings us only up to the end of 2001... More in next instalment otherwise the e-mail will get too big.

Actually I like to put one more photo:

So many Didi's and Dada's! (maybe only half of the ones attending DMS were in this meeting)

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