Day 4 - 10th May 2017 (day 3 of WEF) - Part II
A Whirlwind of Inspiration
By now Iman has changed her mind about the Golden Triangle
experience and is trying to convince me to go up to McLeod Ganj, where the
Dalai Lama lives. Her argumentation is that it is way too hot for her in
Rajasthan and that she had an experience at the Taj Mahal around 10 years ago
that she hated.
I choose to honour her experience but to not make it mine,
and I do not adopt her feelings or choices either.
I tell her I will consider this.
Pedro, who has been to India,
tells me McLeod Ganj is beautiful and cooler, but Shimla is too, both places
are up towards the Himalayan mountains. However it requires a journey of around
12 hours to get there and another 12 back. I am definitely not going for this
option.
Also Iman wants to leave on Saturday. I want to stay at the
Conference until the very end. I enjoy the crescendo that builds up in the
final stages of an Event like this and anyhow, this is what I came for in the
first place.
Iman eventually tries to contact me while she is booking the
trip to McLeod Ganj, but synchronicity would have it that I am not reachable at
that time. That very peacefully settles the issue. I am definitely going to
explore the Golden Triangle and we will meet up at Mahiema’s place on Thursday
anyway.
I start feeling very grateful that I will have these 5 days
to myself right after 6 days of a very busy and inspiring Conference with so
many beautiful people!
Yesterday I started to look for bus or train tickets to
Jaipur, to see prices and timetables, but it didn’t work out.
I start looking for options for my trip to Agra and Jaipur,
focusing especially on booking the bus or train back from Jaipur on the 18th,
because the best places end fast around here. It is a country with over 1
billon people!
I find a good timetable for the bus but the payment doesn't go
through. I try several times to no avail. I try the train but I need to send
them my scanned passoport and a few extra bureaucratic requirements which are
not practical at all. I try through several sites but the requirements are the
same. I finally let go and decide to sleep over it. I know full well that when
something isn't flowing the best thing to do is let go and allow the path of
least resistance to become clear.
After all my choice for this whole journey was: simplicity…
and being open to receive all the gifts this journey has in store for me.
I engage in conversation with Lynn who happens to also want
to go to Agra on Sunday, as well as Michelle, her roommate. We try and book a
bus ticket, and you know what? It doesn’t work. So there is a simpler path for
sure.
Suddenly Anu shows up. She is leaving today. She helps us
out by calling a guy that does day trips to Agra. It is far too expensive. Then
she also calls one of the agencies I had got the number from the Portuguese
Embassy: Travel Pals India. I ask for them to send me a quote not only to Agra
but also to Jaipur and back to Delhi.
Michelle has also found a solution. A girl she met has given
her the number of a driver who took her to Agra for a great price. He happens
to be available so we take that option and book for Sunday at 3 am – so that we
can see the sunrise reflecting on the Taj. Settled.
A few hours later I get the quote from the agency. An
irrefusable offer which includes hotels in Agra and Jaipur, train fare from
Agra to Jaipur and back to Delhi, a guide and a driver in Jaipur, picking me up
directly on the platform at the train station and dropping me off there on the
day I leave, with visits to the main sites in Jaipur.
I wonder about the need
to have someone pick me up on the train platform. When I get there I realise
why. The train station is enormous, there are hoards of people everywhere, even
at 10 pm and there are zillions of hustlers wanting to carry my luggage, to
take me here and there, to sell something! It becomes clear that having chosen
to experience a fluid and simple journey, with all that I deserve, having
someone to guide me out of the station is a blessing.
Did I tell you that both hotels have a swimming-pool? Just
like this one where I am right now! Luxury in this scorching heat.
I obviously decide to take the agency’s offer. It is about
100€ over the amount I had intended to spend but it is also way beyond what I
was envisioning. The ease, the comfort! Jaideep, the agency’s representative,
is even coming directly to Novotel to bring me the travel and hotel vouchers!
When we accept to receive, allowing our Essence to bring us
the best combination according to our circumstances, there is only one thing to
expect: much more that we could possibly have imagined.
Was kindly left in the room at Novotel by the Hotel staff :)
***
I meet Claire Lyell (http://www.wef.org.in/claire-lyell/) , founder of Culture Pearl, a coaching business specialised in cultivating talent . We somehow engage in a conversation about
education and I find myself inviting her to please talk to my students via
Skype.
I make it a point of inviting inspiring people to share with my teenager
students, bringing them practical wisdom and learning experiences they can use
to create the lives they truly want to live. Thank you Claire, for connecting
and sharing.
***
Today Luiza Plama is also here. She is the Chairperson for
ALL Portugal and arrived late last night. Carla and I waited for her to arrive
and welcomed her at the hotel reception because she is the only other
Portuguese person here so far.
Luiza is a powerful influencer, mother of 6 daughters and a
harbinger of change in areas such as sustainability, equity and charity. She
lives under the impression that she would like to do much more than she already
does to help improve the lives of those who can’t do it for themselves, but
feels one lifetime is not enough.
I, on the other hand, believe that if we are capable of
keeping our balance, living with a peaceful heart, joyfully transparent,
sharing our love with each smile, our wisdom even in silence, and being a clear
example of coherence, walking our talk with an open heart and an unpolluted
mind, we are doing what needs to be done, which is never too little or too
much, when seen from the perspective of the Essence.
All humans are entitled to
their own experiences, irrespective of what we judge them to be. This is
Compassion.
Since I choose to connect with people soul to soul and Luiza
has a huge heart, we connect at that deep level that sees no difference.
Beautiful.
We have both been invited to dinner at the Portuguese
Ambassador’s residence tomorrow. When we mention this in front of Carla, she
pleads for me to ask Sofia Batalha, the Portuguese Consul who kindly connected
with me before coming to India and picked me up at the airport, sent me the
agency’s contact and has been ever so helpful in so many ways.
It feels a bit awkward to me, especially because I did not
ask to go, I was invited to go. I try to change the subject but it doesn’t
work. I eventually give in and send Sofia an e-mail saying I am passing on
Carla’s request, leaving it clear that I am just the messenger. She asks
whether Carla has a Portuguese passport, which she does, and believe it or not
they say yes.
***
I was supposed to have a lunch round table under the theme
The Power of Conscious Choice today but apparently the lunch round tables have
not been happening because the plenary sessions have been running late and no
one has bothered to find another solution for these round tables.
Well, whatever! I decide to just go with the flow and keep on embracing and enjoying the whole experience :)
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