Choosing Love – Thank you Mother India/ Part 9

Day 2 of the Wonder-Bike Adventure

Day 15 – 4th May 2018

The day dawns quietly, fresh and pristine after the night’s heavy showers. The sun gets ready to shower its own radiance for the rest of the day, and the air is filled with the moisture of heat upon water, as the land dries.

After a tasty breakfast we are ready to head for Madikeri, our final destination for today.

Travelling with the backpack reveals itself a little bit more challenging than expected so I alternate between riding facing front or sideways, with my feet resting on a foot-rest that bikes here have so that ladies can ride while wearing Saris.

Today we turn the opposite way to the one we came and are presented with a splendid lake filled with lotus flowers, which we have to stop to admire.

And Love whispers: Wisdom is reflected in your world, only to the extent that it is flowing from within you. Allow and embrace it. It is your purest reflection.

We marvel in this fairy-like ambience for a while before carrying on. What a blessing for the day!

The road is infinitely better than the one we took to arrive here so had we found it yesterday, we would have avoided the bumpy ride. Then again, circumstances are as they are each moment. It is our choice whether to accept them or complain – which we never waste our precious energy on.

I don’t know whether people around here realise how lucky they are. They live surrounded by bountiful land, that generously produces food and income for all, life is calm and everything is clean, the scenery is beautiful and there is in fact nothing missing… For us, who have seen other places and done other things. But then comes the human need for more that leads many to cluster around gigantically inflated towns where reality is not quite so idyllic but where the illusion of earning a buck leads life into hyper-drive, on the roller-coaster search for that which has always resided within each One.

Alas, this is just the way Maya works – getting lost is part of finding the way back home. All is well in all of creation.

Riding on the back of a bike, just admiring the world passing by in silence, gives me plenty of time to contemplate. Being able to stay in this detached state of complete focussed awareness, where I observe and let go, while staying fully Present at all times, is one of the experiences I most cherish about long rides across unknown gound.

The quotient of beauty here is so high that I must one day come on a different kind of ride, stopping every so often just to take photos – especially of the people and their daily lives – fascinating, colourful, full. India is like a bunch of wild flowers with the most exquisite scents, shades and shapes in full bloom, majestic and delicious.

We are coming into coffee ground, where coffee fields extend as far as we can see, always under the shade of huge trees, that give this area a special freshness and tropical beauty.

We go past Kakanakote forest and as usual choose the roads less taken, which might be a little more broken, but on the other hand much more beautiful and peaceful.

Though my backside is sore from yesterday’s long hours on the bike, I focus on how I feel inside, looking past the discomfort and my heart is so happy it brings tears of joy to my eyes for the deep gratitude I feel for being blessed with such infinite abundance and even with the privilege of having Pedro as the driver, careful and confident, always knowing which way to go. This gives me such a freedom to just BE that I cannot even express in words how deeply grateful I feel.

We stop by a shrine lost within the jungle and get to experience being Tarzan and Jane flying (or trying to) on a suspended liana. It is not as straightforward as in films and we have a good laugh at each other’s jungle skills. This place is like a scene from Indiana Jones’ adventures and we are transported to an imaginary scene, as “Raiders of the Last Ark”, yet with the tangible feel of sacredness.

Time to move on.

We eventually come to Hunsur, a town with the usual noise but much cleaner than towns further up north.

You know, a funny thing here is that trucks all have these words on the back: “Please Horn”, so hooting is part of the process of avoiding accidents, it is how drivers make their presence known. Of course then there are some that take this to the extreme of hooting incessantly, as if they had an automatic buzzer on the tip of their fingers that leads them to cumpulsively press the button. There are habits for all tastes, as anywhere.

We eventually stop for the coconut drink we had promised ourselves yesterday. Hummm... it tastes divine. Coconut production is one of the area's strong sources of income, no doubt.

Refreshed and ready, we are.

We are in the Coorg mountainous area and almost arriving at Madikeri so we start paying attention to signs for Home-Stays. Here there are lots. We stop at some, go up the winding mountain road into town to buy some bananas, carrots and tomatoes and then come back down to the first house we saw.

It is around 5 pm and we decide to call it a day. Yesterday was heavy duty so today we are taking it easier.

The room we are given on the top floor has a balcony and some chairs to sit outside, as well as a laundry rack so I dilligently wash my clothes once again.

There are two very interesting things in the bathrooms here in India – one is a bucket with a small plastic bowl – I suppose it’s for us to wash ourselves instead of using the shower directly. Don’t really know the purpose, other than of course eventually saving water by letting it pour into the bucket until it gets warm. Well, one way or another it is very practical for my clothes washing chore.

The other thing is that in most toilets there is no toilet paper. Not even at private homes. People use a pipe tap that rests right beside the toilet instead. Lots of paper waste saved! That’s for sure! And it is cleaner too.

Another peculiarity I had found strange last night was that there was no top sheet on the bed, but the same happens in this house, so I come to realise it is a common practice in the South of India – the bed has a cover, which we are intended to sleep on, and then there are blankets, in the very remote case we get cold. Well, it sure is simpler, but the bed cover is a bit dusty…

One of the things I most enjoy about travelling is fitting into new circumstances and especially blending in with the locals. Both of us actually blend in pretty nicely, since by now we are both heavily tanned and having dark hair and dark eyes, it’s hard to define where we come from… Until we open our mouth to speak 😉

Out for a short walk... Marvelling at Nature's peaceful melodies...

We decide to sit quietly on the balcony and contemplate the magnificent view and when the sun goes down we turn in so that we can get up early in the morning to head to Dubare Elephant Park and more…

Once again a heavy storm decided to pay its compliments during the night so with a long power cut we are left with the wise option of surrendering to our beauty sleep :D

💙💚💛💜

Read Post 1 of this series here, post 2 here, post 3 here, post 4 here, post 5 here, post 6 here, post 7 here, post 8 here