1. JOURNEY OF SELF DISCOVERY

Curious acquaintances wonder why I visit India so often - my 7th trip is just a few days away - staying for up to a month.
 
Each trip is a journey of discovery about myself. I'm still amazed as to how I could rough it out in an ashram room sleeping on a not too clean mattress probably used by a zillion other devotees. I throw a sleeping bag over it and I've survived. 
At other times, I've spread the bag on the concrete floor if there's no bed, and I've survived. I share the room with fellow citizens whom I do not know but got to know during the trip, and I've survived.

I've travelled without first aid 'cept for BandAid plasters, a few panadols and a tube of Burnol, and I've survived. I've walked around barefooted on sandy paths along the roadsides, and did'nt pick up something awful. I breathe in the dust and diesel fumes out on the streets, I survived. I drank 'chai' - local milk tea from dusty roadside vendors and hot milk in little clay pots, and I survived, not once did I come down with 'Delhi Belly' or 'Madras Stomach' (touch wood, not yet anyway). I eat vegetarian meals everyday and it's the SOS (Same Old Stuff) and I've survived.

I've travelled alone on overnight trains up to 13 hours one-way, with 8 sleeping berths, which on one trip, were occupied by 7 men and I, the lone female, and I've survived. I could'nt sleep that night not out of fear but for the snoring.
 
I use tap water in the trains and non-too clean budget hotels to wash my mouth, and I've survived. India is a constant assault on the senses - dust, fumes, heat, noise, crowds, dirt, poverty, filth - are the daily encounters. 

On every trip, I pushed myself to the limits, returning each time with renewed inner strength, richer for the experience. 

Priceless.