Faces of India Part 7 – Happy Shiny People- Me, My Friends and I :-)

Just wanted to share some of my favorite photos of myself in India, either taken by friend’s, or WITH many of my wonderful friends and “family” there. I don’t enjoy being photographed, so when someone finally DOES get a shot of me, it is always a joyous occasion!

best friends

Each photo has its own lovely story, most of which are narrated throughout the posts on this blog over the years. Hope you enjoy seeing these as much as I enjoy recalling the beautiful moments they hold so dear for me in my life …so many wonderful and dear friends, so many wonderful and dear memories,

So many blessings! 🙂

My Buddies – Devi and Laxmi

udeechi huts naddi 2004 with Dear Abdellahji, His Soul rests in Peace

For Abdellahji’s full story see this link:  http://notinindia2012.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/an-angel-returns-home/

A Day of Fun with the Girls

Me and Devi’s Mom

me and Laxmi’s mother-in-law after puja

big chill -delhi 2007-Shweta, Sunam and Me

Three Ladies-Dear Friends – Reingard, Manju and Me

dinner at aroras’ home

on the way to mussoorie with Natasha

girls day out for lunch

with Einat and Ilsa

happy holi

train to varanassi

On the way up To Neelkant Waterfalls, Rishikesh

…and MANY MORE to check out in the full gallery below

Hope you enjoy seeing these as much as I enjoy recalling the beautiful moments they hold so dear for me in my life …so many wonderful and dear friends, so many wonderful and dear memories, so many blessings!  🙂

seema ashish and me

Two amazing beings of Light

On the way up To Neelkant Waterfalls, Rishikesh

happy new years 2011 with friends in my room

varanassi ghats

norbu, my Japanese trekking buddy going up waterfall trail

Me and Devi’s Mom

Big Boss

mussoorie

dinner at aroras’ home

Three Ladies-Dear Friends – Reingard, Manju and Me

on the way to mussoorie with Natasha

warm day walk-rishikesh

aroras and reingard at ashram visit

train to varanassi

big chil Shweta, Arjun and Rahul

buying fabric for clothing

udeechi huts naddi 2004 with Dear Abdellahji, His Soul rests in Peace

A Day of Fun with the Girls

devi mom and sis

best friends

happy holi

Family of driver in Agra-2001

with Einat and Ilsa

girls day out for lunch

big chill -delhi 2007-Shweta, Sunam and Me

Ben – May his Soul Rest in Peace

Tragedy no Longer

The last picture of Ben, taken just 2 weeks ago:

Sorry for the post yesterday…I was so shocked I didn’t realize what I was doing. After sitting with another good friend until late last night, and speaking about Ben with each other for hours, we both understood that although WE are terribly sad and still find it hard to believe that we will no longer see Ben or hear his laughter or silly jokes, Ben is probably very happy and even pleased with himself! First of all, his wife, Mary Cruz was killed just 2 years ago in Mexico in the same way. Instead of a motorbike, she was riding a bicycle, but was also hit by a truck and killed. He missed her terribly and spoke to me about her often and his great love for her, and so now I know they are together and that is lovely.
In addition, for the past 1 1/2 years he has been speaking about his fear of biking in India. He has biked for years all over the world but could not get over his fear of getting on a bike in India. If you remember, we were supposed to take a bike ride to MUssoorie but it did not work out in the end. Well, just yesterday morning, I saw him sitting at a nearby guesthouse and went over to say good morning on my way down to panchakarma. I hadn’t seen him in several days, and he had just celebrated his 44th birthday two days before. Well, he wasw all excited, like a little kid, and extremely proud of himself when he told me he had finally rented a bike and made the trip up and back to mussoorie. He was so excited that he had finally overcome this fear and couldn’t stop smiling. He showed me the bike and said he could now think of returning it as he had done what he needed to do.
And then he went into rishikesh, with another guy on the back, and was hit by a truck. The other guy just has a nasty cut on his leg!
It was a difficult afternoon, but I am doing well now, and there are so many people who know Ben here, that it is just nice to be able reminisce and everyone only remembers wonderful things about him (even though he could be a real pain in the ass sometimes). On his birthday, he went downtown and distributed school supplies to needy children. Even got written up in the paper with his picture which I’m sure made him also very happy.
He lived his life fully, with very few regrets and did just about everything he felt he wanted to do…so he was blessed
I’ll miss him but I’m happy for him
And this is of course, an extremely powerful lesson in why each and every day is so important…why we must live each day to the fullest, not go to sleep at night without expressing our gratitude for all the blessings of the day, making sure to say all it is we need to say to loved ones and friends…not to go to sleep regretting not having done something that day…and of course to give thanks as well when we wake up again to another wonderful new day.

Namaste
Jane

Mussoorie trip- November 6, 2009

Mussoorie trip- November 6, 2009

I am posting only a few pics here so Here is a link to the full album of pictures – in addition to the few here in the post – really worth looking at them:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ladyjane59/MussoorieAndBuddhistStupa?feat=directlink

When planning this trip I was told that Mussoorie was a 2 ½ hour drive, and so we decided to leave at 7 in the morning and figured we’d have breakfast in mussoorie No one bothered to tell me that 2 ½ hours was going directly on the main road, not taking the scenic mountain road.

Which is the way we decided to go, and although it was a full 4 ½ hour ride up winding, twisting, hair-pin curve roads, it was worth every minute of the journey. Despite the fact that my stomach protested vigorously several times and I thought I could not go another minute, the views were more than worth the price I paid. And the decision not to eat breakfast before leaving, paid off as well, because if I had eaten beforehand, I would have wound up like the lady we saw hanging wither head out a bus window, vomiting!!

It was a totally fabulous day for me, for reasons even beyond the actual trip to mussoorie, which would have been enough in itself. In addition, I had my first view of the