My Last Day in India

Yesterday, was a jammed packed day for me. Everyone had either left or were about to leave and I did not have to catch my flight until 10:50pm that night. I decided to hire a driver to take me to all the touristy places in Delhi that I missed these past 3 weeks.

My first stop was the Lotust Temple. It was really cool because I happen to get their when they were doing their prayer ceremony and got the chance to hear a prayer/hymn from 7 different religions. It was really neat, (but at the time I had no idea what was going on, but it was interesting). One of the guys that worked there told me afterwards that it was a prayer ceremony.

Then, I went to Delhi Haat. This was actually suppose to be the place where I went several times, where you can bargain with the vendors and get all kinds of great stuff for cheap, but my driver ended up taking me to a different place where I ended up getting some really cool stuff. I bought some more scarfs and I got this great bed spread for my guest bedroom. I am so excited to put it on the bed. I think it'll look great and all my guest that sleep over will have a nice Indian motif when they sleep!

Chandhi Chock was next. This is the mecca of craziness shopping. I had to check this place out. It is super crowded with people, with shops up and down narrow streets selling all kinds of stuff. I didn't have too much time to spend here, because I spent so much time at the previous place that I literally walked around just to check it out. I also ate at the McDonald's because I thought it would be the safest place to eat without getting sick...so far so good.

The last place I went to was this HUGE temple called Ashadaram. Apparently it was built in 5 years by 7000 craftsman and the temple is dedicated to this guru Ashadaram and his teachings. It was a very interesting place and my fellow volunteers told me that it is a definite must see before you leave Delhi.

At the temple they had 3 little activities for you to do to learn about this famous guru. There was a walk through exhibit with interactive puppet things, then there was a little movie about him and then a boat ride. (A boat ride like "It's a small world" at Disney Land). While touring this place, I ended up meeting 2 French men and a couple from Germany. It was really cool to meet them, and the fact that I could practice my French with the French guys. They were of course surprised to see an American speak French but I loved talking to them in francais...

The message of the guru was to find inner peace within yourself, to find god within you. When you can find god within yourself you can find it within other people, which will in turn lead to peace and love throughout the world. It was a great message to learn, to think about, to meditate on, and a great message to end my time here in India.