I had a dream last night that someone bombed the Richmond Bridge.
There were pieces of it still attached on either side but nothing in the middle. I was horrified that terrorism had come to Marin.
Guess I’m still experiencing some feelings about the bombing in Pune that happened a week ago today.
The good news is that I’ve met some truly wonderful men and women at the ashram that I’ve been staying at. I’ve enjoyed my connections and haven’t felt lonely at all.
Surprisingly, I haven’t felt much loneliness on my whole trip so far.
If anything, I’ve needed to carve out some alone time to let all of my experiences sink in. 🙂
Last night I was at the internet cafe and I overhead an Indian man say that he had food poisoning. I offered to give him some of my remedies since I had recently recovered from my own food poisoning.
He gave me a ride on the back of his motorbike to my hotel and I ran in to the get the medicine for him. When I came back out he said, “Do you want to see Pune? We can drive around a bit.”
I had a good feeling about him otherwise I wouldn’t have hopped on his motorbike to begin with so I said, “Yes” and off we went.
I would NEVER do this in America.
It was exhilerating riding through the streets of Pune. It felt even more adventurous and scary than riding on the back of a motorbike in Bali.
I felt so fully alive.
Maybe because the drivers are crazy in India. Which makes it a hair-raising event.
Like an E-ticket ride at Disneyland.
Anyway, after we drove for awhile he asked if I wanted to see a movie.
“Yes,” I said. I’ve actually been totally craving movies since I was seeing movies every week before I left and have gone cold turkey since I’ve been traveling.
We asked the ticket seller for an English movie and he recommended one. “It has a lot of English in it,” he said.
He lied.
It had maybe 50 words of English in it.
But it was still a fun experience.
Except for the fact that Indians talk throughout movies. That part is totally annoying.
Everyone was talking. Babies were crying. Teenagers were laughing at parts that were not funny (at least they didn’t look funny to me). The guy who brought me to the movies kept asking me questions: “Do you like this part?” “Can you understand?” “What do you think about that?”
How do you say “Be quiet!” in Hindi?
Then during intermission (they have intermission!), men with popcorn and sodas came up and down the aisles to sell more goodies.
That part was like stepping back in time.
After the movie (which I was actually able to follow) the guy (whose name I still don’t know) asked me if I wanted to get a bite to eat.
I said no so he dropped me off at my hotel and off he went and off I went.
It was so cool. I’ve had a lot of ‘hopping on the back of motorbike’ experiences and they’ve all been wonderful.
On another note…in less than an hour I’ll be taking a rickshaw to the train station to go to Goa.
I’ve been singing: “She’s leaving (leaving) on the midnight train to Goa.”
Actually it won’t be midnight, it will leave in the late afternoon and arrive at Goa at 6am. I’ll be sleeping on the train which I’m really looking forward to.
And it will be great to wake up in a new place that isn’t Pune.
About Me: 
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Thanks for finally saying “no”. I was getting worried that your saying yes to life was going a little far. 🙂 I could also be thinking this way because I have seen Alicia’s show like 3 times and would see it tomorrow but it is sold out! Anyway, her stories of “Will you kiss me?” and “Why aren’t you married?” were ringing in my ears as you said yes and yes and yes!
But finally you said no. Phew!
I want to take my daughters to Goa this July. Please let me know what you think about that.