Deepika Blogs…

My first week in India

Today it’s exactly a week since I left home to spend some time in India with my family. I feel I have enough to talk about and now that I have a minute I’d like to share a few thoughts with you. When I reached the airport here in Delhi I got a phone call from Gagan (he was already here) with the unfortunate news that his grandfather’s brother also passed away. While it is sad, the mood here is that of acceptance and everyone is just happy that we are here. To be able to spend time with family members who have flown in from everywhere is what matters in the end. Nobody here is mourning Babaji’s passing. Instead they are all celebrating his life. There are people who stop by everyday to offer their condolences. And Dadima as always the hostess makes sure that they go back home well fed and hydrated 🙂 She IS the greatest woman I’ve ever met.

As for me, I am falling into a routine gradually. I work for a few hours early in the morning and then at night. Gagan has gone back to the US so I do miss him a lot but it’s important for me to be here right now and I am surrounded by so many people who have nothing but love and admiration for me so it’s nice to be here.

I am happy and I notice that I am smiling a lot. And it’s the little things which make me happy. And when you ask what Happiness is, I’ll say this:

– Happiness is not having a plan for each day. Waking up in the morning and letting the day happen to me.
– Happiness is taking an afternoon nap and not having to set an alarm to wake up.
– It is reading a book and not worrying about what else I should be doing. (This took a little bit of an effort).
– Happiness is having 4 meals a day and not having to cook any of them!
– Happiness is sitting kicking back with feet up on the couch and just hanging with Dadima (grandmother). Smiling when she reads Babaji’s old love letters to her. Wishing I had saved my old hotmail account when Gagan used to send his love letters to me electronically.
– Sensing the smell of mangoes from a mile away!
– A Laburnum tree in the front yard which makes me smile whenever I look at it. The pretty yellow cluster of flowers which seem to disappear into infinity, ever so gracefully.

While I make it sound all nice and pretty, it isn’t like everything else in life. In the past 3 days I’ve had horrible stomach infection and now I have cold and fever. I am on antibiotics. Being sick in over 100 degree weather is not a happy thought. I am feeling pretty drained right now barely able to move around. But… I feel loved. I feel cared for. So while I am not enjoying the food this time eating very carefully only light meals, it is okay.

It does help that I am reading “Eat Pray Love” and kind of associate with the author and her story quite a bit and I am loving every minute of my time here.

Today I helped my mother in law research washing machines, fixed a facebook setting for her. Helped an aunt run a youtube video on her computer, shared some favorite recipes with her and got some in return. Shared 3 meals with Dadima. Showed some family photos to another aunt and talked about my life in the US with her, my gaze fixed at her radiant smile and somehow I feel more productive than I do after working 60 hours a week! If this is not happiness, what is?

I have no agendas, no plans, no idea what I am doing each day and it’s N.I.C.E.! I am not even missing my sewing machine. So something must be terribly wrong or right 🙂 We’ll find out next week. Thanks for listening and letting me share my thoughts with you. Hope your week is full of smiles too.