The first time I woke up was at 03:00 in the morning. It would be 08:30 in New South Wales, where I am coming from. I spent some time on my laptop reading. It must have been around 04:30 when I fell asleep again. I woke up at 07:30 and felt fresh. There were a few things I could do today. At first, I was driving to Sathya’s Cafe for breakfast. It was a warm welcome there. Dakshinamurti, his wife, and his son, Nehru, remembered me from last year. I sat down and had my breakfast with Idli, Puri, and chutneys. My phone connected automatically to the WiFi, so I could complete my eSIM setup with Jio. Not long after, I got an automated call from Jio and confirmed that it’s me looking for an eSIM upgrade. This should be done. When I was home later, I removed the Jio SIM card and put my Portuguese card back in. All was working nicely.
Then I was driving to the Ashram. Entering the Ashram, the guard pointed at my short pants. I forgot that it is obligatory to wear long pants. No worries, I can come back later. I crossed the road and went straight into the supermarket. I bought Nescafé and two bags of spiced peanuts. Back home, I was happy to drink my first coffee in India, although it was just Nescafé. I was reading and writing for a while before I left again. I was a bit hungry and thought about The Inner Child Restaurant. I went there and had a sourdough bread with mushrooms, spinach and dried tomatoes. Time for a chai. Opposite the Ashram, I had my first Ginger chai. Love it! I met Moksha, the Dutch guy who always wears only an orange Lungi. We talked for a while. He will leave in a few days for Germany, where he lives. I went straight into the Ashram.
It felt good to be here again. I sat down for a while in the hall with the shrines. Then I walked nine times around Sri Ramana’s shrine. When I came back to my scooter, the left mirror was bent and loose. I thought somebody must have crashed it. I could go to see Sampath later. He might be fixing it. First, I needed some petrol, and I drove down the road to the next Petrol Station. The Petrol Station where I got my petrol last year was dismantled, on the other side of the road is another one. I left with a full tank.
One man told me yesterday about a hairdresser on Post Office Road. I need a haircut; my hair is pretty long and wild these days. So I drove there next and got a haircut. I asked him to leave it medium long; anyway, they are pretty short now. But I feel good with it. A haircut is only Rupees 150 (€1.50) here.
Sampath was busy in his small garage. Suddenly I heard my name from behind. Alex and Daniela were suddenly standing behind me. What a nice surprise. I thought they were in Dharamsala for one year, but they changed their mind. Sampath checked my mirror and said there is a part missing long time. It didn’t happen now, but he can fix it. So he did. I went with Alex and Dani to Ramana Cafe. Kavita, the owner was there, she remembered me.
I went back home again for a while. It was time to eat something, I got hungry. I thought about Sarah, I met her last year here. So I texted her and we met for dinner in the German Cafe. Some nice Indian food. We had a good talk. Later I gave her a lift to her apartment. It is close to Edwin’s Restaurant near Perumpakkam Road. Many things happened here in short time. I am glad to be here.
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