Halfway home

I have been struggling to gather my thoughts about the past several
days, to say nothing of the past several months.

In four and a half hours, I leave India.

In 26 hours, I arrive back in Minneapolis.

Both come as a bit of a shock, feeling so immersed as I have in my
experience here, coming to enjoy and deeply appreciate so many of the
places I've visited and the people I've met. My life feels so
radically changed in the three months that have elapsed since my
arrival. I find myself traveling alone. I feel lucky to have found a
home-away-from-home in Palolem. I have met and shared my time in India
with so many amazing, vivid people. I inhabit a body that feels the
impact of daily yoga practice, stronger and more flexible and also
calmed by this routine.

I am trying to bring this sense of calm to the most recent challenge I
have been facing: a hernia that appeared suddenly 10 days ago,
requires surgery to repair and has diminished my confidence to travel
in the physically demanding way that I am accustomed, lugging the
luggage, schlepping that which must be schlepped, hiking where I want
to hike and generally taking my physical well-being for granted.

The hernia was diagnosed when I arrived in Mumbai, the day after
finally leaving my little hut in Palolem. Since the diagnosis, and
learning more about the condition, I have been paying more attention
to these physical capabilities that I have taken for granted. After
mailing a bunch of stuff home from Mumbai to lighten my backpack, I
was surprised to discover that it still weighed in at 22 kilos, or 49
pounds. My daypack, with my laptop, guidebook, and sundries, is easily
another 10 pounds. I have reluctantly realized that traveling this way
with this condition is asking for trouble.

So I'm heading home to regroup. I hope to see family -- arriving just
in time for Easter dinner (thanks, fam, for postponing it for me!) --
and friends during my visit, and sort out where and how my travels
will carry me next.

What I can already tell you is that I feel changed. Changed by the
whole trip, changed by these transformative past three months. How
I've changed is harder to say. I feel like I am still trying to work
out how to put this into words. I can only hope that in time, they
will come.

And so, after spending the past ten months making it this far around
the globe from my home, I close the rest of the gap in a single day.
Farewell, India. I will miss you, and I will be back.

And thank you, dear reader, for your patience. Fear not, these
adventures are far from over. I invite you to stay tuned.

---
PS. re: the pic, taken this morning in the blue city of Jodhpur on the
edge of the Thar desert, look closely at the baseball hats, especially
on the left side of the table. The relevance may be more difficult to
ascertain if you're not a fan of American football, or familiar with
Minnesota's team. ;)