Namaste saturday

Today was when e discovered the power of the namaste. The simple folding of hands to respectfully greet everyone- we discovered its magic It all started off yesterday evening- we were walking along the right side of the road near the edge of the highway we would often find vehicles coming from the opposite side driving too close to the edge causing us to have to get off the main road disturbing our pace. Mangesh then took up the a walking stick he was carrying and started waving them aside just before they came close to us. We found that without exception most would swerve away to avoid our path. I was a bit scared tat some f them may not take it as gesture of offence and decide to swerve back on to us and so I started folding my hands whenever he would wave any away.
to apologize for the convenience caused. And we found that the response was immediate.

We did a namaste to everyone who drove by. We did it to truckers, we did it to motor cycle riders , we did it to tractor trolley drivers carrying mud for the road building sites, we did it to bus drivers and also to the occasional camel cart driver. And Boy did they respondd.!!!! The truckers sounded their horn, some flashed their lights, the motor cyclists smiled and nodded their heads some bowing low over the handle in acknowledgement. The camel cart owners and the tractor drivers smiled back and most folded back their hands almost as enthusiastically as we did and we felt as if every time we folded our hands and were acknowledged a bolt of pure energy was passing through us. Most faces first relaxed, then smiled and then lit up and then bowed their heads at us. They were strange faces, they were unknown faces, they were faces we had never seen before, they were faces we might never see again, they were faces we might never connect to again even if they crossed each other but when they smiled all of us were one and there was so much light all around that I think denizens of the darkest places in the universe must have for a micro second wondered why it was such a brighter place then. It was not me they were bowing to nor smiling at- it was the yatri they saw in me. Since in the Indian way of thinking anyone walking like that was automatically thought of as someone on a pilgrimage and when I bowed to them I actually bowed to my God and when they smiled and bowed back they were smiling at their own god. From deep within the recesses of our minds our Gods for that split second peeped out and
acknowledged each other – and the universe crackled.

Of course this was only the Bharatwasis that did all this- those that
were Bharatwasis pretending to be Indians just slightly with a serious face moved their heads downwards in an imperceptible nod as if to say you look stupid but its okk we might as well let you bow to us!! And all the Indians in their snazzy
cars racing past were badly embarrassed. They would look at us and the moment we did a namaste turn away totally embarrassed. It was if I was giving them a lecture on ‘ The implications of server configuration for lateral cost cutting
in the automobile accessories industry” - and they had suddenly discovered my fly was open.


Today was also the day we moved base from Dharuhera our first halt to the second Behror which is midway between Delhi and jaipur. Rohit and Apoorva
joined us along with Sarita and Swati with the surprise package of Rohit’s
sister Soumya and dinner at mod way was therefore an exacting affair. Though
we arrived physically at midway we are in walk terms 57 kms behind it and maybe 20 kms behind target . There are still aches and pains and my back seems to hurt more than the legs, both Aakanksha and Mangesh have boils on their feet and find walking a pain but yet they drag themselves on, The driver
also joined today and is proving to be a big help -and tomorrow is another day !!!!!