Dear friends and yogis, this is the last installment of emails pertaining to my recent Letters from India. In light of the recent violence in Mumbai and your letters of concern I want to let you know my family flew out of Mumbai Monday night and we have made it back safely to Canadian soil. Although Pune is four hours from Mumbai the “six degrees of separation” rule was apparent in how events and tragedy had directly touched the families of local Indian yogis and our neighbour’s lives. On Sunday evening we attended a classical music concert in Pune which began with observing a minute of silence in honour of lost lives.
Some of you have mentioned to me that you have planned trips to India and you are wondering about the current atmosphere. We traveled by hired car to Mumbai and after visiting BCE Buddhist caves in Lonavla, arrived early enough to have a light meal at the Leela Hotel, popular with the yogis. From the time we entered the Hotel lobby we were treated as if we were precious honoured guests by all of the staff. Mumbai airport has very high security now. The military jeeps mounted with weaponry directed at the crowds outside were a little shocking but not entirely unwelcome by us. Inside we were willingly subjected to five layers of security requiring questioning and luggage checks. Patel, the minister of Maharashtra has been ousted as a result of comments he made following the attack and there is much news and talk now about both India and Pakistan needing to clean up their internal fighting. Remember that Le Meridian in Islamabad, Pakistan was also attacked by terrorists in September. So if you are traveling to India soon be prepared and plan to read more about this.
It is strange to come home and find the media here has already moved on.
Will I go back? Yes, absolutely. I love the diversity of India, the ideas, philosophy, the people and most of all the opportunity to study yoga at its abundant source. Safe journey. Namaste, Leigh
Some of you have mentioned to me that you have planned trips to India and you are wondering about the current atmosphere. We traveled by hired car to Mumbai and after visiting BCE Buddhist caves in Lonavla, arrived early enough to have a light meal at the Leela Hotel, popular with the yogis. From the time we entered the Hotel lobby we were treated as if we were precious honoured guests by all of the staff. Mumbai airport has very high security now. The military jeeps mounted with weaponry directed at the crowds outside were a little shocking but not entirely unwelcome by us. Inside we were willingly subjected to five layers of security requiring questioning and luggage checks. Patel, the minister of Maharashtra has been ousted as a result of comments he made following the attack and there is much news and talk now about both India and Pakistan needing to clean up their internal fighting. Remember that Le Meridian in Islamabad, Pakistan was also attacked by terrorists in September. So if you are traveling to India soon be prepared and plan to read more about this.
It is strange to come home and find the media here has already moved on.
Will I go back? Yes, absolutely. I love the diversity of India, the ideas, philosophy, the people and most of all the opportunity to study yoga at its abundant source. Safe journey. Namaste, Leigh
