The India Diaries: Almost home

Just a quick post as I sit in the Sydney airport waiting for my flight to Brisbane to be called. I'm a bit sad at how my plans to keep up a travel blog have failed quite miserably. When I felt the need to write, I was generally nowhere near a computer let alone the Internet. Going low-tech hasn't been so bad, and I kinda like curling up with a journal and a pen rather than hacking away at a keyboard in a grimy Internet cafe.

My plan is to put together a digital photo album of sorts with images and my writings. I want to spend the next week before I go back to work to properly solidify the emotion I have felt and impressions I have made over the past month. I hope it all comes out well.

I've been in transit now for just over 36 hours, I think, starting with an overnight train from Jhansi to Delhi before flying out to Mumbai and on to Sydney. I cleared customs in Sydney and stepped outside to see the bluest sky I have seen in a month. Actually, to see the only blue sky I have seen in a month. I will never again complain that Sydney is a dirty place. Never. Its amazing how a few little basics now seem like luxuries. I had a glass of Aussie wine on the plane and I felt like I was drinking amber nectar. It was beautiful. I showered in the Qantas club here in Sydney. I haven't had a hot shower in a month, and a warm shower in 2 weeks. I was getting used to bathing by pouring hot water from a bucket over myself, but I think I can adjust back. It was bliss.

One thing I want to retain is my new found appreciation for those luxuries that I once considered necessities.

One more flight and I'm home!

Nameste-ji