Up and Running

Hello there!

     I am going to be fifty this year and as some of you know, I am writing a book called: WIFE, MOTHER & SEEKER. 

     I have done a lot in the wife and mother departments and now I am off to India to work on the seeker’s side of things.  I will leave soon, I don’t know the exact date yet, but it will be sometime in February.

    I cannot tell you now how all this has come about.  You’ll have to read my book for that.

    But I would like to share with you my excitement, apprehensions, hopes, joys and fears as I prepare for this journey.  And when departure day comes, I will temporarily leave my husband, three children and Zoe the cat behind.  I pray that when I return, both the cat and I will have shed a few pounds and for myself I also hope that I…well... we'll see. 

    Anyway, by the time D-Day arrives, I will have to have put together a few items; some of them more run of the mill traveling variety, while others are more eclectic.

    I have put together a wish list and would be grateful for anything that anyone may wish to contribute.  But before I even begin, I must pause here to thank the person who is making this journey financially possible.   Her name is Nova Alexander and her company IHML is providing me with a ticket to India and back to New York -  as well as covering the cost of six to eight weeks by bus, from the Malabar Coast on the southernmost tip of India where I land, to New Delhi in the North and finally on to Calcutta in the East on the Bay of Bengal.  And because she does not do things by half, (SHE IS NOT CHEAP, she wears Missoni, Chanel, Armani… you get the picture) she is also setting me up with a cell phone in India and malaria tablets. 

 

Thank you Nova!!!  SuperNova!!!

 

So, here is the list (subject to change):

 

Air tickets for my husband and three children to join me in Calcutta at the end of the tour, sorry Zoë but you can’t come.  Virgin Airways, my older son explained it to my younger son like this: “You see Robert, for Richard Branson to fly us to Calcutta it would be like me buying you a gumball.  Or for a stranger in the street.” 

 

Digital camera and memory card

Therm-a-rest inflatable mattress

Mosquito net

A literary agent who will find a publisher for my book

Collapsible bucket

A set of spiral notebooks

Oh, I love the pens that Virgin gives out on their flights and since I will not bring my laptop with me, I would like a few of those pens to write with.

A bedroll sack – It will be strapped on the bus’s roof top together with the luggage

A good backpack to carry some of the items on this list

An asana - something to sit on outdoors

Dust mask - for road travel 

Earplugs - to block out others’ snoring when sharing a floor with fellow travelers

Flashlight - to avoid tripping over them on my way to the bathroom Mosquito repellent – self-explanatory

Eye mask I have already

And to start with I have three white Panjaby sets to wear

Oh yes, an inflatable neck pillow would be really nice and of course a map of India…..

 

Ah, Delhi Belly – any suggestions as to the best product to help in case I get it? Or shall I look at it as a way of getting rid of those pounds I mentioned earlier? 

 

Baci e Abbracci

Esmeralda