Happy Birthday to me :)

Thanks a lot for the lovely wishes from all of you lovely people. It was so wonderful to open my email account and have it flooded with love from you all. I feel very loved...both on hotmail and facebook :) So, here is my story now...

I arrived in Italy in the most roundabout way as possible. 5 countries and 24 hours later, I arrived in Florence to find myself in a rainy and cold night. Needless to say I was more than a little disappointed coz the optimist in me hadn't even allowed me to pack a fleece thinking Italy in august had to be hot! The taxi driver took me to the ashram and showed me my residence....a nice little tent that I was to share with another girl. It was windy, rainy, cold, and pitch dark. He put my suitcase in the tent, gave me a hug and off he went. I was left feeling real sorry for myself...with questions like "what the fuck am I doing here","why did I leave the luxury of a warm bed", "why can't I be normal and live like normal people" and blah blah blah. I even called Eran to tell him that I might just come to Israel earlier than I had planned coz I didn't like Italy. That feeling lasted for...oh, 1 day. I had the best time of my life after the initial panic. I joined a group which was beautiful...dancing, a lot of meditation, a lot of love. Every evening was some sort of a party and there were some really beautiful people from all over Europe. We had beautiful concerts by Prem Joshua and some new band from Chile. There was a lot of dancing and I even met a beautiful Italian man. He took me on his motorcycle to the lovely city of Sienna. It was the most beautiful drive ever, through the rolling hills of Tuscany. Everywhere you looked, you could see vineyards, castles, quaint little Italian villages. Thanks Gabrielle for showing me such a good time. I will remember the Toscana sunset for ever!

Saying goodbye to the ashram was as usual very hard. It felt like I was leaving home, my family. But, I go back in June again so it's all good and plus I was really looking forward to seeing beautiful Eran. I arrived in Tel Aviv at 4 am local time. I was surprised to see a very modern airport and not too much security. I was expecting army people with machine guns everywhere...but it was relatively normal. Eran was there waiting for me. It was lovely to see him again...such a beautiful man he is!!! We spent the night at his brother's apartment. Next morning, we decided to go to Jerusalem. So I spent my 34th birthday in the holy city of Jerusalem. Tel Aviv is beautiful from what I've seen so far...kind of a mix of Rio and New York. The beaches are beautiful and the night life is an all night affair. We've rented an apartment right in the middle of the city, 5 mins from the beach and 5 mins from the East Village kind of ambience. It's a studio apartment but has a large terrace overlooking the sea.

Jerusalem was interesting....far from what I'd expected. Such a strange mix of old and new. Not just old...5000 years old!! You enter the old city and it's like going back in the past. People live like they did 5000 years ago. People wear black and are obviously very religious. I went to visit the place that is the root cause of all the wars in the western world right now...THE WALL!!! That's all it is really ....a mere wall called the "Cotel" where all the orthodox Jews come to pray. Just behind the wall is the Muslim mosque and the most sacred place for Muslims coz they believe that Mohammad rose to heaven from there. So, now they pray right next to each other, hating each other. The hatred and tension between these two cultures is palpable in this area. There is so much fuel and anger and hatred that a tiny little spark can just cause everything to go up in flames any minute!

You step out of the old city and you are right in the middle of a modern 21st century fun-loving city. There are streets lined with bars, cafes, night clubs. There is no particular closing time for these bars...i heard it starts to wind down as the sun comes up. Me and Eran had a great time, sipping on some Israeli wine, chatting and catching up in one of the lovely wine bars in the area. After spending 3 days in Jerusalem, we've arrived in Tel Aviv today. I am going out with a lovely Israeli friend I met in Italy. Looking forward to seeing her again.

So far I am really surprised at the Israel I've seen. People are really friendly, welcoming and fun-loving. Thank God I met Eran or I would've missed out on visiting such a beautiful and rich country.

And let the next adventure begin…..


The time has come to bid farewell to the beautiful city of Vancouver. I arrived here, with much reservations, on July 3rd. I had very good reasons to be a little hesitant about coming to Vancouver. The city had been the source of a lot of pain and heartache over the last 7 years. I felt like I was ready to take my new tools that I had learned for a test drive.

The second day of being in the city, I ran into the first reason I didn’t wanna come to Vancouver…Rick! I thought I had dealt with all the issues relating to him but it was important to see how it would feel to see him again. I saw him at Whiterock and we waved at each other. It was the wave that one gives to an acquaintance that one used to know a long time ago but have no interest in stopping to chat with. The first battle was won!

Second battle was going to my apartment downtown. There were so many memories of Ashley everywhere downtown that I thought it would be hard and painful to revisit those places. After the initial sadness that didn’t linger for more than a day or so, I was quiet happy to rediscover Vancouver.

And rediscover Vancouver I did! I lived with my parents for the entire month without any major disagreements. It was not something I was looking forward to as I hadn’t lived with them since I was 21 years old. Not just that, I wasn’t sure how they would react to the new me. It took them sometime to digest the fact that I was genuinely happy being on my own and traveling. They had prepared themselves to come as saviors to protect their little girl from the evil world. They could not fathom how it was possible for me to be so happy. So, after the initial denial, they started asking me questions about what makes me the way I am. They showed genuine interest and who knows maybe I’ve influenced them enough that they might just pay their little girl a visit in the maroon world J

Besides that, I’ve enjoyed Vancouver this time more than I ever had. It is truly one of the most beautiful cities I’ve even visited. I reconnected with people I hadn’t been in touch with for ages, I partied at the “golden triangle” with Shannon and Harp, I went sailing with Rosemary and the gang, I watched the fireworks from my favorite patio in the city at Lsquared, I had a drunken fest at my apartment downtown, but most importantly, I fell in love with my favorite massage therapist all over again. Thanks Glenn for making my trip so memorable and for making our time together so magical. I really look forward to seeing you soon in India.

After being nourished to the max by all the love that has been showered over me by all of you guys, I feel like I’m ready again to face the unknown world. My next adventure kicks off in Italy. I am going back to the ashram in Italy for 10 days for the annual Miasto festival. It’s going to be one big party and there’s apparently going to be thousands of people from all over Europe coming to this thing. I am really looking forward to being in the ashram energy again. I did meditate while at home everyday, but the collective meditation takes you to a whole different energy level. Then from Italy, I head on over to meet my beautiful Eran. Eran has been insisting that I spend my birthday with him this year and has invited me to his brother’s wedding. If anyone had asked me last year where I would be on my next birthday, I don’t think that Israel would’ve been my answer in my wildest dreams. But now I am going to turn 34 in Israel and I’m going to attend a traditional jewish wedding in a little Israeli village! From Israel, I will be heading off to London to meet my lovely darlings from my South American dream vacation…Crazy, Spongy, Maharani and Kirsty….all in London together again!

So again, thank you everyone for making my time in Vancouver so memorable. You all have given me so many more reasons to call this city home.