This morning we rose at 5 to do our meditation practice. Then we did yoga before breakfast. It was quite cold weather before the sun rose.
We then left the retreat centre by taxi to Miraj Junction station. At the station, the young Buddhist taxi driver offered to drive us the 150 mile/5 hour journey to Pune for a reduced price. As the overcrowded train takes 6 hours - and is often badly delayed, we gladly accepted.
As it is a long yaatra, we lunched at an upmarket roadside diner. First time for me in 22 years of India trips. We normally use a basic roadside dhabba (outdoor cafe/hot food stall).
We have now reached AB's tiny house in Pimpri, Pune. It is delightful to see his extended family again. Old friends I have known twenty-odd years.
The yaatra was long, but OK. We are settling in here now. I am staying in the only bedroom, and NS & NM are staying with a next door neighbour. The rest of the family will sleep on floor matresses in the living room, despite my protestations. Indian hospitality is such that a guest not having a bedroom is unthinkable to them. They are so generous. I've even had this experience in a slum, where I was given the family's only bed (an old metal hospital bed). They lived in a tin house, so the two children slept on the flat roof and the parents in outdoor charpoys (Indian outdoor rope bed).
Tomorrow we visit the museums of Mahatma Phooley (the great Edwardian social reformer) and Dr Ambedkar (social reformer, Dalit champion, statesman, father of the Indian Consitution, barrister and one of the great Buddhists of the 20th century). These two are among the folk I most admire in this world. Look them up on Wikipedia. They are amazing people.
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