The End of the Adventure - The Prodigal Returns

Well the great adventure is finally over! I've been back now for 2 weeks and this evening (17th October), Ian arrived home. Charlie came along with me and we met Linda at the airport and there he was, in Indian top and shawl, but all in one piece and none the worse for wear after the long flight home.

No doubt Ian will have a lot of tales to tell of his trip to Igatpuri and the meditation course and there will be laughs all 'round. Like me he was glad to be home and it's a genuine emotion after being away from the familiarity of home for so long. But I suspect that also like me, after he settles back into life here, he will often think about those little things that made a lasting impression in India. Whether it's the morning throat clearing of a few hundred people that comes to mind, or the farmer ploughing his small plot of land with a couple of bullocks in the middle of Andra Pradesh, the memories will come floating back even if only for a fleeting moment.

India is like that. You can cringe at the thought of the most foul filthy scene you've ever seen and wonder why in the hell you ever went there, and then you smile and remember all the other things and you realise that it's all those extremes that make India unique.

One thing is for certain, neither of us will ever forget.